or SCALENOUS TRIANGLE, Scalenum, in Geometry, a triangle whose sides and angles are unequal. See GEOMETRY.

CALENUS, in Anatomy. See there, Table of the Muscles.

CALIGER, Julius Caesar, a learned critic, poet, physician, and philosopher, was born at the castle of Ripa, in the territories of Verona, in 1484; and is said to have been descended from the ancient princes of Verona, though this is not mentioned in the letters of naturalization he obtained in France in 1528. He learned the first rudiments of the Latin tongue in his own country; and in his 12th year was presented to the emperor Maximilian, who made him one of his pages. He served that emperor 17 years, and gave Scaliger signal proofs of his valour and conduct in several expeditions. He was present at the battle of Ravenna in April 1512, in which he had the misfortune to lose his father Benedict Scaliger, and his brother Titus; on which his mother died with grief: when being reduced to necessitous circumstances, he entered into the order of the Franciscans, and applied himself to study at Bologna; but soon after changing his mind with respect to his becoming a monk, he took arms again, and served in Piedmont; at which time a physician persuaded him to study physic, which he did at his leisure hours, and also learned Greek; and at last the gout determined him, at 40 years of age, to abandon a military life. He soon after settled at Agen, where he married, and began to apply himself seriously to his studies. He learned first the French tongue, which he spoke perfectly in three months; and then made himself master of the Gallic, Italian, Spanish, German, Hungarian, and Slavonian; but the chief object of his studies was polite literature. Meanwhile, he supported his family by the practice of physic. He did not publish any of his works till he was 47 years of age; when he soon gained a great name in the republic of letters. He had a graceful person, and so strong a memory, even in his old age, that he dictated to his son 200 verses which he had composed the day before, and retained without writing them down. He was so charitable, that his house was as it were an hospital for the poor and sick; and he had such an aversion to lying, that he would have no correspondence with those who were given to that vice; but, on the other hand, he had much vanity, and a satirical spirit, which created him many enemies. He died of a retention of urine in 1558. He wrote in Latin, 1. A Treatise on the Art of Poetry. 2. Exercitations against Cardan; which works are much esteemed. 3. Commentaries on Aristotle's History of Animals, and on Theophrastus on Plants. 4. Some Treatises on Physic. 5. Letters, Orations, Poems, and other works, in Latin.