For paralytic club-foot, in which distressing corns have been developed over the unnatural prominences upon which the sufferer has been accustomed to walk, the adoption of the most promising conservative measures are usually disappointing, and relief and happiness may be obtainable only after the performance of Syme’s amputation through the ankle-joint.
CLUE, or Clew (O. Eng. cluwe), originally a ball of thread or wool, the thread of life, which, according to the fable, the Fates spin for every man. The ordinary figurative meaning, a piece of evidence leading to discovery, or a sign pointing to the right track, is derived from the story of Theseus, who was guided through the labyrinth by the ball of thread held by Ariadne.
CLUENTIUS HABITUS, AULUS, of Larinum in Samnium, the hero of a Roman cause célèbre. In 74 B.C. he accused his stepfather Statius Albius Oppianicus of an attempt to poison him; had it been successful, the property of Cluentius would have fallen to his mother Sassia. Oppianicus and two others were condemned, and some years later Oppianicus died in exile. But the verdict was looked upon with suspicion, and it was known for a fact that one of the jurymen had received a large sum of money for distribution amongst his colleagues. The result was the degradation of Cluentius himself and several of the jurymen. In 66, Sassia induced her stepson Oppianicus to charge Cluentius with having caused the elder Oppianicus to be poisoned while in exile. On this occasion the defence was undertaken by Cicero in the extant speech Pro Cluentio. In the end Cluentius was acquitted. Cicero afterwards boasted openly that he had thrown dust in the eyes of the jury (Quintilian, Instit. ii. 17. 21, who quotes this speech more than any other). His efforts are chiefly devoted to proving that the condemnation of the elder Oppianicus was just and in no way the result of the jury having been bribed by Cluentius; only a small portion of the end of the speech deals with the specific charge. It was generally believed that the verdict in the former trial was an unfair one; and this opinion was most prejudicial to Cluentius. But even if it could be shown that Cluentius had bribed the jurymen, this did not prove that he had poisoned Oppianicus, although it supplied a sufficient reason for wishing to get him out of the way. The speech delivered by Cicero on this occasion is considered one of his best.
Editions of the speech by W. Y. Fausset (1887), W. Ramsay (1883); see also H. Nettleship, Lectures and Essays (1885).
CLUMP, a word common to Teutonic languages, meaning a mass, lump, group or cluster of indefinite form, as a clump of grass or trees. The word is used of a wooden and clumsy shoe, made out of one piece of wood, worn by German peasants, and by transference is applied to the thick extra sole added to heavy boots for rough wear. Shoemakers speak of “clumping” a boot when it is mended by having a new sole fastened by nails and not sewn by hand to the old sole.
CLUNES, a borough of Talbot county, Victoria, Australia, 97½ m. by rail N.W. of Melbourne. Pop. (1901) 2426. It is the centre of an agricultural, pastoral and mining district, in which gold was first discovered in 1851. It lies in a healthy and picturesque situation at an elevation of 1081 ft. An annual agricultural exhibition and large weekly cattle sales are held in the town.