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and other creeping plants, fasten themselves to any thing nearthem.

CAPREOLUS, in anatomy, the helix, or outer ambit of theear. See Anatomy.

CAPRI, an island at the entrance of the Gulf of Naples , an-ciently called Ciaprea, live miles long, and two broad.

CAPRICORN, in astronomy, one of the twelve signs of thezodiac, represented in globes, in the form of a goat, and charac-terised in books by this mark Vj’. See Astronomy. 'Phis signis represented on ancient monuments, medals, Ac . as having thefore part of a goat and the hind part of a fidi, which is theform of an JEgipan; sometimes simply under the form of agoat.

Capricorn, 'Iropic of, a less circle of the sphere, whichis parallel to the equinoctial, and at 23" 2b' distance from it south-wards ; passing through the beginning of Capricorn. See As-tronomy.

CAPRIFICATION, a method used in the Levant , for ripen-ing the fruit of the domestic fig-tree, by means of insects bred inthat of the wild fig-tree.

GAPRIFICUS, in botany, the wild Fig-Tree ; which Mr. LeeSays, has chiefly or only male flowers. See Ficus .

CAPR1FOLIUM, in botany, a synonime used by Tournefort ,for the honey-suckle. See Lonicera .

CAPRIMULGUS, the Goat-Sucker, or Fern-Owl, a genus ofthe class aves, order passeres. Beak incurvated, small, taper-ing, and depressed at the base ; mouth opens very wide ; nostrilstubular; tongue entire at the end and small; tail of ten feathers,and not forked ; legs siiort; toes united as far as the first joint bya membrane ; middle claw with a broad serrate edge. Nineteenspecies. The birds of this genus, unless disturbed, or in cloudyand gloomy weather, seldom make their appearance by day, butby night are-active and alert in the pursuit of insects, which con-stitute their food. The female deposits only two eggs, and on thebare ground.

C. Europseus, or the European Goat-Sucker. This is theonly species met with in Europe , in every part of which it maybe found, though no where abundantly, and it is never observedto unite in companies. Being migratory, it arrives in England intl.av, and quits it in September. It is a mortal enemy to variousbisects, and particularly to cockchafers, six of which, besides foureery large moths, have been found in its stomach. The glare ofday is overpowering to its sight, which is clearest by twilight. SeePlate XXXVIII. '

CAPRIOLE, in horsemanship, are leaps, such as a horsemakes in one and the same place, without advancing forwards,and in such a manner, that when he is in the air, and heightof his leap, lie yerks or strikes out with his hinder legs even andnear.

CAPSA, in ancient geography, a large and strong town of Nu-midia, situated amidst vast departs, waste, uncultivated, and full ofserpents. Lon. 9. 3. E. Lat. 33. 15. N.

CAPSICUM, in botany, Guinea Pepper, a genus of the mo-Jiogynia order, and pentrandria class ; natural order, Lurida'. Co-rolla verticillated ; fruit a sapless berry. It has twenty species.

C. Annuum, with oblong fruit, the common long-podded cap-sicum, commonly cultivated in the gardens, rising about two feethigh. Of this there is one variety witli red, and another withyllo-.v fruit; and of these there are several subvarieties, differingunly in the size and figure of their fruit.

C. Cerasiforme, with a round smooth fruit, doth not growso tall as the other sorts, but spreads near the ground ; the leavescome out in clusters, are of a shining green, and stand on longfootstalks. The fruit is of a beautiful red, and of the size of acherry.

CAPsQUARES, strong plates of iron which cover the trun-nions of a gun, and keep it in the carriage.

CAPSTAN, a large mas-y column, shaped like a truncatedcone, and placed perpendicularly on the deck of a ship, and turn-ed by levers, or bars, which pass through holes pierced in its up-per extremity; serving, by means of a cable which winds roundthe barrel, to draw up burdens fastened to the end of the cable.See Piute XXXVI. The power of the capstan is reducible totiiat of the axis in perilrochio. De Camus considers the capstanas a perpetual lever. By it vessels are drawn ashore, and hoistedup to be redded ; sails hoisted, Ac . There are commonly two

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capstans in a ship of war: the main capstan placed behind themain mast, standing on the first deck, and reaching four or live,feet above the second ; this is also called double capstan, becauseit has tw'O drum-heads, and serves two decks for drawing anchors ;and because its force may be doubled by applying hands on eachdeck. It has bars, whelps, Ac . for turning and stopping it; seefig. 15. The jeer capstan, or little capstan, stands on the seconddeck, betw een the main mast and the mizen : its use is chiefly, toheave upon the jeer-rope, or to heave upon the viol, to hold offhv, when the anchor is weighed ; and on other occasions where aless force is required than to weigh the anchors, Ac . See fig. 14.The French call that an English capstan where there are only halfbars used; and which, for that reason, is only half perforated:this is thicker than the others. There is also" a flying capstan,which mav be moved from place to place. The parts ol a capstanare, the foot, (fig. 14,) the spmdle, the smallest part of whichturns round in an iron socket, called the saucer: the whelps,a sort of brackets set into the body of the capstan close under thebars, and reaching downwards fioin the lower paid of the drum-head to the deck ; the barrel, which is the main body of the whole :the drum-head, a broad cyliudric piece of wood fixed abovethe barrel and whelps, in which are the holes for the barsto be put into: the bars are small pieces of timber by which themen heave: the pins, are little bolts of the iron, thrust perpen-dicularly through the holes of the drum-head, and through a cor-responding hole in the end of the bar, made to receive them whenthe bars are fixed: the pawls are pieces of iron bolted to one endof flic beams of the deck, close to the body of the capstan, bul soas that it has liberty to turn about every way, and against them dothe whelps of the capstan bear: so as that by them the capstanmay be stopped from turning back. There are also hangingpawls, which reach, as. in tig. 15, from the deck above the drum-head immediately beneath it. The sw ifter is a rope passed hori-zontally through holes in the outer ends of the bars and drawntight, to keep the men steady whilst they work, and afford roomfor a greater number to work at once. Formerly the bars of thecapstan went entirely through the head of it, and consequent!ywere more than double the length of the present ones ; the holeswere therefore formed at diiierent heights, as represented in fig.1(5. But this machine had several inconveniences, and has longbeen entirely disused in the navy. Some of this sort of capstans,however, are still retained in merchant ships, and are usuallydenominated crabs, 'ihe situation of the bars in a crab, as readyfor heaving, is represented in Fig. 17.

CAPSULiE ATRABIL1 ABLE, called also glandul* rcnales,and relies succenturiati, are two yellowish glands of a compressedfigure, lying on each side of the upper part of the kSdneys. SeeAnatomy.

CAPSULE, (Catsula) among botanists, a species of pericar-pium, or seed-vessel, composed of several dry elastic valves,which usually burst open at the points when the seeds are ripe;it dillers from a pod in being roundish and short. This kind ofpcricarpium sometimes contains one cell or cavity, sometimes more:in the first case it is calltd unilocular, as it is bilocular, triloeular,Ac. when it contains two, three, Ac . cells or cavities. SeeBotany . •

CAP TAIN, [ capituueus , Lat.] being one of those who, bytenure in capite, were obliged to bring soldiers to the war,] a mi-litary officer, whereof there are various kinds, according to theircommands.

Captain of a 'Troop or Company, an inferior officer,who commands a troop of horse, or company of foot, under a co-lonel. In the same sense we say, captain of dragoons, of grena-diers, of marines, of invalids, Ac .

Captain General, he who commands in chief.

Captain Lieutenant, he who with the rank of captain, butthe pay of lieutenant, commands a troop or company in the nameand place of some other person who is dispensed with on accountof his quality from performing the functions of his post. Thus thecolonel, being u.ually captain of the first company of his regi-ment ; that company is commanded by his deputy, under thetitle of captain-lieutenant. So in England, as welt as in France ,the king, queen, dauphin, princes, &c. have usually the title ofcaptains of the guards, gens'd’arms, Ac . the real duty of whichoflt«es is performed by captain-lieutenants.

Captain neformec, one who, upon the reduction of the9 forces,