Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/487

* CORK. 417 CORMON. longitudinal and transverse incisions are made to the proper depth, and each piece is then cut away trom the tree. The average yield for one tree is ahout 45 pounds. The slabs are placed in boiling water for one hour, a process which increases their bulk one - fourth and also their elasticity, and dissolves the tan- nin and other substances. Steam is sometimes employed instead of hot water. The cork is then scraped either by hand or by scraping ma- chines, in which process it loses from 20 to 30 per cent, of its weight. The cork is then cut crosswise into strips of the proper length, then lengthwise, and finally into pieces of the proper shape. In many districts this industry is car- ried on in the homes by hand, but there are also cork-cutting machines, especially in the United States, of great efficiency. The cork is then washed in oxalic salt, or some other solution, and then dried. It is now ready to be sorted and packed for the market. In Spain the corks are packed in lots of .'iO.OOO in bagging cloth, and called bales. Besides its use for stopping bottles, casks, etc., cork is largely used, on account of its light- ness, for floats of nets, swimming-belts, etc. ; and, on account of its impermeability to water, and its being a slow conductor of heat, inner soles of shoes are made of it. All these uses are mentioned by Plin.v: but the general emploraient of corks for glass bottles appears to date only from the fifteenth century. It is also used for bicycle-handles, smokers' mouthpieces, and many other modern devices. The bits that are left in the process of manufacture are groinid to powder and used in the manufacture of linoleum and for many other purposes. The Spanish black used by painters is made by burning cork in close vessels. CORK, Earls of. See BoTi-E. CORLEONE, kor'la-r/na (It., lion-heart). A city in the Province of Palermo, Sicily, situat- ed' 1950 feet above the sea, at the foot of Mount Cardellia, and 21 miles south of Palermo (Map: Italy, H 10). It has a handsome church that was restored in 1840, and the ruins of two castles. The ancient Korliun was founded by the Saracens and colonized with Lombards by Frederick II. in 12.37. Population (commune), in 1S81, 15,686; in 1901, 14,803. COROiISS, George Henry (1817-88). An American engineer and inventor, born at Easton, N. Y. In 1844 he removed to Providence, R. I., where he engaged in the manufacture of steam- engines, and in 1848 established the Corliss Steam Engine Company. He made and patented many improvements in steam-engines, and in 187G furnished the 'Corliss engine' to Machinery' Hall in the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. This engine now furnishes the motive power for the works of the Pullman Car Company, in Pull- man, 111. CORM (Gk. Kopfji.6i, kormos, the trunk of a tree, with boughs lopped off, from Ktlpeiv, keirein, Lith. sk'irti. OHG. arvran, Ger. schvrcn, Icel, skera, AS. sceran, Engl, shear). A compact subterranean stem which is related both to tubers and bulbs. It is very short and fleshy, usually more or less rounded or depressed, and in this feature is related to the tuber. It is related to the bulb, however, by the fact that this short and compact fleshy stem is invested by thin scale leaves. Corms are sometimes spoken of as 'root bulbs,' and in po[)ular usage are con- i^WJW CORMS. a, ColcUicum; b. ^risiema (Indian turnip). stantly spoken of as 'bulbs.' Common illustra- tions are found in the Indian turnip, crocus, gladiolus, cyclamen, etc. CORMENIN, kor'n-.c-nax'. Louis IMakie de LA Have, Mcomte de (1788-1808). A distin- guished French jurist and jiublicist, born in Paris. He was educated for the law, and in 1810 was appointed auditor of the Council of State, in which capacity he drew up several of the Council's most important reports. He was a Deputy from 1828 to 1846. His extensive kno-ledge of jurisprudence and of the practical affairs of government, and the clear and logical force with which he presented his ideas, soon secured for him great influence in public af- fairs. His famous Lcttrcs siir la Uste cirilr began to appear in 1831, and passed through twenty-five editions within ten years. He was elected to the National Assembly in 1848, and was made president of the commission appointed to remodel the Constitution, in which capacity he strongly advocated universal suffrage. Although he had opposed the admission of Louis Xapoleon to the National Assembly, and afterwards had protested against the coup d'etat, he was ap- pointed, in 1852, a member of the reconstituted Council of State. In 1855 he was elected a mem- ber of the Institute. Besides his numerous polit- ical pamjihlets, published imder the pseudonym of 'Timon' and subsequently collected as Pam- phlets de Timon (1848), Corraenin wrote Etudes ,sMr les orateurs parlementaifes, a work which has passed through nearly twenty editions, and a valuable Droit administrafif, dealing with the law of France. CORMON, kor'nioV, Fernand (184.5—). A French painter. He was bom in Paris, and studied under Froraentin. Cabanel, and Portaels. He received the Prix du Salon in 1875, a medal of honor at the Salon in 1887, the Grand Prix at the Exposition of 18S9, and in the same year became an officer of the Legion of Honor, ot which he had been chevalier since 1880. In his archa>ological paintings, of which "The Stone Age," exhibited in 1884. is a good specimen, he shows great accuracy in rejjroducing the char-