signifies properly an hundred, being an abridgement of the word centum; but is often used in commerce to express the profit or loss arising from the sale of any commodity: so that when we say there is 10 per cent. profit, or 10 per cent. loss, upon any merchandise that has been sold, it is to be understood, that the seller has either gained or lost ten pounds on every hundred pounds of the price at which he bought that merchandise; which is $\frac{1}{10}$ of profit, or $\frac{1}{10}$ of loss, upon the total of the sale.

N° 68.

CENTAUREA, in botany: A genus of the polygamia fruticosa order, belonging to the syngenesia clas of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 49th order, Compositae. The receptacle is bristly; the pappus simple; the corollule of the radius funnel-shaped, longer than those of the disk, and irregular.