CAEN, kits (anciently, Lat. Cadmim). The capital of the Department of Calvados, France. formerly the capital of Lower Normandy, situ ated on the left bank of the Orne, about 9 miles from its mouth and 149 miles west-north west of Paris (Map: France, 2). Caen is built in the middle of a fertile plain; its streets are wide and clean; it has several fine squares, and many noble specimens of ancient Norman architecture. Among the best examples are the churches of Saint Etienne, which was founded by William the Conqueror, and which contained his monument, erected by William Rufus, and de stroyed by the Huguenots in 1562; La Trinite, called also .Abbaye aux Dames, founded by Ma tilda, ‘vife of the Conqueror; Saint Nicholas, now a cavalry fodder store; Saint Pierre; and Saint Jean. The castle, founded by the Conqueror, and finished by Henry I. of England, was par tially destroyed in 1793. There are a university with 60 professors and 600 students, a museum with a splendid art collection, a public library with over 100,000 volumes, and many other edu cational and industrial institutions. The city has manufactures of lace, blonde, crape, cutlery, cotton-yarn; breweries, dye-works, wax-bleach ing, and ship-building yards. Its Angora gloves, made from the unwashed. undyed fur of Angora rabbits, which are reared in the district, are celebrated. Quarries in the neighborhood pro duce Caen stone. Trade is facilitated by a mari
time canal connecting the port with the sea, and also by ample railway connections. Population, 1896, 45.380. Consult Delarne, Histoirc de Caen (Paris, 1842).
CAEN (Wen or, Fr. pron., kilx) STONE. A soft, light-colored limestone well adapted for plain and carved ornamental work, obtained near Caen, in Normandy. The quarries have been celebrated since a very early period. The ex cellence of the stone and the facility of trans port by sea led to the very extensive use of Caen stone in England in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth centuries. In 1460 the Abbot of West minster obtained a license to import Caen stone for the repairs of the monastery. Later it be came a regular article of importation, and in15S2 it was rated at the custom-house at Os. Sd. the ton. Winchester and Canterbury cathedrals, Henry VTL's chapel at Westminster, and many churches are built of Caen stone, which is still frequently used in England. The quarries are subterraneons, and the stone, in blocks of 8 or 9 feet long and about 2 feet thick, is brought to the surface through vertical shafts. Owing to its porous and soft nature. the stone is unfitted for exterior work in a severe climate like that of the United States. See LimEszoNE.