Encyclopaedia Americana: a popular dictionary of arts, sciences, literature, history, politics and biography, brought down to the present time : including a copious collection of original articles in American biography : on the basis of the seventh edition of the German Conversations-Lexicon (Volume 4).
- Date:
- 1830-33
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Encyclopaedia Americana: a popular dictionary of arts, sciences, literature, history, politics and biography, brought down to the present time : including a copious collection of original articles in American biography : on the basis of the seventh edition of the German Conversations-Lexicon (Volume 4). Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![oraiion.) Two sorts of crosses are used lor the forms of churclies, the Greek and the Latin. The Greek cross has its arms at right angles, and all of equal length; whereas the Latin cross has one of its limbs inuch longer than the other three. Bramante originally designed St. Peter's for a Latin cross; Michael Angelo reduced it to the proportions of the Greek cross ; hut Carlo Maderiio again elongated it to the original dimensions of Bramante. The cathedral of St. Paul's, London, is a Latin cross, with its base spread by a sort of second transept, which increases the breadth of the western front. Cross, in baptism. In the administra- tion of the ordinance of baptism, the practice of making the sign of the cross on the forehead of the person bap- tized, was adopted at an early period, though not enjoined by any express connnand, or sanctioned by any known example in scrijitiu'c. The use of the cross, indeerl, was very frequent in the primitive ages of Christianity. Such was the respect paid to it, that it formed, in one mode or another, a distinguishing part of the civil and religious ceremonies of those times. The first Christian writer who mentions it in connoaon with bap- tism, is Tertullian, who wrote after the middle of the 2d century. This writer says [De Cov. Mil. c. 2), that at every seuing out, or entry upon business, when- ever we come in or go out from any place, when we dress for a journej', when we go into a batli, when we go to meat, when the candles are brought in, when we lie down or sit down, and whatever business we have, we make on our fore- heads the sign of the cross; and, speak- ing of ba])tism, in his treatise De Cam. Resiir., he says, the flesh is signed that the soul may be fortified. Cross-hearer [poiie-croix, cnidger), in the Roman Catholic church, the chaplain of an archbishop, or a primate, who bears a cross before him on solemn occasions. The pope has the cross borne before him every where; a patriarch any where out of Rome; and primates, metropolitans, -and those who have a right to the pallium, throughout their respective jurisdictions. Gregory XI forbade all patriarchs and prelates to have it borne in the presence of cardinals. A prelate beai-s a single cross, a patriarch a double cross, and the pope a tri])le one on his anns. Cross-bar Shot are shots with iron bars crossing through them, sometimes standing out 6 or 8 inches at both sides. They are used at sea for injuring tlie ene- my's rigging, and in sieges, for destroying the palisades in the covert-way, ditches, &c. Cross-Bow, or Arbalist ; formerly a very common weapon for shooting, but not long used in war after the invention of fire-arms. It is a strong wooden or steel bow, fixed to a stock, stretched by the spaimer, and shot off by the trigger fixed to the stock. All kinds of weapons, in which the bow was fastened to the stock, were called cross-bows, some of which were attached to carnages, and drawn by horses. There was a small kind, from which were shot little balls. To the larger sort were attached instraments for bending the bow. There are some socie- ties still existing in Germany, who exer- cise with the cross-bow; for instance, in Aix-la-Chai)elle. (See Archerij.) Cross Examination; the examination of a witness called by one party, by the opposite party or his counsel. Cross Fire, in the art of war, is when the lines of fire, from two or more parts of a work, cross one another. It is frequently made use of to j)revent an enemy's passhig through a defile. The flanks, as well as the faces of two adjoin- ing bastions, afford the means of cross fire, as do also the faces of two adjoining redoubts. Crotch, William, in his infancy a mu- sical prodigy, was bom at Norwich, Eng., July 5, 1775. His father, a carpenter, had made a litde organ for his amusement, and, one evening, when a friend was play- ing on the instrument, and singing at the same time, the child became so excited, that the parents were anxious to account for the cause: their surprise was extreme, when they remarked the delight with which the child touched the keys, when his mother carried him to the organ. The following morning, his father placetl him at the instnmient, when he repeated several passages from airs which he had heard performed. Afler this, the boy was permitted to play on the organ, when- ever he was inclined. He learnt different airs with facility, and often intermixed passages of his own composition, which were always harmonious, as he had a natm-al aversion to discords. This prodi- gy of two years old was frequently called on to amuse the public by his extraordina- ry talent. In November, 1778, his mother took him to Cambridge, and, in December, to London, where the boy excited universal astonishment by his performance on the organ. In 1779, he played before the court of St. James witli great applause,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21136737_0057.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
