Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Chicago, University of" to "Chiton" Volume 6, Slice 2

Part 51

Chapter 513,473 wordsPublic domain

Chippenham (_Chepeham, Chippeham_) was the site of a royal residence where in 853 Æthelwulf celebrated the marriage of his daughter Æthelswitha with Burhred, king of Mercia. The town also figured prominently in the Danish invasion of the 9th century, and in 933 was the meeting-place of the witan. In the Domesday Survey Chippenham appears as a crown manor and is not assessed in hides. The town was governed by a bailiff in the reign of Edward I., and returned two members to parliament from 1295, but it was not incorporated until 1553, when a charter from Mary established a bailiff and twelve burgesses and endowed the corporation with certain lands for the maintenance of two parliamentary burgesses and for the repair of the bridge over the Avon. In 1684 this charter was surrendered to Charles II., and in 1685 a new charter was received from James II., which was shortly abandoned in favour of the original grant. The Representation Act of 1868 reduced the number of parliamentary representatives to one, and the borough was disfranchised by the Redistribution Act of 1885. The derivation of Chippenham from _cyppan_, to buy, implies that the town possessed a market in Saxon times. When Henry VII. introduced the clothing manufacture into Wiltshire, Chippenham became an important centre of the industry, which has lapsed. A prize, however, was awarded to the town for this commodity at the Great Exhibition of 1851.

CHIPPEWA[1] FALLS, a city and the county-seat of Chippewa county, Wisconsin, U.S.A., on the Chippewa river, about 100 m. E. of St Paul, Minnesota, and 12 m. N.E. of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Pop. (1890) 8670; (1900) 8094; (1910, census) 8893. It is served by the Minneapolis, St Paul & Sault Ste Marie, the Chicago & North-Western, and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul railways, and by the electric line to Eau Claire. The first settlement on the site was made in 1837; and the city was chartered in 1870.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] For the Chippewa Indians see OJIBWAY, of which the word is a popular adaptation.

CHIPPING CAMPDEN, a market town in the northern parliamentary division of Gloucestershire, England, on the Oxford and Worcester line of the Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 1542. It is picturesquely situated towards the north of the Cotteswold hill-district. The many interesting ancient houses afford evidence of the former greater importance of the town. The church of St James is mainly Perpendicular, and contains a number of brasses of the 15th and 16th centuries and several notable monumental tombs. A ruined manor house of the 16th century and some almshouses complete, with the church, a picturesque group of buildings; and Campden House, also of the 16th century, deserves notice.

Apart from a medieval tradition preserved by Robert de Brunne that it was the meeting-place of a conference of Saxon kings, the earliest record of Campden (_Campedene_) is in Domesday Book, when Earl Hugh is said to hold it, and to have there fifty villeins. The number shows that a large village was attached to the manor, which in 1173 passed to Hugh de Gondeville, and about 1204 to Ralph, earl of Chester. The borough must have grown up during the 12th century, for both these lords granted the burgesses charters which are known from a confirmation of 1247, granting that they and all who should come to the market of Campedene should be quit of toll, and that if any free burgess of Campedene should come into the lord's amerciament he should be quit for 12d. unless he should shed blood or do felony. Probably Earl Ralph also granted the town a portman-mote, for the account of a skirmish in 1273 between the men of the town and the county mentions a bailiff and implies the existence of some sort of municipal government. In 1605 Campedene was incorporated, but it never returned representatives to parliament. Camden speaks of the town as a market famous for stockings, a relic of that medieval importance as a mart for wool that had given the town the name of Chipping.

CHIPPING NORTON, a market town and municipal borough in the Banbury parliamentary division of Oxfordshire, England, 26 m. N.W. of Oxford by a branch of the Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 3780. It lies on the steep flank of a hill, and consists mainly of one very wide street. The church of St Mary the Virgin, standing on the lower part of the slope, is a fine building of the Decorated and Perpendicular periods, the hexagonal porch and the clerestory being good examples of the later style. The town has woollen and glove factories, breweries and an agricultural trade. It is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 2456 acres. Chipping Norton (_Chepyngnorton_) was probably of some importance in Saxon times. At the Domesday Survey it was held in chief by Ernulf de Hesding; it was assessed at fifteen hides, and comprised three mills. It returned two members to parliament as a borough in 1302 and 1304-1305, but was not represented after this date, and was not considered to be a borough in 1316. The first and only charter of incorporation was granted by James I., in 1608; it established a common council consisting of 2 bailiffs and 12 burgesses; a common clerk, 2 justices of the peace, and 2 serjeants-at-mace; and a court of record every Monday. In 1205 William Fitz-Alan was granted a four days' fair at the feast of the Invention of the Cross; and in 1276 Roger, earl of March, was granted a four days' fair at the feast of St Barnabas. In the reign of Henry VI. the market was held on Wednesday, and a fair was held at the Translation of St Thomas Becket. These continued to be held in the reign of James I., who annulled the former two fairs, and granted fairs at the feasts of St Mark, St Matthew, St Bartholomew, and SS. Simon and Jude.

CHIQUITOS (Span, "very small"), a group of tribes in the province of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, and between the head waters of the rivers Mamoré and Itenez. When their country was first invaded they fled into the forests, and the Spaniards, coming upon their huts, the doorways of which are built excessively low, supposed them to be dwarfs: hence the name. They are in fact well formed and powerful, of middle height and of an olive complexion. They are an agricultural people, but made a gallant resistance to the Spaniards for nearly two centuries. In 1691, however, they made the Jesuit missionaries welcome, and rapidly became civilized. The Chiquito language was adopted as the means of communication among the converts, who soon numbered 50,000, representing nearly fifty tribes. Upon the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 the Chiquitos became decadent, and now number short of 20,000. Their houses, regularly ranged in streets, are built of adobes thatched with coarse grass. They manufacture copper boilers for making sugar and understand several trades, weave ponchos and hammocks and make straw hats. They are fond of singing and dancing, and are a gentle-mannered and hospitable folk. The group is now divided into forty tribes.

CHIROMANCY (from Gr. [Greek: cheir], hand, and [Greek: manteia], divination), the art of telling the character or fortune of persons by studying the lines of the palms of the hands (see PALMISTRY).

CHIRON, or CHEIRON, in Greek mythology, one of the Centaurs, the son of Cronus and Philyra, a sea nymph. He dwelt at the foot of Mount Pelion, and was famous for his wisdom and knowledge of the healing art. He offers a remarkable contrast to the other Centaurs in manners and character. Many of the most celebrated heroes of Greece were brought up and instructed by him (Apollodorus iii. 10. 13). Accidentally pierced by a poisoned arrow shot by Heracles, he renounced his immortality in favour of Prometheus, and was placed by Zeus among the stars as the constellation _Sagittarius_ (Apollodorus ii. 5; Ovid, _Fasti_, v. 414). In a Pompeian wall-painting he is shown teaching Achilles to play the lyre.

See articles in Pauly-Wissowa's _Realencyclopädie_ and W.H. Roscher's _Lexikon der Mythologie_; W. Mannhardt, _Wald- und Feldkulte_ (1904).

CHIROPODIST (an invented word from Gr. [Greek: cheir], hand, and [Greek: pous], foot), properly one who treats the ailments of the hands and feet, or is consulted as to keeping them in good condition; the use of the word is now restricted, however, to the care of the toes, "manicurist" having been invented for the corresponding attentions to the fingers. The word was first introduced in 1785, by a "corncutter" in Davies Street, London.

CHIROPTERA (Greek for "hand-wings"), an order of mammals containing the bats, all of which are unique in the class in possessing the power of true flight, and have their fore-limbs specially modified for this purpose.

The mammals comprised in this order are at once distinguished by the possession of true wings; this peculiarity being accompanied by other modifications of bodily structure having relation to aerial locomotion. Thus, in direct contrast to all other mammals, in which locomotion is chiefly effected by action from behind, and the hind-limbs consequently greatly preponderate in size over the fore, in the Chiroptera the fore-limbs, being the agents in propelling the body forward during flight, immensely exceed the short and weak hinder extremities. The thorax, giving origin to the great muscles which sustain flight, and containing the proportionately large lungs and heart, is remarkably capacious; and the ribs are flattened and close together; while the shoulder-girdle is greatly developed in comparison with the weak pelvis. The fore-arm (fig. 1) consists of a rudimentary ulna, a long curved radius, and a carpus of six bones supporting a thumb and four elongated fingers, between which, the sides of the body, and the hinder extremities a thin expansion of skin, the wing-membrane, is spread. The knee is directed backwards, owing to the rotation of the hind-limb, outwards by the wing-membrane; an elongated cartilaginous process (the calcar), rarely rudimentary or absent, arising from the inner side of the ankle-joint, is directed inwards, and supports part of the posterior margin of an accessory membrane of flight, extending from the tail or posterior extremity of the body to the hind-limbs, and known as the interfemoral membrane. The penis is pendent; the testes are abdominal or inguinal; the teats, usually two in number, thoracic; the uterus is simple or with more or less long cornua; the placenta discoidal and deciduate; and the smooth cerebral hemispheres do not extend backwards over the cerebellum. The teeth comprise incisors, canines, premolars and molars; and the dental formula never exceeds i. 2/3, c. 1/1, p. 3/8, m. 3/3; total 38. Despite the forward position of the teats, which is merely an adaptive feature, bats are evidently mammals of low organization, and are most nearly related to the Insectivora.

In consequence of the backward direction of the knee, a bat, when placed on the ground, rests on all fours, having the knees directed upwards, while the foot is rotated forwards and inwards on the ankle. Walking is thus a kind of shuffle; but, notwithstanding a general belief, bats can take wing from the walking posture.

The bones of the skeleton are characterized by their slenderness and the great size of the medullary canals in those of the extremities. The vertebral column is short, and the vertebrae differ but slightly in number and form throughout the group. The general number of dorso-lumbar vertebrae is 17, whereof 12 are dorsal; the cervical vertebrae are broad, but short. Except in fruit-bats (_Pteropodidae_), the vertebrae, from the third cervical backwards, are devoid of spinous processes. From the first dorsal to the last lumbar the vertebral column forms a single curve, most pronounced in the lumbar region. The bodies of the vertebrae are but slightly movable on each other, and in old individuals become partially welded. The caudal vertebrae are cylindrical bones without processes; their number and length varying in allied species. The development of these vertebrae is correlated with habits, the long tail in the insectivorous species supporting and controlling the position of the interfemoral membrane which aids bats in their doubling motions when in pursuit of insects by acting as a rudder, and assists them in the capture of the larger insects. In the fruit-bats this is not required, and the tail is rudimentary or absent. In all bats the presternum has a prominent keel for the attachment of the great pectoral muscles.

The shape of the skull varies greatly; but post-orbital processes are developed only in some _Pteropodidae_ and a few _Nycteridae_ and _Emballonuridae_; in _Pteropus leucopterus_ alone does a process from the zygomatic arch meet the post-orbital so as to complete the orbital ring. Zygomatic arches, though slender, are present in all except in some of the species of _Phyllostomatidae_.

The milk-teeth differ from those of all other mammals in that they are unlike those of the permanent series. They are slender, with pointed recurved cusps, and are soon shed, but exist for a short time with the permanent teeth. In the _Rhinolophidae_ the milk-teeth are absorbed before birth. The permanent teeth exhibit great variety, sometimes even in the same family, as in _Phyllostomatidae_, whilst in other families, as _Rhinolophidae_, the resemblance between the dentition of species differing in many respects is remarkable. In all they are provided with well-developed roots, and their crowns are acutely tuberculate, with more or less well-defined W-shaped cusps, in the insectivorous species, or variously hollowed out or longitudinally grooved in the frugivorous kinds.

The shoulder-girdle varies but slightly, the clavicle being long, strong and curved; and the scapula large, oval and triangular, with a long curved coracoid process. The humerus, though long, is scarcely two-thirds the length of the radius; and the rudimentary ulna is welded with the radius. A sesamoid bone exists in the tendon of the triceps muscle. The upper row of the carpus consists of the united scaphoid, lunar and cuneiform bones.

The "hand" has five digits, the first, fourth and fifth of which consist each of a metacarpal and two phalanges; but in the second and third the number of phalanges is different in certain families. The first digit terminates in a claw, most developed in the frugivorous species, in most of which the second digit is also clawed, although in other bats this and the remaining digits are unarmed.

In the weak pelvis the ilia are long and narrow, while in most species the pubes of opposite sides are loosely united in front in males, and widely separated in females; in the _Rhinolophidae_ alone they form a symphysis. Only in the _Molossinae_ is there a well-developed fibula; in the rest this bone is either very slender or cartilaginous and ligamentous in its upper third, or reduced to a small bony process above the heel, or absent. The foot consists of a short tarsus, and of slender, laterally compressed toes, with much-curved claws.

Although the brain is of a low type, probably no animals possess so delicate a sense of touch as Chiroptera. In ordinary bats tactile organs exist, not only in the bristles on the sides of the muzzle, but in the sensitive structures forming the wing-membranes and ears, while in many species leaf-like expansions surrounding the nasal apertures or extending backwards behind them are added. These nose-leaves are made up partly of the extended and thickened integument of the nostrils, and partly of the glandular eminences occupying the sides of the muzzle, in which in other bats the sensitive bristles are implanted.

In no mammals are the ears so developed or so variable in form; in most insectivorous species they are longer than the head, while in the long-eared bat their length nearly equals that of the head and body. The form is characteristic in each of the families; in most the "earlet," or tragus, is large, in some cases extending nearly to the outer margin of the conch; its office appears to be to intensify and prolong the waves of sound by producing undulations in them. In the _Rhinolophidae_, the only family of insectivorous bats wanting the tragus, the auditory bullae reach their greatest size, and the nasal appendages their highest development. In frugivorous bats the ear is simple and but slightly variable. In all bats the ears are extremely mobile, each independently at will.

The oesophagus is narrow, especially in blood-sucking vampires. The stomach presents two types of structure, corresponding respectively to the two divisions of the order, Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera; in the former the pyloric extremity is, with one exception, elongated and folded upon itself, in the latter simple; an exceptional type is met with in the blood-suckers, where the cardiac extremity is elongated, forming a long appendage. The intestine is comparatively short, varying from one and a half to four times the length of the head and body; longest in the frugivorous, shortest in the insectivorous species. In _Rhinopoma_ and _Megaderma_ a small caecum has been found. The liver is characterized by the great size of the left lateral lobe, which occasionally equals half that of the whole organ; the right and left lateral fissures are usually very deep; in Megachiroptera the spigelian lobe is, with one exception, ill defined or absent, and the caudate is generally large; but in Microchiroptera the former lobe is large, while the caudate is small. The gall-bladder is generally well developed.

In most species the hyoids are simple, consisting of a chain of slender, long, cylindrical bones connecting the basi-hyoid with the skull, while the pharynx is short, and the larynx shallow with feebly developed vocal cords, and guarded by a short pointed epiglottis. In the African epauletted bats, _Epomophorus_, the pharynx is long and capacious, the aperture of the larynx far removed from the fauces, and, opposite to it, opens a canal, leading from the nasal chambers, and extending along the back of the pharynx; the laryngeal cavity is spacious and its walls are ossified; the hyoids are unconnected, except by muscle with the skull; while the cerato-hyals and epi-hyals are cartilaginous and expanded, entering into the formation of the walls of the pharynx, and (in males of some species) supporting the orifices of a pair of air-sacs communicating with the pharynx (fig. 2).

The extent and shape of the wings generally depend on the form of the bones of the fore-limbs, and on the presence or absence of the tail. The wings consist of an "antebrachial membrane," which extends from the point of the shoulder along the humerus and more or less of the fore-arm to the base of the thumb, the metacarpal bone of which is partially or wholly included in it; the "wing-membrane" spread out between the elongated fingers, and extending along the sides of the body to the posterior extremities, generally reaching to the feet; and the "interfemoral membrane," the most variable of all, which is supported between the extremity of the body, the legs and the calcar (fig. 1). The antebrachial and wing membranes are most developed in species fitted only for aerial locomotion which when at rest hang with the body enveloped in the wings; but in the _Emballonuridae_, and also in the _Molossinae_, which are the best fitted for terrestrial progression, the antebrachial membrane is reduced to a small size, and not developed along the fore-arm, leaving the thumb quite free, while the wing-membrane is narrow and folded in repose under the forearm. The relative development of the interfemoral membrane has been referred to in connexion with the caudal vertebrae. Its small size in the frugivorous and blood-sucking species, which do not require it, is easily understood. Scent-glands and pouches opening on the surface of the skin are developed in many species, but in most cases more so in males than in females (fig. 3). As rule, bats produce only a single offspring at a birth, which for some time is carried about by the female parent clinging to the fur of her breast; but certain North American bats commonly give birth to three or four young ones at a time, which are carried about in the same manner.

Bats are divisible into two suborders, Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera.

_Megachiroptera_.

Fruit-eating bats.

The first of these comprises the fruit-eating species, which are generally of large size, with the crowns of the cheek-teeth smooth and marked with a longitudinal groove. The bony palate is continued behind the last molar, narrowing slowly backwards; there are three phalanges in the index finger, the third phalange being terminated generally by a claw; the sides of the ear form a ring at the base; the tail, when present, is inferior to (not contained in) the interfemoral membrane; the pyloric extremity of the stomach is generally much elongated; and the spigelian lobe of the liver is ill-defined or absent, while the caudate is well developed. This group is limited to the tropical and sub-tropical parts of the Eastern Hemisphere.