hen
pyrolusite (manganese dioxide) is fused with nitre, since a solution
in water assumes a purple tint on exposure to the air; this change is
due to the oxidation of the manganate, which is first formed, to a
permanganate.

CHAMFER, CHAMPFER or CHAUMFER (Fr. _chanfrein_; possibly from Lat.
_cantus_, corner, and _frangere_, to break), an architectural term; when
the edge or arris of any work is cut off at an angle of 45 deg. in a
small degree, it is said to be "chamfered," while it would be "canted"
if on a large scale. The chamfer is much used in medieval work, and is
sometimes plain, sometimes hollowed out and sometimes moulded. Chamfers
are sometimes "stopped" by a bead or some moulding, but when cut short
by a slope they are generally known as "stop chamfer."

CHAMFORT, SEBASTIEN ROCH NICOLAS (1741-1794), French man of letters, was
born at a little village near Clermont in Auvergne in 1741. He was,
according to a baptismal certificate found among his papers, the son of
a grocer named Nicolas. A journey to Paris resulted in the boy's
obtaining a bursary at the College des Grassins. He worked hard,
although he wrote later in one of his most contemptuous epigrams--_"Ce
que j'ai appris je ne le sais plus; le peu que je sais je l'ai divine."_
His college career ended, Chamfort assumed the dress of a _petit abbe.
"C'est un costume, et non point un etat,"_ he said; and to the principal
of his college who promised him a benefice, he replied that he would
never be a priest, inasmuch as he preferred honour to honours--_"j'aime
l'honneur et non les honneurs."_ About this time he assumed the name of
Chamfort.

For some time he contrived to exist by teaching and as a booksellers'
hack. His good looks and ready wit, however, soon brought him into
notice; but though endowed with immense strength--"Hercule sous la
figure d'Adonis," Madame de Craon called him--he lived so hard that he
was glad of the chance of doing a "cure" at Spa when the Belgian
minister in Paris, M. van Eyck, took him with him to Germany in 1761. On
his return to Paris he produced a comedy, _La Jeune Indienne_ (1764),
which was performed with some success, and this was followed by a series
of "epistles" in verse, essays and odes. It was not, however, until
1769, when he won the prize of the French Academy for his _Eloge_ on
Moliere, that his literary reputation was established.

Meanwhile he had lived from hand to mouth, mainly on the hos