tive flow, consumption is necessary; and the consumption, which directly and steadily promotes production is, in fact, promotive of public wealth. We do not mean to deny, that the expenditures of a man who exceeds his means of payment will be injurious, not only to himself, but also to the community; for he may annihilate the capital of those who give him credit, and, since their industry may depend on their capital, which supplies them with tools to work with, materials to work upon, and a stock of clothing, food and accommodations, until they can obtain the returns of their industry by a sale of its products, the loss of this capital, by trusting it to one who never pays them, is a destruction of their industry. Hoarding, on the other hand, though not so injurious, yet, if too generally prevalent, may have the effect of paralyzing production, and stifling and enfeebling the economical energies of a people, by diminishing the motives to industry. In a healthy state of the national industry, therefore, the consumption of products should bear a just proportion to production. As long as enough is saved to supply all the increase of demand for a stock of implements and materials, and make all the improvements, of a permanent nature, of which the country is susceptible, such as canals, roads, bridges, &c., which are, indeed, all of them, only different modes of present consumption of the fruits of labor of various kinds to reproduce others,-it is much better, as a general rule, that the remainder of the products of industry should be expended in luxuries, than that they should not be produced at all. In regard to luxuries including in this term all the expenditures made for the gratification of appetite, taste or vanity--the dispositions of men, in general, will sufficiently incline them to these. There is no necessity of inculcating the utility of such expenditures as encouragements to industry. Against the importunity of the appetites and desires of men, and against improvidence and thoughtlessness of the future, doctor Franklin's lessons of economy are of great utility. But, looking at the whole mass of society as a great engine of production and consumption, we should inculcate a different set of maxims, based on more comprehensive principles. The example of doctor Franklin himself would be a practical lesson, in this respect; for he was not illiberal of his time, or labor, or money, in promoting those expenditures which had the advancement of society for their object. These are often

such as gratify no immediate appetite or taste. They look to the future. Their greatest encouragement is the honor which is paid to them by the public opinion; for if a man gains more distinction by encouraging a useful or ornamental art, founding a school, or contributing to the construction of a public work, than by riding in a coach, a generous motive is held out to him to turn a part of the general consumption, of which his resources give him the control, into those channels. The tastes and habits of thinking of a people determine the direction of a vast proportion of the general consumption; and the direction and amount of this consumption again determine, in a great degree, those of production. When we say that production should be encouraged, it is only inculcating, in other words, the maxim that consumption should be encouraged; for the one will, in every community, bear a pretty near proportion to the other; and the object of a liberal, enlightened policy is, to swell the amount of both; and the object of a wise and philanthropical policy is, to direct them to objects promotive of the physical comfort and moral and intellectual improvement of a people. We are, however, to avoid the error of supposing, that all the causes which go to swell the aggregate of production and consumption, are beneficial in their operation. If, for example, all the rents of the lands, as under the feudal system, are assigned to a few, who, by a luxurious and expensive style of living, consume the greater part of the produce of the labor of the other members of the community, leaving them no more than barely enough to sustain life, and defend them against the elements, though such a community may present a gorgeous exhibition of individual wealth, yet the condition of a great part of its members is little better than that of savages. This was the tendency of society under the feudal system, and all the ecclesiastical systems founded under the auspices of the church of Rome. In such communities, every tax, and every superfluous product, passes into a vortex remote from the interests, comforts and wants of the mass of the population. The consumption ought to be so distributed, as to give every one some just share, in proportion to his labor and services. A precisely equal and just apportionment of the fruits of labor, and the profits of the use of the earth, cannot be made in any country; for the rights of property must be guarded, or industry will dwindle away. But the laws may do much, and the pre

vailing habits of thinking, and principles and motives of action, of a people, still more, towards assigning to every kind of industry, and every species of talent and skill, its fair proportion of the general consumption, and in such a way as not to check, but to augment, the general mass of things produced and consumed. The benefits of commerce do not consist so much in the mass of wealth, which it may be the means of accumulating, or in its directly employing a great many persons, as in the facilities it gives for augmenting the general mass of production and consumption; and, in this respect, internal commerce, in a country of considerable extent and variety of products, is far more important than foreign, since the mutual exchanges of the products of labor made among the inhabitants of such a country are much greater, in amount, than those made between the whole country and other nations.

CONSUMPTION, in medicine. (See Atro

phy.)

CONTAGION (contagio; from contango, to meet or touch each other). This word properly imports the application of any poisonous matter to the body through the medium of touch. It is applied to the action of those very subtile particles arising from putrid substances, or from persons laboring under certain diseases, which communicate the diseases to others; as the contagion of putrid fever, the effluvia of dead animal or vegetable substances, the miasmata of bogs and fens, the virus of small-pox, lues venerea, &c., &c. The principal diseases excited by poisonous miasmata are, intermittent, remittent and yellow fevers, dysentery and typhus. The last is generated in the human body itself, and is sometimes called the typhoid fomes. Some miasmata are produced from moist vegetable matter, in some unknown state of decomposition. The contagious virus of the plague, smallpox, measles, chincough, cynanche maligna, and scarlet fever, as well as of typhus and the jail fever, operates to a much more limited distance through the medium of the atmosphere than the marsh miasmata. Contact of a diseased person is said to be necessary for the communication of plague; and approach within two or three yards of him for that of typhus. The Walcheren miasmata extended their pestilential influence to vessels riding at anchor, fully a quarter of a mile from the shore. The chemical nature of all these poisonous effluvia is little understood. They undoubtedly consist, however, of hy

drogen, united with sulphur, phosphorus, carbon and azote, in unknown proportions and unknown states of combination. The proper neutralizers or destroyers of these gasiform poisons are, nitric acid vapor, muriatic acid gas and chlorine. The two last are the most efficacious, but require to be used in situations from which the patients can be removed at the time of the application. Nitric acid vapor may, however, be diffused in the apartments of the sick without much inconvenience. Bedclothes, particularly blankets, can retain the contagious fomes, in an active state, for almost any length of time. Hence they ought to be fumigated with peculiar care. The vapor of burning sulphur or sulphurous acid is used in the East against the plague. It is much inferior in power to the other antiloimic reagents. There does not appear to be any distinction commonly made between contagious and infectious diseases. The infection communicated by diseased persons is usually so communicated by the product of the disease itself; for instance, by the matter of the small-pox; and therefore many of these diseases are infectious only when they have already produced such matter, but not in their earlier periods. In many of them, contact with the diseased person is necessary for infection, as is the case with the itch, syphilis, canine madness; in other contagious diseases, even the air may convey the infection, as in the scarlet fever, the measles, the contagious typhus, &c. In this consists the whole difference between the fixed and volatile contagions. A real infection requires always a certain susceptibility of the healthy individual; and many infectious maladies destroy, forever, this susceptibility of the same contagion in the individual, and, accordingly, attack a person only once, as the small-pox, measles, &c. Other contagious diseases do not produce this effect, and may, therefore, repeatedly attack the same person, as typhus, itch, syphilis, and others. Sometimes one contagious disease destroys the susceptibility for another, as the kine-pock for the small-pox. In general, those parts of the body which are covered with the most delicate skin, are most susceptible of contagion; and still more so are wounded parts, deprived of the epidermis. Against those contagious diseases which are infectious through the medium of the air, precautions may be taken by keeping at the greatest possible distance from the sick, by cleanliness and fearlessness; but most completely by the vigilance of the healthofficers, by fumigations according to the

prescriptions of Guyton-Morveau, &c. We can more easily secure ourselves against such contagious diseases as are infectious only in case of contact, by means of cleanliness, caution in the use of vessels for eating and drinking, of tobacco-pipes, of wind-instruments, beds and clothes. No general preservative against contagious diseases is known, though many are of fered for sale by quacks. The examination of the persons intended for nurses and tenders of infants is very necessary, as thousands of children may be infected by contact with them, and the cause of the disorder remain unknown. (See Epidemic.)

CONTARINI; a noble family of Venice. Domenico Contarini was doge of Venice from 1043 to 1071. He rebuilt Grado, and reduced the city of Zara, which had revolted.-Jacopo Contarini was doge from 1075 to 1080. Under his reign, the Venetians forced the city of Ancona to acknowledge their sovereignty over the Adriatic sea.-Andrea Contarini was doge from 1367 to 1382. The Genoese, under Pietro Doria, had conquered Chiozza, in 1379, and threatened even Venice. Andrea Contarini reconquered Chiozza, and delivered the republic from its enemies.Francesco Contarini was doge from 1623 to 1625. Under him, Venice, in alliance with Louis XIII of France, the duke of Savoy, and the Protestant cantons of Switzerland, reconquered the Pays de Vaud, in 1624, which the Austrians had taken possession of.—Carlo Contarini was doge from 1655 to 1656. Under his reign Lazaro Mocenigo, admiral of the republic, in June, 1655, gained a brilliant victory over the Turks, in the Dardanelles.-Domenico Contarini was doge from 1659 to 1674. During his government, Venice resisted, for five years, the attacks of the Turks on the island of Candia; but, on Sept. 26, 1667, after a siege and defence of unexampled obstinacy, Francesco Morosini surrendered the island. Peace was then concluded.-Francesco Contarini, in 1460, taught philosophy in Padua, was ambassador at the court of Pius II, commanded the Venetian troops against the Florentines, who had attacked Siena, and wrote the history of this campaign.-Ambrosio Contarini, from 1477 to 1483, was ambassador of the republic at the court of the king of Persia, Usun Kassan. The interesting description of his residence at this court first appeared in Venice, 1481, in Italian.-Gasparo Contarini negotiated a permanent peace between the republic and Charles V. In 1527, he went as

ambassador to Rome; then to Ferrara, in order to obtain the liberty of pope Clement VII, whom Charles V kept imprisoned in fort St. Angelo; succeeded in his mission, and became ambassador at the court of the pope. After his return, he was made senator of Venice. Pope Paul III conferred on him the cardinal's hat in 1535. In 1541, he was papal delegate at the German diet, at Ratisbon, where he distinguished himself by his moderation. When the bishops rejected the 22 articles of the Protestants, he exhorted the former not to offend the people any longer by their avarice, luxury and ambition, but to visit their dioceses, support the poor and the schools, and distribute the benefices according to merit. After his return, he was sent as legate to Bologna, where he died in 1542.

Giovanni Contarini, born at Venice, in 1549, died in 1605, was one of the most distinguished painters of his age, worked in the style of Titian, and was particularly skilful in painting ceilings, e. g., his Resurrection, in the church of St. Francesco di Paolo, in Venice.-Vincenzo Contarini, born at Venice in 1577, died in 1617; a scholar, whose reputation was, in early life, so great, that the magistrates of Padua established a new chair of Latin and Greek eloquence, only to retain the learned youth of 26 years of age in their city. He lectured there until 1614.-Simone Contarini, born at Venice in 1563, died in 1633, was Venetian ambassador at the court of the duke of Savoy, Philip II of Spain, Mohammed III, in Constantinople, pope Paul V, and the emperor Ferdinand II; and became, afterwards, advocate of San Marco. As such, he made another journey to Constantinople. When, in 1630, the plague raged at Venice, he could not be induced to leave the city, but remained to make the arrangements which the evil required.

CONTAT, Louise (madame de Parny, known on the French stage as mademoiselle), was born at Paris in 1760, made her début as Atalide, in Bajazet, at the théâtre Français (1776), but afterwards devoted her brilliant talents entirely to comedy. She was the pupil of Mme. Préville, and her earlier manner was formed on that of her instructress. She was discriminating, but cold in her action; dignified, but stiff in her movements; forcible, but monotonous in her delivery. It was only when she appeared in a new class of characters, that she ceased to be an imitator. She had already appeared with great applause in the parts which the French call the grandes coquettes, when Beaumarchais

produced for her Suzanne, the spirituelle and fascinating soubrette, in which, by the author's confession, she far surpassed his own conceptions of that character. Her versatility of talent was displayed in the Coquette Corrigée, in Julie in the Dissipateur, in Mme. de Volmar (Mariage Secret), and in Mme. Evrard (Vieux Célibataire). Beauty, grace, vivacity, archness and ease were united with dignity, tenderness, delicacy and judgment. She restored to the stage the masterpieces of Molière, which had long been neglected by the public. After a theatrical career of 32 years, 24 of which were a continual series of triumphs, she retired from the stage in 1808, and became the centre of a brilliant circle of friends. Mme. de Parny was remarkable for her powers of conversation. She was lively or severe, grave or gay, as the occasion required; and her remarks were always characterized by sound and ingenious views, elegant taste, and varied information. A few weeks before her death, she threw into the fire a large collection of anecdotes and other writings, in prose and verse, from her pen, because they contained some strokes of personal satire. She died, in 1813, after five months of severe suffering from a cancer in the breast, during which she manifested the greatest firmness, and even maintained her usual cheerfulness and gayety of spirit. M. Arnault, from whom this account is borrowed, owed his liberty and life, in 1792, to her interference, at the risk of her own life.

CONTÉ, Nicolas Jacques, a painter and chemist, but particularly distinguished for the ingenuity of his mechanical contrivances, was born at St. Céneri, near Séez (department of Orne), in 1755, and died in 1805. His mechanical genius was displayed, at the age of 12 years, by the construction of a violin (which was used at several concerts), with no other instrument than a knife. At the age of 18, without having received any instructions, he executed several paintings for the hospital of Séez. This success did not prevent him from the cultivation of the physical and mathematical sciences. He went to Paris, and invented a hydraulic machine, which was mentioned with approbation by the academy of sciences. In 1793, he was appointed one of the committee for making experiments in regard to the decomposition of water by iron, instead of sulphuric acid; and his activity and skill on this commission occasioned his appointment of director of the aerostatic school at Meudon. Conté sug

gested the idea of establishing a place of deposit for useful machines, tools, &c., in consequence of which the conservatory was instituted. He afterwards introduced the manufacture of an excellent kind of crayons into France, and established a great manufactory, which still supplies all France with them. He was appointed, in 1798, to accompany the French expedition to Egypt, and his services were of the greatest value. He constructed a furnace on the Pharos, near Alexandria, in the space of two days, for red-hot balls, with which the English were repelled, and thus time was given for fortifying that place. The machines and instruments of the army having fallen into the hands of the Arabs, Conté was obliged to furnish every thing, even the tools: he constructed wind-mills, machines for the mint at Cairo, for an Oriental printing establishment, for the fabrication of gunpowder, &c., and cannon founderies; manufactured steel, paper, swords for the soldiers, utensils for the hospitals, instruments for the engineers, telescopes for the astronomers, microscopes for the naturalists, drums, trumpets, in short, every thing necessary for such a military and scientific expedition in such a country as Egypt. On his return to France, he was appointed to superintend the execution of the great work on Egypt, and invented a graving machine, which, by performing certain parts of the labor, spared the artist much time and trouble. The death of his wife, to whom he was tenderly attached, threw him into a lingering disease, and he survived her but a short time. Conté was a member of the legion of honor. simplicity, integrity, courage, disinterestedness and warmth of affection rendered him no less amiable and estimable in private life, than his science and ingenuity made him valuable to the nation.

His

CONTEMPT. Legislative bodies and judicial tribunals are generally invested with power to protect themselves against interruption; and such a power is essential to enable them to conduct their business. They are usually empowered to commit persons to prison, or punish them otherwise, for disturbances and contempts. The constitution of the U. States expressly gives to the senate and house of representatives authority to punish their own members for contempts; and in the case of Anderson, in the 6th volume of Wheaton's reports, it is decided that the house of representatives has power to imprison other persons than its own members for breach of its privileges and contempt of

the house. Such a right, though not expressly given in the constitution, was considered as incidental to the establishment of a legislative body. So it has been considered and repeatedly decided in England, particularly in 1771, when Crosby, lord-mayor of London and a member of the house of commons, was committed to the Tower for the breach of the privileges of the house, and sir Francis Burdett again in 1811. A legislative body may punish one of its own members for disorderly behavior, as well as a bystander. Judicial tribunals have the same power. The French penal code, article 222, &c., provides, that, when any executive or judicial officer shall, during or on account of his official duties, be insulted, the person guilty of the outrage shall be punished by an imprisonment of not less than two months nor more than two years; unless the offence is committed in open court, in which case the imprisonment is not less than two nor more than five years. Blackstone says, in the 4th volume of his Commentaries, that process for contempt is "an inseparable attendant on every superior tribunal; and, accordingly, we find it actually exercised as far back as the annals of our law extend." This power has a much broader construction in England than in the U. States, being confined, in the latter country, mostly, at least, to cases of actual disturbance and flagrant disrespect to the court, or an attempt to influence a decision by popular appeals, or direct and high-handed or outrageous resistance to, or obstruction of, its proceedings or processes; whereas, in England, it extends to acts or omissions which do not directly disturb the judicial proceedings; such, for instance, as not paying a bill of costs awarded by the court; not obeying the summons of a court of equity, and not answering a bill; refusing to be sworn as a witness, which has also been held to be a contempt in the U.States. Serving a process on an attorney, while attending court, has been held to be a contempt of the court in England; likewise shouting, or giving applause, in court, on a return of a verdict by a jury. It was held, in New York, to be a contempt of the court to bring a suit in the name of another, without his consent. It is a contempt to endeavor, by writings or publications, to prejudice the public mind, or that of a jury, or the court, in a cause pending in court. This is not only an attack upon the public administration of justice, but also upon the right of the individual parties in the suit, since it would be in vain to provide, by law,

that no party shall be adjudged or condemned without a hearing, if practices are permitted which tend to deprive him of a fair hearing. The party may be charged with contempt, either on the view of the court, that is, without taking the testimony of witnesses, for misdemeanors committed in presence of the court, or on the testimony of witnesses; and he is always heard in his own defence, provided he observes decorum in making his defence. The process is necessarily summary, since the cases are generally such as require immediate interposition, and courts do not usually resort to it, except in palpable and flagrant cases. The punishment, assigned by the statutes of the U. States, and those of the separate states, for this offence, is generally fine or imprisonment.

CONTENT and NONCONTENT are the words by which assent and dissent are expressed in the house of lords. AYE and No are used in the house of commons.

CONTESSA, the elder and the younger; two German authors. The former, Christian James Salice Contessa, was born at Hirschberg, in Silesia, in 1767, and died in 1825: the latter, Charles William Salice Contessa, was born, Aug. 9, 1777, at Hirschberg, studied at Halle, and died at Berlin, June 2, 1825. He wrote tales and comedies. Von Houwald, likewise a German poet, published his works in 1826. Hoffmann has described Contessa's character in a masterly manner, under the name of Sylvester, in his Serapionsbrüder. The clder of the two brothers is unimportant as an author.

CONTI, Antonio Schinella, abbate ; a Venetian patrician, born at Padua, in 1677, whose mathematical researches attracted the attention of Newton. He had given up the clerical profession, because he disliked to hear confessions. He visited Paris, and, in 1715, London, where he was elected a member of the royal society, on the proposition of Newton. Here he became involved in the controversy between Newton and Leibnitz, and, by attempting to avoid displeasing either of them, dissatisfied both. By chance, Conti came into possession of a manuscript, which contained Newton's system of chronology. From his hands it passed into those of Freret, who published it, with severe notes. Newton was much displeased with Conti's share in the transaction. Feeble health obliged Conti to return, in 1726, to the milder sky of his own country. He lived mostly in Venice, entirely devoted to his literary occupations, which