CANTON

In Heraldry, an ordinary formed either at the dexter or sinister chief of the escutcheon, by two lines meeting at right angles, proceeding from the top or sides of the shield. By the word canton is always understood a canton dexter, unle otherwise expre ed. Canton. (Yunanca köken — orijinale bakınız.) In Geography, originally a quarter of a city regarded as separated or detached from the rest; but applied chiefly at present to the twenty-two districts of which Switzerland is composed, and which, though forming a confederate union like the United States of America, are governed each by a separate judicature and particular laws. [s. 204]