CEPHEUS, in Greek mythology, the father of Andromeda (q.v.); in astronomy, a constellation of the northern hemisphere, mentioned by Eudoxus (4th century b.c.) and Aratus (3rd century b.c.). Ptolemy catalogued 13 stars in this constellation, Tycho n, and Hevelius 51. The most interesting star in it is δ Cephei, a remarkable double star, the brighter component of which is a short period variable (5.37 days), with a range in magnitude of 3.7 to 4.9; it is also a spectroscopic binary.
CEPHISODOTUS, the name of the father and of the son of Praxiteles, both sculptors like himself. The former must have flourished about 400 b.c. A noted work of his was Peace bearing the infant Wealth, of which a copy exists at Munich. Peace is a Madonna-like figure of a somewhat conservative type; the child Wealth is less successful. Cephisodotus also made, like his son, a figure of Hermes carrying the child Dionysus, unless indeed ancient critics have made two works of one. He made certain statues for the city of Megalopolis, founded in 370 b.c. Of the work of the younger Cephisodotus, his grandson, we have no remains; he was a prolific sculptor of the latter part of the 4th century b.c., especially noted for portraits, of Menander, of the orator Lycurgus, and others (see J. Overbeck, Antike Schriftquellen, p. 255).
CERAM (Sirang), an island of the Dutch East Indies, in the Molucca group, lying about 3° S., and between 127° 45′ and 131° E. Its length is a little over 200 m., its greatest breadth about 50 m., and its area, including neighbouring islets, 6621 sq. m. It consists of two parts, Great Ceram and Little Ceram or Huvamohel, united by the isthmus of Taruno; and, for administrative purposes, is assigned to the residency of Amboyna, being divided into Kairatu or West Ceram, Wahai and Amahai, the northern and the southern parts of Middle Ceram, and Waru or Eastern Ceram. No central chain of mountains stretches west and east through the island, but near the north coast hills, rising 2300 to 2600 ft., slope steeply to the shore. Near the south coast, west of the Bay of Elpaputeh, a complex mass of mountains forms a colossal pyramid, with peaks rising to nearly 5000 ft. The isthmus connecting the two parts of the island is very narrow, and has a height of only 460 to 490 ft. The chief rivers flow north and south into bays, but are navigable only for a few miles during the rainy season. The rainfall is very heavy, amounting to 121 in. (mean annual) on the south coast. On the north coast the bays of Savai and Waru are accessible for small vessels. The geological structure, consisting chiefly of eruptive rocks and crystalline limestone, is similar to that of northern Amboyna. In the eastern section the prevailing rock is crystalline chalk, similar to that of Buru. Several hot springs occur, and earthquakes are not infrequent. About 4000 persons perished in the earthquake of 1899. A large part of the interior is covered with dense forests, and except along the coast the population is scanty. For the naturalist Ceram is without much interest, lacking characteristic species or abundance of specimens. The Bandanese pay occasional visits to shoot bears and deer; there are numbers of wild goats and cattle; and among birds are mentioned cassowaries, cockatoos, birds of paradise, and the swallows that furnish edible nests. A large number of fish are to be found in the various rivers; and as early as 1860 no fewer than 213 species were described. The most valuable timber tree is the iron-wood. Rice, maize, cocoa-nuts, sugar-cane and a variety of fruits are grown; and some tobacco is exported to Europe; but by far the most important production is the sago palm, which grows abundantly in the swampy districts, especially of Eastern Ceram, and furnishes a vast supply of food, not only to Ceram itself, but to other islands to the east. The Dutch have established cocoa and coffee plantations at various points. The coast-villages are inhabited by a mixed Malay population, Buginese, Macassars, Balinese and other races of the archipelago. The interior is occupied by the aborigines, a people of Papuan stock. They are savages and head-hunters. The introduction of Christianity was hampered by the baneful influence of a secret society called the Kakian Union, to which pagans, Mahommedans and Christians indiscriminately attached themselves; and it has several times cost the Dutch authorities considerable efforts to frustrate their machinations (see Tijdschrift van Ned. Ind., fifth year). The total population is estimated at 100,000, including 12,000 Christians and 16,000 Mahommedans. The chief settlements are Savai at the north and Elpaputeh at the south end of the isthmus of Taruno. There was a Dutch fort at Kambello, on the west side of Little Ceram, as early as 1646.
CERAMICS, or Keramics (κἐραμος, earthenware), a general term for the study of the art of pottery. It is adopted for this purpose both in French (céramique) and in German (Keramik), and thus has its convenience in English as representing an international form of description for a study which owes much to the art experts of all nations, though “ceramic” and “ceramics” do not appear in English as technical terms till the middle of the 19th century.
The word “pottery” (Fr. poterie) in its widest sense includes all objects fashioned from clay and then hardened by fire, though there is a growing tendency to restrict the word to the commoner articles of this great class and to apply the word “porcelain” to all the finer varieties. This tendency is to be deprecated, as it is founded on a misconception; the word “porcelain” should only be applied to certain well-marked varieties of pottery. The very existence of pottery is dependent on two important natural properties of that great and widespread group of rocky or earthy substances known as clays, viz. the property of plasticity (the power of being readily kneaded or moulded while moist), and the property of being converted when fired into one of the most indestructible of ordinary things.
The clays form such an important group of mineral substances that the reader must refer to the article [Clay] for an account of their occurrence, composition and properties. In this article we shall only deal with the various clays as they have affected the problems of the potter throughout the ages. The clays found on or close to the earth’s surface are so varied in composition and properties that we may see in them one of the vital factors that has determined the nature of the pottery of different countries and different peoples. They vary in plasticity, and in the hardness, colour and texture of the fired product, through an astonishingly wide range. To-day the fine, plastic, white-burning clays of the south of England are carried all over Europe and America for the fabrication of modern wares, but that is a state of affairs which has only been attained in recent times. Even down to the 18th century, the potters of every country could only use on an extensive scale the clays of their own immediate district, and the influence of this controlling factor on the pottery of bygone centuries has never yet received the attention it deserves.[1]
General Evolution of Pottery.—The primitive races of mankind, whether of remote ages or of to-day, took perforce such clay as they found on the surface of the ground, or by some river-bed, and with the rudimentary preparation of spreading it out on a stone slab if necessary and picking out any rocky fragments of appreciable size, then beating it with the hands, with stones or boards, or treading it with the feet to render it fairly uniform in consistency, proceeded to fashion it into such shapes as need or fancy dictated. Fired in an open fire, or in the most rudimentary form of potter’s kiln, such pottery may be buff, drab, brown or red—and these from imperfect firing become smoked, grey or black. How many generations of men, of any race, handed on their painfully acquired bits of knowledge before this earliest stage was passed, we can never know; but here and there, where the circumstances were favourable or the race was quick of observation, we can trace in the work of prehistoric man in many countries a gradually advancing skill based on increased technical knowledge. For ages tools and methods remained of the simplest—the fingers for shaping or building up vessels, a piece of mat or basket-work for giving initial support to a more ambitious vase,—until some original genius of the tribe finds that by starting to build up his pot on the flattened side of a boulder he can turn his support so as to bring every part in succession under his hand, and lo! the potter’s wheel is invented—not brought down from heaven by one of the gods to a favoured race, as the myths of all the older civilizations or barbarisms, Egyptian, Chaldean, Greek, Scythian, and Chinese have fabled, but born from the brain and hand of man struggling to fulfil his allotted task.