Part 122

_Prop., &c._ It is insoluble in water, and nearly so in cold alcohol, but very soluble in boiling alcohol. It strikes a fine crimson colour with sulphuric acid, which remains unaltered for some hours; a property which distinguishes it from piperin. Its physiological action has been but little studied. According to Dr Görres, this for the most part resembles that of cubebs.

=CU'BEBS.= _Syn._ CUBEB PEPPER; CUBEBA (B. P. & U. S.), CUBEBÆ (B. P.), L. The immature and stalked fruit of _Piper cubeba_ or _Cubeba officinalis_. Cubebs are stimulant, stomachic, and aromatic, like the other peppers; they are also diuretic, and appear to possess a specific influence over the urino-genital organs.--_Dose_, 10 to 20 gr., in affections of the bladder and prostate gland, and in gleet and leucorrh[oe]a; 1 to 3 dr., in the early and inflammatory stages of gonorrh[oe]a, in piles, &c. They may be taken in water, milk, or bitter ale.

=CU'CUMBER.= The fruit of the _Cucumis sativus_ (Linn.). Used as a salad vegetable. It is somewhat indigestible, but when properly dressed, with plenty of oil, it may be eaten without the slightest fear of evil consequences. The practice of pouring off the natural juice extracted from the cucumber by salt cannot be too strongly condemned. See ELATERIUM.

=CUD'BEAR.= _Syn._ PERSIO. A dye-stuff obtained from _Lecanora tartarea_ and other lichens, by a process nearly similar to that used in making ARCHIL. The lichen is watered with stale urine or other ammoniacal liquor, and suffered to ferment for 3 or 4 weeks, after which the whole is poured into a flat vessel, and exposed to the air until the urinous smell has disappeared, and it has assumed a violet colour. It is then ground to powder. Its use is confined to a few cases of silk dyeing, where it is employed to yield shades of ruby and maroon; upon wool it gives deep-red shades. The colours produced by it are very fugitive. Like archil, there are two varieties of this dye-stuff--BLUE CUDBEAR and RED CUDBEAR. See ARCHIL.

=CULM.= In _mineralogy_, a slaty kind of ANTHRACITE, occurring in Wales and North Devon. The term is also applied to any impure, shaly kind of coal.

=CU'MARIN.= See COUMARIN.

=CU'MIN.= _Syn._ CYMINI SEMINA, CYMINUM, L. The fruit (seed) of _Cuminum cyminum_. It is carminative and aromatic, like the caraway and anise. See PLASTER.

=CU'MINOL.= A colourless, transparent oil, of powerful odour. It exists with CYMOL in OIL of CUMIN. See CYMOL.

=CU'PELLATION.= The process of assaying gold and silver and their alloys by means of the CUPEL. See ASSAYING.

=CUP'PING.= This method of topical bleeding is performed as follows:--

The skin being softened by means of a sponge and warm water, and the hair and other extraneous substances being previously removed, one of the small bell-like glasses (CUPPING-GLASSES; CUCURBITU'LÆ), having the air contained in it rarefied by being passed over the flame of a spirit-lamp, is immediately applied to the part. From the formation of a partial vacuum beneath the cup, the pressure of the air on the surrounding surface causes that portion immediately under the cup to swell, and the vessels to become turgid. When this has taken place the cup is removed, and several incisions are instantly made by means of a scarificator, an instrument containing numerous lancets, which, by means of a spring, make a number of incisions at the same moment; the depth of these incisions being regulated by means of a screw which protrudes or withdraws the lancets, according to the vascularity of the part, or the quantity of blood to be abstracted. The cupping glass is now again applied. When a sufficient quantity of blood has been collected in the cup, it is removed by gently introducing the nail of one of the fingers under the upper edge, by which means, air being allowed to enter, the cup becomes detached. The part being washed with warm water to remove any clots of blood, another cup is applied as before, and the operation continued until a sufficient quantity of blood is withdrawn. Sometimes, especially when applied to the scalp, the cups fill so rapidly with blood as to become detached almost immediately on being applied. This method of local bleeding is frequently called 'CUPPING WITH SCARIFICATIONS,'

When cupping-glasses are applied without the use of the lancet or scarificator, the operation is called 'DRY CUPPING,' and is much used to cause a speedy irritation of the skin and reaction, for the relief of oppressive breathing, local pains, &c. To obtain the full benefit from this operation, the cups should be suffered to remain upon the part until they cause an exudation of a small quantity of serum, or a considerable amount of irritation of the part. Dry cupping has been found extremely beneficial in poisoned wounds; as it acts not only by abstracting the poison, but also, by the pressure the glasses exercise on and around the part, in preventing the absorption of it.

_Obs._ For the operation of cupping, a basin of hot water, sponges, and clean, soft towels, should be provided. In clumsy hands, cupping is occasionally a severe and painful operation; but this is not the case with the skilful operator. A good cupper does not exhaust much of the air in the cup before applying it, but simply passes its mouth rapidly over the flame of the lamp. When it is held over the flame even for a few seconds, the compression of the edge of the cup upon the skin is so great, that it checks the flow of the blood to the scarified part. A good cupper also removes the cup without spilling the contents, and completes the whole operation quickly and neatly. There are, however, few persons, who are not professional cuppers, who are sufficiently expert to exhaust the air in the cup by means of the common lamp; although it is by far the best. A good plan is to rarify the air in the cup by means of a small cone of paper, dipped in spirits of wine, or strong brandy; this is ignited and thrown in the cup, which is instantly to be applied to the proper spot. Where cupping-glasses and the scarificator are not to be had, wine-glasses, or any very small tumblers, may be substituted for the first; and small incisions by means of a thumb lancet will answer the purpose of the other.

The cicatrices of the scarification leave permanent marks on the skin; on which account, when blood is to be drawn from the head or neck, the glasses should be applied behind the ears, and a portion of hair removed in such a manner that the part may be covered by what remains.

A most convenient cupping apparatus is manufactured by Mr Bigg, the eminent surgical instrument maker of Leicester Square, consisting of cups and an exhausting syringe, so arranged that the use of the spirit-lamp is rendered unnecessary, and the operation of cupping may be performed nearly as expertly by an inexperienced nurse as by the most accomplished professional operator. It is invaluable in places remote from town.

=CURAR'INE.= _Syn._ CURARIA. The vegeto-alkaline base of curara, urari, woorara, woorali, or wourali, the arrow-poison of Central America.

In physiological effects curarine is antagonistic to strychnia, a fact which has led to its being proposed as an antidote for the latter poison. Curarine is also said to have been employed in Germany in the treatment of hydrophobia with such success that the patient to whom it was administered recovered. It is a most potent poison, and should not be allowed to come into contact with the fingers.

=CURB.= In _horses_. An enlargement at the back of a horse's hock caused by injuring a ligament in this region. See SPRAIN.

=CURCU'MIN.= The yellow colouring matter of turmeric, obtained by digesting the alcoholic extract of the powder in ether, and evaporating the clear ethereal solution to dryness. A brownish-yellow mass, yielding a bright-yellow powder. It is scarcely soluble in water, but very soluble in both alcohol and ether. Boracic and hydrochloric acids redden it; alkalies turn it reddish brown.

=CURD.= Coagulated casein. See CHEESE.

=CUR'RANTS.= The currants of our garden are varieties of the _Ribes rubrum_ and _Ribes nigrum_. (Linn.) The first includes RED CURRANTS and WHITE CURRANTS; the fruit of both of which are gently acidulous, cooling, and wholesome. The juice makes excellent wine. The fruit of the last (BLACK CURRANTS, QUINSY-BERRIES) is aperitive, and has been used in calculous affections; the juice is made into wine, jellies, jams, lozenges, &c. The young leaves are used as a substitute for tea; one or two buds, or half a small leaf, impart to black tea the flavour and fragrance of green. The currants of the grocers (ZANTE CURRANTS) are a small variety of dried grapes. The word "currant" is a corruption of Corinth, whence the fruit originally came.

=CUR'RY.= _Syn._ CURRIE. A noted dish in Indian cookery, much esteemed throughout the East. Curries are simply stews, of which rice usually forms a characteristic ingredient, highly flavoured with fried onions and curry powder, to which sliced apples and lemon juice are sometimes added. They are made from every variety of fish, meat, poultry, game, &c., according to the fancy of the parties.

_To make a Dish of Curry._--Cut an onion into slices and fry it with an apple, finely chopped, in two ounces of dripping; then add slices of cold meat; mix a dessert-spoonful of curry powder and one of flour in half a pint of water; pour it over the meat, and shake the whole over the fire till it boils.

=Cur'ry Powder.= _Prep._ (Kitchener.) From coriander-seed, 1/4 lb.; turmeric, 1/4 lb.; cinnamon-seed, 2 oz.; cayenne, 1/2 oz.; mustard, 1 oz.; ground ginger, 1 oz.; allspice, 1/2 oz.; fenugreek-seed, 2 oz.; all dried thoroughly, pounded in a mortar, rubbed through a sieve, and mixed together.

The famous Ceylon curry powder is said by Dr Balfour to have the following rather indefinite composition:--A piece of green ginger, two fragments of garlic, a few coriander and cumin seeds, six small onions, one dry Chili, eight peppercorns, a small piece of turmeric, half a dessert-spoonful of butter, half a cocoa-nut, and half a lime. For it to be in perfection the powder should be made the day on which it is cooked.

_Obs._ The above must be regarded as merely a substitute for Indian curry powder, which contains many ingredients not to be obtained in England. It should be kept in a bottle closely corked or stoppered. The curry powder sold at the present time consists of coriander-seed, turmeric, cayenne, fenugreek-seed, and a large proportion of sago-flour.

=CUS'CONINE.= See ARICINE.

=CUSPA''RIA.= _Syn._ CUSPARIA BARK (B. P.), ANGOSTU''RA B.; COR'TEX ANGOSTU''RÆ, C. CUSPA''RIÆ, CUSPARIA (Ph. L. and E.), L. "The bark of _Galipea cusparia_" (Ph. L.), or _Galipea officinalis_ (Ph. E.). A valuable drug, imported directly or indirectly from South America.--_Dose_, 10 gr. to 30 gr., as a tonic, stomachic, and febrifuge, in similar cases to those in which CASCARILLA, CALUMBA, and CINCHONA, are commonly given.

Characters. | False Angostura. | True | | Angostura. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- { Flat or rolled _Form_ { Thick, rugous, rolled upon { up, little { itself. Edges cut perpendicularly. { wrinkled, { edges bevelled.

{ Brown, or greenish-yellow, { { presenting protuberances { { or excrescences, { { produced by { _Colour_ { the great development { Greyish-yellow. { of the corky layer, which { { has a still more yellow { { colour. {

_Taste_ | Very bitter. | Bitter.

_Reaction } Red colour when dropped } Yellow with Nitric } upon the bark. } colour. Acid._ }

Angostura or cusparia bark has fallen into comparative disuse, in consequence of nux vomica or false angostura bark having formerly, in several instances, been mistaken for it, and administered with fatal results. The leading characteristics of these two barks have been pointed out by M. Gibourt. (See previous table.)

=CUSPAR'IN.= _Syn._ ANGOSTU''RIN, ANGOSTU''RA. The bitter principle of Cusparia-bark. It is neutral; crystallises in tetrahedrons; is easily fusible; soluble in rectified spirits, in acids, and in alkaline solutions. It is precipitated of a whitish colour by tincture of galls.

=CUS'TARD.= A composition of milk, or cream, and eggs, sweetened with sugar, and variously flavoured. Custards may be cooked either in the oven or stew-pan.

_Prep._ 1. (Soyer.) Milk (boiling), 1 pint; sugar, 2 oz.; thin yellow peel of half a lemon; mix, and set it aside for a short time; then take eggs, 4 in no., beat them well in a basin; add, gradually, the milk (not too hot), pass the mixture through a colander or sieve, and fill the custard cups with it; these are then to be placed over the fire in a stew-pan, containing about one inch of hot water, and left there for 12 minutes, or till sufficiently set. The above is for PLAIN CUSTARDS; but it forms a good basis to receive any of the usual flavouring ingredients, as fresh or stewed fruit, peels, essences, orange-flower water, brandy, or other spirits, &c.

2. (Rundell.) As the last, but using cream instead of milk, or equal parts of the two, with 2 additional eggs. Very rich; like the last, any suitable flavouring matter may be added to it.

3. (ALMOND CUSTARDS,--Rundell.) As either of the above, adding blanched sweet almonds, 4 oz.; bitter do., 6 in no.; beaten to a smooth paste.

4. (BAKED CUSTARDS,--Rundell.) From cream, 1 pint, with 4 eggs; flavoured with mace, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and add a little white wine, rose-water, and sugar; bake in cups.

5. (COFFEE CUSTARDS,--Soyer.) Hot milk and strong-made coffee, of each 1/2 pint; sugar, 2 oz.; dissolve, and add it, gradually, to 4 eggs (well beaten), and proceed as in No. 1. Chocolate custards and cocoa custards are made in the same way.

6. (COLD CUSTARD, _for invalids_,--Dewees.) 1 egg; sugar, a tablespoonful; beat well together; and add, gradually, constantly stirring, cold water, 1/2 pint; rose water, 2 teaspoonfuls; and a little grated nutmeg. An agreeable and nutritious demulcent. A wine-glassful every 2 or 3 hours, or _ad libitum_.

7. (LEMON CUSTARDS,--Rundell.)--_a._ As No. 1 (nearly), using a little more lemon peel. In the same way orange custards are made, but using orange peel.

_b._ From candied lemon peel and lump sugar, of each 2 oz., beaten in a mortar quite fine, and added to either No. 1 or No. 2. Orange and citron custards may be made in the same manner. A little orange-flower water, or marsala, or sherry, may be also added at pleasure. They are best baked.

8. (ORANGE CUSTARDS.) As _above_, No. 7, _a_ and _b_.

9. (RICE CUSTARDS,--Rundell.) Boil 1/2 a cupful of the best ground rice in a pint of milk until dissolved, then mix it with a quart of cream; flavour with nutmeg, mace, and a little brandy, and put it into a cup or a dish.

=CUTCH.= See CATECHU.

=CUTTLE-FISH.= The bone or skeleton of the _Sepia officinalis_ of Linnæus, or common cuttle-fish (CUTTLE-FISH BONE; OS SE'PIÆ), is used by the law-stationers to erase ink-marks from paper and parchment, an application familiar to most schoolboys of the present generation. Reduced to powder (PUL'VIS SE'PIÆ), it forms a valuable dentifrice and polishing powder, and is used for forming the moulds for small silver castings.

The _Sepias_, which inhabit the seas of all quarters of the globe, like the other _cephalapoda_, are carnivorous. They are able to exercise considerable locomotive powers, by means of their tentaculæ or arms which surround the mouth, and which are usually provided with numerous suckers. Head downward, they walk on these arms at the bottom of the ocean. The _sepias_ are also fleet swimmers; effecting their progress through the water either by making the expansion of their skin perform the same office as fins; or by the forcible projection of water from the cavity of their mouths, the reaction accompanying which operation drives them rapidly through the water in a different direction. They are provided sometimes with eight, and sometimes with ten tentaculæ, and have naked bodies. The black fluid which the animal is capable of ejecting from its ink-sac, when pursued by its enemies, was formerly employed in the manufacture of the pigment called from its source "sepia."

=CUTS.= These are incised wounds of greater or less extent, and must be treated accordingly. The divided parts should be drawn close together, and held so with small pieces of strapping or adhesive plaster stretched across the wound. If the part is covered with blood, it should be first wiped with a damp sponge. When the wound is large and it is much exposed, a good method is to sew the parts up. The application of a little creasote or a spirituous solution of creasote will generally stop local bleeding, provided it is applied to the clean extremities of the wounded vessels. A good way is to place a piece of lint, moistened with creasote, on the wound, previously wiped clean, or to pour a drop or two of that liquid on it. An excellent method is to cover the part with a film of collodion. Friar's balsam, quick-drying copal varnish, tincture of galls, copperas water, black ink, &c., are popular remedies applied in the same way. A bit of the fur plucked from a black beaver hat is an excellent remedy to stop the bleeding from a cut produced by the razor in shaving. A cobweb is said to possess the same property.

=CY'ANATE.= _Syn._ CY'ANAS, L. A salt in which the hydrogen of cyanic acid is replaced by a metal or other basic radical.

=CYAN'IC ACID.= HCNO. _Syn._ ACIDUM CYAN'ICUM, L. _Prep._ 1. Cyanuric acid, deprived of its water of crystallisation, is distilled in a retort, and the product collected in a well-cooled receiver.

2. (Liebig.) A current of sulphuretted hydrogen gas is passed through water in which cyanate of silver is diffused, the process being suspended before all the cyanate of silver is decomposed.

_Prop., &c._ Cyanic acid is a limpid, colourless liquid; it reddens litmus; is sour to the taste; possesses a modified sulphurous odour, similar to that which is always perceived when any of its salts are decomposed by an acid; it forms salt with the bases called CYANATES; when in contact with water it suffers decomposition in a few hours, and is converted into bicarbonate of ammonia; it cannot be preserved for any time, as shortly after its preparation it spontaneously passes into a white, opaque, solid mass, to which the name CYAMELIDE has been given. By distillation this new substance is reconverted into cyanic acid.

=CY'ANIDE.= _Syn._ CYAN'URET; CYAN'IDUM, CYANURE'TUM, L. The compound formed by the union of cyanogen with a metal or other radical. See CYANOGEN, HYDROCYANIC ACID, and the respective bases.

=Cyanide, Al'kaline.= _Syn._ CRUDE CYANIDE OF POTASSIUM AND SODIUM. _Prep._ (R. Wagner.) Dry ferrocyanide of potassium, 4 parts, dry carbonate of soda, 1 part, are melted together in an iron crucible at a red heat, and continually stirred until the iron rod comes out covered with a white crust, when the heat is withdrawn, and after a few moments' repose the supernatant liquid portion is poured out on a clean iron slab. This crude mixed cyanide is quite as useful as the more expensive one of Liebig, and is equally fit for technical applications, as electrotyping, gilding, silvering, &c. See POTASSIUM, CYANIDE OF.

=CY'ANINE.= A base discovered by Mr G. Williams in CHINOLINE BLUE. See _below_.

=Cyanine, I'odide of.= _Syn._ CHIN'OLINE BLUE. The action of iodide of amyl upon chinoline gives rise to iodide of amylchinoline. Addition of excess of soda to an aqueous solution of this iodide produces a black resinous precipitate, which dissolves in alcohol with a magnificent blue colour. This precipitate is the IODIDE OF CYANINE, or CHINOLINE BLUE. Many attempts have been made to use it in dyeing; they have, however, failed on account of the instability of the colour.

=CYAN'OGEN.= CN or Cy. A highly important compound radical or quasi element, discovered by M. Gay Lussac in 1815.

Best obtained by carefully igniting dry cyanide of mercury in a small retort, and collecting the gas over mercury.

_Prop., &c._ A colourless gas, possessing a pungent and peculiar odour, resembling that of peach-kernels or prussic acid; under a pressure of about 4 atmospheres, at a temperature of 45°, it assumes the liquid form (Faraday), and this fluid again becomes gaseous on withdrawal of the pressure; water absorbs nearly 5 times its bulk of cyanogen at 60° Fahr., and alcohol about 23 times its volume; with hydrogen it forms hydrocyanic acid, and with the metals a most interesting and important class of bodies called cyanides or cyanurets; when kindled, it burns with a beautiful purple flame, carbonic acid and nitrogen being evolved. Sp gr. 1·806. See HYDROCYANIC ACID, &c.

Forms a bromide and iodide when the cyanide of mercury is distilled with bromine or iodine, and which are colourless, volatile, highly poisonous solids; and two isomeric chlorides, one a very volatile liquid, prepared by passing chlorine over moist cyanide of mercury, and the other in white volatile needles, prepared by exposing aqueous hydrocyanic acid to chlorine in sunshine.

=CYANU''RIC ACID.= H_{3}C_{3}N_{3}O_{3}. _Syn._ PYRO-U''RIC ACID[dagger]. A peculiar acid, discovered by Scheele. It is a product of the decomposition of the soluble cyanates by dilute acids, or of urea by heat, &c.

=CY'DER.= See CIDER.

=CY'DONINE.= The peculiar gum of quince seed. It resembles bassorin in most of its properties.

=CY'MIDINE.= An oily base, homologous with aniline, obtained by the action of iron filings and acetic acid on nitro-cymol.

=CY'MOL.= A peculiar hydrocarbon found in oil of cumin, in admixture with cuminol. The two bodies are separable in a great measure by distillation, cymol being the most volatile portion of the oil.

=CYNAPINE.= An alkaloid obtained from _Æthusa cynapium_, or _fool's parsley_. It possesses no practical interest.

=CYSTICERCI.= These parasites are embryo tænia or tapeworm, infesting the bodies of men and different animals. One variety of the _cysticerci_ has its habitat in the organisms of men, pigs, oxen, horses, camels, sheep, and roe-deer; another in the muscles and internal organs of cattle; a third is found in cattle, sheep, horses, the reindeer, squirrels, certain kinds of monkeys, and occasionally in man; whilst a fourth--the _Cystercus cellulosæ_--is more especially met with in measly pork. Professor Gamgee believes that probably 5 per cent. of the pigs in Ireland are affected with this last _cystercus_.

The following figure represents a piece of measly pork infested with cysticerci. Professor Leuckart seems to have shown pretty conclusively that man may become infested with a certain form of tapeworm by partaking of imperfectly cooked veal or beef, infested with the second variety of the parasite.

=CYST'INE.= C_{3}NH_{7}SO_{2}. _Syn._ CYST'IC OXIDE. Obtained from cystic oxide calculi (in powder) by digestion in solution of ammonia. By spontaneous evaporation the ammoniacal solution deposits small, colourless crystals of cystic oxide. It forms a saline compound with hydrochloric acid, and is decomposed by the strong alkalies.