Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/566

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railed the poinciaka: See the article Poinciana. Crista pavonis is alfo a name given to the tree, the wood of

which is ufually denominated logwood. See Logwood. CR1THE, in medicine, a fmall tubercle, hard, red, and im- moveable, Tented upon the eyelid, above the cilia, or range of hairs. It is always included in a kind of cyft, and by inflam- mation degenerates into a thick'ifh matter, from whence fre- quently proceed intenfe pains, and various difordcrs of the light- It is ibmctimes featcd immediately under the fkin of the eyelid ; fometimes it is within, under the mufcle. When this tubercle is moveable, it is generally called chalazium, or in Englifh /foe, or Jlithe. Helpers Surgery, p. 365, CRITHMUM, famphire, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, ihe characters of which are thefe: the flowers (land in umbels, and are of the rofaccous kind, being compofed of feve- ral leaves, difpofed in a circular form, upon a cup, which after- wards becomes a fruit compofed of two flat, and lightly filiated feeds, which ufually throw oft" their covering. To this it is to be added, that the leaves are flefhy, narrow, and divided into three parts Totfrn. Inft. p. 916.

The fpecies of crithmmn enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe : r. The greater crithmum, or fea fennel, with the fmell of parfley. 2 . The lefler crithmum, or fea fennel. The feeds of the common famphire are carminative and aperi- ent : they are ufed by the people about the fea coafts, where the plant is common, in the colic, and in cafes of the gravel, or Hones in the kidneys. The whole plant is alfo diuretic; it is good againft obftructions of the vifcera, and to create an appetite. CRITHOMANTIA, Kft<fy«»W, in antiquity, a fpecies of divi- nation, by which predictions were made from the flower with which the vi£tim was bcfprinkled. Pott. Archie'ol. Gnec. 1. 2. c 14- T. 1. p 319. CRIZZEIXING, in the glafs trade, a kind of roughnefs arifing on the furface of fome kinds of glafs. This was the fault of a peculiar fort of glafs made in Oxfordshire, and fome other places, of black flints, a cryftallizcd fand, and a large quan- tity of nitre, tartar, and borax. The glafs thus made is very beautiful, but, from the too great quantities of the falts in the mixture, is fubjec"t to crizzel; that is, the falts in the mixture, from their too great proportion, are fubjetr, either from the adventitious nitre of the air from without, or from warm li- quors put in them, to be either increafed in quantity, or dif- folved, and thereby induce afcabrities, or roughnefs, irrecover- ably clouding the tranfparence of the glafs. This is what was called crizzeltngi but by ufing an Italian white pebble, and abating die proportions of the falts, the manufacture is now carried on with advantage, and the glafs made with thefe falts is whiter than the fineft Venetian, and is fubject to no faults. Ws Oxfordshire, 258. CROCALLIS, in natural hiftory, the name given by the antients to a ftone famous for its virtues agamft poilbns, and venomous bites. All the defcription Pliny gives of it, is, that It was of the fize and fhape of a cherry. CROCARDS, an old name given by the Irifh to a certain kind of foreign money brought over into that kingdom from France, and other parts beyond the feas, and uttered there for pennies, though not really worth fo much as a halfpenny. They were a fmall fort of coin, made of a mixture of copper, fulphur, and a fmall quantity of filver, and were called by feveral other names, as mitres, lionines, rofaries, and the like, from the figures they were impreffed with. They went current in Ireland, and jn fome parts of England a great many years ; but were after- wards denied, and prohibited importation, both in England and Ireland, under the penalty of the forfeiture of life and ef- fects. At this time, mints were fet up in Dublin, for the coining of good money, and, in a few years,the whole quantity of the crscards was deftroyed. See Pollards. CROCIAS lapis, in natural hiftory, a name given by fome of the old authors to a fpecies of agate, of a yellow colour, but deeper than the cerachates, or wax-coloured agate, and ap- proaching to what is called a faffron colour. CROON UM, a name given by the antient phyficians to a fort of oil of faffron, which is thus defcribed by Diofcorides. Eight drams of faftron are to be put into three pints of in- fpiffated oil, and they are to be ftirred together feveral times in a day, for five days together ; then the oil is to be feparated from the faffron, and a like quantity is to be added to the fame faffron, and ftirred about at times, for three days; then this oil is to be cleanfed off, and to it is to be added fifty ounces of powdered myrrh. Thefe having been well ftirred to- gether, are then to be fet by for ufe.

Some ufed an oil, impregnated with aromatics, in the compo- iiiion of the croctnum, but that was ufually efteemed belt, which linclt the moil ftrongly of faffron, or elfe of myrrh. The troctnum was efteemed heating and narcotic ; whence it was frequently prefcribed by way of embrocation, or elfe held to the nofe in frenfies. It was alfo efteemed ufcful as a fup- purative, and to cleanfe old ulcers : it was much efteemed al- io in hardnefles, obftructions, and other difordcrs of the ute- rus, being ufed with wax, marrow, and double the quantity of oil ; for a glaucoma, it was alfo ufed with fuccefs, when mixt with w^-ter, and the eyes anointed frequently with it. Diofcor. 1. 1. C 64.

CROCODES, in medicine, the name of a fort of troche', men- tioned by Paulus /Eg'meta, of which faffron was one of the principal ingredients. CROCODILE, (Cycl.)'Crocodiltis, a very large and terrible ani- mal ; its head is broad ; its nofe like that of a hog ; the open- ing of its mouth monftroufly large, reaching even to the ears, and the upper jaw moving in the opening it, which gives it a very terrible afpecT:. The teeth are large, white, and very numerous, and fet by one another, like the teeth of a comb ; the legs ft and fide ways ; and the feet are armed with extreme- ly fharp claws. The length of the tail is equal to that of the whole body ; the fkin of the belly is foft and eafily wounded, but that of the reft of the body fo hard as to be impenetrable to fpears or darts, and is covered with ftrong prickly fcales. The colour is in fome a dufky redifh yellow, but in moft a dis- agreeable brown, with a mixture of grey ; and even thofe which, when alive, had much yellownefs, always acquire this dufky colour in drying.

It is a verv flow and unweildy animal, turning fidewavs with difficulty; it has an agreeable fmell, but is a very terrible crea- ture, tearing to pieces, and devouring every living thing that is fo unhappy to come in its way.

Its eggs are about the fize of a goofe egg, and its lays fixty of thefe for one brood, burying them in the fluids, and leav- ing them for the fun- to hatch them. 'The. crocodile is found in the great rivers of the Nile, the Niger, and the Ganges, and in fome other places. Rays Syn. Quad. p. 261. Worm. Muf p 815. Fojjite Crocodile. One of the greateft curiofities in the foflile world, which the late ages have produced, is the fkeleton of a large crocodile, almoft entire, found at a great depth under ground, bedded in ftone. This was in the poflefiion of Lin- kius, who wrote many pieces in natural hiftory, and particu- larly an accurate defcription of this curious foflile. It was fcund in the fide of a large mountain, in the midland part of Germany, and in a ftratum of a black foflile ftone, fomewhat like our common Sate, but of a coarfer texture, the fame with that in which the foflile fifh of many parts of the world are found. This fkeleton had the back and ribs very plain, and was of a much deeper black than the reft of the ftone, as is alfo the cafe in the foflile fifties, which are preferved in this manner. The part of the ftone where the head lay was not found, this being broken off juft at the fhoulders, but that irre- gularly, fo that, in one place, a part of the back of the head was vifible in Its natural form. The two fhoulder bones were very fair, and three of the feet were welt preferved ; the legs were of their natural fhape, and fize, and the feet preferved, even to the extremities of the five toes of each. CROCODILION, in botany, a name given by fome authors to the plant commonly called the echifioput, or globe-thijile, SeeEcHJNOPUS. CROCOTTA, In natural hiftory, a name given by the antients to a very fierce and terrible animal, produced by copulation be- tween the large hyxna and the lionefs See Leocrocotta. CROCUS, faffron. In the Linnaean fyftcm of botany, this makes a dill inct genus of plants, the characters of which are, that the flower cup is compofed of two fpathae, or films, placed one near the other The flower is divided into "fix parts, which are all equal in fize, of a longifh, oval figure, and ftand ere£t. The ftamina are three pointed filaments, fhorter than the flower; the antherae are of the fhape of an arrow head; the piftillum has a roundiih germen, a thread-like fiyle of the length of the ftamina, and the ftigmata are three in number, convoluted, and notched at the edges ; the fruit is a roundifh capfule, compofed of three lobes, and containing three cells, and three valves. The feeds are numerous and round. Lin- msi Gen. PLmt. p. ic.

The characters of the crocus, according to Mr. Tournefort are thefe: the flower is of the liliaceous kind, being com- pofed of one leaf, tubular below, and growing' much lar- ger, and being divided into fix fegments toward the end. The flower Hands on a pedicle, and from its center there arifes an oblong piftil, which terminates in three crefted capillaments. The cup finally becomes an oblong, trigonal feed veflel, which is divided into three cells, and contains a number of roundifh feeds. To this it may be added, that the root Is tuberofe, and double. The fmaller root, which is enveloped in the fame membrane with the larger, which is flefhy and fibrated, is always placed upon it. The fpecies of crocus enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe: 1. The common, cultivated faffron. 2. The fweet- fcented crocus, which produces in autumn, leaves with- out flowers. 3. 7~he Alpine, autumnal crocus. 4. The blue, many-flowered, autumnal crocus. 5. The narrow- leaved, autumnal, mountain crocus, with filvery, white flowers. 6. The autumnal mountain crocus, v/ith a large violet-co- loured flower 7. The fmaller-flowercd, autumnal crocus.

8. The narrow-leaved crocus, which never produces flowers.

9. The narrow-leaved, Italian crocus, with large flowers, and a roftrated root, called fifyrinchittm. ic. The narrow- leaved, Italian crocus, with fmall flowers, called the fmall- flowered fifyriiubium 11. 'Ihe broad-leaved, Italian fjf,~ r'mchium. 12. The wild, late-flowering, Conftantinoplelr** cus, with white flowers, with a faint caft of blucifti. 1 ?.

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