Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/559

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COR.VO, in zoology, a name by which many call the umbra, or chrom':! of authors, a large fea fifh, common in the Mediterra- nean, and, while young, brought to the markets of Italy. Ray's Ichthyogr. p. 300. See the article Umbra.

COR US, O.mer, Homer, or Chomkr, in the Jewifh anttqui- tiesj.amcafurecontainingten baths,or feventy-five gallons, and five pints, as a meafure of things liquid, and thirty two pecks and one pint, as a meafure for things dry. The corns, or owe?; was mofl commonly a meafure for things dry 3, and the greatefi that was ufed among the Jews. It contained, according to the Rabbins, ten ephahs, or thirty fata or feahs. Corns is the mod ufual term in the hiftorical writers, and omer or cbomer among the prophets b. — [ a Ca met, Diat. Bibl. b Arbuthnot, Tables, Sec. p. 100.]

Cor i:s, is alfo ufed in fome of our old writers for eight bufhels, or a quarter ; decern coros tritici, five decent quaricria. Brac- ta:, 1. 2. c. 16. parag. 7.

CORUSCATIONS [Cycl). — There is a method of producing artificial cor tfcat ions, or fparkling fiery meteors, which will be vifib'e not onlv in the dark, but at noon day, and that from two liquors actually cola; the method is this : fifteen grains of the folid phofphorus are to be melted in about a dram of wa- ter ; when this is cold pour upon it two ounces of oil of vitriol ; let thefe be lhaken together, and they will at firftheat, and af- terwards they will throw up fiery balls in great number, which will -..dhere like fo many Itars to the fides of the glafs, and continue burning a considerable time; after this, if a (mall quantity of oil ot turpentine be poured in, without fhaking the vial, the mixture will of itfelf take fire, and burn very feriotiily The veffel fhould be large, and open at the top. Phil. Tranf. N° 15;. See Inflammability. Artificial coruf.ation- may alfo he produced by means of oil of vitriol and iron, in the following manner. Take a glafs body, capable of holding three quarts; put into this three ounces of oil of vitriol, and twelve ounces of common water ; then warm- ing th; mixture a little, throw in, at feveral times, two ounces or more of clean iron filings; upon this an ebullition, and white vapours will arife : then prefent a lighted candle to the mouth of the vcJFel, and the vapour will take fire, and afford a bright fulmination, or flafh like lightning. Applying the can- dle in this manner feveral times, the effect, will always be the fame ; and fometimes the fire will fill the whole body of the glafs, and even circulate to the bottom of the liquor, and at others it will only reach a little way down its neck. The exeat caution to be ufed in this experiment is the making the matter of a proper heat ; for, if too cold, few vapours will arife, and if made too hot, they will afcend too faff, and will only take fire in the neck of the glafs, without any remarkable ccrufcatim. Shaw's Lectures, p. 397.

CORUSCATULA, in natural hiftory, a name given by Mr. Lhuyd to a fpecies of foflile plant of the fern kind, which that gentleman happened to find covered with a mining or glofly coat. See Plants fojjile.

CORVUS, (Cyc\) the crow, or raven. In the Linnasan fyftem of zoology, this makes a diftincf genus of birds of the order of the pica, the diftinguifhing character of which is, that the tail feathers are all of an equal length. Of this genus are t^ crow, raven, jackdaw, &c. Linutsi Syftem. Katur. p. 44.

Corvus, thcraven, is particularly ufed for a large bird of the crow kind, well known throughout the world, as being found in all climates, and all regions. The ravens build in high trees, or upon the ruins of old lofty buildings ; they lay four, five, or fix eggs, of a blueifb green, variegated with fpots and ftreaks of black. There arc many fabulous ftories of the lon- gevity of the raven, but birds are in general long-lived, and the crow kind not lefs fo than the reft. Mays Ornithol.

p 82.

Co;vus, in ichthvology, a name given by Paulus Jovius to the fiber, or d res See Faber.

Cor v us, in antiquity, a machine invented by the Romans at the time of their wars, in Sicily, when they firft engaged the Carthao-inian fleet. According to Polybius, the corvus was framed after this manner :

On the prow of thcit mips they erected a round piece of tim- ber about i£ foot diameter, and 12 feet in length, on the top of which was a block, or pulley ; round this piece of timber was a platform of boards 4 feet in length, which was about 1 8 feet long, and well framed and faftened with iron ; the en- trance was longways, and it was moveable round the afore- faid upright piece of timber, and could alfo be hoiiled up and down within fix feet of the top : about this frame was a fort of parapet knee high, which was defended with upright bars of iron,fharp at the ends,and towards the top there was a ring, by the help of which, and a pulley, or tackle, it was boifted and lowered at pleafure; with this moveable gallery, they hoarded the enemies fhips (when the;-' did not lie fide by fide) fometimes on their bow, and fometimes in the after part of the fhip ; the foldiers keeping the b^fs of their bucklers level with the top of the parapet, &c and by the means of this new engine got a victory over the Carthaginians in their firft fea-fight with them, though the enemy were long before well fkilled in naval affairs, and the Romans raw and ignorant.

Corvus aquatkus, in zoology, the name given by authors to the bird commonly known by the name of the cormorant. It is of the fize of a goofe, and is of a very deep dufky brown on the

COR

back, with fome admixture of a gfeenifh glofs, and white on the belly and breaft; its long wing feathers are greyftri ; ■ tail is a band's breadth and a half long, and when expan. looks roundifh at the end ; its beak is between three and fingers breadth long, and is a little hooked at the end ; its le ■- are very fhort, but very thick and ftrong, and (which is a very peculiar thing; are flat, or comprefTed, efpecially while the creature is young ; and another fingularity is, that the bate of the lower chap is covered by a naked yellow membrane, in the manner of the wild fwan's beak ; its legs arc-black, and cover- ed with a feries of cancellated fcales ; the toes are all joined by one membrane. It builds not only among rocks, but often al- fo on trees. _ Tab. of Birds, N* 9. Ra/.s Ornithol. p. 248.

Corvus aquations, the water raven, is alfo a name given by fome authors to the acacalotl, a very beautiful Mexican water bird, of a mining, greenifh, blackifh, and purplifh hue. It feeds on fifh, and is eaten, but is of a coarfe and fifhy tafte. Rays Or- nithol. p. 219.

Corvus aquaticus minor, in zoology, a name by which Mr. Ray- has very properly called a bird common on our northern coafts, and called there theJJja^e, and in fome places the crane, it being a genuine fpecies of conn, rant.

Corv u s cormitus, in zoology, a name by winch fome have called the Indian raven, with the horned beak, more ufually called the rhinoceros bird. See Rhinoceros avis.

Corvus fuviatilis, the river raven, a name given by fome wri- ters to a very remarkable bird of the Philippine iflands, re* fembling the common raven, but being of the amphibious kind. It is callad, in the language of the place cufdi, or colo- colo. See Colocolo,

Corvus indicus, in zoology, the name of a bird of the raven kind, very common in the Molucca iflands, very large, and armed with a very ftrong beak and claws ; it does not feed on carrion, as our raven, but eats the nutmegs, and does vaft da- mage, in deftroying that fruit. Its flefh is very delicate, and has plainly the aromatic flavour of its food. Ray's Ornithol. p 86. J

Corvus fylvaticus, the wood raven, in zoology, the name of a bird defcribed by Gefner, and fuppofed by Mr. Willughby to be no other than the coratias, or pyrrhocorax ; but, if rightly defcribed, it differs eflentlallyfrom that bird in fize, and in having acreft on its head. Gefner fays, it is of the fize of the common hen ; it appears at a diftance of a deep black, but, when viewed nearer, and in the fimfhine, it appears of a fine <r!offy grer*n ; its tail is fhort j its toes very long, and not webbed; and it has acreft on its head. It feeds on frogs, fifh, and other frnall animals,and builds in the ruins of old buildings,, and lays two ^r three eggs. 1 hey fly very high ; the young ones are accounted a very well tafted food. Ray's Ornithol. p. 366,

Corvus pifcis, the crow-fifl), a river fifli of the chub kmd, com- mon in Italy, and in fome parts of Germany, and called by Gefner, capita fuviatilis rapa'x, and by the common people roppe.

It is a long, thick, and flefhy fifh ; its back is of a blueifh brown, and its fides and belly white, and of a filvery glofs; its fcales are broad, and very thin and pellucid, and have under them a fine thin pellicle, of a great glofs, and filvery white- nefs, which is feen through the fcales^ and make the fifh look as if plated over with filver ; its gills are foft like thofe of the falmon, and its fins of a brownifh red. It feldom grows to more than fix or feven pound weight ; it is an extremely ra- pacious fifh, not lefs fo than the pike, and very frequently cbaces its prey fo hard as to drive them out upon the bank ; and, in that cafe, he ufually follows them alfo, and both are frequently taken, ftranded together. It is caught at all feafons of the year, but never in any great abundance; it is efteemed a very delicate fifh. Gefner de Pifc. p. 1 267.

CORYBANTICA, xof^^m, a feftival held in Crete, in me- mory of the Corybantes, who educated Jupiter when he was concealed in that ifland, from his father Saturn, who would have devoured him. Pott. Arch. 1. 2. c. 20. T. 1. p. 409.

CORYCEUM, in antiquity, that part of the gymnafium, where people undrefTed. It was otherwife called apodyterion. See Apody-serion.

CORYCUS, among the Greeks, a kind of exercife with the hand-ball. See its defcription in H'fm. Lex. in voc.

CORYDALEPODIUM, in botany, a name given by fome authors to the delphinium, or larkfpur. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.

CORYDALIUM, or Corydai is, a name ufed by fome au- thors for the fumaria, or fumitory^ 3. red-flowered little plant, improperly called by fome mayweed. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.

COR.YLUS. See Hazle.

CORYMBIUM, in antiquity, an ornament of hair worn by the women. Its form was that of a corynibus. See the article Corymbus, Cycl.

CORYPHA, in botany, a name by which L'mnreus calls a genus of plants called codda panna in the hortus Malabaricus, the cha- racters of which are thefe : the cup of the flower is the whole compound fpatha ; the flower is divided into three obtufe, oval fegments, which ftand in an expanded form ; the ftamina are fix pointed filaments, which are longer than the flower, with antheras growing to them; the germen of the piftil is round- ifh ; the ftyle is fubulated and fhort ; the fiigma fimple ; the fruit is a large unilocular berry, containing a large hard feed. Ltnnai Gen. PI. p. 514. Hort. Mai. p. n. Muf. Ctijfort 1 1.

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