Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/583

 CUPEL CURASSOW 579 of the Eden, 10 m. W. of St. Andrew's ; pop. in 1871, 5,105. The town has manufactures of coarse linens, corn, barley, and flour mills, and a flourishing academy. It is called Oupar Fife to distinguish it from Cupar Augus, Perthshire. CUPEL, and Cupellation. See ASSAYING. CUPID. See EEOS. CUPPING, a method of local abstraction of blood, through small scarifications, by the as- sistance of bell-shaped glasses exhausted of air. When the object is merely to draw blood to a part, for purposes of revulsion, the ex- hausted glass is used without incision of the skin ; it is then called dry cupping. The old method of exhaustion was by burning a bit of paper or a few drops of alcohol in the glass, which was then immediately applied to the skin. A more convenient and certain exhaustion is now obtained by means of a small syringe at- tached to the cup ; the risk of burning the pa- tient is avoided, the locality may be carefully selected, and the pressure accurately graduated. If, after the blood is drawn to the part by a dry cup, it is desirable to deplete the vessels, the skin may be cut by a bistoury or lancet, or by an instrument called a scarificator ; this consists of a square box of brass, in which are mounted from 6 to 16 blades, which are set and discharged by a spring ; the depth of the incision can be exactly regulated, and the action is so instantaneous that very little pain is felt. From these little wounds the pump draws into the glass from 1 to 5 oz. of blood, according to its size. After sufficient blood has been drawn, a piece of adhesive plaster is put on to close the punctures and prevent sup- puration. Dry cupping has been used with advantage in diseases of the brain and lungs, applied in the first case to the nape, shoulders, and arms, and in the second to the back and base of the chest ; also in diseases of the eyes. The amount of blood taken by cups can be well measured ; they are less disgusting than leeches, quite as effectual when they can be applied, and not liable to be followed by inflammation of the wounds; they are employed either after or in place of general bleeding. In pneumonia, pleurisy, and abdominal inflammations, and va- rious local affections, they are applicable when venesection would be out of the question, and are generally preferable to leeches. Cups may be used to prevent the absorption of the virus in poisoned wounds and bites. M. Junod, in France, in 1838, invented a monster apparatus, capable of receiving the whole lower extremity, in which by means of a pump the limb could be either compressed or placed in a compara- tive vacuum ; the derivative and revulsive ef- fects of this apparatus were energetic, amount- ing if desired to the production of syncope. (TKAC.OA, Curasao, Curazoa, or Cnrassou, an island of the Dutch West Indies, in the Carib- bean sea, 46 m. N". of the coast of Venezuela ; lat. 12 3' to 12 24' N., Ion. 68 47' to 69 16' W. ; length K W. to S. E. 36 m., breadth 8 m. ; area, 164 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 21,319, of whom about 2,000 were Protestants and 1,000 Jews, the remainder Roman Catholics. It has a hilly surface, with rugged coasts, and is ex- ceedingly barren. The climate is dry and hot, though tempered by sea breezes, and the island is visited by the yellow fever every six or seven years. Fresh water is scarce, and is obtain- ed either from rain or deep wells. Severe droughts frequently occur ; the soil is so poor that provisions are imported, and some of the products once cultivated, as indigo, cotton, and cacao, are now entirely neglected. Sugar, tobacco, maize, cochineal, cattle, horses, asses, sheep, and goats are raised; the tamarind, banana, cacao palm, orange, and various kinds of kitchen vegetables grow well ; and from the lime is made the celebrated Curacoa liqueur. Iron and copper ores exist, but are not worked. The trade is mainly with the United States, the exports to which in 1870 amounted to $353,000, of which goat, kid, and deer skins formed $225,000. The principal harbor is that of Santa Anna on the S. W. coast, one side of the narrow entrance to which is defended by Fort Amsterdam, while on the other stands Willemsted or Curacoa, the capital of the island and of a government which includes this and the neighboring islands of Buen Ayre, Oruba (or Aruba), and Little Curacoa. It is also the seat of a Catholic vicar apostolic, whose juris- diction embraces nearly all of the Dutch West Indies. Curacoa was settled by the Spaniards in the 16th century, taken by the Dutch about 1630, captured by the British in 1798, restored to Holland at the peace of Amiens, again seized by England in 1807, and finally given up to the Dutch in 1814. CURASSOW, a name given to two genera of birds of the order gallinm, and the family cra- cidce ; the two genera are crax and paitxi^ both peculiar to America. The curassows have the bill moderately long, strong, generally elevated at the base, with the culmen curved, and the sides compressed to the obtuse tip ; the nostrils are lateral and large, with an opening partly closed by a crescentic or rounded membrane ; the hind toe is long, and on the same plane with the others. In the genus crax the bill is mod- erate; the wings short and rounded, with the sixth to the eighth quills equal and the longest; the tail long and rounded ; the tarsal robust, longer than the middle toe, and covered in front by broad scales ; the toes long, strong, and covered with prominent scales, the lateral toes being equal ; the claws are moderate, com- pressed, and curved. Six species are described, of which the most interesting are: 1. The crested curassow (C. alector, Linn.), of a gen- eral black color, with the lower belly white, and the cere yellow ; the head is ornamented with a crest of recurved and frizzled feath- ers,, radiated, alternately white and black ; the sides of the head and base of the bill are bare ; at certain ages the body, wings, and tail are banded with white. It is 3 ft. long, about as large as a turkey. This species has frequently