carefully nailed upon the roof and against the wall of the building. The first conductors in Europe were erected at Payneshill, in England, by doctor Watson, in 1762, and upon the steeple of St. James' church, at Hamburg, in Germany, in 1769. In modern times, conductors have been proposed to supersede those formerly in use. Among them is the cheap one of Nicolai, made of strips of tin, which has already been used; for instance, at Lohmen, near Pirna.

CONDUIT (French), in architecture; a long, narrow passage between two walls, or under ground, for secret communication between various apartments, of which many are to be found in old buildings; also a canal of pipes, for the conveyance of water; a sort of subterraneous or concealed aqueduct. The construction of conduits requires science and care. The ancient Romans excelled in them, and formed the lower parts, whereon the water ran, with cement of such an excellent quality, that it has become as hard as the stone itself, which it was employed to join. There are conduits of Roman aqueducts still remaining, of from five to six feet in height, and three feet in width. Conduits, in modern times, are generally pipes of wood, lead, iron, or pottery, for conveying the water from the main spring or reservoirs to the different houses and places where it is required.

CONE, in geometry; a solid figure having a circle for its base, and its top terminated in a point, or vertex. This definition, which is commonly given, is not, in mathematical strictness, correct; because no circle, however small, can become a mathematical point. But these deficiencies of mathematical strictness connected with constructive geometry, which is based on figures and diagrams, are avoided by analytical geometry, which operates without figures.-The word cone is derived from the Latin conus. The figure might be called the round pyramid, according to the definition of a pyramid. Cones are either perpendicular, if the axis, that is, the line from the vertex to the centre of the base, stands perpendicularly on the base; or oblique, or scalenous, if the axis does not form a right angle with the base. If a cone is cut parallel with its base, the section, of course, is a circle: if, however, the section is made obliquely, that is, nearer to the base at one end than at the other, a curve is obtained, which is called an ellipse. If the section be made parallel with the axis, perpendicularly from the vertex, or so as to make a greater angle

with the base than is made by the side of the cone, the curve obtained is called a hyperbola. Thirdly, the section may be made parallel with one side of the cone, in which case the curve is called a parabola. These three lines, figures and planes are called conic sections, and form one of the most important parts of mathematics, which is distinguished for elegance, demonstrating, with surprising simplicity and beauty, and in the most harmonious connexion, the different laws, according to which the Creator has made worlds to revolve, and the light to be received and reflected, as well as the ball thrown into the air by the playful boy, to describe its line, until it falls again to the earth. Few branches of mathematics delight a youthful mind so much as conic sections; and the emotion which the pupil manifests, when they unfold to him the great laws of the universe, might be called natural piety. Considering conic sections as opening the mind to the true grandeur and beauty of the mathematical world, whilst all the preceding study only teaches the alphabet of the science, we are of opinion that the study of them might be advantageously extended beyond the walls of colleges, into the higher seminaries for the education of females. The Greeks investigated the properties of the conic sections with admirable acuteness. A work on them is still extant, written by Apollonius of Perge. The English have done a great deal towards perfecting the theory of them. In teaching conic sections to young people, the descriptive method (resting on diagrams) ought always to be connected with the analytic method. CONFEDERATION, GERMAN. (See Ger

many.)

CONFEDERATION OF THE PRINCES (of Germany; in German, Fürstenbund). The occasion of the confederation of the German princes was the extinction of the male line of the family of the elector of Bavaria, by the death of the elector Maximilian Joseph, Dec. 30, 1777. After his death, his territories fell to the nearest collateral relation, Charles Theodore, elector of the Palatinate. This prince, being without children, had yielded to the propositions of the house of Austria, and obliged himself, by the convention of Vienna, Jan. 3, 1778, to renounce all claim to the inheritance. This convention was opposed by the presumptive heir of the Palatinate, the duke of Deux-Ponts, and also by the elector of Saxony, nephew to the deceased elector of Bavaria. Both princes sought the intercession of Frederic the Great of Prus

longer acknowledge a German empire. (See Germany.) The emperor Francis II resigned his dignity as head of the German empire Aug. 6, being induced to take this step, according to his declaration, by the demands contained in several articles of the peace of Presburg, and the new confederation of the German states, which he considered inconsistent with his rank as head of the empire. After the signing of the act of confederation, to which the name of the prince of Liechtenstein was attached without his knowledge, the elector arch-chancellor received the title of prince primate; the elector of Baden, the landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, and the duke of Berg, received each the title of grand-duke, with royal privileges and rights; Nassau-Usingen was raised to a duchy, and Von der Leyen to a principality. The emperor of France adopted the title of protector of the confederation of the Rhine. By the establishment of this confederation, the following states lost their political independence: the imperial free city of Nuremberg, which was ceded to Bavaria; Frankfort, to the prince-primate; the principality of Heitersheim, belonging to the order of the knights of St. John, which became subject to Baden; and the burggravate of Friedberg, to Hesse-Darmstadt. Furthermore, by mediatisation, the princes of Nassau and Orange-Fulda, of Hohenlohe, Schwarzenberg, and many others; the landgrave of Hesse-Homburg, the dukes of Corswarem-Looz and of Croy, many counts of the empire, and all the former knights of the empire, were subjected to the princes of the confederation of the Rhine. These mediatised members of the empire only kept possession of their patrimonial estates and private property, the jurisdiction in the first and second instances, the feudal rights, and mining privileges, &c.; but the power of legislation, essential to sovereignty, the supreme jurisdiction, the right of declaring war and peace, of forming alliances, of regulating the police, and taxation, &c., devolved on the princes of the confederation, to whom these mediatised princes became subject. The object of this confederation was to secure external and internal peace. France and the members of the confederation were to be closely allied, and, if one of them was threatened with war, or attacked, all the other confederates were to take up arms at the call of the protector, without further consultation, to assist the party threatened or attacked. Although, by the act of confederation, Napoleon was called protector of the confederation of the

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Rhine, he was not recognised as a chief to whom the rulers of the several states were to be subject. To deliberate on the mutual affairs of the confederates, a confederate diet was to be established at Frankfort on the Maine, with two divisions-the royal, in which the grand-dukes were likewise to have seats, and that of the princes. The prince-primate was to be general president of the diet, and particularly of the royal chamber; in that of the princes, the duke of Nassau was to preside. At the death of every prince-primate, his successor was to be appointed by the protector of the confederation of the Rhine. No member of the latter was to be allowed to enter the service of any state not included in the confederacy, or allied with the same, nor was any member to be allowed to cede his sovereignty in favor of any but a confederate. The disputes of the confederate princes were to be decided at the diets, and, for the sake of adjusting complaints against the members of the confederacy, two courts of justice were to be established. But neither these, nor the meeting of the confederacy, ever took place. Finally, Catholics and Protestants were to enjoy equal rights in all the confederated states. Thus, in the place of the German empire, which had existed nearly 1000 years, at least in name, a confederation was formed, which, transitory as it may seem in many respects, nevertheless brought about a total and lasting revolution in the political relations of the former German states of the empire and their subjects, and is erroneously judged, if it is considered as merely the offspring of foreign ambition, and not as the inevitable consequence of the internal dissolution of the ancient constitution of the empire. Sept. 25, 1806, the elector of Würtzburg joined the confederacy as a grand-duke. Prussia, on the other hand, to limit the increase of the power of France, by the further extension of this confederacy, had formed the project of a similar union, under her protection, to be composed of the northern German princes. But an end was put to this project by the war of 1806-7; and, during this war, the elector of Saxony, after having separated from Prussia, and assumed the title of king, at the peace concluded between Saxony and France, at Posen (Dec. 11, 1806) entered the confederacy. His example was followed (Dec. 15, 1806) by the five Saxon dukes; and, by the treaty signed at Warsaw, April 13, 1807, the two princes of Schwarzburg, the three dukes of the house of Anhalt, and many other smaller

princes, were admitted into the confederacy. The kingdom of Westphalia, formed out of the provinces conquered from Prussia and other states, and assigned to Jerome Bonaparte, was likewise added to the confederation of the Rhine, by the constitution, confirmed by the emperor of France, Nov. 15, 1807. Finally, the duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Feb. 18, 1808), the duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (March 22, 1808), the duke of Oldenburg and prince of Lübeck (Oct. 14, 1808), were admitted as members; so that the confederacy extended over a space of 125,160 square miles, with 14,608,877 inhabitants; and the confederate forces were increased from the originally stipulated number of 63,000 to 119,180. But the protector of the confederacy of the Rhine, who had established the league, for the maintenance of internal and external peace, thought himself authorized to make inroads on the security and independence of his confederates, and, by a decree of Dec. 10, 1810, by which the rivers Scheldt, Meuse, Rhine, Ems, Weser and Elbe were added to France, deprived the following princes of the confederacy of their political existence, and of the independence secured to them by the act of confederacy:-1. the duke of Oldenburg, on whose dukedom he seized, leaving him only the principality of Lübeck; 2. the duke of Ahremberg, of whose possessions a part were added to France, and the remainder to the grand-duchy of Berg; 3. the possessions of the prince of Salm-Salm and Salm-Kyrburg were likewise added to France. Of the grand-duchy of Berg, and the kingdom of Westphalia, considerable portions were likewise joined to France. The territories thus appropriated amounted to 11,278 square miles, with 1,133,057 inhabitants; so that 114,140 square miles, and 13,475,826 inhabitants, remained to the confederacy. The year 1813 put an end to its existence. The present grand-dukes of MecklenburgSchwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the last,, who, compelled by their situation, had joined the confederacy of the Rhine, were the first that renounced it, immediately on the alliance of Prussia with Russia against Napoleon. They were soon followed by the kings of Bavaria and Würtemberg, besides several less powerful princes. Others hesitated longer, prevented partly by the situation of their countries, partly by other considerations, from making a free declaration. Among these were the king of Saxony, as also the grand-duke of Frankfort, the president of

the confederacy. The former lost half of his country, the latter, all. The king of Westphalia and the grand-duke of Berg (son of the ex-king of Holland) shared the same fate. For the same reason, by the resolutions arbitrarily passed at the congress of Vienna, the dominions of the prince of Isenburg and of the prince Von der Leyen, who, as princes of the confederacy of the Rhine, were sovereigns, were mediatised. The other members of the confederacy of the Rhine, with the excep tion of the duke of Ahremburg and the prince of Salm, have joined the German confederacy as sovereigns.

CONFESSION. This term is sometimes applied to a profession of faith; for instance, the confession of Augsburg. (See Augsburg, and Reformation.) It sometimes also signifies a religious sect; as the three Christian confessions-the Roman Catholic, the Lutheran and the Calvinistic. Confiteor (I acknowledge) is the confession which the Catholic priests make before the altar, when beginning mass or public worship.

Confession, in law, is when a prisoner, after being arraigned, and hearing the indictment against him read, confesses the offence of which he is charged. Such confession is the most satisfactory ground of conviction.-In the German states, the confession of the prisoner, to be conclusive, must not only be made in open court, but must be accompanied by a disclosure, on his part, of the circumstances under which the crime was committed.-By the revised laws of New York, a prisoner, instead of being asked whether he is guilty or not guilty, is asked whether he will be tried by the jury.

Confession, Auricular, in the Roman church; the disclosure of sins to the priest at the confessional, with a view to obtain absolution from them. The father confessor inquires of the person confessing concerning the circumstances of the sins confessed, and proportions his admonition, and the severity of the penance, which he enjoins, to the degree of the transgression. The person confessing is allowed to conceal no sin of consequence which he remembers to have committed, and the father confessor is bound to perpetual secrecy. The absolution granted thereupon has, according to the doctrines of the Catholic and Greek churches, sacramental efficacy. But the holy Scripture does not contain an express decision on this point, and the custom of confession before taking the Lord's supper was not established in the oldest Christian congre

gations. Whoever was guilty of great sins, made a public acknowledgment of them, and a profession of repentance before the assembled congregation. This was usually committed to writing, and read by the penitents. Pope Leo the Great, in 450, altered this public confession into a secret one before the priest. The fourth Lateran council (can. 21) ordains, "that every one of the faithful, of both sexes, on coming to years of discretion, shall, in private, faithfully confess all their sins, at least once a year, to their own pastor, and fulfil, to the best of their power, the penance enjoined them, receiving, reverently, at least at Easter, the sacrament of the eucharist, unless, by the advice of their pastor, for some reasonable cause, they judge it proper to abstain from it for a time; otherwise, they are to be excluded from the church while living, and, when they die, to be deprived of Christian burial." While the Catholic church thus requires from the penitent the avowal of his single crimes, the Lutheran church requires only a general acknowledgment, leaving it, however, at the option of its members, to reveal their particular sins to the confessor, and to relieve the guilty conscience by such an avowal; for which reason, the Protestant priests are bound, as well as the Catholic, to keep under the seal of secrecy whatever has been intrusted to them in the confessional. (q. v.) The confession, in the Lutheran church, is sometimes special, when the penitents separately acknowledge their sins; sometimes general, when it is done by many, who are assembled for the purpose, and confess according to a certain formula. Where the priest is well acquainted with the different members of his congregation, the special confession seems to be most suitable, because it gives the confessor an opportunity of adapting his reproofs, exhortations and consolations to the wants of each individual, and thus of producing a stronger impression. The opportunity which the confession gives the priest of directing self-examination, of rousing, warning, exhorting and consoling the penitent, becomes a means of adding to the effect of the public religious services. But, at the same time, it affords a dangerous opportunity to the priest of abusing the confidence reposed in him, of which the history both of nations and individuals exhibits fearful examples. The practice of confession is grounded on the imperfection of human virtue. The Lutherans therefore retained this custom, although they knew that it was not ordained

by Christ, but was only a part of the ancient church discipline: they did not, however, maintain its absolute necessity. (See Penitence.) The title of confessors was anciently given to those who had endured torments in defence of the Christian religion. It was often used for martyrs, but was subsequently confined to those who, having been tortured, were set free. Saints are also called confessors. So are the priests, in the Roman Catholic church, who absolve sinners. (For an account of the intrigues of confessors in political affairs, see Grégoire, Histoire des Confesseurs des Empereurs, des Rois, &c.; Paris, 1824.) CONFESSION OF AUGSBURG. (See Augsburg Confession.)

CONFESSIONAL (from confessionis, Lat.), in architecture; a cell in a Catholic church, wherein the confessor sits to hear confessions. The confessional, of which there are many in every Roman Catholic church and chapel, is a species of cell, built of joinery, with a boarded back next the wall, or against a pillar or a pier, divided into three niches or small cells. The centre, which is for the reception of the priest, is closed half way up by a dwarfdoor, and has a seat within it. There is a small grated aperture in each of the partitions between him and the side-cells, which are for those who come to confess, and have no doors. The sight of the numerous confessionals in St. Peter's church at Rome, each with an inscription, setting forth in what language penitents can confess within, is very impressive.

CONFESSIONS. (See Augustine, St., and Rousseau.)

CONFIRMATION; a ceremony intended for the completion of baptism, and considered by some churches as a sacrament. The council of Trent settled several points concerning it (sess. vii, De Sacram.). It is administered by bishops. The ceremony consists in the imposition of hands on the head of the person to be confirmed, accompanied with the holy unction. No other priest can confirm. The meaning of this sacrament may be best learned from the Acts of the Apostles, (viii, 14-21; xix, 1-6). Paul (in Heb. vi, 1-5) speaks of the imposition of hands as a custom to be perpetually observed among Christians. Confirmation, however, is considered by the Catholics a useful but not a necessary sacrament. Baptism can be administered even by a heretic, but not confirmation. In the Greek church, and other Oriental sects, the sacrament of confirmation follows immediately after baptism, and is administered as in the Roman church.