Carnifex

[Lat, carn is, and facere, to make.] (Antiq.) The public executioner at Rome, who executed slaves and foreigners, but not citizens, who were punished in a manner different from slaves. He was also the person appointed to administer the torture. Carnifex Ferry, in Virginia , a place on the Gauley River, near Summerville. An engagement occurred here, Sept. 10th, 1861, between a brigade of U. S. troops, commanded by Gen. Rose crans, and a body of Confederates, under Gen. Floyd, in which the latter were defeated, with the lo of a large quantity of stores and war material. The lo of men on either side was unimportant. Carnification, n . ( Med . ) Transformation into flesh; a morbid state of certain organs, in which the ti ue acquires a consistence like that of fleshy or muscular parts.