CONCRETION

use of oatmeal in large amount has also been found to lead to concretions, especially when eaten coarsely ground and unboiled; such concretions have commonly been found in the intestines. The excessive domestic use of magnesia in the solid form as a laxative has been known to have a similar effect. In certain animals, intestinal concretions are not uncommon, and grow to an immense size; they used to be greatly prized as antidotes, and were used in medicine under the name of Bezoars (q.v.). In certain forms of morbid deposits, such as fibrous tumours (see TUMOUR), and în Tubercle (q.v.), concretions not unfrequently form; they are for the most part composed of phosphate of lime.

Concretionary Structure is a condition in rocks produced by molecular aggregation subsequent to the deposition of the strata, whereby the material of the rock is formed into spherules or balls, as in the concretions of magnesian limestone and the somewhat similar structures occasionally seen in certain tuffs and crystalline igneous rocks. Concretions are nodules, balls, or irregular masses of various kinds which occur scattered through the body of a rock, and consist of mineral matter which was formerly diffused through the material of the rock. Some of these concretions are crystalline, as gypsum in clay; others may be spherical, and have an internal radiating structure, as iron-pyrite in shale. Fantastically shaped concretions are not uncommon in certain fine clays; such are the 'fairystones' of the country people here, and the 'lösspuppen' of Germany.

Concubinage, the state of cohabitation of a man and woman without the sanction of a formally legal marriage. We find examples in the Old Testament, showing that it was permissible as a relief from a childless marriage. The Roman concubinatus was a permanent relation afford ing freedom from many of the severe marriage restrictions of the civil law. It was a perfectly respectable arrangement, and the woman had a footing in law, although a less dignified position socially than a wife. The offspring, called natural children, came to have limited rights of succession, and could be completely legitimated by subsequent marriage. Augustus, with a view to promote regular marriages, and check the growing licentiousness, enacted a comprehensive marriage-law (Lex Julia et Papia Poppia), which confined concubinage to women of low rank or who had lost their station. Christianity required the complete sanctity of marriage, although the civil law long continued to tolerate separation at pleasure. In the eastern empire concubinage was entirely prohibited by the Emperor Leo. The ancient laws of the Germans recognised, along with regular marriage, a similar informal connection of the sexes still not unknown as Morganatic Marriage (q.v.). The barragania of medieval Spain and the hand-fasting of our own ancestors were merely forms of concubinage. See CELIBACY and MAR

RIAGE.

Concurrent is a technical term for the person who accompanies a sheriff's officer as witness or assistant.

Concussion of the Brain, in Medicine, is one form of Shock (q.v.)- that, namely, where the symptoms are due to an injury which has shaken or jarred the brain, and stunned the patient, without producing any mechanical injury, so far as can be ascertained, to the brain or skull. It is generally believed that concussion alone can produce severe symptoms and even death, though conclusive proof of this has not yet been given. It is apt to occur from a severe blow or fall on the head, from railway accidents, &c. The symptoms

are those which characterise shock-pale and cold skin, feeble pulse and respiration, with the addition of unconsciousness. This condition may last a few minutes, and be followed by rapid recovery, or may terminate in death. But in most cases it is succeeded by a period of reaction after an hour or more (often ushered in by vomiting, which is thus a favourable symptom), when the skin becomes warmer, the pulse stronger, and consciousness gradually returns. During reaction, congestion or inflammation of the brain is apt to occur. Recovery is usually complete; but sometimes loss of memory, weakening of mental power, undue excitability, or some other sign of impairment of the nervous mechanism, remains for a long time or even permanently.

In regard to treatment, the patient should as quickly as possible be put to bed in a well-aired room, with warm bottles or blankets applied to the body and limbs, and should have injuries to other parts attended to; but beyond this, the less he is interfered with the better. In particular, brandy given, except by medical direction; for though occasionally necessary, they do much more harm than good in the great majority of cases. During the period of reaction the patient must be kept very quiet; and for some days at least after apparent recovery he must abstain from alcohol and other causes of excitement, and from mental exertion.

and other stimulants should on no account be

CONCUSSION OF THE SPINAL CORD is due to similar causes acting upon the vertebral column instead of the head. The symptoms vary much with the site and severity of the injury. In many first, and only attract attention after some hours or cases they are altogether absent or quite trivial at days have elapsed; yet, and probably for this very reason, the injury not being treated at first, serious after-effects are much more common than in cases of concussion of the brain. Here also, however, complete recovery is the rule.

The treatment must be in the first instance the same as in

concussion of the brain.

Concussion of the spinal cord has attracted special attention in recent times owing to its frequent occurrence as a result of railway accidents. The slow and insidious nature of the symptoms presented by many such cases, and the difficulty of deciding whether those symptoms are real, and whether they have resulted from the alleged injury, have given rise to much litigation with respect to damages. The subject is very fully treated by Erichsen, Concussion of the Spine, &c.

(Lond. 1875).

Condé, in the French department of Nord, situ. ated at the confluence of the Haine and Scheldt, 7 miles NNE. of Valenciennes by rail, is a fortress of the third rank, and gives name to the famous family. Pop. 4067.-CONDÉ-SUR-NOIREAU, a town in the department of Calvados, 23 miles SSW. of Caen by rail. Pop. 6590.

Condé, LOUIS I. DE BOURBON, PRINCE DE, younger brother of Antony of Bourbon, king of Navarre, was born 7th May 1530, representative of an ancient and famous race taking their name from the town of Condé. During the wars between Henry II. and Spain, Condé distinguished himself by his gallantry, winning especial honour at the siege of Metz, the battle of St Quentin, and the capture of Calais from the English-the chief military events of the time. On the accession of Francis II. (1559), the family of the Guises became all-powerful in the state, and Condé and his brother Antony, partly from jealousy of the Guises, and partly from sincere religious conviction, joined the Huguenots, who were now

struggling for legal recognition. To destroy the power of the Guises, and further the interests of the Huguenots, Condé was induced to join the Conspiracy of Amboise (1560). The plot miscarried, and Condé escaped execution only by the death of the king, which by necessitating the regency of the queen-mother, Catharine de Médicis, the bitter enemy of the Guises, changed the policy of the country. Concessions were now granted to the Huguenots, and Condé was made governor of Picardy. The massacre of Huguenots at Vassy by Guise (1562), however, led to the first civil war, and Condé and Coligny gathered an army of Huguenots. At the battle of Dreux, Condé was defeated and taken prisoner, but the assassination of Guise soon afterwards made possible the Pacification of Amboise (1563), by which Condé was released, and the Huguenots were granted liberty of worship. This concession being gradually withdrawn by Catharine de Médicis, the second Huguenot war broke out in 1567. In the south of France Condé had coins struck with the inscription: Louis XIII., first Christian king of France.' But at the battle of Jarnac (1569) Condé was defeated and taken prisoner, and immediately after his surrender, shot dead by his bitterest enemy, the Baron de Montesquiou. Condé was a brave leader, and exceedingly popular with his soldiers, but he had neither the lofty character nor the genius of Coligny. His great-grandson :

LOUIS II. DE BOURBON, PRINCE DE CONDE, known as the Great Condé,' was born September 8, 1621. Carefully educated by the Jesuits in their college at Bourges, Condé acquired a taste for literature, which he retained all through his life. In his seventeenth year he was introduced at court, and the year following was intrusted by his father with his government of Burgundy. By his marriage, much against his will, to the niece of Richelieu, he gained the support of that minister, and for a time of Richelieu's successor, Mazarin. At this period the Thirty Years' War was still raging, and since 1635 France had been engaged in a protracted struggle with Spain. In 1643, when he was only twenty-two, Condé was appointed to the chief command of the French forces, and in his first campaign defeated the Spaniards at Rocroi in the most brilliant of all his victories. As for more than a century the Spanish armies had been deemed all but invincible, this victory placed Condé at once in the first rank of commanders. In 1644, with his great rival Turenne as his subordinate, in a series of engagements he inflicted at Freibourg a severe check on the Bavarian general, Mercy; and in the following year again defeated the same general at Nordlingen. These successes were gained at an immense cost of life, and in the matter of strategical skill have been disapproved by subsequent military authorities. By the death of his father in 1646, Condé, who had hitherto been known as the Duc d'Enghien, became the head of the house, and was thenceforth addressed as Monsieur le Prince. The capture of Dunkirk in 1646, and a great victory at Lens in 1648, in which the famous Spanish infantry were again completely beaten, were the other achievements of Condé during this the first period of his career. The war of the Fronde, occasioned by the quarrels of the court and the parliament, had now broken out, and Condé was required to support the power of the queen and Mazarin. With the aid of Condé the court party came to terms with the Fronde; but Condé himself, who after this service expected to be chief in the state, gave such offence to the queen and Mazarin by his arrogant conduct, that they had himself and his brothers arrested and imprisoned for a year at Vincennes, a proceeding approved alike by the Fronde and the people of Paris. Popular feeling,

CONDENSER

however, soon changed in his favour, and grew so strong against Mazarin that he was forced to leave Paris and set Condé at liberty. But Mazarin's power over the queen was still absolute, and Condé, disappointed once more in his ambition, and finding the queen, Fronde, and people once more all against him, retired to Guienne, and raised an army on the plea of rescuing the young king, Louis XIV., from bad advisers. Thus began what is known as the third war of the Fronde. At Bleneau he defeated the royal troops, but was at length forced by Turenne to make for Paris. Here in the Faubourg St Antoine he sustained a defeat which deprived him of all hope of ultimate success, and a peace was concluded in 1653. The terms of this peace, however, were such as Condé would not accept, and deprived of all support in France, he went over to Spain, and for six years served in all the campaigns against his country. Hampered in his action by the Spanish generals, he could effect little against the strategy of Turenne. The battle of the Dunes, near Dunkirk, where Turenne, aided by 6000 of Cromwell's Ironsides, inflicted a severe defeat on the Spaniards, put an end to the war. At the peace of the Pyrenees (1659) which followed, it was said that the affairs of Conde were more difficult to settle than those of Europe. So formidable was he deemed, that the young king found it advisable to restore him to all his honours and estates, and even to his government of Burgundy. Retiring to his estate at Chantilly, Condé remained here till his services were required in another war between France and Spain, when at his suggestion and by his action, Franche Comté was overrun and conquered (1668). The next year, on the resignation of Casimir, king of Poland, Condé would probably have been chosen his successor but for the jealousy of Louis. In 1674 he fought his last battle. This was at Seneffe in Belgium, where he had for his opponent William, Prince of Orange. The battle lasted seventeen hours, and both sides claimed the victory. On the death of Turenne in 1675, Condé succeeded him in the command of the army on the Rhine, but his health was now such as to render him unfit for active service. Retiring again to Chantilly, he lived there till his death on 11th December 1686, associating much with the great men of letters of the period, Molière, Racine, Boileau, and La Bruyère. Condé had all his life been noted as a scoffer at religion, but the year before his death he publicly announced his conversion. He took especial pleasure in the society of Bossuet, whose oration on his death, regarded as one of the masterpieces of French literature, has served ever since to throw a deceptive lustre round the name of Condé. He had no political genius, and even as a commander he owed his successes more to the fiery energy of his character than to sheer military talent. There is no ground to suppose that in his public career he was influenced by any other motive than selfish ambition; and in his private character, though he could on occasion display a certain magnanimity, he was in intense degree self-willed and overbearing. When all deductions have been made, however, Condé still remains in the first rank of the Frenchmen of his century.

See Mahon's Life of Condé, Fitzpatrick's The Great Condé and the Period of the Fronde; Histoire des Princes de Condé, by the Duc d'Aumale (7 vols. 1862-95); also the various Mémoires of the period, such as those of Cardinal de Retz, Madame de Motteville, &c.

Condenser is an apparatus in which aqueous or other water is condensed into a liquid form either by the introduction of cold water, as in the condensing Steam-engine (q.v.), or as in distillation, by placing the condenser in another vessel, through which a current of cold water passes. When the water-supply is deficient at sea or on the

CONDESCENDENCE

coast, salt water may be distilled and condensed. See DISTILLATION, GAS AND GASES.

C

The ELECTRIC CONDENSER is an apparatus consisting essentially of two parallel conducting plates, separated by a layer of non-conducting material or dielectric, employed to receive and retain quantities of electricity greater than either or both of the plates would do alone. The simplest and typical form of condenser is that which was first used by Franklin. It is simply a sheet of glass, C (see fig.), both sides of which, excepting a margin at the edges, are covered with tinfoil, A and B. To charge such a condenser, one of the sheets of tinfoil, say B, is connected with the ground, E (either by some metallic connec tion or by being placed on the hand of the experimenter), while the sheet, A, remains insulated. If A be now charged with electricity, positive for example, a negative charge is induced on that side of B nearer A, while an equal quantity passes to the ground. Increasing the charge in A induces a corresponding increase in B. This process, although by means of it large quantities of electricity may be accumulated, cannot go on indeEfinitely; for on reaching a certain limit, depending on the dimension, &c. of the apparatus, the nature of the dielectric used, and the difference of potential of the two conducting plates, either a disruptive discharge (see ELECTRICITY) takes place, or the charge passes off through the insulating supports of the condenser.

A

B

All the various forms of condensers satisfy the definition given above. One useful form is that in which the two conducting plates are fixed on the ends of brass rods which pass through brass knobs on the tops of two glass pillars, the dielectric in this case being air. The more common form, how ever, is the Leyden Jar (q.v.). Another is made of sheets of tinfoil and paratlined paper, up placed alternately in layers; the first, third, fifth, &c. sheets of tinfoil are connected to one terminal,

and the second, fourth, sixth, &c. to another.

The capacity of a condenser is defined to be that quantity of electricity with which one plate must be charged in order to raise its potential by one unit. It can be shown that, in the case of condensers of the Leyden jar form, the capacity is numerically equal to the product of the outer and inner radii of the coating, divided by the difference of the radii-i.e. is greater as that difference is less. Hence the thinner (within certain limits) the glass between the two coatings of such a condenser, the greater is its capacity.

Condescendence, in the judicial procedure of Scotland, is an articulate statement annexed to

a summons, setting forth the allegations in fact

upon which an action is founded.

Condillac, ÉTIENNE BONNOT DE MABLY DE, philosopher, was born of a noble family at Grenoble, 30th September 1715. His life was uneventful. As a child his delicate health delayed his progress in education; but in youth he numbered among his friends Rousseau, Diderot, Duclos, &c. Many of his works were composed for his pupil, the Duke of Parma, grandson of Louis XIV.; and he was titular Abbé de Mureaux. He was chosen a member of the French Academy of Sciences in 1768. He died on his estate of Flux, near Beaugency, on August 3, 1780.

A great part of the Essai sur l'Origine des Connaissances Humaines (1746), and nearly all the Traité des Systèmes (1749), are occupied with a

polemic against innate ideas and abstract systems. He expounds his analytic method in the Logique (1780) and the Art de Raisonner (part of the Cours d'Etudes, in 13 vols. 1755). The Langue des Calculs appeared in 1798.

In the Traité des Sensations, Condillac uses his analytic method to solve the problem of the origin of our ideas and the formation of the mental faculties. He divided philosophical systems into three classes (1) Abstract systems, (2) hypothesis, (3) the 'true' system of Locke, which rests on the facts of experience. But in confounding sensation and perception, and endeavouring to base all thought on sensation, he departed from Locke, and became the founder of Sensationalism. To Condillac all reasoning is only a variation of the form of expression. He held that all ideas and mental operations are only transformations of sensation. So he was compelled to put into the primary sensation all that he sought to develop out of it. His curious device of the statue, gradually endowed with the various senses and mental faculties, was for the purpose of isolating sensations. He substituted for the Cartesian test of truth his own criterion of identity. He recognised three kinds of evidence of fact, of feeling, and of reason; and he affirmed that the same method of analysis is common to all the sciences. Unlike his scholars and followers, the encyclopædists Diderot, D'Alembert, Holbach, Condillac was not a materialist.

Le Commerce et le Gouvernement, published in 1776, treats economy as the science of exchanges, and has much influenced later economists. Condillac was a strong believer in Free Trade. The first of several editions of his Euvres Complètes appeared in 1798. See monographs by Robert (Paris, 1869) and Réthori (1864), and Lewes's History of Philosophy.

Condiments, or seasoning agents, are those substances which are employed at table for the purpose of imparting a flavour or seasoning to the ordinary solid or liquid food. The principal condiments are saline substances, such as common salt; acidulous bodies, such as acetic acid or vinegar;

oily condiments, such as butter and olive-oil; saccharine substances, such as sugar and honey; and aromatic and pungent condiments, such as mustard, ginger, pepper, See and pickles. DIET.

Condition means in law a declaration or provision that upon the occurrence of an uncertain event an obligation shall come into force, or shall cease, or that the obligation shall not come into force until a certain event. Such conditions are known respectively as precedent or subsequent, resolutive, and suspensive. Physically impossible, annul the obligation to which they are annexed, and unlawful conditions in matters of contract but in questions under settlements and wills the Conditions in restraint of marriage are considered unlawful only where they are absolute and imposed on persons otherwise entitled to succeed. A potestative condition is the technical name for a condition in the power of one of the parties. It is an important doctrine of contract law that if a debtor does anything to prevent the accomplishment of a condition, he becomes liable as if the condition had occurred. Many most important conditions are merely implied-e.g. in a marine policy that the ship is seaworthy. In bankruptcy, dividends are set aside to meet conditional obligations. Again, in sales on credit, solvency is an implied condition, and where the buyer is declared insolvent, the seller may refuse to proceed. A good instance of a suspensive condition is that of sale on approbation, or on sale and

opposite rule holds, and such conditions are ignored.

return. The doctrine of condition in feudal grants is in the law of Scotland very simple. Apart from entails, which were authorised by statute, such conditions must be intended to protect some valuable interest of the superior. Such are the clauses of pre-emption, the now obsolete clause prohibiting subinfeudation, clauses to preserve the plan of a town, or to prevent nuisances. Probably a condition against public-houses is valid, as in the case of the Grangemouth feus by Lord Zetland. If properly inserted and recorded in the titles, such clauses may entitle the superior not merely to refuse an entry under the old law, but to reduce the vassal's title. Conditions of sale is the name used in England for what are called articles of roup in Scotland. These are generally printed along with the particulars of sale and distributed among those attending the auction. They provide what sort of title the purchaser is to accept. Similarly, conditions are prefixed to catalogues of furniture and books.

Condition, in Logic, denotes that which must precede the operation of a cause. It is not regarded as that which produces an effect, but as that which renders the production of one possible-to some logicians, however, a distinction without a difference. For instance, when an impression is made on wax by a seal, the seal is said to be the cause; the softness or fluidity of the wax, a condition.

The Philosophy of the Conditioned was a phrase brought into use by Sir W. Hamilton to express the inability of the human mind to conceive or reason respecting the Absolute and the Infinite. Our thought, according to him, can only be of the relative and the finite, of which these terms are but the negations; relativity and finitude are the conditions under which the human intelligence operates. In one of his dissertations on this, he criticised and endeavoured to refute the opposite position as maintained by Cousin-a modification of the previous doctrine of Schelling-that the Unconditioned, the Absolute, the Infinite, is immediately known in consciousness, and this by difference, plurality, and relation.' Dean Mansel, in his Bampton Lectures (1858), brought Hamilton's doctrine into special prominence, and dwelt on the relativity of knowledge as a great fundamental law of the human mind.

Conditional Immortality is a tenet held by a theological school which denies the inherent immortality of the soul, and the consequent doctrines both of eternal misery and of Universalism as contrary to the teachings both of nature and of revelation. Its advocates maintain that the Bible sets immortality before men as something to be sought after (Rom. ii. 7), as a divine gift offered on certain conditions (Rom. vi. 23; John, iii. 15, 16), and as a matter of hope and promise in the present life (Titus, i. 2); that this immortality is not a present possession (Mark, x. 30), and is to be realised by the assumption of a spiritual body at the resurrection of regenerate men from the dead (Luke, xx. 35, 36), an event synchronous with the second coming of Christ (1 Cor. xv. 51, 52). Divine testimony, no less than experience, they say, declares unequivocally that man has the same natural life as all other animals (Eccles. iii. 19), and only those who by faith and obedience are united to Christ have the promise of immortality. The Calvinistic doctrine of eternal misery is untenable, the punishment of sin being death or everlasting destruction, to be inflicted subsequent to a judgment after the Lord returns (2 Thess. i. 9, 10). The dogma of Universalism, the only alternative to endless torment if the soul must live for ever, is also, they maintain, unfounded, since the punishment of sin (death) is said to be everlasting, like the life which is the reward of the righteous (Matt. xxv. 46). It

CONDOR

is claimed that a succession of eminent and pions men have upheld this doctrine from apostolic times, among whom may be mentioned Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Irenæus, &c.

Conditional immortality has received considerable impulse in recent years from many able and zealous advocates, notably the late William Leask, D.D., editor of the Rainbow, and Rev. Edward White. The Conditional Immortality Mission started in Britain in 1878 has done much, by means of lectures, publications, and annual conferences held in various cities, to disseminate this view. It has an organ, The Bible Standard, published monthly by the secretary. Many churches have been organised in Great Britain and its colonies, as well as in America, having conditional inmortality as part of their doctrinal basis. The best modern works on the subject are Life in Christ, by Edward White; The Life Everlasting and The Unspeakable Gift, by J. H. Pettingell; Hades, by Henry Constable; Duration and Nature of Future Punishment, by the same author.

Condom, a town in the French department of Gers, pleasantly situated on a height above the confluence of the Baise and the Gèle, 20 miles SW. of Agen by rail. It has one fine church, once a cathedral; and was formerly the capital of the ex tensive Gascon district of Condomois, now included in the departments of Landes and Lot-et-Garonne. Bossuet was Bishop of Condom for a year (1669). Pop. 5070.

Condonation, in the legal phraseology both of Great Britain and the United States, means forgiveness granted by the injured party, and may be urged by the guilty party as a defence against an action of divorce on the ground of adultery. See DIVORCE.

Condor (Sarcorhamphus condor or gryphus), the great vulture of the Andes, one of the largest and most remarkable birds. Among the wide order of Accipitres, or Birds of Prey, the condor is the grandest representative of the family Cathartidæ,

CONDORCET

the largest of the vultures. The only rival which could dispute this claim is the famous Lämmergeier (Gypatus barbatus) of the Alps. The male condor may measure about 3 feet in length, the female is slightly smaller. The expanse of each wing (said to be 15 feet from tip to tip) is more than twice the length. The general colour is black with a steel-blue sheen, and some of the feathers verge into gray; there is a downy white ruff round the dull-red naked neck. The young birds are covered with whitish down. The beak is long, hooked at the apex, black at the root, yellow at the point and on the sides. The head is naked, and in the male bird bears a large fleshy comb. The eyes look sideways; the perforated nose is characteristic of the family. The voice is limited to a weak sort of snorting. The feet are not well suited for grasping, the hind-toe being very small and hardly reaching the ground. The stories about condors lifting their prey in their feet from the ground are mythical. These birds have their central home in the Andes, but extend to some other mountainous parts of South America. They breed on the heights, laying their two eggs on bare ledges in the months of November and December; the young are unable to fly for a whole year. They descend to the plains to feed on carrion, tearing carcasses with their strong bills; they may also attack lambs and calves, or several together may venture on an adult animal. Their boldness and voracity seem to have been exaggerated. Their voracity is, however, great: Tschudi mentions one in confinement at Valparaiso, which ate 18 lb. of meat in a single day, and seemed on the morrow to have as good an appetite as usual. The condors have great powers of flight, and can soar to immense heights, till, in fact, they are lost in or far above the clouds. They are readily kept in confinement, and may be seen in many zoological gardens.

In the same genus is the rarer King of the Vultures (S. papa), inhabiting the wooded plains of South and Central America. It is a smaller bird, reddish-yellow above, white beneath, with bluishgray ruff, black quills and tail. Its head and neck are covered with variously coloured roughnesses. It owes its name to the way in which it bullies other vultures. Closely allied is the Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) of North America. This bird, useful as a carrion destroyer, is about 24 feet in length, black in colour with a purplish sheen, well marked by its carmine and bluish-red head, fleshy neck, and white feet. C. atratus is another species from South America.

Condorcet, JEAN ANTOINE NICOLAS DE CARITAT, MARQUIS DE, an eminent French author, was born, the son of a cavalry officer, in the little town of Ribemont, near St Quentin, in the department of Aisne, on September 17, 1743. In childhood he breathed the closest atmosphere of clerical and aristocratic exclusiveness, with the result of making him in after years the enemy of all privilege and a thoroughgoing sceptic. Condorcet, after distinguishing himself in the Jesuit school at Rheims, began his mathematical studies at the age of thirteen, at the College of Navarre in Paris. His success was rapid and brilliant; and the high approval of Clairaut and D'Alembert determined his future. His Essai sur le Calcul Integral (1765) obtained for him a seat in the Academy, and he became perpetual secretary in 1777. He took an active part in the Encyclopédie. the outbreak of the Revolution he made eloquent speeches and wrote famous pamphlets on the popular side, was sent by Paris to the Legislative Assembly in 1791, and in 1792 became president of the Assembly. He voted that the king should receive the most severe punishment except death, and as deputy for Aisne in the National Con

On

vention, he voted usually with the Girondists. Accused and condemned by the extreme party, he found refuge in the house of a generous lady, Madame Vernet, for eight months; but driven to change his place of concealment, he was recognised and arrested. Imprisoned in the gaol of Bourg-laReine on the 7th April 1794, he was found dead the next morning, whether by disease or poison was never known.

His profession of faith, in a letter to Turgot, which was written when he left college at seventeen years of age, lays stress on moral sympathy as the source of all virtue. His constancy in moral principle was fitly associated with perfect consistency in politics. He raised a great commotion by his attempt to apply the calculus of probabilities in the domain of jurisprudence, and of the moral and political sciences. In his Progrès de l'Esprit Humain, written in hiding, he insisted on the justice and necessity of establishing a perfect equality of civil and political rights between the individuals of both sexes, and proclaimed the indefinite perfectibility of the human race. Complete editions of his works have been issued in 1804 (21 vols.) and 1849 (12 vols., containing a biography by Arago). See Morley's Critical Miscellanies, Comte's Philosophie Positive, and Flint's History of the Philosophy of History.

Condottie'ri (Lat. conducti, hired'), the name given in the 14th and 15th centuries to the leaders of certain bands of 'free lances' or military adventurers who, for booty, offered their services to any party in any contest, and often practised warfare on their own account purely for the sake of plunder. These mercenaries were called into action by the endless feuds of the Italian states during the middle ages. Among the most celebrated of their leaders were Sir John Hawkwood at Florence (1390, originally an Essex tailor); Francis of Carmagnola (about 1412); and Francis Sforza, who in 1450 became Duke of Milan. The Compagnies Grandes in France, during the 14th century, resembled the bands led by the Italian condottieri. They originated in the long bloody wars between France and England, did enormous mischief, and became powerful enough to rout the king's forces in 1361; but ultimately Du Guesclin persuaded them to seek their fortune in the Spanish service. See O. Browning, The Age of the Condottieri (1895). Conductivity. See HEAT, ELECTRICITY.

Conductor, the director of the modern orchestra. Though from the earliest days of the orchestra abroad he has always performed his duty by beating time with the baton, the practice was unknown in this country till introduced by Spohr in 1820, at a concert of the Philharmonic Society of London. Previously the orchestra was kept together by the leader of the violins, the conductor simply sitting at the harpsichord or piano with the score before him, occasionally putting in a few chords, or accompanying; but the result was clearly unsatisfactory, and the conducting stick had only to be introduced to gain general acceptance at once. The art of conducting as now practised requires so many qualifications that it may be considered rather as a special gift than an acquirement to be learnt. But few eminent composers have also distinguished The greatest recent conductors are Costa, Von Bülow, and Richter.

themselves as conductors.

Conductors and Non-conductors of Electricity. When an electrified body is placed upon a metallic stand, so that it is in metallic connection with the earth, all traces of electrification disappear; but if placed upon supports of glass or ebonite, its charge is still retained, the body then being said to be insulated. In the former case, the electric charge having passed to the ground through