Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/514

 CUR

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CUR

Each Divifion had the Election of its Curio , particular Curio's, were under the Direction of a Superior, or General, call'd Curio Maximus ; who was the Head or the Body ; and elected by all the Curio's, affembled in the Comitia Curiata.

All thefe Inftimtions were fet a-foot by Romulus, and con- firm'd by Numa, as Halicamaffkus relates it. Goodwin will have two Curio's in each Curia.

CURIOSUS, Curious, an Officer of the Roman Empire, during the Emperors of the middle Age.

The Curiofi were Perfons appointed to have an Eye that there were no Frauds, and Malverfations committed ; parti- cularly no Abufes in whar related to the Polls, the Roads, %$c. and to give Intelligence to the Court of what pafs'd in the Provinces. ,

This made them People of Importance ; and put em in a Condition of doing more harm than they prevented : on which account, Honorius calhier'd 'em, at leaft in fome Parts of the Empire, Anno 41 5.

The Curiofi came pretty near to what we call Controllers : They had their Name from Cura, Care ; gntod Cans agen- dis iS ereSionibus curfus publici infpiciendis operam darent.

CURLING Stuff, in Joinery. SeeCROss-GRAlN'n Stuff.

CURNOCK, a Meafure of Corn, containing four Eufhels. See Measure, and Bushel

diterranean : They are ufually, too, found to drive the fame way in St. George's Channel The great Violence and dan- geroufnefs of the Sea in the Straights of Magellan, is attri- buted to two contrary Currents fetting in, one from the South, and the other from the North Sea.

Currents, with refpeft to Navigation, may be defin'd, certain progreffive Motions of the Water of the Sea, in fevcral Places, either quite down to the Bottom, or to a certain de- terminate depth ; by which a Ship may happen to be carry'd forward more fwiftly, or retarded in her Courfe, according to the Direction or Setting of the Current, in, with, or againft the Courfe or Way of the Ship. See Navigation.

The Bufinefs of Currents making a considerable Article in Navigation ; the way they fet, together with their Strength, is to be carefully obferv'd : this fome do by the Ripplings of the Water, and by the driving of rhe Froth along the Shore, when in fight of it : But the more ufual, as well as more accurate way, is thus :

They firft fix their Boat, by throwing out a triangular piece of Wood, with a piece of Lead faften'd to it and to the Stem of the Boat with a Cord ; and letting it fink Co Fathom, or more ; or, fometimes, by a Kettle ty'd by the Bowl, and funk, as the other.

By either of thefe means, the Boat is brought to ride as at Anchor ; which done, the Log is call over, the Glafs turn'd,

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CUrTaTt S :TkM of IhtleRaifins, or dried Grapes, of and as 'the Log-line veers out, the Drift of the Log ,s fet

different Colours ; black, white, or red ; of the fize of or- dinary Goofeberries, brought from feveral Places of the Ar- chipelago, and among others, from the Ifthmus of Corinth ; whence their Name.

They mull be chofen new, fmall, and in large Maffes ; and care be taken that the little Spanijb Currants ben't foilled in their room. When made up in Bales, they may keep two or three Tears, without llirring, or giving 'em Air.

Their ufe is in feafoning feveral Viands, and in lome me- dicinal Competitions ; where they ferve in lieu of Raifins.

Sir George J-Vheeler's account of thefe Fruit, and the man- ner of preparing 'em is very curious.

The IiTand of Zant, he obferves, is the chief Place whence the Currants are brought : the Morea, or the Ifth- mus of Corinth, which was antiently the principal Plantation, and whence the Latins denominate 'em Uv£ Corinthiac£, now, produces no more ; as having been much neglected : the Jealoufy of the 'Turks not allowing large Veffels to en- ter the Gulf, to take 'em off their Hands.

They don't grow on Bufhes, like our Goofeberries, tho that be the common Opinion ; but on Vines, like other Grapes ; except that the Leaves are fomewhat thicker, and the Grapes fomewhat fmaller : They have no Stone ; and, in this Country, are all red, or rather black.

They gather 'em in Augllft, difpofe 'em in Beds on the Ground rill rhey be dry, clean 'em, and lay 'em up in Ma- gazines, which the Natives call Seraglio's ; pouring them in at a Hole, till the Magazine be full. They cling fo fall together by their own weight, that they are fore'd to be dug out with Iron Inftruments.

To barrel 'em for fending abroad, they have People who gteafe their Feet and Legs, and tread 'em clofe, that they may keep the better. They are fold for about 12 Ctowns the thoufand Weight ; and pay as much Cullom to the State of Venice.

Zant produces enough yearly to load five or fix Veffels ; Cephalonia three or four 5 and the other Iflands one. The Englifb have a Faflory at Zant ; the Dutch two or three Merchants, and the French one : the Englifb confuming more than fix times the Quantity that both France and Hol- land do together.

Thofe of Zant know but little of the ufe we make of 'cm ; being perfuaded they only ferve in dying of Cloth ; and be- ing entirely ignorant of the Luxury of Chrillmas Pyes, Pud- dings, i£c.

CURRANT, or COURANT Money, good Money, or that which paffes in Commerce from one to another. See Courant.

Currant, Curranto, a fort of running French Dance : Alfo a Mufical Air in triple Time. See Courant.

CURRENT, in Hydrography, a Stream, or Flux of Wa- ter in any certain Direction. See River, and Wave.

Currents, in the Sea, are either Natural and General, as ariiing from the diurnal Rotation of the Earth on its Axis ; or Accidental, and 'Particular, caus'd by the Waters being driven againft Promontories, or into Gulphs and Straights ; where, wanting room to fpread, they are driven back, and thusdifturb the ordinary Flux of theSea. See Sea, Flux, iSc.

The Currents are fo violent under the Equator, where the Motion of the Earth is the greateft, that they carry Vef- fels very fpcedily from Africa to America ; but abfolutely prevent their return the fame way : fo that Ships are fore'd to run as far as the 40th Degree of Latitude, to find a Paf- fage into Europe.

In the Straights of Gibraltar, the Currents almoft con- llantly drive to the Eaftward, and carry Ships into the Me-

...th the Compafs. See Log-line.

This fhews wherher there be any Current, or none ; and if any, which way it fets, and at what rate it drives : ob- ferving, however, to add fomething to the Drift, for the Boat's Drift; for tho fhe appear to Hand flill, yet, in reality, (he is found to move. This Addition Experience has thus determin'd ; if the Line fhe ride by be (So Fathom, a third Part of the Drift to be added ; if 80 Fathom, a fourth ; if 100, a fifth.

If a Ship fail along the Direflion of a Current, tis evi- dent the Velocity of the Current mull be added to that of the Veffel : If her Courfe be direflly againft the Current, it mull be fubtrafted ; if fhe fail athwarr the Current, her Motion will be compounded with that of the Current ; and her Velocity augmented or retarded, according to the An- gle of her Direflion, with that of the Direction of the Cur- rent ; i. e. fhe will proceed in the Diagonal of the two Lines' of Direction, and will defcribe or pafs rhro' that Dia- gonal in the fame Time wherein (he would have defcrib'd either of the Sides, by the feparate Forces. See Composi- tion of Motion.

To determine a Ship's Courfe and Diftance, failing obliquely with, or againft a Current. Suppofe, v. g. fhe tails N.E. no Miles, in a Current which lets S.W. 30 Miles in the fame Time : To folve the Problem geometrically ; fet off 4. Points from N towards E, (Tab. Navigation, Fig. 15.) and draw AC equal to no Miles ; from C draw CB, parallel to the LineNNE, and equal to 30 Miles: Lailly, draw A B, which will be the Ship's true Courfe and pittance.

To find which Trigonometricaliy. In the Triangle ABC, there are given AC no, BC 30, and the Angle C, ^^ ^o'■, then, AC + :AC — B C: : r, -"- A + B : r, |B — A. That is, as the Sum of A C and B C, viz. 140, is to their Difference 80 : : fo is the Tangent of 78° 45' to the Tan- gent of 70 49'. Hence her true Courfe appears to be N.E. 7, 515' Eaflerly. For her Diftance ; as the Sine of the An- gle A, 7 5«', is to the Drift of the Current B C, 30, fo is rhe Sine of the Angle at C 22 30', to the Diftance run, 83, two Miles. See Course.

t7»rf«--CuRRENTs. Dr. Halley makes it highly probable, that in the Downs, in the Straights of Gibraltar, &c. there is an Under-Current, whereby as much Water is carried out, as is brought in by the upper Current.

This he argues from the Offing between the North and South Foreland, where it runs Tide and Half-Tide, i. e. it is either Ebb or Flood in that Part of the Downs, three. Hours ere it is fo off at Sea : A certain Sign, that tho the Tide of Flood runs aloft, yet the Tide of Ebb runs under- foot, i. e. clofe by the Ground ; and fo at the Tide of Ebb it will flow under-foot.

This he confirms by an Experiment in the 'Baltic Sound, which he receiv'd from an able Seaman prefent at the making it: Being there, then, with one of the King's Frigates, they went with their Pinnace into the Mid-Stream, and were carried violently by the Current. Soon after that they funk a Bafket with a large Cannon-Bullet, to a certain depth of Water, which gave check to the Boat's Motion 5 and fink- ing it flill lower and lower, the Boat was driven a-head to the Windward, againfl the zipper Current : the Current aloft not being above four or five Farhom deep. He ad- ded ' that the lower the Bafket was let down, the ftronger rhe Under-Current was found.

From this Principle, tis eafy to account for that valt Draught of Water continually pouring in with the Current out of the Atlantic into the Mediterranean, thro' the Straights of Gibraltar 5 a Paffage about 20 Miles broad :