Canal

(kah-nal'.) [Fr.] An artificial channel for water, formed for purposes of drainage, irrigation, or navigation, but now usually employed to designate only such cuts as are intended for the pa age of ve els. Canals date from a period long anterior to the Christian era, and were employed as a means of irrigation and communication by the A yrians, Egyptians, and Hindoos; also by the Chinese, whose works of this kind are said to be unrivalled in extent; one of them, the Imperial C., having a length of about 1,000 m. For the most part, however, these early C. were of one uniform level, and hence exhibit no great skill or ingenuity; and the moderns were content to follow the rudimentary efforts of the ancients in this way until the 15th cent., when the invention of the Lock(q.v.) -showing how C. might be generally and advantageously used for inland navigation, in countries whose surface was irregular-gave a great impulse to this branch of engineering. Since the introduction of railroads, canals have lost a great deal of their importance. They are, neverthele , still used for transportation of heavy freights, and maybe of much service for regular irrigation of dry lands. Many canals of great length have been constructed in this country, among which may be quoted the Erie O., 363 m., and the Ohio and Erie, 307 m. in length. (Anat.) A duct or pa age in the body of an animal, through which any of the juices flow, or other substances pa . [s. 135]