Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/520

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plane, oval, and expanded petals : the (lamina are a number of erect, hairy filaments, placed in a circular direction ; the an- thers are fmall ; the germen of the pillil is of an oval figure, ami the fruit is a large oval berry, having only one cell, in which is lodged a rugofe and Triable nut of an oval figure market! with five lines running its whole length. Lmnai Gener. Plant, p 237. P/umer, Gen. 5.

CHRYSOCERAUNUV/rff/wj, is fomctimes ufed for attrum ful- minant See Aurum fulminant, Cycl.

CHRYSOCERI, ««n«h ' n antiquity, a defignation given to oxen defigned for facrifices. They were fo called from their horns being gilded.

CHR YSOCOLLA, [Cycl) in the materia medica of the antients, the name of a fine green arenaceous powder, properly one of the fabume, and found at this day in many parts of the world.

It is of a very elegant colour, ferments violently with aqua Fords, and is wholly diffolved by it, and tinges it with a blueifh green; and being calcined itlofes all its green colour. It is now found on the fhores of the Red Sea, on thofe of fome parts of America, and in Ruflia ; and that found at this time has all the properties of that mentioned by the antients. It ferves to the foklering of gold and other metals, and given internally is a violent and dangerous emetic. Hill's Hift. of Foil" p. 580.

Chr ysocolla was alfo the name given by the anticnt Arabians to the gum ammoniacum of the Greeks. The plain interpre- tation of the word cbryfocolla is gold glue, and in this fenfe it was ufed for the fubftance employed in the foldering gold to- gether; but here it is only ufed to exprefs a golden colour, which had the property of adhering like glue to the paper it was laid upon. Avifenna tells us, that this gum was ufed to itain books and papers, and that the colour it gave was a gold yellow, which nothing would take off. This could not be the fame with our ammoniacum. Pliny tells us of the two kinds of ammoniacum ufed by the antient Greeks, the one of which was brittle and pure, and the other tough and foul ; it is poffi- ble that the latter of thefe, which is the kind called phyrama, may be the fame with the ammoniacum now ufed, but the -other kind called thrauma, or thraufton, which was of aredifh brown, and very brittle, could not be fo. Neophytus endea- vours to reconcile both defcriptions to our gum ammoniacum in its different ftates ; but while he does this, he forgets that the characters of the thrauftum are io different, that the thing cannot be the fame with ours, even if both the kinds mentioned by the Greeks were the fame, which docs not appear at all pro- bable.

CHRYSOCOME, in botany, a name by which fome authors call the ftaechas citrina, or goMylocks. Parkin/on, Herb. p. 79.

CHRYSOGONON, or Chrysogonum, in botany, a name by which fome authors have exprelTedthemoth mullein, or blattaria. Get: Emac. Ind. 2. See Blattaria.

Crysogonum, in the materia medica, is alfo the name of a Syrian plant, called the red turnep, the leontopetalon cofta fimplici of Tournefort. Park. Theatr. p. 683. See Leon-

TOPETAI.ON.

CHRYSOLACHANON, in botany, a name by which Pliny, and fome other authors have exprcfl'ed the white garden beet. Get. Emac. Ind. 2.

CHRYSOLITE, (Cycl)thc name given by the moderns to a gem which was called the topaz, by the antients. All the modern jewellers, and thofe of feveral ages before them, have agreed in calling this gem the cbryfolite ; and the true cbryfolite of the an- tients, which had its name from its fine gold yellow colour, they now universally call the topaz.

The cbryfolite of our times, the topaz of the antients, is even in its moft pure and perfect ftatc, a gem of but fmall beauty, and of no great value. It is found of various fizes, and fome of the coarfer pieces of it are vaftly larger than any of the other gems are ever found to be; its moft frequent fize, however, when perfect, is about the bignefs of a nutmeg. It is found of ve- ry various figures, but never columnar, or in the form of cry- ital ; it is in fome places found fmall, and in roundifh, or irre- gular, pebble-like mafYes, and in others generally oblong and flatted, and is always of a rude furface, and lefs bright than any other of the native gems. Its colour is a dead green, with a faint admixture of a pale yellow ; it has thefe different tinges in the feveral fpecimens in different degrees of mixture, but its moft ufual colour is that of an unripe olive, with fome what ofa brafly colour mixt with it, and fomcti mes is a pale and dufky green obfeured by a mixture of brown, and with a flight caff of the fame brafly yellow. It is much fofter than any of the pellucid gems ; itsfineft pieces do not excel cryflal in hardnefs, and its coarfer are greatly fofter; it takes agoodpolifh, however, and in fome of its finer fpecimens makes a tolerable figure, though greatly inferior to the other gems. Hi!l'$H.\{\, of Kofli p 598. Our jewellers take very little notice of it, and inftead of having two or three names for it, as they have for moft other of the gems, they call it very often a prafius, and the lefs accurate among them often call the chryfoprafius a cbryfolite. The chryfo'ite is found in New Spain, and in feveral parts of Europe, as Silefia, Bohemta,&c. The American, however, an greatly fuperior to the European, but are ufually fmall ; thi Bohemian are large, but very few of them are of a good co lour, or free from flaws.

CHRYaOPAGION, in natural hiftory, a name by which fome

of the middle ages have called the gem defei ibed bv Plinv, wil- der the name of the chryfolampis. All that Pliny tells'u bf this gem is, that it was very bright, and was ofa pale yellow colour by daylight, but of a flame colour in the night; but this has been improved by thofe who have copied it, into a ftory of Alining in the dark, and lofing its luftre by day-ti"ht. Many ftones of the coloured kind have a different appearance by day-light, and when viewed with a candle; and all thatPli- ny feems to have meant by this paffage, is, that the ftone was plainly of a yellow colour by day-light, but had fomething of redifh mixed with it, when viewed by candlelight; it was pro- bably either of the topaz, or of the hyacinth kind. Sal mantis is of opinion that it was only a foul kind of tbechryfoprafius.of which Pliny fays, that fome of them were full of fp'ecks, and of a variable colour. CHRYSOPETRON, in natural hiftory, a name given by Pliny and others, to the yellower kind of the antient topaz, that is, our chryfolite. The old authors have diftinguifhed two kinds of this gem, according as the green or yellow colour predomi- nated in the mixture : when the yellow bore the fway, they called it cbryfopetron, the golden flone; when the green was moft predominant, they called it prafiodes. Some, inftead of the word cbryfopetron, have it cbryjopteron, and fome only chry- foteron, which, leaving out the word ftone or gem, fignifies on- ly more yellow, or gold-coloured. Orpheus, or the author of the hiftory of gems, under his name, calls the green topazes hyaloides, or glaffy ; many have fuppofed the word hyaloides to fignify only tranfparent as glafs ; but this, and many other paflages of the antients prove, that it was alio ufed for glafs- coloured, that is green. CHRYSOPHRYS, in ichthyology, a name given by the antient Greek and Latin authors to a fUh called at this time the aurata ; it is afpecies of fparus. Seethe articlesAuRATA,andSpARUs. CHRYSOPILON, in natural hiilory a name given by fome an- tients to a fpecies of the beryl, which had a yellowiih tinge. CHRYSOPIS,the golden eye, in natural hiftory, the name of a Ipe- cies oCBy^fo culled from the beautiful gold colour of its eyes. It is a long-bodied fly, with extremely thin and tranfparent winc.3 of a filvery colour, with green ribs or nerves ; the body is green, and the antennae very fiender, and blackifh. This is a very flow flyer, and is common in gardens ; it is frequently found on the common elder ; it is of a very ftrong fmell. CHRYSOPRASUS, in chriftian antiquity, the tenth of thofe precious ftones which adorned the foundation of the heavenly Jerufalem % the colour of it was green, much like that ofa leek, but fomething inclining to that of gold, as its name im- ports b. — [ a Revclat St. John. b Calm. Di£t. Bibl.] CHRYSOSPLENIUM, golden faxifrage, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : the flower confifts of one leaf, and is of a rotated form, and divided into fegments at the edge ; there is no flower cup, but the piftil rifes immediately from the center of the flower, and ripens in- to a two-horned, membranaceous capfule, which contains a great number of very minute feeds.

The fpecies of this genus enumerated by Mr. Tournefort are three: 1. The large, auriculated-lcaved, golden faxi ft age. 2. The fmaller, rounder leaved, golden fa xtf rage. And, 3. The gslden faxifrage> with leaves ftanding on long fcot-ftalks. Town. Inft. p. 146. CHRYSOXYLON, in botany, a name given by fome to the Scytharion, or Scythicumlignum, a wood famous for its beau- tiful yellow colour, and in tingingthe hair yellow. This was one of the many fubftances called by the name of thapfum by the antient Greeks from its colour, the word thapfus fignifytng a pale yellow, and being applied by thefe authors to every thing that had that colour in itfelf, or couid give it to other things. Sec the article Thapsum. CHRYSTAL. See Crystal.

CHRYSTALLINE {Cycl) — The veffels of the chryfallb^M- mour of the eye are all the branches of an artery, which being fent off from the artery which enters at the centra] part of the retina, partes through the vitreous humour, and when it reaches the cbryjiaUine, difperfes its branches along the furface of the lens like radii, till they are exceeding minute when they pierce into its fubftance. Med. Eif. Edinb Vol. r, p. 737. CHTHONIA, %£-«ia, in antiquity, a feflival kept in honour of Ceres, called Cbtbonia. For the ceremonies obferved in it, fee Pott. ArchasbJ. 1. 2. c» 20. CHUBB, the Englifti name for the fifth called the capita and cs- fhaltti by authors, and by fome of the antient Romans fqualus. It is, according to theArtedian Iyftem,a fpecies of the cyprinus, and is the fifh called by the French the vilain and teftard. See the articles Cephalus, Capito, and Cyprinus. The reforts of this fifh are cafily found, for they are generally holes overfhaded by trees, and the fifh will be feen floating infuch almoft on the furface of the water in a hot day in great numbers. They are but a poor fifh for the table, and are very full of bones, but they entertain the angler very much, and are of the number of thofe that are eafily taken. The beft manner of fifhiiig for him is thus : prepare a very ftrong rod of a fufficient length; fix to the hook a grafshopper ; place yourfelf fo as to be perfectly out of fight of the fifh, and drop in the bait about two foot from the place where a large ehubh lies ; if he does not fee the angler he very feldom fails biting, and is immediately taken, but he is fo ftrong a fifh that he 4. fhculd