Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/573

 CUMBERLAND RIVER GUMMING 569 that the course pursued by the Cumberland presbytery was condemned, and the sentence of the synod was confirmed by the general as- sembly of the Presbyterian church. The pres- bytery, demurring to this decision, withdrew from the jurisdiction of the general assembly, and in 1810 organized a distinct and separate body, which has since that time been known as the Cumberland Presbyterian church. Their progress as an independent church was marked with great success, so that in 1813 they formed a synod and adopted articles of religion and a forrh of church government. In doctrine they occupy a sort of middle ground between Cal- vinism and Arminianism. They reject the doctrine of eternal, unconditional election and reprobation, and believe in the universality of the atonement and the final conservation of the saints. Their government is presbyterian in form, embracing the session, presbytery, syn- od, and general assembly, all of which are constituted in the same manner as those of the Presbyterian church. Though they have local pastors, they have adopted the itinerant system of the Methodists. By this system of circuits and stations their ministers have spread them- selves over the west and south, and even to California. Their general assembly had in 1873 under its supervision 24 synods, 105 pres- byteries, about 1,100 ministers, 1,950 congre- gations, 125,000 communicants, and 300 pro- bationers for the ministry. They had five col- leges, viz. : Cumberland university (with a the- ological school), at Lebanon, Tenn. ; Waynes- burg college, at Waynesburg, Pa. ; McGee college, at College Mound, Mo. ; Lincoln uni- versity, at Lincoln, 111. ; and Sonoma college, at Sonoma, Cal. ; also a number of seminaries. Religious journals were published in their in- terest at Nashville (three), St. Louis, Tehua- cana, Tex., and San Francisco. CUMBERLAND RIVER, a stream which rises in the Cumberland mountains near the S. E. boundary of Kentucky, flows W. and S. W., and enters Tennessee between Jackson and Overton counties. After a circuit of nearly 250 m. through the middle of Tennessee, it makes a bend to the N. W., recrosses the Ken- tucky border about 10 m. from the Tennessee river, and runs nearly parallel with that stream until it joins the Ohio at Smithland. Its whole course is estimated at over 600 m. At high water it is navigable by steamboats to Nashville, 200 m. from its mouth, and by small boats for nearly 500 m. Not far from Williams- burg, Ky., it has a remarkable vertical fall of 60 ft. It drains an area of about 17,000 sq. m. CUMING, a N. E. county of Nebraska, inter- sected by the N. branch of the Elkhorn river ; area, 400 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 2,964. The Omaha and Northwestern railroad is to pass through it, and the Elkhorn Valley road is to run near the S. W. corner. The surface is undulating prairie, interspersed with timbered bottom lands ; the soil is fertile. The chief productions in 1870 were 91,381 bushels of wheat, 80,786 of Indian corn, 60,955 of oats, 11,809 of barley, 20,694 of potatoes, and 6,708 tons of hay. There were 831 horses, 720 milch cows, 1,210 other cattle, 820 sheep, and 3,065 swine. Capital, West Point. COIING, Hugh, an English naturalist, born in Devonshire in 1791, died in London in 1865. His collection of shells, over 60,000 in number, was for several years one of the finest in Europe. In 1848 it represented more than 19,000 species and varieties, and was afterward much increased from the principal cabinets on the continent, which he visited annually, car- rying the duplicates of his rarities and exchang- ing them. His specimens were wonderfully perfect in form, texture, and color, and were amassed not only by diligently frequenting the shops of commercial naturalists in seaports, but also by passing 30 years of his life in travel and personal researches, collecting every variety of mollusks from their native seas and rivers, in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, and in the islands of the Malay archipelago. CUMIN SEED, the fruit or seed of the cuminum cyminum, an umbelliferous plant, cultivated in the East from the remotest times for its seeds, Cumin. which have a bitter and aromatic taste and a peculiar odor. The Latin poets allude to their power of producing languor. They are obtained in Egypt, Greece, Malta, and Sicily. They are little used in medicine. CHIMING, John, D. D., a British clergyman, born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Nov. 10, 1810. He studied at King's college, Aberdeen, became tutor in a school near London, and in 1833 was ordained as pastor of the Scotch church, Crown court, Covent Garden, where he still officiates. He is a member of the es- tablished church of Scotland, and opposed the separation of the Free church in 1843. He became known as an earnest opponent of Ro- man Catholicism, but has attracted most atten-