Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/627

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CHI—CHI
615

roots and leaves are employed as salads ; and the plant i .grown as a fodder or herbage crop which is greedily con sumed by cattle. In Great Britain it is chiefly in its first capacity, in connection with coffee, that chicory is employed. A large proportion of the chicory root used for this purpose is obtained from Belgium and other neigh bouring Continental countries ; but a considerable quantity is now cultivated in England, chiefly in Yorkshire. For the preparation of chicory the older stout white roots are selected, and after washing they are sliced up into small pieces and kiln-dried. In this condition the material is sold to the chicory roaster, by whom it is roasted till it assumes a deep brown colour ; afterwards when ground it is in external characteristics very like coffee, but is destitute of its pleasing aromatic odour. Neither does the roasted chicory possess any trace of the alkaloid caffeine which gives their peculiar virtues to coffee, tea, and other diet drinks. The fact, however, that for a hundred years it has been successfully used as a substitute for or recognized addition to coffee, while in the meantime innumerable other substances have been tried for the same purpose and abandoned, indicates that it is agreeable or beneficial to some constitutions. It gives the coffee addi tional colour, bitterness, and body, and may perhaps, as a sedative, tonic, and diuretic, modify its stimulant and irritating effects. It is at least in very extensive and general use ; and in Belgium especially its infusion is largely drunk as an independent beverage. The leaves blanched form a favourite salad on the Continent, known in Paris as Barl>e du Capucin. In Belgium the fresh roots are boiled and eaten with butter, and throughout the Continent the roots are stored for use as salads during

winter.

The Endive (Cichorium Endivia) is a closely allied plant, cultivated on account of its leaves alone, which, when blanched, constitute a valued salad, and are also some times cooked fresh. It was cultivated and esteemed by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Komans.

CHIERI, a town of Italy, in the province of Turin, and eight miles south-east of the city of that name, with which it is connected by a good carriage road. It stands on the declivity of a hill, and is divided into two parts by a branch of the Tepice. Among its numerous churches and con vents, mention may be made of Santa Maria della Scala, which is one of the largest Gothic structures in Piedmont, and occupies, it is said, the site of an ancient temple of Minerva. The town also possesses a large number of benevolent and educational institutions and a theatre. It ranks as one of the oldest manufacturing centres in Europe, and still prosecutes the fabrication of silk, cotton, and woollen goods. The population is about 12,000. According to some investigators, Chieri is to be identified with the Roman city of Carrea Potentia ; but, be this as it may, it appears in history at an early period. In the 9th and 10th centuries it was subject to the bishop of Turin; in the llth it became an independent republic ; and in 1155 it was compelled by Barbarossa to recognize again the episcopal authority. In the following centuries it went through numerous vicissitudes of war and politics, but at the same time developed its industrial activity. About the middle, indeed, of the loth century, no fewer than 100,000 pieces of cotton goods were annually manufactured. In 1551 the town was laid waste by the French. By Victor Emmanuel it was raised to the rank of a princedom ; and Cibrario, the historian of North Italy, thought it worth his while to devote two volumes to the preservation of its annals, Delle Storie di Chieri, Turin, 1827.

CHIETI, or Civita di Chieti, a town of Italy, capital of the province of Abruzzo Citeriore, situated on a hill near the Pescara, about six miles from the Adriatic, and 40 j east of Aquila, with which it will shortly have railway communication. It is the seat of an archbishop and a prefect, and has a fine cathedral, a gymnasium, a hospital, several monastic buildings, and a handsome theatre. There are numerous remains of the ancient Teate, of which the most important are seven halls, probably belong ing to a bathing establishment, a large theatre, a gateway, and several inscriptions referring to the Asiuian family ; while the churches of Sta Maria del Tricaglio and S. Paolo are built respectively on the sites of the temples of Hercules and Diana Trivia. The principal industries are the manufacture of woollen and silk goods ; and there is a trade in corn, wine, oil, and the other productions of the neighbourhood. Teate was the chief city of the Marrucini, and under the Roman dominion continued to be a place of considerable prosperity. It seems to have been the native city of the Asinii and the Vettii. After the fall of the Roman empire it passed into the hands of the Goths and the Lombards, was destroyed by Pepin, and was restored by the Normans. In 1524 it gave its name to the order of the Theatines founded by its bishop Gaetano. Popula tion, 23,000.

CHIHUAHUA, a city of Mexico, capital of the state of the same name, lies in a beautiful valley opening towards the north, and hemmed in on the other sides by arms of the Sierra Madre, 4G40 feet above the level of the sea, in 28 38 N. lat. and 10G 30 W. long. The town is regularly built, and the streets are wide and clean, with many handsome and convenient houses, plentifully supplied with water, which is brought to the town by an aqueduct three miles in length. The grand square, three sides of which are occupied by public edifices and stores, and the fourth by the cathedral, an imposing building of the 18th century, has its spacious area adorned with fountains, walks, and benches, and with pillars of white porphyry. The principal buildings, besides the cathedral, are the mint, the prison, which was formerly a Jesuit convent, the house of correc tion, two hospitals, and the military school. In the square in front of the Jesuit chapel of San Felipe, is a simple monument in memory of the three martyrs of Mexican independence, Hidalgo, Allende, and Ilmenez, who were shot on the spot by the Spaniards. The town was founded in 1691, and in the 18th century was the seat of the captain-general of the Inner Provinces. At the time of its greatest prosperity it had about 70,000 inhabitants ; but its present population does not exceed 14,000.

CHILDERS, Robert Cæsar (1 838-1 87G), an eminent Oriental scholar, was the son of the Rev. Charles Childers, English chaplain at Nice. In 1860 he received an appointment in the civil service of Ceylon, which he retained until 1864, when he was compelled to return to England owing to ill health. He had acquired some know ledge of Pali during his residence in Ceylon, but it was not until the autumn of 1868 that, under the advice of Dr Rost, he gave himself to the scientific study of the language. Entering at once on the task of preparing a Pali dictionary, he laboured at it with such extraordinary assiduity that he was able to publish the first volume in 1872, arid the second and concluding volume in 1875. The work is an enduring monument of learning and zeal, and has been gratefully acknowledged by a competent authority as " the most valuable contribution that has yet been made to the knowledge of Pali, and as the foundation of all future study of that language." Mr Childers was a frequent contributor on subjects connected with Buddhism to scientific and literary periodicals. In 1872 he was appointed sub-librarian at the India Office, and in the following year he became the first professor of Pali and Buddhist literature at University College, London. He died at London on the 25th July, 1876.