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* CORD A. 407 CORDER. Shizospcrmarum et Ilepaticoruii), and in 1S34 ■was made one of the keepers of the Jluscum in Prague. In 1S47 lie came to Texas, where lie car- ried out many interesting observations and col- lected a large number of valuable botanic speci- mens; but on his voyage home, in 1849, he was shipwrecked and di"owncd. His published works include, besides the Moiiorjrapliiu already men- tioned, the following: Icoiws Funijorum Hiiciis- que Cogiiitorum (ti vols., 1837-54) ; Pnichljlora ruropiiischcr HchimmeUjilduniicn (1830); and Bcitriii/c .;»/• Flora der Voncelt (1845). CORDAGE (from co'rl, Fr. conk; ML. conla, Lat. chorda, from (ik. x°P^Vt cliordi', string; con- nected with Lat. luirit-ifiicx, inspector of entrails, Icel. fforn, 0HC4. garni, entrails, Lith. zania, Skt. him, intestine, also Icel., OHG. gam, Ger. Clam, xVS. gcam, Engl. yarn). A name applied chictiy to the running rigging of a ship and to the rope of which the rigging is made. See Rigging; Rope. CORDAITES, kor'da-i'tez (Xeo-Lat. nom. i., named in honor of A. J. Corda). A genus of fossil plants, of the family Cordaitie, that shows intermediate characters between the conifers and the eycads. The genus appeared in Devonian time, reaching its maximum during the coal-measure period, when it was an important forest tree of the coal-swamp flora, and declined during the Permian. The tree grew to a height of thirty to fifty -feet, with a trunk that branched freely, and it had dense foliage of parallel-veined leaves of lanceolate or linear form. These leaves are found in great aljundance in some coal-measure shales, where they often lie packed in layers as do the fallen leaves of a modern forest. In the Middle Devo- nian of Xew Brunswick. Canada, a fornuition is called the 'Cordaites shale,' liecause of the number of Cordaites leaves it contains. The inflorescence of Cordaites was separate as in the eycads, and the male and female elements were arranged in catkins placed in the axils of the leaves. The fructification is nut-like, resembling somewhat that of the yew or that of Cycas revoluta (a cycad), and has been described under the names C'ardiocarpum, Trigonocarpum, etc. These fossil nuts are often exceedingly almndant. The trunk had a large pith, which often decayed to form a cavity of which the casts, kncjwn as Artesia; and Sternhergia, are found on the dumps of some coal mines. The wood of the trunk, described partly as Araucaro.xylon, has a microscopic structure remarkably like that of the conifers. Consult II. Graf zu Solms-Laubach, Fossil Botany, pp. 104-122 (Oxford, 1801). See C.^kbonifebous System ; Cyc.^d.^ce.e ; Coxifeb.e. CORDAY D'ARMONT, kor'da' diir'miiN', Marie Anne Charlotte (1708-93). The assas- sin of Maratj generally known as Ch.rlotte CoRDAY. She was born at Saint Saturnin in Xormandy. Iler youth, passed in a convent, was spent in the reading of Plutarch, Rousseau, Ray- nal. Voltaire, and Corneille. Though she was noble liy birth, she sympathized ardently with the cause of the Revolution in its early phases; but when the fall of the Girondists ushered in the Terror, she swung immediately to the opposite pole. She saw Barbaroux (q.v. ) at Caen, spoke to him, and was convinced that Ararat and Robespierre were the enemies of France. To the fervent student of the classics, the role of Brutus seemed a noble one, and she determined to save the nation by murder. Telling lier father that she was liound for ICngland, she journeyed to Paris (July 1, 1793), incpiired there for the house of ilarat, pretending to be the liearer of a message, and bought a knife on the way. Twice delayed, she found Marat at last in his bath, writing (.luly 13). He had asked that morning, in the Ami dii I'euple, for 200,000 heads, and Charlotte told him she could give him those of the Girondists at Caen. As ho was setting down the names she uttered, one by one, she drove the knife up to the hilt into his heart; then she tried to escape. Marat died immediately, and the girl, quickly captured, and saved with difficulty from the mob, was taken to prison. Brought to trial and speedily con- demned, she died calmly, going, as she said, to join the divine Brutus in the Elysian Fields (July 17, 1793). Consult: Dubois, Charlotte Cord'ay (Paris, 1838); Vatel, Charlotte Corday ct Ics Cirondins (Paris, 1872). CORDEIRO, kor-d:"i'e-ro, Joao Ricardo ( 1836- 82). A Portuguese dramatist. He was born in Lisbon, and in 1803 became secretary in the Con- selho de Beneficencia. He was the founder of the jieriodical Futuro, and his numerous reports on charitable work contain valuable suggestions as to the most efficacious methods of dealing with the problem of poverty. In 1877 he obtained a (iovernment position under the president of the ^Ministry, Luciano de Castro. His plays include: Fernando (1857) ; Amor e arte (1800) ; A socie- dade elegante (1862); A familia (1869); Os- paraizos conjugaes (1882). CORDEIilA. In Shakespeare's King Lear, the youngest daughter of the King, by whom she is disinherited for not making sufficiently effu- sive protestations of love for him. But when he is turned out by his other daughters, Goneril and Regan, she conies to his rescue with an army. She is taken prisoner, and killed in prison. CORDELIERS, kor'd'-lya' (Fr., cord - wear- ers). The name given in France to the most aus- tere branch of the Franciscan friars, on account of the girdle of knotted cord they wore. After 1790 the name was applied to the members of a politi- cal club which assembled in the abandoned chapel of a Franciscan monastery, and exercised great influence on the progress of the Revolution in Paris. Its leaders were men of various opinions, Danton, Camille Desnioulins, ISIarat, Hebert, and the pictui-esque Anacharsis C'lootz. It drew its strength from the very lowest classes of Paris, and always had an armed mob at hand ready for insurrections. The members of the Cordeliers were the first to demand a republic, took a very prominent part in the events of the tenth of August, 1792, and chiefly contributed to the over- throw of the Girondists (q.v.). While the club was at the )ieight of its influence, Desnioulins be- gan the publication of his popular journal Le 'ieux Cordelier. Later, the spirit of the Cor- deliers became so violent as to out-Jacobin the Jacobins, and men like Danton and Desnioulins abandoned it. In 1704 the Cordeliers awakened the enmity of Robes])ierre, who determined to crush them. On March 24 and April 5 most of the leaders were guillotined, and the club prac- tically came to an end. Consult Bougeart. Pro- jet d'organisation des Cordeliers (Paris, 1870). CORD'ER, FREnERiCK (1852—). An English musician, born in London. He studied at