Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/387

 CORRY CORSICA 383 serves to preserve for a long time meat that has been placed in it for a few hours. The common use of the substance for this purpose would, however, be dangerous. The method of preserving wood from decay introduced by Mr. Kyan consists of filling its pores with a so- lution of this salt. In medicine, corrosive sub- limate is given in small doses by the mouth to obtain the constitutional effects of mercury upon the human system. It has the advantage of being less liable to salivate than most other mercurial preparations. It has been used hy- podermically for the same purposes, but is liable when thus used to cause severe local irritation. Externally it is a parasiticide and irritant. It is used as an antiseptic for the preservation of anatomical specimens, which should be cautious- ly handled lest the hands become inflamed by contact with it, or absorption take place from an abraded surface. Corrosive sublimate, like all mercurial preparations, is much less employed in medicine than formerly. When secondary syphilis occurs in persons of robust health, un- doubted advantage may be derived from its ap- propriate administration, but its action should be watched by a competent physician. It is more likely to do harm than good in the ter- tiary forms of the same disease. Glandular swellings and chronic inflammatory affections of mucous surfaces, especially of the throat, ear, and uterus, are sometimes benefited by the judicious use of corrosive sublimate. Per- sons of delicate health or feeble constitution should not be subjected to its influence, nor should it be allowed to vitiate the blood or disturb the digestion. It may be given in pill or solution. The dose varies from -fa to ^ gr., which may be given three times a day. The stomach tolerates it better after food than be- fore. (See MERCURY.) CORRY, a city of Erie co., Pa., 27 m. S. E. of Erie; pop. in 1870, 6,809. The first build- ing was erected on its site in August, 1861, af- ter the discovery of petroleum, the refining and trade in which still form its principal branch of industry. It was incorporated as a city in 1866. The Philadelphia and Erie, the Atlantic and Great Western, the Buffalo, Corry, and Pittsburgh, and the Oil Creek and Alleghany River railroads intersect here. There are sev- eral churches, two banks, machine shops, oil refineries, oil warehouses, tanneries, steam saw mills, and two daily and two weekly newspa- pers. In 1871 there were 17 schools, of which one was a high school, with 20 teachers and 868 pupils. CORSET, an article of dress enclosing the chest and waist, worn chiefly by females to support or correct the figure. It is usually made of firm cloth, stiffened by rods of whalebone or other material, and furnished in front with vertical plates of steel or whalebone, which clasp and rest on the sternum, separating the breasts, and behind with lacing by which the compres- sion can be regulated. Bandages resembling corsets were worn by the Roman matrons 230 VOL. v. 25 during the republic and the empire, at first with the design only of supporting the breasts, but afterward to compress the form and give it an air of slightness, which was esteemed one of the attributes of beauty. Prior to the French revolution, corsets of German inven- tion had been worn for several centuries, which contained rods and plates of whalebone and steel, and were designed both to conceal the defects and exaggerate the beauties of the fig- ure. When tightly laced, they were prejudicial to health, since by pressure upon the lungs and heart the vital functions of respiration and circulation were impeded, and organic inflam- mations, unhealthy secretions, and vertebral distortions were frequently the result. At the period of the revolution, the French ladies, having adopted the Greek costume, brought into use a very slight corset, which served as a support, but was not laced tightly enough to cause constraint or pain. During the present century fashion has repeatedly returned to small waists, and corsets are sometimes laced so as to compress the vital organs of the body, distort the form, destroy its beauty, and injure the health. The most valuable treatise on the subject is Dr. Bouvier's jfitudes historiques et medicates sur V usage des corsets (1853). CORSICA (Fr. Corse), an island in the Medi- terranean, about 100 m. S. E. of the coast of France, of which it forms a department, 50 m. W. of Tuscany, and separated on the south from the island of Sardinia by the strait of Bonifacio, 7 m. wide. It lies between lat. 41 20' and 43 N., and Ion. 8 32' and 9 34' E. ; greatest length, 116 m. ; greatest breadth, 52 m. ; area, 3,377 sq. m. ; pop. in 1872, 258,507. The E. coast is low and of regular outline ; the W. is high and broken by numerous bays and harbors, the chief of which are those of San Fiorenzo, Calvi, Porto, Sagone, Ajaccio, and Valinco. The interior is traversed from N. to S. by a granitic range with many sum- mits more than 7,000 ft. high, wrapped in never-melting snows, while the culminating peak, Monte Rotondo, in the centre of the island, has an elevation of 9,054 ft. There are many small rivers, none navigable, and all having a rapid descent to the sea. The two largest are the Golo and Tavignano, which have an E. course. Along the E. coast, which is generally marshy, there are several lagoons, the most extensive being the Stagno di Bigu- glia, in the north, S. of the port of Bastia. Ex- cept in the region of these marshes, the climate is healthy. The hills are covered with forests of oak, pine, cork, beech, chestnut, larch, tur- pentine and wild olive trees, &c. The date palm, orange, citron, fig, almond, pomegranate, and mulberry flourish ; the olive is cultivated ; honey and wax are obtained in large quantities from the forests ; the fertile plains, slopes, and valleys produce wheat, maize, barley, cotton, sugar, indigo, tobacco, madder, and the grape ; but the wine, amounting to about 6,600,000 gallons a year, is carelessly made and poor in