ef on hard or precious stones. It is also
applied to imitations of such stones in glass, called "pastes," or on
the shells of molluscous animals. A cameo is therefore the converse of
an intaglio, which consists of an incised or sunk engraving in the same
class of materials. For the history of this branch of art, and for an
account of some of its most remarkable examples, see GEM.

The origin of the word is doubtful and has been a matter of copious
controversy. The _New English Dictionary_ quotes its use in a Sarum
inventory of 1222, _"lapis unus cameu"_ and _"magnus camehu."_ The word
is in current use in the 13th century. Thus Matthew Paris, in his Life
of Abbot Leofric of St Albans, in the _Abbatum S. Albani Vitae_, says:
_"retentis quibusdam nobilibus lapidibus insculptis, quos camaeos
vulgariter appellamus."_ In variant forms the word has found its way
into most languages, e.g. Latin, _camahutus, camahelus, camaynus_;
Italian, _chammeo, chameo_; French, _camahieu, chemahou, camaut,
camaieu_. The following may be mentioned among the derivations that have
been proposed:--von Hammer: _camaut_, the hump of a camel; Littre and
others: _camateum_, an assumed Low Latin form from [Greek: kamateuein]
and [Greek: kamaton]; Chabouillet and Babelon: [Greek: keimaelia],
treasures, connecting the word in particular with the dispersion of
treasures from Constantinople, in 1204; King: Arabic _camea_, an amulet.

For a bibliography of the question, see Babelon, _Cat. des Camees ...
de la Bibliotheque Nationale_, p. iv.

CAMERA (a Latin adaptation of Gr. [Greek: kamara], an arched chamber),
in law, a word applied at one time to the English judges' chambers in
Serjeants' Inn, as distinct from their bench in Westminster Hall. It was
afterwards applied to the judges' private room behind the court, and,
hence, in the phrase _in camera_, to cases heard in private, i.e. in
chambers. So far as criminal cases are concerned, the courts have no
power to hear them in private, nor have they any power to order adults
(men or women) out of court during the hearing. In civil proceedings at
common law, it may also be laid down that the public cannot be excluded
from the court; in _Malan_ v. _Young_, 1889, 6 T.L.R. 68, Mr Justice
Denman held that he had power to hear the case _in camera_, but he
afterwards stated that there was considerable doubt among the judges as
to the power to hear cases _in camera_, even by consent, and the case
was