(C. W. W.; J. G. C. A.)
CAESAREAN SECTION, in obstetrics (q.v.) the operation for removal of a foetus from the uterus by an abdominal incision, so called from a legend of its employment at the birth of Julius Caesar. This procedure has been practised on the dead mother since very early times; in fact it was prescribed by Roman law that every woman dying in advanced pregnancy should be so treated; and in 1608 the senate of Venice enacted that any practitioner who failed to perform this operation on a pregnant woman supposed to be dead, laid himself open to very heavy penalties. But the first recorded instance of its being performed on a living woman occurred about 1500, when a Swiss pig-gelder operated on his own wife. From this time onwards it was tried in many ways and under many conditions, but almost invariably with the same result, the death of the mother. Even as recently as the first half of the 19th century the recorded mortality is over 50%. Thus it is no surprise that craniotomy—in which the life of the child is sacrificed to save that of the mother—was almost invariably preferred. As the use of antiseptics was not then understood, and as it was customary to return the uterus to the body cavity without suturing the incision, the immediate cause of death was either septicaemia or haemorrhage. But in 1882 Sänger published his method of suturing the uterus—that of employing two series of sutures, one deep, the other superficial. This method of procedure was immediately adopted by many obstetricians, and it has proved so satisfactory that it is still in use today. This, and the increasing knowledge of aseptic technique, has brought the mortality from this operation to less than 3% for the mother and about 5% for the child; and every year it is being advised more freely for a larger number of morbid conditions, and with increasingly favourable results. Craniotomy, i.e. crushing the head of the foetus to reduce its size, is now very rarely performed on the living child, but symphysiotomy, i.e. the division of the symphysis pubis to produce a temporary enlargement of the pelvis, or caesarean section, is advocated in its place. Of these two operations, symphysiotomy is steadily being replaced by caesarean section.
This operation is now advised for (1) extreme degrees of pelvic contraction, (2) any malformation or tumour of the uterus, cervix or vagina, which would render the birth of the child through the natural passages impossible, (3) maternal complications, as eclampsia and concealed accidental haemorrhage, and (4) at the death of the mother for the purpose of saving the child.
CAESAREA PALAESTINA, a town built by Herod about 25-13 B.C., on the sea-coast of Palestine, 30 miles N. of Joppa, on the site of a place previously called Tunis Stratonis. Remains of all the principal buildings erected by Herod existed down to the end of the 19th century; the ruins were much injured by a colony of Bosnians established here in 1884. These buildings are a temple, dedicated to Caesar; a theatre; a hippodrome; two aqueducts; a boundary wall; and, chief of all, a gigantic mole, 200 ft. wide, built of stones 50 ft. long, in 20 fathoms of water, protecting the harbour on the south and west. The harbour measures 180 yds. across. The massacre of Jews at this place led to the Jewish rebellion and to the Roman war. Vespasian made it a colony and called it Flavia: the old name, however, persisted, and still survives as Kaisarieh. Eusebius was archbishop here (A.D. 315-318). It was captured by the Moslems in 638 and by the Crusaders in 1102, by Saladin in 1187, recaptured by the Crusaders in 1191, and finally lost by them in 1265, since when till its recent settlement it has lain in ruins. Remains of the medieval town are also visible, consisting of the walls (one-tenth the area of the Roman city), the castle, the cathedral (now covered by modern houses), and a church.
(R. A. S. M.)
CAESAREA PHILIPPI, the name of a town 95 miles N. of Jerusalem, 35 miles S.W. from Damascus, 1150 ft. above the sea, on the south base of Hermon, and at an important source of the Jordan. It does not certainly appear in the Old Testament history, though identifications with Baal-Gad and (less certainly) with Laish (Dan) have been proposed. It was certainly a place of great sanctity from very early times, and when foreign
religious influences intruded upon Palestine, the cult of its local numen gave place to the worship of Pan, to whom was dedicated the cave in which the copious spring feeding the Jordan arises. It was long known as Panium or Panias, a name that has survived in the modern Banias. When Herod the Great received the territory from Augustus, 20 B.C., he erected here a temple in honour of his patron; but the re-foundation of the town is due to his son, Philip the Tetrarch, who here erected a city which he named Caesarea in honour of Tiberius, adding Philippi to immortalize his own name and to distinguish his city from the similarly-named city founded by his father on the sea-coast. Here Christ gave His charge to Peter (Matt. xvi. 13). Many Greek inscriptions have been found here, some referring to the shrine. Agrippa II. changed the name to Neronias, but this name endured but a short while. Titus here exhibited gladiatorial shows to celebrate the capture of Jerusalem. The Crusaders took the city in 1130, and lost it to the Moslems in 1165. Banias is a poor village inhabited by about 350 Moslems; all round it are gardens of fruit-trees. It is well watered and fertile. There are not many remains of the Roman city above ground. The Crusaders' castle of Subeibeh, one of the finest in Palestine, occupies the summit of a conical hill above the village.
(R. A. S. M.)
CAESIUM (symbol Cs, atomic weight 132.9), one of the alkali metals. Its name is derived from the Lat. caesius, sky-blue, from two bright blue lines of its spectrum. It is of historical importance, since it was the first metal to be discovered by the aid of the spectroscope (R. Bunsen, Berlin Acad. Ber., 1860), although caesium salts had undoubtedly been examined before, but had been mistaken for potassium salts (see C.F. Plattner, Pog. Ann., 1846, p. 443, on the analysis of pollux and the subsequent work of F. Pisani, Comptes Rendus, 1864, 58, p. 714). Caesium is found in the mineral springs of Frankenhausen, Montecatini, di Val di Nievole, Tuscany, and Wheal Clifford near Redruth, Cornwall (W.A. Miller, Chem. News, 1864, 10, p. 181), and, associated with rubidium, at Dürkheim; it is also found in lepidolite, leucite, petalite, triphylline and in the carnallite from Stassfurt. The separation of caesium from the minerals which contain it is an exceedingly difficult and laborious process. According to R. Bunsen, the best source of rubidium and caesium salts is the residue left after extraction of lithium salts from lepidolite. This residue consists of sodium, potassium and lithium chlorides, with small quantities of caesium and rubidium chlorides. The caesium and rubidium are separated from this by repeated fractional crystallization of their double platinum chlorides, which are much less soluble in water than those of the other alkali metals (R. Bunsen, Ann., 1862, 122, p. 347; 1863, 125, p. 367). The platino-chlorides are reduced by hydrogen, and the caesium and rubidium chlorides extracted by water. See also A. Schrötter (Jour. prak. Chem., 1864, 93, p. 2075) and W. Heintz (Journ. prak. Chem., 1862, 87, p. 310). W. Feit and K. Kubierschky (Chem. Zeit., 1892, 16, p. 335) separate rubidium and caesium from the other alkali metals by converting them into double chlorides with stannic chloride; whilst J. Redtenbacher (Jour. prak. Chem., 1865, 94, p. 442) separates them from potassium by conversion into alums, which C. Setterberg (Ann., 1882, 211, p. 100) has shown are very slightly soluble in a solution of potash alum. In order to separate caesium from rubidium, use is made of the different solubilities of their various salts. The bitartrates RbHC4H406 and CsHC4H406 have been employed, as have also the alums (see above). The double chloride of caesium and antimony 3CsCl·2SbCl3 (R. Godeffroy, Ber., 1874, 7, p. 375; Ann., 1876, 181, p. 176) has been used, the corresponding compound not being formed by rubidium. The metal has been obtained by electrolysis of a mixture of caesium and barium cyanides (C. Setterberg, Ann., 1882, 211, p. 100) and by heating the hydroxide with magnesium or aluminium (N. Beketoff, Chem. Centralblatt, 1889, 2, p. 245). L. Hackspill (Comptes Rendus, 1905, 141, p. 101) finds that metallic caesium can be obtained more readily by heating the chloride with metallic calcium. A special V-shaped tube is used in the operation, and the reaction commences between 400°C. and 500°C. It is a silvery white metal which burns on heating in air. It melts at 26° to 27°C. and has a specific gravity of 1.88 (15°C.).
The atomic weight of caesium has been determined by the analysis of its chloride and bromide. Richards and Archibald (Zeit. anorg. Chem., 1903, 34, p. 353) obtained 132.879 (O=16).