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 86 CASTLETON CASTOR OIL county Down, retaining that seat in the next two parliaments, which met in August, 1818, and in April, 1820. In 1814, as British pleni- potentiary, he took part in the conferences of Chatillon, and was influential in persuading the allies not to lay down their arms unless Napoleon agreed to limit France to the boun- dary of 1792. This Napoleon refused to do ; and that great campaign was begun which ended in the capitulation of Paris and the ab- dication of Napoleon. At first Castlereagh would not concur, in behalf of England, in the measure by which Napoleon was permitted to retain the title of emperor and retire to Elba. After the treaty was signed, however, he re- luctantly acceded to it. lie took part in the con- gress of Vienna, both before and during the hun- dred days. Subsequently he supported George IV. in his schemes for getting rid of Queen Caroline, and was the author of the harsh measures for the repression of discontent caused by general distress and dearness of provisions. The struggles of the constitutionalists in Spain and Portugal called for active interference on the part of the holy alliance, and Castlereagh was on the point of joining the congress of Verona when he fell into a state of melancholy, in which he committed suicide by opening the carotid artery with a penknife. The coroner's jury declared the act to have been committed in a state of lunacy. He had become second marquis of Londonderry, April 8, 1821. His correspondence was edited by his brother, the third marquis, in 1850. CASTLETON, a post village and township of Rutland co., Vt., on Castleton river, at the in- tersection of the Rutland and Washington, and the Rensselaer and Saratoga railroads, 12 in. W. of Rutland; pop. in 1870, 3,243. It is noted for its slate quarries, and is the seat of a seminary and a state normal school. CASTLETOWN, the capital of the Isle of Man, England, on' a bay of the same name, near the S. extremity of the island; pop. in 1871, 2,373. It contains King William's college, founded in 1830, and Castle Rushen, said to have been built by a Danish prince in 960. It is the seat of the governor and the courts of law. CASTOR, a substance somewhat resembling musk, secreted by the beaver. It is of the con- sistency of honey, and has a strong, penetrating, fetid, and volatile odor, which is lost when the substance is dried and hardened. It is used to some extent in medicine as an antispasmodic and stimulant, and is thought to act especially upon the nervous system. It was known and recommended by Pliny and Dioscorides, but it has not a high reputation among mod- ern practitioners ; and as it is often largely adulterated, there will be little cause for re- gret should its use be discontinued. The arti- cle considered the best is obtained from Rus- sia. The American beaver produces an infe- rior quality. Benzoic acid is recognized among the numerous organic compounds of which this substance consists. CASTOR OIL, a mild purgative obtained from the nuts of the castor oil plant, the ricinus communis or palma Christi. Ricinus is an apetalous genus of plants belonging to the natural order euphorbia cea. It was originally a native of Asia, and was used by the nations of antiquity, but is now naturalized in Africa, America, and the south of Europe. The char- acters of this genus are : Leaves alternate, stip- ulate, palmate, glands at apex of petiole. Flow- ers in terminal panicles ; mono3cious, no petals ; calyx 3-5 parted, valvate ; filaments numerous, polyadelphous; style short, stigmas 3, bipar- tite, feathery ; ovary globose, 3-celled, with an ovule in each cell; fruit capsular, tricoccous. The H. communis or palma Christi has peltate palmate leaves, with lanceolate serrated lobes; an herbaceous glaucous stem, of a purplish red color upward ; and flowers in long green and glaucous spikes, springing from the divisions of the branches, the males from the lower part Castor Oil Plant. of the spike, the females from the upper. The capsules are prickly. It varies in size in dif- ferent countries. In some parts of Europe it is not more than three or four feet high, but in India it is a tree, and in Spain it attains fair dimensions. The native country of R. corn- munis is unknown; it is conjectured to be Barbary. The castor oil plant was known in very ancient times, both to the Egyptians and the Greeks. The latter called it croton, a name bestowed by modern botanists on another ge- nus of euphorbiaceous plants, one species of which yields the strongly purgative oil called oleum tiglii or croton oil. Numerous varieties of R. communis exist in various localities, differ- ing not only in color and the peculiar condition of the stem, but in stature and duration. In warm countries it is ligneous and perennial ; in cold regions, annual and herbaceous. The en- tire plant possesses active properties, but the oil extracted from the seeds is alone employed in