Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/600

 596 CUTLER CUTTLE FISH him a commission as judge of the supreme court of the Ohio territory, which he declined. He was afterward elected representative to the state legislature of Massachusetts, and from 1800 to 1804 he served as a representative in congress. He declined a reelection in 1804, and continued till his death to be pastor of the church at Hamilton. II. Jervis, son of the pre- ceding, born at Hamilton, Mass., in 1769, died at Evansville, Ind., June 25, 1844. In 1788, at the age of 19, he joined the little company who settled at Marietta, Ohio. He cut down the first tree for an emigrant's clearing in that state, and was the last survivor of that pioneer company. CUTLER, Timothy, D. D., president of Yale college, born at Charlestown, Mass., in 1684, died in Boston, Mass., Aug. 17, 1765. He graduated at Harvard college in 1701, and after a ministry of ten years at Stratford, Conn., was chosen president of Yale college in 1719. In 1722 he renounced his connection with the Congregational churches, whereupon the trus- tees passed a vote " excusing him from further services as rector of Yale college," and requir- ing in future from their rectors evidence of the " soundness of their faith in opposition to Ar- minian and prelatical corruptions." He then went to England and took orders ; and in July, 1723, he became rector of Christ church, Bos- ton, where he remained till his death. A series of his letters in Nichols's " Illustrations of Literary History " have considerable histor- ical value. CUTTACK. I. A division of the province of Bengal, India, bounded E. and S. E. by the bay of Bengal, and lying between lat. 19 30' and 21 40' N., and Ion. 85 8' and 87 81' E. ; area, 6,705 sq. m. ; pop. about 1,500,000. It is divided into the districts of Pooree, Cuttack E roper, and Balasore. The district of Cuttack as an area of 3,061 sq. m. It is well watered, the coast is level, and the N. W. part is trav- ersed by hills which produce teak and other valuable timber. "Wheat, maize, rice, sugar, pulse, spices, and dyestuffs are the principal productions. The best salt in India is made on the coast, and iron is found among the hills. The climate is hot and unhealthy. The prov- ince was acquired by the British from the rajah of Berar in 1803. In 1817 it was the theatre of a serious revolt, and in the mutiny of 1857 it was somewhat disturbed. The Cuttack Mehals, a group of 18 petty states, with an aggregate area of 16,929 sq. m., and a popula- tion of 761,805, became subject to flie East India company on the acquisition of the prov- ince. They comprise a small proportion of arable land, but are valuable for their timber. II. A city, capital of the district, on a tongue of land between two branches of the Maha- nuddy river, 60 m. from its mouth and 220 m. S. W. of Calcutta; pop. estimated at 40,000. Embankments faced with stone protect it from the frequent overflows of the river, which has been known to rise six feet above the level of the town in a single night. It is half in ruins, has little trade, and contains no handsome buildings. Many of the dwellings, however, are well built of brick or stone, and it has man- ufactories of brass cooking utensils and shoes. Near it is the decayed fortress of Barahbattee, now used as a quarry. The town was the capital of the ancient province of Orissa, and its name, from the Sanskrit catak, signifies a royal resi- dence. It was captured by the British in 1803. CUTTLE FISH (sepia officinalis), a molluscous animal or shellfish, of the family sepiadce and class cephalopoda. The shell, which character- izes the family, is a broad laminated plate im- bedded in the back part of the mantle, and ter- minating behind in an imperfectly chambered apex (mucro), which is supposed to answer as a sort of fender in the collisions the animals are exposed to in swimming backward. This shell is a friable calcareous substance known as cuttle bone or pounce, and used for polish- ing soft metals. The bone of a Chinese cuttle fish has been found 1 ft. long. As a fossil the Sepia officinalis and Shell. bone has been met with in the eocene clays of the London basin, and of forms indicating ex- tinct species. The cuttle fishes are provided with eight arms and two long tentacles, all of which radiate from around the head. The tentacles are provided with suckers, and reach beyond the arms to seize prey, and serve also to moor the animal. The suckers hold so fast to objects that the limb will part from the body before they let go. By means of their arms they walk on the bottom with their heads downward ; the same organs aid them in swim- ming, and a propelling force is moreover ob- tained by violently ejecting water from their branchial chamber. As a means of defence they are provided with an ink bag, the dis- charge of which opens into the funnel by which the water is ejected from the two gills ; when attacked the animal instantly darkens the water with the black fluid from this bag, and retreats in the obscurity it occasions. Several species of sepia produce this inky substance. It was well known to the ancients, and is described