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 570 GUMMING tion by his interpretation of sacred prophe- cy, especially with reference to the second coming of Christ and the manifestation of his kingdom on earth. His sermons have attract- ed great numbers of hearers, and having been published in book form have attained a wide circulation both in England and in America. Among the best known of these volumes are the " Apocalyptic Sketches " (London, 1849) ; "The great Tribulation" (1859); " Redemp- tion Draweth Nigh" (1861); "The Destiny of Nations " (1864) ; " Sounding of the Last Trumpet " (1867) ; and " The Seventh Vial " and " Fall of Babylon Foreshadowed " (1870). COINING, Ronaleyn George Gordon, a Scottish sportsman and author, born March 15, 1820, died at Fort Augustus, Inverness-shire, March 24, 1866. He was the second son of Sir Wil- liam Gordon Gordon Gumming, and from an early age had abundant experiences as a deer- stalker in the highlands of Badenoch. He rnt some years in the military service in In- and the Cape of Good Hope, but left the army about 1843. Between October of that year and March, 1849, he made five hunting expeditions into various parts of South Africa, which he recorded in his "Hunter's Life in South Africa" (London, 1850). His adven- tures partake so largely of the marvellous that their accuracy has more than once been ques- tioned. He derived a considerable profit from the skins, tusks, and other trophies of the chase, of which he opened an exhibition on his return to England. He claimed to have killed more than 100 elephants. CUMMINGS, Joseph, D. D., LL. D., an Ameri- can clergyman, born at Falmouth, Me., March 3, 1817. After a preparatory training at the Maine conference seminary, he entered the Wesley an university, where he graduated in 1840. He was immediately elected teacher of natural science and mathematics in Amenia seminary, of which institution he became prin- cipal in 1843. After three years he joined the New England conference, and was stationed successively in Maiden, Chelsea, and Boston, until 1853, when he was elected professor of systematic theology in the Methodist general Biblical institute at Concord, N. H. In 1854 he was elected president of Genesee college, Lima, N. Y., where he remained till 1857, when he became president of the Wesleyan university at Middletown, Conn. In 1872-'3 he made a tour of Europe for the study of im- proved educational methods. CUMMINS, Maria S., an American novelist, born in Salem, Mass., April 10, 1827, died in Dorchester, Oct. 1, 1866. She was the daugh- ter of Judge David Cummins of Salem. Her first book, " The Lamplighter " (1853), attained such a popularity that 40,000 copies were issued within eight weeks of its publication, and over 100,000 copies were sold in this country alone. It met with success also in England, and two translations of it appeared in France, one en- titled Gerty, the other Uallumeur de reverbtres. CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS A German translation was published mLeipsic in 1856. Among her other works are " Mabel Vaughan" (1857)> "ElFureidis" (1860), and " Haunted Hearts " (1863). " El Fureidis," a story of the East, contains graphic and truth- ful pictures of life and scenes in Palestine, which the author had never visited. She was also a frequent contributor to periodicals. CUNDINAMARCA, a state of the United States of Colombia, lying bet ween lat. 1 and 6 N., and Ion. 69 20' and 76 20' W. ; bounded N. by Boyaca and Antioquia, E. by Venezuela, S. by Brazil and Cauca, and W. by Cauca and Antio- quia ; area, 79,845 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 409,602. Its capital is Bogota, which is also the capital of the republic. Its W. portion is mountainous, comprising the Cordilleras de Cundinamarca and a large part of the fertile valley of the Magdalena; but in the east are vast plains drained by the affluents of the Amazon and the Yucapari. It is well timbered, contains gold, silver, copper, lead, coal, and rock salt, and produces almost every kind of crop com- mon to Colombia. Its population consists of whites, Indians, and mixed races, in nearly equal proportions. The cataract of Tequen- dama and the natural bridges of Iconozo and Pandi are in this state. Cundinamarca was one of the chief centres of ancient American civilization, and wonderful architectural re- mains are still to be met with in various parts. It was conquered by the Spaniards, under Gonzalo Xinienes de Quesada, in the early part of the 16th century. CUNDURANGO, the wood and bark of a vine which grows in Ecuador, and belongs to the family asclepiadacecB. It was brought to the notice of the profession and the public in the United States as a cure for cancer in 1871, under the patronage of the department of state, and was sold at enormous prices. The only efficacy which can be attributed to it, on theo- retical grounds, is that it belongs to the class of aromatic bitters. Experience has shown that for the cure of cancer or any other chronic disease it is entirely inert. CUNEGO, Domenico, an Italian engraver, born at Verona in 1727, died in Rome about 1800. He went to Rome with an English architect and settled there. He was employed four years at Berlin, engraving the portraits of the king and princes after Cunningham, and some time in London on Boydell's Shakespeare. His prin- cipal works are 22 plates in Gavin Hamilton's Schola Italiana, and his outline of the " Last Judgment," from Michel Angelo's frescoes in the Sistine chapel. CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS, or Cuneatic Inscrip- tions (Lat. cuneus, a wedge), the monumental records of the inhabitants of the ancient As- syrian, Babylonian, and Persian empires. They are also called claviform (Lat. clavus, a nail), cludiform (mediaeval Lat. cludus, a nail), ar- row-headed inscriptions, and sphenograms (Gr. a0#v, a wedge). The writing is also called sphenography. All these names refer to the