See Francis William Bain,Queen Christina of Sweden(London, 1890); Robert Nisbet Bain,Scandinavia(Cambridge, 1905);Christina de Suède et le Cardinal Azzolino(Paris, 1899); Claretta Gaudenzio,La Regina Christina de Suezia in Italia(Turin, 1892); Hans Emil Friis,Dronning Christina(Copenhagen, 1896); C.N.D. Bildt,Christina de Suède et le conclave de Clement X(Paris, 1906);Drottning Kristinas sista dagar(Stockholm, 1897); and J.A. Taylor,Christina of Sweden(1909).
See Francis William Bain,Queen Christina of Sweden(London, 1890); Robert Nisbet Bain,Scandinavia(Cambridge, 1905);Christina de Suède et le Cardinal Azzolino(Paris, 1899); Claretta Gaudenzio,La Regina Christina de Suezia in Italia(Turin, 1892); Hans Emil Friis,Dronning Christina(Copenhagen, 1896); C.N.D. Bildt,Christina de Suède et le conclave de Clement X(Paris, 1906);Drottning Kristinas sista dagar(Stockholm, 1897); and J.A. Taylor,Christina of Sweden(1909).
(R. N. B.)
CHRISTINA[Maria Christina Henrietta Désirée Félicité Rénière], for some years queen-regent of Spain (1858- ), widow of Alphonso XII. and mother of Alphonso XIII., was born at Gross Seelowitz, in Austria, on the 21st of July 1858, being the daughter of the archduke Charles Ferdinand and the archduchess Elizabeth of Austria. She was brought up by her mother as a rigid Catholic, and great care was taken with her education. At eighteen she was appointed by the emperor Francis Joseph, abbess of the House of Noble Ladies of Saint Theresa in Prague, where she made herself very popular and distinguished herself by her intellectual parts. It is said that at the court of Vienna the archduchess saw the young prince Alphonso of Spain when he was only a pretender in exile, before the restoration of the Bourbons. A few years later, when Alphonso XII. had lost his first wife and cousin, Queen Mercedes, daughter of the duc de Montpensier, his ministers, especially Señor Canovas, urged him to marry again. He told them that if he did so it would only be with the young Austrian archduchess Maria Christina. After some negotiations between the two courts and governments it was agreed that the archduchess Elizabeth and her daughter should meet Alphonso XII. at Arcachon, in the south of France, where a few days’ personal acquaintance was sufficient to make both come to a decision. The duke of Bailen went officially to Vienna to get the emperor of Austria’s authorization, and on the 14th of November 1879, in the throne-room of the Imperial palace, the archduchess solemnly abdicated all her rights of succession in Austria, in accordance with the law obliging all princesses of the imperial house to do so when they wed a foreign prince. On the 17th of November the archduchess and her mother, with a numerous suite, started for Spain, arriving at the royal castle of El Pardo, near Madrid, on the 24th of November. The wedding took place in the Atocha cathedral, on the 29th of November, in great state, and was followed by splendid festivities. Queen Christina bore her husband two daughters before he died in 1885—Dona Mercedes, born on the 11th of September 1880, and Dona Maria Theresa, born on the 12th of November 1882. During her husband’s lifetime the young queen kept studiously apart from politics, so much so that her inexperience caused much anxiety in November 1885, when she was called upon to take the arduous duties of regent. During the long minority of the posthumous son of Alphonso XII., afterwards King Alphonso XIII., the Austrian queen-regent acted in a way that obliged even the adversaries of the throne and the dynasty to respect the mother and the woman. The people of Spain, and the ever-restless civil and military politicians, found that the gloved hand of their constitutional ruler was that of a strong-minded and tenacious regent, who often asserted herself in a way that surprised them much, but always, somehow, enforced obedience and respect. More could not be expected by a foreign ruler from a nation little prone to waste attachment or demonstrative loyalty upon anybody not Castilian born and bred.
CHRISTISON, SIR ROBERT, Bart. (1797-1882), Scottish toxicologist and physician, was born in Edinburgh on the 18th of July 1797. After graduating at the university of that city in 1819, he spent a short time in London, studying under JohnAbernethy and Sir William Lawrence, and in Paris, where he learnt analytical chemistry from P.J. Robiquet and toxicology from M.J.B. Orfila. In 1822 he returned to Edinburgh as professor of medical jurisprudence, and set to work to organize the study of his subject on a sound basis. On poisons in particular he speedily became a high authority; his well-known treatise on them was published in 1829, and in the course of his inquiries he did not hesitate to try such daring experiments on himself as taking large doses of Calabar bean. His attainments in medical jurisprudence and toxicology procured him the appointment, in 1829, of medical officer to the crown in Scotland, and from that time till 1866 he was called as a witness in many celebrated criminal cases. In 1832 he gave up the chair of medical jurisprudence and accepted that of medicine and therapeutics, which he held till 1877; at the same time he became professor of clinical medicine, and continued in that capacity till 1855. His fame as a toxicologist and medical jurist, together with his work on the pathology of the kidneys and on fevers, secured him a large private practice, and he succeeded to a fair share of the honours that commonly attend the successful physician, being appointed physician to Queen Victoria in 1848 and receiving a baronetcy in 1871. Among the books which he published were a treatise onGranular Degeneration of the Kidneys(1839), and aCommentary on the Pharmacopoeias of Great Britain(1842). Sir Robert Christison, who retained remarkable physical vigour and activity down to extreme old age, died at Edinburgh on the 23rd of January 1882.
See theLifeby his sons (1885-1886).
See theLifeby his sons (1885-1886).
CHRISTMAS(i.e.the Mass of Christ), in the Christian Church, the festival of the nativity of Jesus Christ. The history of this feast coheres so closely with that of Epiphany (q.v.), that what follows must be read in connexion with the article under that heading.
The earliest body of gospel tradition, represented by Mark no less than by the primitive non-Marcan document embodied in the first and third gospels, begins, not with the birth and childhood of Jesus, but with his baptism; and this order of accretion of gospel matter is faithfully reflected in the time order of the invention of feasts. The great church adopted Christmas much later than Epiphany; and before the 5th century there was no general consensus of opinion as to when it should come in the calendar, whether on the 6th of January, or the 25th of March, or the 25th of December.
The earliest identification of the 25th of December with the birthday of Christ is in a passage, otherwise unknown and probably spurious, of Theophilus of Antioch (A.D.171-183), preserved in Latin by the Magdeburg centuriators (i. 3, 118), to the effect that the Gauls contended that as they celebrated the birth of the Lord on the 25th of December, whatever day of the week it might be, so they ought to celebrate the Pascha on the 25th of March when the resurrection befell.
The next mention of the 25th of December is in Hippolytus’ (c. 202) commentary on Daniel iv. 23. Jesus, he says, was born at Bethlehem on the 25th of December, a Wednesday, in the forty-second year of Augustus. This passage also is almost certainly interpolated. In any case he mentions no feast, nor was such a feast congruous with the orthodox ideas of that age. As late as 245 Origen, in his eighth homily on Leviticus, repudiates as sinful the very idea of keeping the birthday of Christ “as if he were a king Pharaoh.” The first certain mention of Dec. 25 is in a Latin chronographer ofA.D.354, first published entire by Mommsen.1It runs thus in English: “Year 1 after Christ, in the consulate of Caesar and Paulus, the Lord Jesus Christ was born on the 25th of December, a Friday and 15th day of the new moon.” Here again no festal celebration of the day is attested.
There were, however, many speculations in the 2nd century about the date of Christ’s birth. Clement of Alexandria, towards its close, mentions several such, and condemns them as superstitions. Some chronologists, he says, alleged the birth to have occurred in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus, on the 25th of Pachon, the Egyptian month,i.e.the 20th of May. These were probably the Basilidian gnostics. Others set it on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi,i.e.the 19th or 20th of April. Clement himself sets it on the 17th of November, 3B.C.The author of a Latin tract, called theDe Pascha computus, written in Africa in 243, sets it by private revelation,ab ipso deo inspirati, on the 28th of March. He argues that the world was created perfect, flowers in bloom, and trees in leaf, therefore in spring; also at the equinox, and when the moon just created was full. Now the moon and sun were created on a Wednesday. The 28th of March suits all these considerations. Christ, therefore, being the Sun of Righteousness, was born on the 28th of March. The same symbolical reasoning led Polycarp2(before 160) to set his birth on Sunday, when the world’s creation began, but his baptism on Wednesday, for it was the analogue of the sun’s creation. On such grounds certain Latins as early as 354 may have transferred the human birthday from the 6th of January to the 25th of December, which was then a Mithraic feast and is by the chronographer above referred to, but in another part of his compilation, termedNatalis invicti solis, or birthday of the unconquered Sun. Cyprian (de orat. dom. 35) calls ChristSol verus, AmbroseSol novus noster(Sermo vii. 13), and such rhetoric was widespread. The Syrians and Armenians, who clung to the 6th of January, accused the Romans of sun-worship and idolatry, contending with great probability that the feast of the 25th of December had been invented by disciples of Cerinthus and its lections by Artemon to commemorate thenaturalbirth of Jesus. Chrysostom also testifies the 25th of December to have been from the beginning known in the West, from Thrace even as far as Gades. Ambrose,On Virgins, in. ch. 1, writing to his sister, implies that as late as the papacy of Liberius 352-356, the Birth from the Virgin was feasted together with the Marriage of Cana and the Banquet of the 4000 (Luke ix. 13), which were never feasted on any other day but Jan. 6.
Chrysostom, in a sermon preached at Antioch on Dec. 20, 386 or 388, says that some held the feast of Dec. 25 to have been held in the West, from Thrace as far as Cadiz, from the beginning. It certainly originated in the West, but spread quickly eastwards. In 353-361 it was observed at the court of Constantius. Basil of Caesarea (died 379) adopted it. Honorius, emperor (395-423) in the West, informed his mother and brother Arcadius (395-408) in Byzantium of how the new feast was kept in Rome, separate from the 6th of January, with its owntropariaandsticharia. They adopted it, and recommended it to Chrysostom, who had long been in favour of it. Epiphanius of Crete was won over to it, as were also the other three patriarchs, Theophilus of Alexandria, John of Jerusalem, Flavian of Antioch. This was under Pope Anastasius, 398-400. John or Wahan of Nice, in a letter printed by Combefis in hisHistoria monothelitarum, affords the above details. The new feast was communicated by Proclus, patriarch of Constantinople (434-446), to Sahak, Catholicos of Armenia, about 440. The letter was betrayed to the Persian king, who accused Sahak of Greek intrigues, and deposed him. However, the Armenians, at least those within the Byzantine pale, adopted it for about thirty years, but finally abandoned it together with the decrees of Chalcedon early in the 8th century. Many writers of the period 375-450,e.g.Epiphanius, Cassian, Asterius, Basil, Chrysostom and Jerome, contrast the new feast with that of the Baptism as that of the birthafter the flesh, from which we infer that the latter was generally regarded as a birth according to the Spirit. Instructive as showing that the new feast travelled from West eastwards is the fact (noticed by Usener) that in 387 the new feast was reckoned according to the Julian calendar by writers of the province of Asia, who in referring to other feasts use the reckoning of their local calendars. As early as 400 in Rome an imperial rescript includes Christmas among the three feasts (the others are Easter and Epiphany) on which theatres must be closed. Epiphany and Christmas were not made judicialnon diesuntil 534.
For some years in the West (as late as 353 in Rome) the birth feast was appended to the baptismal feast on the 6th of January, and in Jerusalem it altogether supplanted it from about 360 to 440, when Bishop Juvenal introduced the feast of the 25th of December. The new feast was about the same time (440) finally established in Alexandria. Thequadragesimaof Epiphany (i.e.the feast of the presentation in the Temple, orhupapantē) continued to be celebrated in Jerusalem on the 14th of February, forty days after the 6th of January, until the reign of Justinian. In most other places it had long before been put back to the 2nd of February to suit the new Christmas. Armenian historians describe the riots, and display of armed force, without which Justinian was not able in Jerusalem to transfer this feast from the 14th to the 2nd of February.
The grounds on which the Church introduced so late as 350-440 a Christmas feast till then unknown, or, if known, precariously linked with the baptism, seem in the main to have been the following. (1) The transition from adult to infant baptism was proceeding rapidly in the East, and in the West was well-nigh completed. Its natural complement was a festal recognition of the fact that the divine element was present in Christ from the first, and was no new stage of spiritual promotion coeval only with the descent of the Spirit upon him at baptism. The general adoption of child baptism helped to extinguish the old view that the divine life in Jesus dated from his baptism, a view which led the Epiphany feast to be regarded as that of Jesus’ spiritual rebirth. This aspect of the feast was therefore forgotten, and its importance in every way diminished by the new and rival feast of Christmas. (2) The 4th century witnessed a rapid diffusion of Marcionite, or, as it was now called, Manichaean propaganda, the chief tenet of which was that Jesus either was not born at all, was a mere phantasm, or anyhow did not take flesh of the Virgin Mary. Against this view the new Christmas was a protest, since it was peculiarly the feast of his birth in the flesh, or as a man, and is constantly spoken of as such by the fathers who witnessed its institution.
In Britain the 25th of December was a festival long before the conversion to Christianity, for Bede (De temp. rat.ch. 13) relates that “the ancient peoples of the Angli began the year on the 25th of December when we now celebrate the birthday of the Lord; and the very night which is now so holy to us, they called in their tonguemodranecht(môdra niht), that is, the mothers’ night, by reason we suspect of the ceremonies which in that night-long vigil they performed.” With his usual reticence about matters pagan or not orthodox, Bede abstains from recording who the mothers were and what the ceremonies. In 1644 the English puritans forbad any merriment or religious services by act of Parliament, on the ground that it was a heathen festival, and ordered it to be kept as a fast. Charles II. revived the feast, but the Scots adhered to the Puritan view.
Outside Teutonic countries Christmas presents are unknown. Their place is taken in Latin countries by thestrenae, Frenchétrennes, given on the 1st of January; this was in antiquity a great holiday, wherefore until late in the 4th century the Christians kept it as a day of fasting and gloom. The setting up in Latin churches of a Christmascrècheis said to have been originated by St Francis.
Authorities.—K.A.H. Kellner,Heortologie(Freiburg im Br., 1906), with Bibliography; Hospinianus,De festis Christianorum(Genevae, 1574); Edw. Martène,De Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus, iii. 31 (Bassani, 1788); J.C.W. Augusti,Christl. Archäologie, vols. i. and v. (Leipzig, 1817-1831); A.J. Binterim,Denkwürdigkeiten, v. pt. i. p. 528 (Mainz, 1825, &c.); Ernst Friedrich Wernsdorf,De originibus Solemnium Natalis Christi(Wittenberg, 1757, and in J.E. Volbeding,Thesaurus Commentationum, Lipsiae, 1847); Anton. Bynaeus,De Natali Jesu Christi(Amsterdam, 1689); Hermann Usener,Religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen(Bonn, 1889); Nik. Nilles, S.J.,Kalendarium Manuale(Innsbruck, 1896); L. Duchesne,Origines du culte chrétien(3e éd., Paris, 1889).
Authorities.—K.A.H. Kellner,Heortologie(Freiburg im Br., 1906), with Bibliography; Hospinianus,De festis Christianorum(Genevae, 1574); Edw. Martène,De Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus, iii. 31 (Bassani, 1788); J.C.W. Augusti,Christl. Archäologie, vols. i. and v. (Leipzig, 1817-1831); A.J. Binterim,Denkwürdigkeiten, v. pt. i. p. 528 (Mainz, 1825, &c.); Ernst Friedrich Wernsdorf,De originibus Solemnium Natalis Christi(Wittenberg, 1757, and in J.E. Volbeding,Thesaurus Commentationum, Lipsiae, 1847); Anton. Bynaeus,De Natali Jesu Christi(Amsterdam, 1689); Hermann Usener,Religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen(Bonn, 1889); Nik. Nilles, S.J.,Kalendarium Manuale(Innsbruck, 1896); L. Duchesne,Origines du culte chrétien(3e éd., Paris, 1889).
(F. C. C.)
1In theAbhandlungen der sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften(1850). Note that inA.D.1, Dec. 25 was a Sunday and not a Friday.2In a fragment preserved by an Armenian writer, Ananias of Shirak.
1In theAbhandlungen der sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften(1850). Note that inA.D.1, Dec. 25 was a Sunday and not a Friday.
2In a fragment preserved by an Armenian writer, Ananias of Shirak.
CHRISTMAS ISLAND, a British possession under the government of the Straits Settlements, situated in the eastern part of the Indian Ocean (in 10° 25′ S., 105° 42′ E.), about 190 m. S. of Java. The island is a quadrilateral with hollowed sides, about 12 m. in greatest length and 9 in extreme breadth. It is probably the only tropical island that had never been inhabited by man before the European settlement. When the first settlers arrived, in 1897, it was covered with a dense forest of great trees and luxuriant under-shrubbery. The settlement in Flying Fish Cove now numbers some 250 inhabitants, consisting of Europeans, Sikhs, Malays and Chinese, by whom roads have been cut and patches of cleared ground cultivated.
The island is the flat summit of a submarine mountain more than 15,000 ft. high, the depth of the platform from which it rises being about 14,000 ft., and its height above the sea being upwards of 1000 ft. The submarine slopes are steep, and within 20 m. of the shore the depth of the sea reaches 2400 fathoms. It consists of a central plateau descending to the water in three terraces, each with its “tread” and “rise.” The shore terrace descends by a steep cliff to the sea, forming the “rise” of a submarine “tread” in the form of fringing reef which surrounds the island and is never uncovered, even at low water, except in Flying Fish Cove, where the only landing-place exists. The central plateau is a plain whose surface presents “rounded, flat-topped hills and low ridges and reefs of limestone,” with narrow intervening valleys. On its northern aspect this plateau has a raised rim having all the appearances of being once the margin of an atoll. On these rounded hills occurs the deposit of phosphate of lime which gives the island its commercial value. The phosphatic deposit has doubtless been produced by the long-continued action of a thick bed of sea-fowl dung, which converted the carbonate of the underlying limestone into phosphate. The flat summit is formed by a succession of limestones—all deposited in shallow water—from the Eocene (or Oligocene) up to recent deposits in the above-mentioned atoll with islands on its reef. The geological sequence of events appears to have been the following:—After the deposition of the Eocene (or Oligocene) limestone—which reposes upon a floor of basalts and trachytes—basalts and basic tuffs were ejected, over which, during a period of very slow depression, orbitoidal limestones of Miocene age—which seem to make up the great mass of the island—were deposited; then elapsed a long period of rest, during which the atoll condition existed and the guano deposit was formed; from then down to the present time there has succeeded a series of sea-level subsidences, resulting in the formation of the terraces and the accummulation of the detritus now seen on the first inland cliff, the old submarine slope of the island. The occurrence of such a series of Tertiary deposits appears to be unknown elsewhere. The whole series was evidently deposited in shallow water on the summit of a submarine volcano standing in its present isolation, and round which the ocean floor has probably altered but a few hundred feet since the Eocene age. Thus although the rocks of the southern coast of Java in their general character and succession resemble those of Christmas Island, there lies between them an abysmal trough 18,000 ft. in depth, which renders it scarcely possible that they were deposited in a continuous area, for such an enormous depression of the sea-floor could hardly have occurred since Miocene times without involving also Christmas Island. One of the main purposes of the exploration was to obtain light on the question of the foundation of atolls.
The flora consists of 129 species of angiosperms, 1Cycas, 22 ferns, and a few mosses, lichens and fungi, 17 of which are endemic, while a considerable number—not specifically distinct—form local varieties nearly all presenting Indo-Malayan affinities, as do the singleCycas, the ferns and the cryptogams. As to its fauna, the island contains 319 species of animals—54 only being vertebrates—145 of which are endemic. A very remarkable distributional fact in regard to them, and one not yet fully explained, is that a large number show affinity with species in the Austro-Malayan rather than in the Indo-Malayan, their nearer, region. The ocean currents, the trade-winds blowing from the Australian mainland, and north-westerly storms from the Malayan islands, are no doubt responsible for the introduction of many, but not all, of these Malayan and Australasian species. The climate is healthy, the temperature varying from 75° to 84° F. The prevailing wind is the S.E. trade, whichblows the greater part of the year. The rainfall in the wet season is heavy, but not excessive, and during the dry season the ground is refreshed with occasional showers and heavy dews. Malarial fever is not prevalent, and it is interesting to note that there are no swamps or standing waters on the island.
It is not known when and by whom the island was discovered, but under the name ofMoniit appears on a Dutch chart of 1666. It was first visited in 1688 by Dampier, who found it uninhabited. In 1886 Captain Maclear of H.M.S. “Flying Fish,” having discovered an anchorage in a bay which he named Flying Fish Cove, landed a party and made a small but interesting collection of the flora and fauna. In the following year Captain Aldrich on H.M.S. “Egeria” visited it, accompanied by Mr J.J. Lister, F.R.S., who formed a larger biological and mineralogical collection. Among the rocks then obtained and submitted to Sir John Murray for examination there were detected specimens of nearly pure phosphate of lime, a discovery which eventually led, in June 1888, to the annexation of the island to the British crown. Soon afterwards a small settlement was established in Flying Fish Cove by Mr G. Clunies Ross, the owner of the Keeling Islands, which lie about 750 m. to the westward. In 1891 Mr Ross and Sir John Murray were granted a lease, but on the further discovery of phosphatic deposits they disposed of their rights in 1897 to a company. In the same year a thorough scientific exploration was made, at the cost of Sir John Murray, by Mr C.W. Andrews, of the British Museum.
See C.W. Andrews,A Monograph of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean), (London, 1900).
See C.W. Andrews,A Monograph of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean), (London, 1900).
CHRISTODORUS, of Coptos in Egypt, epic poet, flourished during the reign of Anastasius I. (A.D.491-518). According to Suidas, he was the author ofΠάτρια, accounts of the foundation of various cities;Λυδιακά, the mythical history of Lydia;Ίσαυρικά, the conquest of Isauria by Anastasius; three books of epigrams; and many other works. In addition to two epigrams (Anthol. Pal.vii. 697, 698) we possess a description of eighty statues of gods, heroes and famous men and women in the gymnasium of Zeuxippus at Constantinople. Thisἔκφρασις, consisting of 416 hexameters, forms the second book of the Palatine Anthology. The writer’s chief models are Homer and Nonnus, whom he follows closely in the structure of his hexameters. Opinions are divided as to the merits of the work. Some critics regard it as of great importance for the history of art and a model of description; others consider it valueless, alike from the historical, mythological and archaeological points of view.
See F. Baumgarten,De Christodoro poëta Thebano(1881), and his article in Pauly-Wissowa’sRealencyclopädie, iii. 2 (1899); W. Christ,Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur(1898).
See F. Baumgarten,De Christodoro poëta Thebano(1881), and his article in Pauly-Wissowa’sRealencyclopädie, iii. 2 (1899); W. Christ,Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur(1898).
CHRISTOPHER, SAINT(Christophorus, Christoferus), a saint honoured in the Roman Catholic (25th of July) and Orthodox Eastern (9th of May) Churches, the patron of ferrymen. Nothing that is authentic is known about him. He appears to have been originally a pagan and to have been born in Syria. He was baptized by Babylas, bishop of Antioch; preached with much success in Lycia; and was martyred aboutA.D.250 during the persecution under the emperor Decius.1Round this small nucleus of possibility, however, a vast mass of legendary matter gradually collected. All accounts agree that he was of great stature and singularly handsome, and that this helped him not a little in his evangelistic work. But according to a story reproduced in theNew Uniat Anthologyof Arcudius, and mentioned in Basil’sMonologue, Christopher was originally a hideous man-eating ogre, with a dog’s face, and only received his human semblance, with his Christian name, at baptism. Most of his astounding miracles are of the ordinary type. He thrusts his staff into the ground; whereupon it sprouts into a date palm, and thousands are converted. Courtesans sent to seduce him are turned by his mere aspect into Christians and martyrs. The Roman governor is confounded by his insensibility to the most refined and ingenious tortures. He is roasted over a slow fire and basted with boiling oil, but tells his tormentors that by the grace of Jesus Christ he feels nothing. When at last, in despair, they cut off his head, he had converted 48,000 people.
The more conspicuous of these legends are included in the MozarabicBreviaryandMissal, and are given in the thirty-third sermon of Peter Damien, but the best-known story is that which is given in theGolden Legendof Jacopus de Voragine. According to this, Christopher—or rather Reprobus, as he was then called—was a giant of vast stature who was in search of a man stronger than himself, whom he might serve. He left the service of the king of Canaan because the king feared the devil, and that of the devil because the devil feared the Cross. He was converted by a hermit; but as he had neither the gift of fasting nor that of prayer, he decided to devote himself to a work of charity, and set himself to carry wayfarers over a bridgeless river. One day a little child asked to be taken across, and Christopher took him on his shoulder. When half way over the stream he staggered under what seemed to him a crushing weight, but he reached the other side and then upbraided the child for placing him in peril. “Had I borne the whole world on my back,” he said, “it could not have weighed heavier than thou!” “Marvel not!” the child replied, “for thou hast borne upon thy back the world and him who created it!” It was this story that gave Christopher his immense popularity throughout Western Christendom.
See Bolland,Acta Sanct.vi. 146; Guenebault,Dict. iconographique des attributs des figures et des légendes des saints(Par., 1850); Smith and Wace,Dict. of Christ. Biog.(London, 1877, &c., 4 vols.); A. Sinemus,Die Legende vom h. Christophorus(Hanover, 1868); and other literature cited in Herzog-Hauck,Realencyk.iv. 60.
See Bolland,Acta Sanct.vi. 146; Guenebault,Dict. iconographique des attributs des figures et des légendes des saints(Par., 1850); Smith and Wace,Dict. of Christ. Biog.(London, 1877, &c., 4 vols.); A. Sinemus,Die Legende vom h. Christophorus(Hanover, 1868); and other literature cited in Herzog-Hauck,Realencyk.iv. 60.
1Or Dagnus—perhaps to be identified with Maximinus Daza, joint emperor (with Galerius) in the East 305-311, and sole emperor 311-313.
1Or Dagnus—perhaps to be identified with Maximinus Daza, joint emperor (with Galerius) in the East 305-311, and sole emperor 311-313.
CHRISTOPHORUS, pope or anti-pope, elected in 903 against Leo V., whom he threw into prison. In January 904 he was treated in the same fashion by his competitor, Sergius III., who had him strangled.
CHRISTOPOULOS, ATHANASIOS(1772-1847), Greek poet, was born at Castoria in Macedonia. He studied at Buda and Padua, and became teacher of the children of the Vlach prince Mourousi. After the fall of that prince in 1811, Christopoulos was employed by Prince Caradja, who had been appointed hospodar of Moldavia and Walachia, in drawing up a code of laws for that country. On the removal of Caradja, he retired into private life and devoted himself to literature. He wrote drinking songs and love ditties which are very popular among the Greeks. He is also the author of a tragedy, ofPolitika Parallela(a comparison of various systems of government), of translations of Homer and Herodotus, and of some philological works on the connexion between ancient and modern Greek.
HisHellenika Archaiologemata(Athens, 1853) contains an account of his life.
HisHellenika Archaiologemata(Athens, 1853) contains an account of his life.
CHRIST’S HOSPITAL(the “Blue-coat School”), a famous English educational and charitable foundation. It was originally one of three royal hospitals in the city of London, founded by Edward VI., who is said to have been inspired by a sermon of Bishop Ridley on charity. Christ’s hospital was specially devoted to fatherless and motherless children. The buildings of the monastery of Grey Friars, Newgate Street, were appropriated to it; liberal public subscription added to the king’s grant endowed it richly; and the mayor, commonalty and citizens of London were nominated its governors in its charter of 1553. At first Christ’s hospital shared a common fund with the two other hospitals of the foundation (Bridewell and St Thomas’s), but the three soon became independent. Not long after its opening Christ’s was providing home and education (or, in the case of the very young, nursing) for 400 children. The popular name of the Blue-coat school is derived from the dress of the boys—originally (almost from the time of the foundation) a blue gown, with knee-breeches, yellow petticoat and stockings, neck-bands and a blue cap. The petticoat and cap were given up in the middle of the 19th century, and thereafter no head-covering was worn. The buildings on the Newgate Street site underwent reconstruction from time to time, and in 1902 were vacated bythe school, which was moved to extensive new buildings at Horsham. The London buildings were subsequently taken down. The school at Horsham is conducted on the ordinary lines of a public school, and can accommodate over 800 boys. It includes a preparatory school for boys, established in 1683 at Hertford, where the buildings have been greatly enlarged for the use of the girls’ school on the same foundation. This was originally in Newgate Street, but was moved to Hertford in 1778. In the boys’ school the two highest classes retain their ancient names of Grecians and Deputy Grecians. Children were formerly admitted to the schools only on presentation. Admission is now (1) by presentation of donation governors (i.e.the royal family, and contributors of £500 or more to the funds), of the council of almoners (which administers the endowments), or of certain of the city companies; (2) by competition, on the nomination of a donation governor (for boys only), or from public elementary schools in London, certain city parishes and certain endowed schools elsewhere. The main school is divided into two parts—the Latin school, corresponding to the classical side in other schools, and the mathematical school or modern side. Large pension charities are administered by the governing body, and part of the income of the hospital (about £60,000 annually) is devoted to apprenticing boys and girls, to leaving exhibitions from the school, &c.
CHRISTY, HENRY(1810-1865), English ethnologist, was born at Kingston-on-Thames on the 26th of July 1810. He entered his father’s firm of hatters, in London, and later became a director of the London Joint-Stock Bank. In 1850 he started on a series of journeys, which interested him in ethnological studies. Encouraged by what he saw at the Great Exhibition of 1851, Christy devoted the rest of his life to perpetual travel and research, making extensive collections illustrating the early history of man, now in the British Museum. He travelled in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Mexico, British Columbia and other countries; but in 1858 came the opportunity which brought him fame. It was in that year that the discoveries by Boucher de Perthes of flint-implements in France and England were first held to have clearly proved the great antiquity of man. Christy joined the Geological Society, and in company with his friend Edouard Lartet explored the caves in the valley of the Vézère, a tributary of the Dordogne in the south of France. To his task Christy devoted money and time ungrudgingly, and an account of the explorations appeared inComptes rendus(Feb. 29th, 1864) andTransactions of the Ethnological Society of London(June 21st, 1864). He died, however, on the 4th of May 1865, of inflammation of the lungs supervening on a severe cold contracted during excavation work at La Palisse, leaving a half-finished book, entitledReliquiae Aquitanicae, being contributions to the Archaeology and Palaeontology of Perigord and the adjacent provinces of Southern France; this was issued in parts and completed at the expense of Christy’s executors, first by Lartet and, after his death in 1870, by Professor Rupert Jones. By his will Christy bequeathed his magnificent archaeological collection to the nation. In 1884 it found a home in the British Museum. Christy took an earnest part in many philanthropic movements of his time, especially identifying himself with the efforts to relieve the sufferers from the Irish famine of 1847.
CHROMATIC(Gr.χρωματικός, coloured, fromχρῶμα, colour), a term meaning “coloured,” chiefly used in science, particularly in the expression “chromatic aberration” or “dispersion” (seeAberration). In Greek musicχρωματικὴ μουσικήwas one of three divisions—diatonic, chromatic and enharmonic—of the tetrachord. Like the Latincolor,χρῶμαwas often used of ornaments and embellishments, and particularly of the modification of the threegeneraof the tetrachord. The chromatic, being subject to three such modifications, was regarded as particularly “coloured.” To the Greeks chromatic music was sweet and plaintive. From a supposed resemblance to the notes of the chromatic tetrachord, the term is applied to a succession of notes outside the diatonic scale, and marked by accidentals. A “chromatic scale” is thus a series of semi-tones, and is commonly written with sharps in ascending and flats descending. The most correct method is to write such accidentals as do not involve a change of key.
CHROMITE, a member of the spinel group of minerals; an oxide of chromium and ferrous iron, FeCr2O4. It is also known as chromic iron or as chrome-iron-ore, and is the chief commercial source of chromium and its compounds. It crystallizes in regular octahedra, but is usually found as grains or as granular to compact masses. In its iron-black colour with submetallic lustre and absence of cleavage it resembles magnetite (magnetic iron-ore) in appearance, but differs from this in being only slightly if at all magnetic and in the brown colour of its powder. The hardness is 5½; specific gravity 4.5. The theoretical formula FeCr2O4corresponds with chromic oxide (Cr2O3) 68%, and ferrous oxide 32%; the ferrous oxide is, however, usually partly replaced by magnesia, and the chromic oxide by alumina and ferric oxide, so that there may be a gradual passage to picotite or chromespinel. Much of the material mined as ore does not contain more than 40 to 50% of chromic oxide. In the form of isolated grains the mineral is a characteristic constituent of ultrabasic igneous rocks, namely the peridotites and the serpentines which have resulted from their alteration. It is also found under similar conditions in meteoric stones and irons. Often these rocks enclose large segregated masses of granular chromite. The earliest worked deposits were those in the serpentine of the Bare Hills near Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.; it was also formerly extensively mined in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and is now mined in California, as well as in Turkey, the Urals, Dun Mountain near Nelson in New Zealand, and Unst in the Shetlands.
Chrome-iron-ore is largely used in the preparation of chromium compounds for use as pigments (chrome-yellow, &c.) and in calico-printing; it is also used in the manufacture of chrome-steel.
(L. J. S.)
CHROMIUM(symbol Cr. atomic weight 52.1), one of the metallic chemical elements, the name being derived from the fine colour (Gr.χρῶμα) of its compounds. It is a member of the sixth group in the periodic classification of the elements, being included in the natural family of elements containing molybdenum, tungsten and uranium. The element is not found in the free state in nature, nor to any large extent in combination, occurring chiefly as chrome-ironstone, Cr2O3·FeO, and occasionally being found as crocoisite, PbCrO4, chrome-ochre, Cr2O3, and chrome-garnet, CaO·Cr2O3·3SiO2, while it is also the cause of the colour in serpentine, chrome-mica and the emerald. It was first investigated in 1789 by L.N. Vauquelin and Macquart, and in 1797 by Vauquelin, who found that the lead in crocoisite was in combination with an acid, which he recognized as the oxide of a new metal.
The metal can be obtained by various processes. Thus Sainte Claire Deville prepared it as a very hard substance of steel-grey colour, capable of taking a high polish, by strong ignition of chromic oxide and sugar charcoal in a lime crucible. F. Wöhler reduced the sesquioxide by zinc, and obtained a shining green powder of specific gravity 6.81, which tarnished in air and dissolved in hydrochloric acid and warm dilute sulphuric acid, but was unacted upon by concentrated nitric acid. H. Moissan (Comptes rendus, 1893, 116, p. 349; 1894, 119, p. 185) reduces the sesquioxide with carbon, in an electric furnace; the product so obtained (which contains carbon) is then strongly heated with lime, whereby most of the carbon is removed as calcium carbide, and the remainder by heating the purified product in a crucible lined with the double oxide of calcium and chromium. An easier process is that of H. Goldschmidt (Annalen, 1898, 301, p. 19) in which the oxide is reduced by metallic aluminium; and if care is taken to have excess of the sesquioxide of chromium present, the metal is obtained quite free from aluminium. The metal as obtained in this process is lustrous and takes a polish, does not melt in the oxyhydrogen flame, but liquefies in the electric arc, and is not affected by air at ordinary temperatures. Chromium as prepared by the Goldschmidt process is in a passive condition as regards dilute sulphuric acid and dilute hydrochloric acid at ordinary temperatures; but by heating the metal with the acid it passes into the active condition, the same effect being produced by heating the inactive form with a solution of an alkaline halide.W. Hittorf thinks that two allotropic forms of chromium exist (Zeit. für phys. Chem., 1898, 25, p. 729; 1899, 30, p. 481; 1900, 34, p. 385), namely active and inactive chromium; while W. Ostwald (ibid., 1900, 35, pp. 33, 204) has observed that on dissolving chromium in dilute acids, the rate of solution as measured by the evolution of gas is not continuous but periodic. It is largely made as ferro-chrome, an alloy containing about 60-70% of chromium, by reducing chromite in the electric furnace or by aluminium.
Chromium and its salts may be detected by the fact that they give a deep green bead when heated with borax, or that on fusion with sodium carbonate and nitre, a yellow mass of an alkaline chromate is obtained, which, on solution in water and acidification with acetic acid, gives a bright yellow precipitate on the addition of soluble lead salts. Sodium and potassium hydroxide solutions precipitate green chromium hydroxide from solutions of chromic salts; the precipitate is soluble in excess of the cold alkali, but is completely thrown down on boiling the solution. Chromic acid and its salts, the chromates and bichromates, can be detected by the violet coloration which they give on addition of hydrogen peroxide to their dilute acid solution, or by the fact that on distillation with concentrated sulphuric acid and an alkaline chloride, the red vapours of chromium oxychloride are produced. The yellow colour of normal chromates changes to red on the addition of an acid, but goes back again to yellow on making the solution alkaline. Normal chromates on the addition of silver nitrate give a red precipitate of silver chromate, easily soluble in ammonia, and with barium chloride a yellow precipitate of barium chromate, insoluble in acetic acid. Reducing agents, such as sulphurous acid and sulphuretted hydrogen, convert the chromates into chromic salts. Chromium in the form of its salts may be estimated quantitatively by precipitation from boiling solutions with a slight excess of ammonia, and boiling until the free ammonia is nearly all expelled. The precipitate obtained is filtered, well washed with hot water, dried and then ignited until the weight is constant. In the form of a chromate, it may be determined by precipitation, in acetic acid solution, with lead acetate; the lead chromate precipitate collected on a tared filter paper, well washed, dried at 100° C. and weighed; or the chromate may be reduced by means of sulphur dioxide to the condition of a chromic salt, the excess of sulphur dioxide expelled by boiling, and the estimation carried out as above.
The atomic weight of chromium has been determined by S.G. Rawson, by the conversion of pure ammonium bichromate into the trioxide (Journal of Chem. Soc., 1899, 55, p. 213), the mean value obtained being 52.06; and also by C. Meinecke, who estimated the amount of silver, chromium and oxygen in silver chromate, the amount of oxygen in potassium bichromate, and the amount of oxygen and chromium in ammonium bichromate (Ann., 1891, 261, p. 339), the mean value obtained being 51.99.
Chromium forms three series of compounds, namely the chromous salts corresponding to CrO, chromous oxide, chromic salts, corresponding to Cr2O3, chromium sesquioxide, and the chromates corresponding to CrO3, chromium trioxide or chromic anhydride. Chromium sesquioxide is a basic oxide, although like alumina it acts as an acid-forming oxide towards strong bases, forming salts called chromites. Various other oxides of chromium, intermediate in composition between the sesquioxide and trioxide, have been described, namely chromium dioxide, Cr2O3·CrO3, and the oxide CrO3·2Cr2O3.Chromous oxide, CrO, is unknown in the free state, but in the hydrated condition as CrO·H2O or Cr(OH)2it may be prepared by precipitating chromous chloride by a solution of potassium hydroxide in air-free water. The precipitate so obtained is a brown amorphous solid which readily oxidizes on exposure, and is decomposed by heat with liberation of hydrogen and formation of the sesquioxide. The sesquioxide, Cr2O3, occurs native, and can be artificially obtained in several different ways,e.g., by igniting the corresponding hydroxide, or chromium trioxide, or ammonium bichromate, or by passing the vapours of chromium oxychloride through a red-hot tube, or by ignition of mercurous chromate. In the amorphous state it is a dull green, almost infusible powder, but as obtained from chromium oxychloride it is deposited in the form of dark green hexagonal crystals of specific gravity 5.2. After ignition it becomes almost insoluble in acids, and on fusion with silicates it colours them green; consequently it is used as a pigment for colouring glass and china. By the fusion of potassium bichromate with boric acid, and extraction of the melt with water, a residue is left which possesses a fine green colour, and is used as a pigment under the name of Guignet’s green. In composition it approximates to Cr2O3·H2O, but it always contains more or less boron trioxide. Several forms of hydrated chromium sesquioxide are known; thus on precipitation of a chromic salt, free from alkali, by ammonia, a light blue precipitate is formed, which after drying over sulphuric acid, has the composition Cr2O3·7H2O, and this after being heated to 200° C. in a current of hydrogen leaves a residue of composition CrO·OH or Cr2O3·H2O which occurs naturally as chrome ochre. Other hydrated oxides such as Cr2O3·2H2O have also been described. Chromium trioxide, CrO3, is obtained by adding concentrated sulphuric acid to a cold saturated solution of potassium bichromate, when it separates in long red needles; the mother liquor is drained off and the crystals are washed with concentrated nitric acid, the excess of which is removed by means of a current of dry air. It is readily soluble in water, melts at 193° C., and is decomposed at a higher temperature into chromium sesquioxide and oxygen; it is a very powerful oxidizing agent, acting violently on alcohol, converting it into acetaldehyde, and in glacial acetic acid solution converting naphthalene and anthracene into the corresponding quinones. Heated with concentrated hydrochloric acid it liberates chlorine, and with sulphuric acid it liberates oxygen. Gaseous ammonia passed over the oxide reduces it to the sesquioxide with formation of nitrogen and water. Dissolved in hydrochloric acid at -20°, it yields with solutions of the alkaline chlorides compounds of the type MCl·CrOCl3, pointing to pentavalent chromium. For salts of this acid-forming oxide and for perchromic acid seeBichromates.The chromites may be looked upon as salts of chromium sesquioxide with other basic oxides, the most important being chromite (q.v.).Chromous chloride, CrCl2, is prepared by reducing chromic chloride in hydrogen; it forms white silky needles, which dissolve in water giving a deep blue solution, which rapidly absorbs oxygen, forming basic chromic salts, and acts as a very strong reducing agent. The bromide and iodide are formed in a similar manner by heating the metal in gaseous hydrobromic or hydriodic acids.Chromous sulphate, CrSO4·7H2O, isomorphous with ferrous sulphate, results on dissolving the metal in dilute sulphuric acid or, better, by dissolving chromous acetate in dilute sulphuric acid, when it separates in blue crystals on cooling the solution. On pouring a solution of chromous chloride into a saturated solution of sodium acetate, a red crystalline precipitate of chromous acetate is produced; this is much more permanent in air than the other chromous salts and consequently can be used for their preparation. Chromic salts are of a blue or violet colour, and apparently the chloride and bromide exist in a green and violet form.Chromic chloride, CrCl3, is obtained in the anhydrous form by igniting a mixture of the sesquioxide and carbon in a current of dry chlorine; it forms violet laminae almost insoluble in water, but dissolves rapidly in presence of a trace of chromous chloride; this action has been regarded as a catalytic action, it being assumed that the insoluble chromic chloride is first reduced by the chromous chloride to the chromous condition and the original chromous chloride converted into soluble chromic chloride, the newly formed chromous chloride then reacting with the insoluble chromic chloride. Solutions of chromic chloride in presence of excess of acid are green in colour. According to A. Werner, four hydrated chromium chlorides exist, namely the green and violet salts, CrCl3·6H2O, a hydrate, CrCl3·10H2O and one CrCl3·4H2O. The violet form gives a purple solution, and all its chlorine is precipitated by silver nitrate, the aqueous solution containing four ions, probably Cr(OH2)6and three chlorine ions. The green salt appears to dissociate in aqueous solution into two ions, namely CrCl2(OH2)4and one chlorine ion, since practically only one-third of the chlorine is precipitated by silver nitrate solution at 0° C. Two of the six water molecules are easily removed in a desiccator, and the salt formed, CrCl3·4H2O, resembles the original salt in properties, only one-third of the chlorine being precipitated by silver nitrate. In accordance with his theory of the constitution of salts Werner formulates the hexahydrate as CrCl2·(OH2)4·Cl·2H2O.Chromic bromide, CrBr3, is prepared in the anhydrous form by the same method as the chloride, and resembles it in its properties. The iodide is unknown.The fluoride, CrF3, results on passing hydrofluoric acid over the heated chloride, and sublimes in needles. The hydrated fluoride, CrF3·9H2O, obtained by adding ammonium fluoride to cold chromic sulphate solution, is sparingly soluble in water, and is decomposed by heat.Oxyhalogen derivatives of chromium are known, the oxychloride, CrO2Cl2, resulting on heating potassium bichromate and common salt with concentrated sulphuric acid. It distils over as a dark red liquid of boiling point 117° C., and is to be regarded as the acid chloride corresponding to chromic acid, CrO2(OH)2. It dissolves iodine and absorbs chlorine, and is decomposed by water with formation of chromic and hydrochloric acids; it takes fire in contact with sulphur, ammonia, alcohol, &c., and explodes in contact with phosphorus; it also acts as a powerful oxidizing agent. Heated in a closed tube at 180° C. it loses chlorine and leaves a black residue of trichromyl chloride, Cr3O6Cl2, which deliquesces on exposure to air.Analogous bromine and iodine compounds are unknown, since bromides and iodides on heating with potassium bichromate and concentrated sulphuric acid give free bromine or free iodine.The oxyfluoride, CrO2F2, is obtained in a similar manner to the oxychloride by using fluorspar in place of common salt. It may be condensed to a dark red liquid which is decomposed by moist air into chromic acid and chromic fluoride.The semi-acid chloride, CrO2·Cl·OH, chlorochromic acid, is only known in the form of its salts, the chlorochromates.Potassium chlorochromate, CrO2·Cl·OK, is produced when potassium bichromate is heated with concentrated hydrochloric acid and a little water, or from chromium oxychloride and saturated potassium chloride solution, when it separates as a red crystalline salt. By suspending it in ether and passing ammonia, potassium amidochromate, CrO2·NH2·OK, is obtained; on evaporating the ether solution, after it has stood for 24 hours, red prisms of the amidochromate separate; it is slowly decomposed by boiling water, and also by nitrous acid, with liberation of nitrogen.Chromic sulphide, Cr2S3, results on heating chromium and sulphur or on strongly heating the trioxide in a current of sulphuretted hydrogen; it forms a dark green crystalline powder, and on ignition gives the sesquioxide.Chromic sulphate, Cr2(SO4)3, is prepared by mixing the hydroxide with concentrated sulphuric acid and allowing the mixture to stand, a green solution is first formed which gradually changes to blue, and deposits violet-blue crystals, which are purified by dissolving in water and then precipitating with alcohol. It is soluble in cold water, giving a violet solution, which turns green on boiling. If the violet solution is allowed to evaporate slowly at ordinary temperatures the sulphate crystallizes out as Cr2(SO4)3·15H2O, but the green solution on evaporation leaves only an amorphous mass. Investigation has shown that the change is due to the splitting off of sulphuric acid during the process, and that green-coloured chrom-sulphuric acids are formed thus—2Cr2(SO4)3+ H2O = H2SO4+ [Cr4O·(SO4)4]SO4(violet) (green)since, on adding barium chloride to the green solution, only one-third of the total sulphuric acid is precipitated as barium sulphate, whence it follows that only one-third of the original SO4ions are present in the green solution. The green salt in aqueous solution, on standing, gradually passes back to the violet form. Several other complex chrom-sulphuric acids are known,e.g.[Cr2(SO4)4]H2; [Cr2(SO4)5]H4; [Cr2(SO4)6]H6(see A. Recoura,Annales de Chimie et de Physique, 1895 (7), 4, p. 505.)Chromic sulphate combines with the sulphates of the alkali metals to form double sulphates, which correspond to the alums. Chrome alum, K2SO4·Cr2(SO4)3·24H2O, is best prepared by passing sulphur dioxide through a solution of potassium bichromate containing the calculated quantity of sulphuric acid,K2Cr2O7+ 3SO2+ H2SO4= H2O + K2SO4+ Cr2(SO4)3.On evaporating the solution dark purple octahedra of the alum are obtained. It is easily soluble in warm water, the solution being of a dull blue tint, and is used in calico-printing, dyeing and tanning. Chromium ammonium sulphate, (NH4)2SO4·Cr2(SO4)3·24H2O, results on mixing equivalent quantities of chromic sulphate and ammonium sulphate in aqueous solution and allowing the mixture to crystallize. It forms red octahedra and is less soluble in water than the corresponding potassium compound. The salt CrClSO4·8H2O has been described. By passing ammonia over heated chromic chloride, the nitride, CrN, is formed as a brownish powder. By the action of concentrated sulphuric acid it is transformed into chromium ammonium sulphate.The nitrate, Cr(NO3)3·9H2O, crystallizes in purple prisms and results on dissolving the hydroxide in nitric acid, its solution turns green on boiling. A phosphide, PCr, is known; it burns in oxygen forming the phosphate. By adding sodium phosphate to an excess of chrome alum the violet phosphate, CrPO4·6H2O, is precipitated; on heating to 100° C. it loses water and turns green. A green precipitate, perhaps CrPO4·3H2O, is obtained on adding an excess of sodium phosphate to chromic chloride solution.Carbides of chromium are known; when the metal is heated in an electric furnace with excess of carbon, crystalline, C2Cr3, is formed; this scratches quartz and topaz, and the crystals are very resistant to the action of acids; CCr4has also been described (H. Moissan,Comptes rendus, 1894, 119, p. 185).Cyanogen compounds of chromium, analogous to those of iron, have been prepared; thus potassium chromocyanide, K4Cr(CN)6·2H2O, is formed from potassium cyanide and chromous acetate; on exposure to air it is converted into the chromicyanide, K3Cr(CN)6, which can also be prepared by adding chromic acetate solution to boiling potassium cyanide solution. Chromic thiocyanate, Cr(SCN)3, an amorphous deliquescent mass, is formed by dissolving the hydroxide in thiocyanic acid and drying over sulphuric acid. The double thiocyanate, Cr(SCN)3·3KCNS·4H2O, is also known.Chromium salts readily combine with ammonia to form complex salts in which the ammonia molecule is in direct combination with the chromium atom. In many of these salts one finds that the elements of water are frequently found in combination with the metal, and further, that the ammonia molecule may be replaced by such other molecular groups as -NO2, &c. Of the types studied the following may be mentioned: the diammine chromium thiocyanates, M[Cr(NH3)2·(SCN)4], the chloraquotetrammine chromic salts, R¹2[Cr(NH3)4·H2O·Cl], the aquopentammine or roseo-chromium salts, R¹3[Cr(NH3)5·H2O], the chlorpentammine or purpureo-chromium salts, R¹2[Cr(NH3)5·Cl], the nitrito pentammine or xanthochromium salts, R¹2[NO2·(NH3)5·Cr], the luteo or hexammine chromium salts, R¹3[(NH3)6·Cr], and the rhodochromium salts: where R¹ = a monovalent acid radical and M = a monovalent basic radical. For the preparation and properties of these salts and a discussion on their constitution the papers of S.F. Jörgensen and of A. Werner in theZeitschrift für anorganische Chemiefrom 1892 onwards should be consulted.P. Pfeiffer (Berichte, 1904, 37, p. 4255) has shown that chromium salts of the type [Cr{C2H4(NH2)2}2X2]X exist in two stereo-isomeric forms, namely, the cis- and trans- forms, the dithiocyan-diethylene-diamine-chromium salts being the trans- salts. Their configuration was determined by their relationship to their oxalo-derivatives; the cis-dichloro chloride, [CrC2H4(NH2)2Cl2]Cl·H2O, compound with potassium oxalate gave a carmine red crystalline complex salt, [Cr{C2H4(NH2)2}C2O4][CrC2H4(NH2)2·(C2O4)2]1½H2O, while from the trans-chloride a red complex salt is obtained containing the unaltered trans-dichloro group [CrC2H4(NH2)2·Cl2].
Chromium forms three series of compounds, namely the chromous salts corresponding to CrO, chromous oxide, chromic salts, corresponding to Cr2O3, chromium sesquioxide, and the chromates corresponding to CrO3, chromium trioxide or chromic anhydride. Chromium sesquioxide is a basic oxide, although like alumina it acts as an acid-forming oxide towards strong bases, forming salts called chromites. Various other oxides of chromium, intermediate in composition between the sesquioxide and trioxide, have been described, namely chromium dioxide, Cr2O3·CrO3, and the oxide CrO3·2Cr2O3.
Chromous oxide, CrO, is unknown in the free state, but in the hydrated condition as CrO·H2O or Cr(OH)2it may be prepared by precipitating chromous chloride by a solution of potassium hydroxide in air-free water. The precipitate so obtained is a brown amorphous solid which readily oxidizes on exposure, and is decomposed by heat with liberation of hydrogen and formation of the sesquioxide. The sesquioxide, Cr2O3, occurs native, and can be artificially obtained in several different ways,e.g., by igniting the corresponding hydroxide, or chromium trioxide, or ammonium bichromate, or by passing the vapours of chromium oxychloride through a red-hot tube, or by ignition of mercurous chromate. In the amorphous state it is a dull green, almost infusible powder, but as obtained from chromium oxychloride it is deposited in the form of dark green hexagonal crystals of specific gravity 5.2. After ignition it becomes almost insoluble in acids, and on fusion with silicates it colours them green; consequently it is used as a pigment for colouring glass and china. By the fusion of potassium bichromate with boric acid, and extraction of the melt with water, a residue is left which possesses a fine green colour, and is used as a pigment under the name of Guignet’s green. In composition it approximates to Cr2O3·H2O, but it always contains more or less boron trioxide. Several forms of hydrated chromium sesquioxide are known; thus on precipitation of a chromic salt, free from alkali, by ammonia, a light blue precipitate is formed, which after drying over sulphuric acid, has the composition Cr2O3·7H2O, and this after being heated to 200° C. in a current of hydrogen leaves a residue of composition CrO·OH or Cr2O3·H2O which occurs naturally as chrome ochre. Other hydrated oxides such as Cr2O3·2H2O have also been described. Chromium trioxide, CrO3, is obtained by adding concentrated sulphuric acid to a cold saturated solution of potassium bichromate, when it separates in long red needles; the mother liquor is drained off and the crystals are washed with concentrated nitric acid, the excess of which is removed by means of a current of dry air. It is readily soluble in water, melts at 193° C., and is decomposed at a higher temperature into chromium sesquioxide and oxygen; it is a very powerful oxidizing agent, acting violently on alcohol, converting it into acetaldehyde, and in glacial acetic acid solution converting naphthalene and anthracene into the corresponding quinones. Heated with concentrated hydrochloric acid it liberates chlorine, and with sulphuric acid it liberates oxygen. Gaseous ammonia passed over the oxide reduces it to the sesquioxide with formation of nitrogen and water. Dissolved in hydrochloric acid at -20°, it yields with solutions of the alkaline chlorides compounds of the type MCl·CrOCl3, pointing to pentavalent chromium. For salts of this acid-forming oxide and for perchromic acid seeBichromates.
The chromites may be looked upon as salts of chromium sesquioxide with other basic oxides, the most important being chromite (q.v.).
Chromous chloride, CrCl2, is prepared by reducing chromic chloride in hydrogen; it forms white silky needles, which dissolve in water giving a deep blue solution, which rapidly absorbs oxygen, forming basic chromic salts, and acts as a very strong reducing agent. The bromide and iodide are formed in a similar manner by heating the metal in gaseous hydrobromic or hydriodic acids.
Chromous sulphate, CrSO4·7H2O, isomorphous with ferrous sulphate, results on dissolving the metal in dilute sulphuric acid or, better, by dissolving chromous acetate in dilute sulphuric acid, when it separates in blue crystals on cooling the solution. On pouring a solution of chromous chloride into a saturated solution of sodium acetate, a red crystalline precipitate of chromous acetate is produced; this is much more permanent in air than the other chromous salts and consequently can be used for their preparation. Chromic salts are of a blue or violet colour, and apparently the chloride and bromide exist in a green and violet form.
Chromic chloride, CrCl3, is obtained in the anhydrous form by igniting a mixture of the sesquioxide and carbon in a current of dry chlorine; it forms violet laminae almost insoluble in water, but dissolves rapidly in presence of a trace of chromous chloride; this action has been regarded as a catalytic action, it being assumed that the insoluble chromic chloride is first reduced by the chromous chloride to the chromous condition and the original chromous chloride converted into soluble chromic chloride, the newly formed chromous chloride then reacting with the insoluble chromic chloride. Solutions of chromic chloride in presence of excess of acid are green in colour. According to A. Werner, four hydrated chromium chlorides exist, namely the green and violet salts, CrCl3·6H2O, a hydrate, CrCl3·10H2O and one CrCl3·4H2O. The violet form gives a purple solution, and all its chlorine is precipitated by silver nitrate, the aqueous solution containing four ions, probably Cr(OH2)6and three chlorine ions. The green salt appears to dissociate in aqueous solution into two ions, namely CrCl2(OH2)4and one chlorine ion, since practically only one-third of the chlorine is precipitated by silver nitrate solution at 0° C. Two of the six water molecules are easily removed in a desiccator, and the salt formed, CrCl3·4H2O, resembles the original salt in properties, only one-third of the chlorine being precipitated by silver nitrate. In accordance with his theory of the constitution of salts Werner formulates the hexahydrate as CrCl2·(OH2)4·Cl·2H2O.
Chromic bromide, CrBr3, is prepared in the anhydrous form by the same method as the chloride, and resembles it in its properties. The iodide is unknown.
The fluoride, CrF3, results on passing hydrofluoric acid over the heated chloride, and sublimes in needles. The hydrated fluoride, CrF3·9H2O, obtained by adding ammonium fluoride to cold chromic sulphate solution, is sparingly soluble in water, and is decomposed by heat.
Oxyhalogen derivatives of chromium are known, the oxychloride, CrO2Cl2, resulting on heating potassium bichromate and common salt with concentrated sulphuric acid. It distils over as a dark red liquid of boiling point 117° C., and is to be regarded as the acid chloride corresponding to chromic acid, CrO2(OH)2. It dissolves iodine and absorbs chlorine, and is decomposed by water with formation of chromic and hydrochloric acids; it takes fire in contact with sulphur, ammonia, alcohol, &c., and explodes in contact with phosphorus; it also acts as a powerful oxidizing agent. Heated in a closed tube at 180° C. it loses chlorine and leaves a black residue of trichromyl chloride, Cr3O6Cl2, which deliquesces on exposure to air.Analogous bromine and iodine compounds are unknown, since bromides and iodides on heating with potassium bichromate and concentrated sulphuric acid give free bromine or free iodine.
The oxyfluoride, CrO2F2, is obtained in a similar manner to the oxychloride by using fluorspar in place of common salt. It may be condensed to a dark red liquid which is decomposed by moist air into chromic acid and chromic fluoride.
The semi-acid chloride, CrO2·Cl·OH, chlorochromic acid, is only known in the form of its salts, the chlorochromates.
Potassium chlorochromate, CrO2·Cl·OK, is produced when potassium bichromate is heated with concentrated hydrochloric acid and a little water, or from chromium oxychloride and saturated potassium chloride solution, when it separates as a red crystalline salt. By suspending it in ether and passing ammonia, potassium amidochromate, CrO2·NH2·OK, is obtained; on evaporating the ether solution, after it has stood for 24 hours, red prisms of the amidochromate separate; it is slowly decomposed by boiling water, and also by nitrous acid, with liberation of nitrogen.
Chromic sulphide, Cr2S3, results on heating chromium and sulphur or on strongly heating the trioxide in a current of sulphuretted hydrogen; it forms a dark green crystalline powder, and on ignition gives the sesquioxide.
Chromic sulphate, Cr2(SO4)3, is prepared by mixing the hydroxide with concentrated sulphuric acid and allowing the mixture to stand, a green solution is first formed which gradually changes to blue, and deposits violet-blue crystals, which are purified by dissolving in water and then precipitating with alcohol. It is soluble in cold water, giving a violet solution, which turns green on boiling. If the violet solution is allowed to evaporate slowly at ordinary temperatures the sulphate crystallizes out as Cr2(SO4)3·15H2O, but the green solution on evaporation leaves only an amorphous mass. Investigation has shown that the change is due to the splitting off of sulphuric acid during the process, and that green-coloured chrom-sulphuric acids are formed thus—
2Cr2(SO4)3+ H2O = H2SO4+ [Cr4O·(SO4)4]SO4(violet) (green)
2Cr2(SO4)3+ H2O = H2SO4+ [Cr4O·(SO4)4]SO4
(violet) (green)
since, on adding barium chloride to the green solution, only one-third of the total sulphuric acid is precipitated as barium sulphate, whence it follows that only one-third of the original SO4ions are present in the green solution. The green salt in aqueous solution, on standing, gradually passes back to the violet form. Several other complex chrom-sulphuric acids are known,e.g.
[Cr2(SO4)4]H2; [Cr2(SO4)5]H4; [Cr2(SO4)6]H6
(see A. Recoura,Annales de Chimie et de Physique, 1895 (7), 4, p. 505.)
Chromic sulphate combines with the sulphates of the alkali metals to form double sulphates, which correspond to the alums. Chrome alum, K2SO4·Cr2(SO4)3·24H2O, is best prepared by passing sulphur dioxide through a solution of potassium bichromate containing the calculated quantity of sulphuric acid,
K2Cr2O7+ 3SO2+ H2SO4= H2O + K2SO4+ Cr2(SO4)3.
On evaporating the solution dark purple octahedra of the alum are obtained. It is easily soluble in warm water, the solution being of a dull blue tint, and is used in calico-printing, dyeing and tanning. Chromium ammonium sulphate, (NH4)2SO4·Cr2(SO4)3·24H2O, results on mixing equivalent quantities of chromic sulphate and ammonium sulphate in aqueous solution and allowing the mixture to crystallize. It forms red octahedra and is less soluble in water than the corresponding potassium compound. The salt CrClSO4·8H2O has been described. By passing ammonia over heated chromic chloride, the nitride, CrN, is formed as a brownish powder. By the action of concentrated sulphuric acid it is transformed into chromium ammonium sulphate.
The nitrate, Cr(NO3)3·9H2O, crystallizes in purple prisms and results on dissolving the hydroxide in nitric acid, its solution turns green on boiling. A phosphide, PCr, is known; it burns in oxygen forming the phosphate. By adding sodium phosphate to an excess of chrome alum the violet phosphate, CrPO4·6H2O, is precipitated; on heating to 100° C. it loses water and turns green. A green precipitate, perhaps CrPO4·3H2O, is obtained on adding an excess of sodium phosphate to chromic chloride solution.
Carbides of chromium are known; when the metal is heated in an electric furnace with excess of carbon, crystalline, C2Cr3, is formed; this scratches quartz and topaz, and the crystals are very resistant to the action of acids; CCr4has also been described (H. Moissan,Comptes rendus, 1894, 119, p. 185).
Cyanogen compounds of chromium, analogous to those of iron, have been prepared; thus potassium chromocyanide, K4Cr(CN)6·2H2O, is formed from potassium cyanide and chromous acetate; on exposure to air it is converted into the chromicyanide, K3Cr(CN)6, which can also be prepared by adding chromic acetate solution to boiling potassium cyanide solution. Chromic thiocyanate, Cr(SCN)3, an amorphous deliquescent mass, is formed by dissolving the hydroxide in thiocyanic acid and drying over sulphuric acid. The double thiocyanate, Cr(SCN)3·3KCNS·4H2O, is also known.
Chromium salts readily combine with ammonia to form complex salts in which the ammonia molecule is in direct combination with the chromium atom. In many of these salts one finds that the elements of water are frequently found in combination with the metal, and further, that the ammonia molecule may be replaced by such other molecular groups as -NO2, &c. Of the types studied the following may be mentioned: the diammine chromium thiocyanates, M[Cr(NH3)2·(SCN)4], the chloraquotetrammine chromic salts, R¹2[Cr(NH3)4·H2O·Cl], the aquopentammine or roseo-chromium salts, R¹3[Cr(NH3)5·H2O], the chlorpentammine or purpureo-chromium salts, R¹2[Cr(NH3)5·Cl], the nitrito pentammine or xanthochromium salts, R¹2[NO2·(NH3)5·Cr], the luteo or hexammine chromium salts, R¹3[(NH3)6·Cr], and the rhodochromium salts: where R¹ = a monovalent acid radical and M = a monovalent basic radical. For the preparation and properties of these salts and a discussion on their constitution the papers of S.F. Jörgensen and of A. Werner in theZeitschrift für anorganische Chemiefrom 1892 onwards should be consulted.
P. Pfeiffer (Berichte, 1904, 37, p. 4255) has shown that chromium salts of the type [Cr{C2H4(NH2)2}2X2]X exist in two stereo-isomeric forms, namely, the cis- and trans- forms, the dithiocyan-diethylene-diamine-chromium salts being the trans- salts. Their configuration was determined by their relationship to their oxalo-derivatives; the cis-dichloro chloride, [CrC2H4(NH2)2Cl2]Cl·H2O, compound with potassium oxalate gave a carmine red crystalline complex salt, [Cr{C2H4(NH2)2}C2O4][CrC2H4(NH2)2·(C2O4)2]1½H2O, while from the trans-chloride a red complex salt is obtained containing the unaltered trans-dichloro group [CrC2H4(NH2)2·Cl2].
CHROMOSPHERE(from Gr.χρῶμα, colour, andσφαῖρα, a sphere), in astronomy, the red-coloured envelope of the sun, outside of the photosphere. It can be seen with the eye at the beginning or ending of a total eclipse of the sun, and with a suitable spectroscope at any time under favourable conditions. (SeeSunandEclipse.)
CHRONICLE(from Gr.χρόνος, time). The historical works written in the middle ages are variously designated by the terms “histories,” “annals,” or “chronicles”; it is difficult, however, to give an exact definition of each of these terms, since they do not correspond to determinate classes of writings. The definitions proposed by A. Giry (inLa Grande Encyclopédie), by Ch. V. Langlois (in theManuel de bibliographie historique), and by E. Bernheim (in theLehrbuch der historischen Methode), are manifestly insufficient. Perhaps the most reasonable is that propounded by H.F. Delaborde at the École des Chartes, that chronicles are accounts of a universal character, while annals relate either to a locality, or to a religious community, or even to a whole people, but without attempting to treat of all periods or all peoples. The primitive type, he says, was furnished by Eusebius of Caesarea, who wrote (c. 303) a chronicle in Greek, which was soon translated into Latin and frequently recopied throughout the middle ages; in the form of synoptic and synchronistic tables it embraced the history of the world, both Jewish and Christian, since the Creation. This ingenious opinion, however, is only partially exact, for it is certain that the medieval authors or scribes were not conscious of any well-marked distinction between annals and chronicles; indeed, they often apparently employed the terms indiscriminately.
Whether or not a distinction can be made, chronicles and annals (q.v.) have points of great similarity. Chronicles are accounts generally of an impersonal character, and often anonymous, composed in varying proportions of passages reproduced textually from sources which the chronicler is seldom at pains to indicate, and of personal recollections the veracity of which remains to be determined. Some of them are written with so little intelligence and spirit that one is led to regard the work of composition as a piece of drudgery imposed on the clergy and monks by their superiors. To distinguish what is original from what is borrowed, to separate fact from falsehood, and to establish the value of each piece of evidence, are in such circumstances a difficult undertaking, and one which has exercised the sagacity of scholars, especially since the 17th century. The work, moreover, is immense, by reason of the enormous number of medieval chronicles, both Christian and Mahommedan.
The Christian chronicles were first written in the two learned languages, Greek and Latin. At an early stage we have proof of the employment of national languages, the most famous instances being found at the two extremities of Europe, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (q.v.), the most ancient form of which goes back to the 10th century, and the so-called Chronicle of Nestor, in Palaeo-Slavonic, written in the 11th and 12th centuries.In the 13th and 14th centuries the number of chronicles written in the vulgar tongue continued to increase, at least in continental Europe, which far outpaced England in this respect. From the 15th century, with the revived study of Greek and Roman literature, the traditional form of chronicles, as well as of annals, tended to disappear and to be replaced by another and more scientific form, based on the models of antiquity—that of the historical composition combining skilful arrangement with elegance of literary style. The transition, however, was very gradual, and it was not until the 17th century that the traditional form became practically extinct.