Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/177

Rh the female have renif orm stigmas, and a 3 to G celled ovary. The fruit is round, and about the size of an orange; it has a thick yellowish rind, and a light, spongy, and very bitter pulp, which furnishes the colocynth of druggists. The seeds, which number from 200 to 300, and are disposed in vertical rows on the three parietal placentae of the fruit, are fiat and ovoid, and dark-brown they are used as food by some of the tribes of the Sahara, and a coarse oil may be expressed from them. The foliage resembles that of the cucumber, and the root is perennial. The plant has a wide range, being found in Ceylon, India, Persia, Arabia, Syria, North Africa, the Grecian Archipelago, the Cape Verd Islands, and the south-east of Spain. The term pakkuoth, translated &quot;wild gourds&quot; in 2 Kings iv. 39, is thought to refer to the fruit of the colocynth ; but, according to Celsius, it sig nifies a plant known as the squirting cucumber, Ecbalium purgans. The commercial colocynth consists of the peeled and dried fruits, which are imported from Aleppo, Smyrna, Mogador, Spain, and other localities. In the preparation of the drug, the seeds are always removed from the pulp. Its active principle is an intensely bitter glucoside, colocynthin, C 56 H 84 23, soluble in water, ether, and alcohol, and decomposable by acids into glucose and a resin, colo- cynthein, C 40 H 54 13. Colocynth is a drastic purgative, and in large doses the powdered drug or its decoction has an inflammatory action on the intestines, and may produce fatal effects. It is administered in combination with aloes, scammony, cardamoms, and potassium sulphate, also with henbane. Colocynth was known to the ancient Greek, Roman, and Arabic physicians; and in a herbal of the llth century, written in Saxon (Cockayne, Leechdoms, &c., vol. i. p. 325, Lond., 1864), the following directions are given as to its use : &quot; For stirring of the inwards, take the in ward neshness of the fruit, without the kernels, by weight of two pennies ; give it. pounded in lithe beer to be drunk; it stirreth the inwards.&quot;  COLOGNA, a town of Italy, in the province of Verona, 20 miles south-east of the city of that name on the Frasana Canal. It has a cathedral, and carries on an extensive trade in hemp, silk, wine, grain, and almonds. Population, 7000.  Plan of Cologne. Plan of Cologne. St Martin s Church. Synagogue. Church of the Apostles. Bank. Civil Hospital. Cnsina St Maria s Church. Giirzcnich (Merchant s Hall) St Mauiitius s Church. St Peter s Church. Tcmpe haus (Exchange) Gymnasium. St Pantalcon Church. Garrison Lazaretto. St Seveiin Church. 1. St Cunibcrt s Church. Ifi. - . Civil Jail. 17. 3. St Ursula s Church. 18. 4. St Gereon s Church. 10. 6. Archbishop s Palace. 20. ft Government Palace. 21. &amp;lt;j t Palace of Justice. 23. 8. St Andrcas s Church. 23 0. Jesuits Church. 24. 10. Cathedral. 2, r &amp;gt;. 11. Diorama. 20. 12. Post Office. 27. 18. Church of the Minorites. 28. 1 1 Museum of Paintings. 29 15. Uathhaus (Town Hall). 30.

COLOGNE, German or, the chief city of Rhenish Prussia, and a fortress of the first rank, capital of a government of the same name, is situated in the form of a half circle on the left bank of the Rhine, 45 miles N.N.W. of Coblentz, in 50 56 29&quot; N. lat., 6 57 52&quot; E. long. It is connected with the suburb of Deutz, on the opposite side of the Rhine, by a bridge of boats nearly 1400 feet long, and by a handsome iron bridge which serves both for railway and street traffic. Although when viewed from a distance the city has a picturesque aspect, it is very irregularly built, and the older streets are narrow, crooked, and dirty. The most important squares are the Heumarkt, Neumarkt, Altmarkt, and Waidmarkt. There are two railway stations, the Central, near the cathedral, and the Pantaloon. There are also two stations in Deutz. The cathedral or Dom, the principal edifice and chief object of interest in Cologne, is one of the finest and purest monuments of Gothic architecture in Europe. It stands on the site of a cathedral commenced about the beginning of the 9th century by Hildebold, metropolitan of Cologne, and finished under Willibert in 873. This structure was ruined by the Normans, was rebuilt, but in 1248 was almost wholly destroyed by fire. The foundation of the present cathedral was then laid by Conrad of Hochstaden. The original plan of the building has been attributed to Gerhard von Rile. In 1322 the new choir was consecrated, and the bones of the three kings were removed to it from the place they had occupied in the former cathedral. After Conrad s death the work of building advanced but slowly, and at the time of the Reformation it ceased entirely. In the early part of the 19th century the repairing of the cathedral was taken in hand, and in 1842 the building of fresh portions necessary for the completion of the whole structure was commenced. The cathedral, which is in the form of a cross, has a length of 480, a breadth of 282 feet ; the height of the central aisle is 154 feet ; that of each of the towers, when completed, will be upwards of 500 feet. The heaviest of the six bells weighs 1 1 tons. In the choir the heart of Mary de Medici is buried ; and in the adjoining side-chapels are monuments of the founder and other archbishops of Cologne, and the shrine of the three- kings, which is adorned with gold and precious stones. The very numerous and richly-coloured windows, presented at various times to the cathedral, add greatly to tho imposing effect of the interior. (See, . .) Many of the churches of Cologne are of interest both for their age and for the monuments and works of art they contain. In St Peter s are the famous altar-piece by Rubens, representing the Crucifixion of St Peter, several other works by Lucas of Leyden, and some old German glass-paintings. St Martin s, built between the 10th and 12th centuries, has a fine bapistery, and paintings by Du Bois and Honthorst; St Gereon s, built in the llth century on the site of a Roman rotunda, is noted for its mosaic? 