Artesian Wells, so called from the French province of Artois, where they appear to have been first used on an extensive scale, are perpendicular borings into the ground through which water rises to the surface of the soil, producing a constant flow or stream, the ultimate sources of supply being higher than the mouth of the boring, and the water thus rising by the well-known law. They are generally sunk in valley plains and districts where the lower pervious strata are bent into basin-shaped curves.
The rain falling on the outcrops of these saturates the whole porous bed, so that when the bore reaches it the water by hydraulic pressure rushes up towards the level of the highest portion of the strata. The supply is sometimes so abundant as to be used extensively as a moving power, and in arid regions for fertilizing the ground, to which purpose artesian springs have been applied from a very remote period. Thus many artesian wells have been sunk in the Algerian Sahara which have proved an immense boon to the district.
The water of most of these is potable, but a few are a little saline, though not to such an extent as to influence vegetation. The hollows in which London and Paris lie are both perforated in many places by borings of this nature. At London they were first sunk only to the sand B B, but latterly into the chalk c o. One of the most celebrated artesian wells is that of Crenelle near Paris, 1798 feet deep, completed in 1841, after eight years' work. Artesian wells are now common in many countries, and have been sunk to the depth of a mile or more. As the temperature of water from great depths is invariably higher than that at the surface, artesian wells have been made to supply warm water for heating manufactories, greenhouses, hospitals, fish-ponds, etc. Petroleumwells are generally of the same technical description. Artesian wells were later made with larger diameters than formerly, and altogether their construction was rendered much more easy after the industrial revolution. Research Artesian Wells
A bunk is a wooden box or case serving as a seat during the day and a bed at night. The term bunk is also applied to one of a series of sleeping berths arranged above each other. Research Bunk
A cacolet was a contrivance somewhat resembling a double arm-chair, or in other cases like a bed, formerly fixed on the back of a mule or horse for carrying sick persons or travellers in mountainous countries. Research Cacolet
A charpoy is an Eastern small portable bed, consisting of a wooden frame resting on four legs, with bands across to support the bedding. Research Charpoy
A club, a select number of persons in the habit of meeting for the promotion of some common object, as social intercourse, literature, politics, etc. It is a peculiarly English institution, which can scarcely be said to have taken root in any other country except America. The coffee-houses of the 17th and 18th centuries are the best representatives of what is meant by a modern club, while the clubs of that time were commonly nothing but a kind of restaurants or taverns whero people resorted to take their meals. But while anybody was free to enter a coffeehouse, it wao absolutely necessary that a person should have been formally received as a member of a club, according to its regulations, before he was at liberty to enter it.
Among the earliest of the London clubs was the Kit-cat Club, formed in the reign of Queen Anne, among whoso forty members were dukes, earls, and the leading authors of tho day. Another club formed about the same time was the Beefsteak Club. Originally these two cluba had no pronounced political views, but in the end they began to occupy themselves with politics, the Kit-cat Club being Whig, and the Beefsteak Club Tory. Perhaps the most celebrated club of the 18th century was that which was first called The Club par excellence, and numbered among its members Dr. Johnson, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke, Oliver Goldsmith, Edward Gibbon, and others.
Clubs are often provided with reading-room and library, and formerly a smoking-room, billiard-room, coffee-room, dining-room, drawing-room, etc, and also may have a certain number of bed-rooms. Besides being convenient for social intercourse, members may obtain their meals in them, served in the best style and at moderate cost. New members are admitted by ballot, and pay a certain entrance fee as well as an annual subscription. Research Club
A collective noun (or collective name) is a name which denotes or represents a number of individual items. For example, a number of sheep together is known as a 'flock'. The word 'flock' is the collective noun for a number of sheep. Some items have multiple collective nouns, for example a collection of goats can be known as a 'herd', a 'tribe' or a 'trip'.
Ambush is the collective noun for a group of tigers.
Army is the collective noun for a group of frogs, ants,
Array is the collective noun for a group of hedgehogs.
Badelynge is the collective noun for a group of ducks on the ground.
Bale is the collective noun for a group of turtles.
Barren is the collective noun for a group of mules.
Basket is the collective noun for a group of plums.
Battery is the collective noun for a group of barracuda.
Bazaar is the collective noun for a group of guillemots.
Bed is the collective noun for a group of clams.
Bench is the collective noun for a group of bishops, magistrates.
Bevy is the collective noun for a group of quail, roes, swans, pheasants, ladies.
Brace is the collective noun for a group of bucks.
Brood is the collective noun for a group of chickens.
Building is the collective noun for a group of rooks.
Bunch is the collective noun for a group of grapes, flowers.
Bundle is the collective noun for a group of asparagus.
Business is the collective noun for a group of ferrets.
Caravan is the collective noun for a group of camels.
Cast is the collective noun for a group of hawks, falcons.
Cete is the collective noun for a group of badgers.
Charm is the collective noun for a group of goldfinches.
Chatter is the collective noun for a group of budgerigars.
Chattering is the collective noun for a group of choughs.
Chine is the collective noun for a group of polecats.
Clamour is the collective noun for a group of rooks.
Clous is the collective noun for a group of gnats.
Clowder is the collective noun for a group of cats.
Clump is the collective noun for a group of trees.
Cluster is the collective noun for a group of grapes, spiders.
Clutch is the collective noun for a group of eggs.
Clutter is the collective noun for a group of spiders.
Colony is the collective noun for a group of gulls, frogs, penguins, ants, beavers.
Company is the collective noun for a group of widgeon, parrots.
Congregation is the collective noun for a group of plovers.
Convocation is the collective noun for a group of eagles.
Covert is the collective noun for a group of coots.
Covey is the collective noun for a group of partridges, grouse.
Crash is the collective noun for a group of rhinoceros.
Couvade is a custom prevalent in ancient as well as modern times among some of the aboriginal races in all parts of the world. After the birth of a child the father takes to bed, and receives the food and compliments usually given elsewhere to the mother. The custom was observed, according to Diodorus, among the Corsicans; and Strabo notices it among the Spanish Basques, by whom, as well as by the Gascons, it was still to some extent practised at the start of the 20th century. Travellers from Marco Polo downwards have met with a somewhat similar custom among the Chinese, the Dyaks of Borneo, the negroes, the aboriginal tribes of North and South America, etc. Research Couvade
Dimity is a strong cotton material with raised patterns, usually white, used for curtains and especially bed-curtains during the 18th and 19th centuries. Research Dimity
Divorce is a separation, by law, of husband and wife, and is either a divorce a vinculo matrimonii, that is, a complete dissolution of the marriage bonds, or a divorce a mensa et thoro (from bed and board), whereby the parties are legally separated, but not unmarried.
The causes admitted by different codes of laws as grounds for the modification or entire dissolution of the marriage contract, as well as the description of tribunal which has jurisdiction of the proceedings, and the form of the proceedings, are various.
Divorce was permitted by the law of Moses, but forbidden in the New Testament, except for unchastity. The early laws of Rome permitted the husband to divorce his wife for adultery and many other alleged offences. The facility of divorce continued, without restriction, under the Roman emperors, but as the modern nations of Europe emerged from the ruins of the Roman Empire, they adopted the doctrine of the New Testament. Marriage, under the Roman Church, instead of a civil contract, came to be considered a sacrament of the church, which it was unlawful to dissolve. The ecclesiastical courts could indeed annul a marriage, but only for a cause that existed at the time the marriage was contracted, such as prior contracts, impotency, etc. For any cause arising after marriage they could only pronounce a divorce a mensa et thoro, which did not leave either party free to marry again, except by papal dispensation.
A divorce a vinculo matrimonii, for any cause arising subsequent to marriage, could formerly be obtained in England only by an act of parliament, and the ecclesiastical courts must have previously pronounced a divorce a mensa et thoro. The act passed in 1857, however, established a new court for trying divorce causes, called the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, subsequently absorbed into the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice.
In Victorian England, the husband could obtain a divorce for simple adultery; but if the wife is the petitioner, she had to show that her husband had been guilty of certain kinds of adultery, or of adultery coupled with desertion or gross cruelty. Either party could marry again after divorce. A divorce could not be obtained if it appeared that the petitioner had been guilty of the same offence, or that there had been collusion between the parties to obtain a divorce, or if they had condoned the offence by living together as man and wife after discovery. The husband could claim damages from the adulterer, and the court could also order the adulterer to pay the costs of the proceedings, in whole or in part. The act also abolished divorces a mensa et thoro, substituting, however, judicial separations. Since the late 20th century, divorce in BritainEngland has become a simple affair with either party simply having to claim that the marriage has broken down irretrievably.
A decree for a divorce is always in the first instance a decree nisi. In Scotland, from the time of the Reformation, divorce might be obtained by either party on the ground of adultery, marriage being held to be only a civil contract, and as such under the jurisdiction of the civil courts. Condonation or collusion was sufficient to prevent a divorce from being obtained on the ground of adultery, but not recrimination, that is, a counter charge of adultery. Wilful desertion was also held a valid reason for divorce.
In France divorce was legalized in 1884, with conditions, after having been prohibited for many years. Research Divorce
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Artesian Wells
