Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/426

 COUGUAR COUNCIL consists in a long inspiration which fills the lungs, the closure of the glottis when the expiratory effort commences, and the bursting open of the closed glottis by the sudden blast of air forced up from the air passages. The cause of cough may be in the respiratory system, or it may be symptomatic of disease in the digestive and other organs. The cough in laryngitis, croup, and folliculitis arises from irritation in the throat and larynx ; in bronchitis, pneumonia, pleurisy, and phthisis, the cause is in the thoracic cavity. Cough may be dry, as in the first stage of pleurisy, or hu- mid, as in certain stages of pneumonia and in advanced consumption ; the act may be single and with distant intervals, or paroxysmal and long continued, as in whooping cough, phthisis, and bronchial catarrh ; it may be accompanied by a ringing metallic sound, as in croup and whooping cough, by a hollow resonance or gur- gling, as in phthisis with cavities, or by hoarse- ness, as in laryngeal disease. The character of the cough is characteristic of certain diseases : that of whooping cough and of croup is highly diagnostic ; in pleurisy it is dry and hard ; in pneumonia, generally humid, with viscid rusty sputa ; in consumption it varies with the stage of the affection ; but in all these, taken in con- nection with other symptoms, the cough is a valuable diagnostic sign. Many rales, charac- teristic of morbid changes, are only or best recognized in the increased respiration after coughing. Cough is frequently accompanied by pain, as in acute pleurisy, pneumonia, and bronchitis; at other times, painless, but ex- hausting, as in the paroxysms of spasmodic coughs. Cough, symptomatic of other than pulmonary disease, is not accompanied by any characteristic phenomena discoverable by aus- cultation and percussion. The gravity of cough as a symptom depends on the disease in* which it occurs ; spasmodic coughs generally are not dangerous, except from the liability to rupture of vessels, or other simply mechanical conse- quences. For the relief of cough the prescrip- tions are almost innumerable, consisting of compounds of narcotics, antispasmodics, de- mulcents, expectorants, and alteratives, ac- cording to the character of the symptom, the stage of the disease, and the fancy of the at- tending physician. COUGUAR (felis concolor, Linn.), a carnivo- rous animal, also called puma, or American lion, and by the early settlers of the United States painter (a corruption of panther) and catamount. It has a very extensive range, be- ing found from northern New York to Patago- nia in South America. The length of the body of the adult male is from 4 to 4 ft., and that of the tail from 2 to 2 ft. ; the females are somewhat smaller. The fur is thick and close, of a pale reddish brown color above, shading into white on the flanks and lower parts; the muzzle, chin, throat, and inside of limbs are grayish white, and the breast is almost pure white ; the back of the ears, and the part from which the whiskers spring, are brownish black ; the tip of the tail black ; the whiskers white ; on the face and sides there are sometimes a few stripes. The young have rows of dark brown Couguar (Felis concolor). spots on the back, and show other markings like those of the leopard. The couguar is an active climber, but prefers the grassy plains and meadows of South America, where it is very destructive to the herds. One of its chief peculiarities is its voice, which is shrill, and best described as a scream. In the forests of the north it lives chiefly on deer, upon which it springs from a branch overhanging tneir paths and watering places. It is not satisfied with seizing a single victim, but will kill as many of a herd as it can, sucking only a small portion of the blood of each. It is cowardly by nature, and will flee from man ; but if wounded, it will turn upon the hunter, and prove a dangerous foe. In the north it is gen- erally hunted by dogs, and driven to a tree, where it is easily shot. It is readily tamed, and many instances are on record of its docility and even affection. 01 LMIERS, Battle of. See ORLEANS. COULOMB, Charles Angnstin de, a French phi- losopher, born at Angouleme in June, 1Y36, died in Paris, Aug. 23, 1806. He began life. a military engineer, serving three years in the West Indies, and afterward in France. Upon the outbreak of the revolution he left the army and devoted himself to the education of his children and to study. He published important trea- tises upon electricity and magnetism, discovered the non-penetration of electricity into the in- terior of solid bodies, and invented the torsion balance. His treatises, Theorie des machines simples and Sur la chaleur, received a prize from the academy. COUNCIL (Lat. concilium, an assembly for deliberation). I. In the Christian church, an assembly of bishops, called together by the proper authority for the purpose of determining questions concerning faith, morals, rites, and discipline. Councils are either provincial, na- tional, or general, according as they are com-