_Canker-worm_: A worm which is very destructive to trees and plants.

It springs from an egg deposited by a miller that issues from the ground, and in some years destroys the leaves and fruit of apple and other trees.

_Capillary_: A minute, hair-like tube.

_Carbon_: A simple, inflammable body, forming the princ.i.p.al part of wood and coal, and the whole of the diamond.

_Carbonic acid:_ A compound gas, consisting of one part of carbon and two parts of oxygen; fatal to animal life. It has lately been obtained in a solid form.

_Carbonic Oxide:_ A compound, consisting of one part of carbon and one part of oxygen; it is fatal to animal life. Burns with a pale, blue flame, forming carbonic acid.

_Carmine:_ A crimson color, the most beautiful of all the reds. It is prepared from a decoction of the powdered cochineal insect, to which alum and other substances are added.

_Caseine:_ One of the great forms of blood-making matter; the cheesy or curd-part of milk; found in both animal and vegetable kingdoms.

_Caster:_ A small vial or vessel for the table, in which to put vinegar, mustard, pepper, etc. Also, a small wheel on a swivel-joint, on which furniture may be turned in any direction.

_Chancellor of the Exchequer: In England, the highest judge of the law; the princ.i.p.al financial minister of a government, and the one who manages its revenue.

_Chateau:_ A castle, a mansion.

_Chemistry:_ The science which treats of the elementary const.i.tuents of bodies.

_Chinese belle,_ deformities of: In China, it is the fashion to compress the feet of female infants, to prevent their growth; in consequence of which, the feet of all the females of China are distorted, and so small that the individuals can not walk with ease.

_Chloride:_ A compound of chlorine and some other substance.

_Chlorine_ is a simple substance, formerly called oxymuriatic acid. In its pure state, it is a gas of green color, (hence its name, from a Greek word signifying green.) Like oxygen, it supports the combustion of some inflammable substances. _Chloride of lime_ in a compound of chlorine and lime.

_Cholera infantum:_ A bowel-complaint to which infants are subject.

_Chyle:_ A white juice formed from the chyme, and consisting of the finer and more nutritious parts of the food. It is afterward converted into blood.

_Chyme:_ The result of the first process which food undergoes in the stomach previously to its being converted into chyle.

_Cicuta:_ The common American hemlock, an annual plant of four or five feet in height, and found commonly along walls and fences and about old ruins and buildings. It is a virulent poison as well as one of the most important and valuable medicinal vegetables. It is a very different plant from the hemlock-tree or _Pinus Canadiensis_.

_Clarke, (Sir Charles Mansfield,) Dr.:_ A distinguished English physician and surgeon, who was born, in London, May 28th, 1783. Ha was appointed physician to Queen Adelaide, wife of King William IV., in 1830, and in 1831 he was created a baronet. He was the author of several valuable medical works.

_Cobalt:_ A brittle metal, of a reddish-gray color and weak metallic l.u.s.tre, used in coloring gla.s.s. It is not easily melted nor oxidized in the air.

_Cochineal:_ A color procured from the cochineal insect, (or _Coccus cacti,_) which feeds upon the leaves of several species of the plant called cactus, and which is supposed to derive its coloring matter from its food. Its natural color is crimson; but, by the addition of a preparation of potash, it yields a rich scarlet dye.

_Cologne-water:_ A fragrant perfume, which derives its name from having been originally made in the city of Cologne, which is situated on the river Rhine, in Germany. The best kind is still procured from that city.

_Comparative anatomy:_ The science which has for its object a comparison of the anatomy, structure, and functions of the various organs of animals, plants, etc., with those of the human body.

_Confection:_ A sweetmeat; a preparation of fruit with sugar; also a preparation of medicine with honey, syrup, or similar saccharine substance, for the purpose of disguising the unpleasant taste of the medicine.

_Cooper, Sir Astley Paston:_ A celebrated English surgeon, who was born at Brooke, in Norfolk county, England, August 23d, 1768, and commenced the practice of surgery in London, in 1792. He was appointed surgeon to King George IV. in 1827, was created a baronet in 1831, and died February 12th, 1841. He was the author of many valuable works.

_Copal:_ A hard, shining, transparent resin, of a light citron color, brought originally from Spanish-America, and now almost wholly from the East-Indies. It is princ.i.p.ally employed in the preparation of _copal varnish._

_Copper, Sulphate of:_ See _Sulphate of copper.

_Copperas:_ (Sulphate of iron or green vitriol,) a bright green mineral substance, formed by the decomposition of a peculiar ore of iron called pyrites, which is a sulphuret of iron. It is first in the form of a greenish-white powder or crust, which is dissolved in water, and beautiful green crystals of copperas are obtained by evaporation.

It is princ.i.p.ally used in dyeing and in making black ink. Its solution, mixed with a decoction of oak bark, produces a black color.

_Coronary:_ Relating to a crown or garland. In anatomy, it is applied to arteries which encompa.s.s the heart, in the manner, as it is fancied, of a garland.

_Corrosive sublimate:_ A poisonous substance composed of chlorine and quicksilver.

_Cosmetics:_ Preparations which, some people foolishly think will preserve and beautify the skin.

_Cream of tartar_: See _Tartar_.

_Curculio_: A weevil or worm, which affects the fruit of the plum-tree and sometimes that of the apple-tree, causing the unripe fruit to fall to the ground.

_Cuvier, Baron_: The moat eminent naturalist of the present age; was born A. D. 1769, and died A.D. 1832. He was Professor of Natural History in the College of France, and held various important posts under the French government at different times. His works on Natural History are of the greatest value.

_Cynosure_: The constellation of the Lesser Bear, containing the star near the North Pole, by which sailors steer. It is used, in a figurative sense, as synonymous with _pole-star_ or _guide_, or anything to which the eyes of many are directed.

_De Tocqueville_: See _Tocqueville_.

_Diamond cement_: A cement sold in the shops, and used for mending broken gla.s.s and similar articles.

_Drab_: A thick woolen cloth, of a light brown or dun color. The name is sometimes used for the color itself.

_Dredging-box_: A box with holes in the top, used to sift or scatter flour on meat when roasting.

_Drill_: (In husbandry,) to sow grain in rows, drills, or channels; the row of grain so sowed.

_d.u.c.h.ess of Orleans_: See _Orleans_.

The _East_, and the _Eastern States_: Those of the United States situated in the north-east part of the country, including Maine, New Hampshire, Ma.s.sachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Vermont.

_Elevation_, (of a house:) A plan representing the upright view of a house, as a ground-plan shows its appearance on the ground.

_Euclid_: A celebrated mathematician, who was born in Alexandria, in Egypt, about two hundred and eighty years before Christ. He distinguished himself by his writings on music and geometry. The most celebrated of his works is his _Elements of Geometry_, which is in use at the present day. He established a school at Alexandria, which became so famous that, from his time to the conquest of Alexandria by the Saracens, (A.D. 646,) no mathematician was found who had not studied at Alexandria. Ptolemy, King of Egypt, was one of his pupils; and it was to a question of this king, whether there was not a shorter way of coming at geometry than by the study of his _Elements_, that Euclid made the celebrated answer, "There is no royal path to geometry."

_Equator_ or _equinoctial line_: An imaginary line pa.s.sing round the earth, from east to west and directly under the sun, which always shines nearly perpendicularly down upon all countries situated near the equator.

_Evolve_: To throw off, to discharge.

_Exchequer:_ A court in England in which the Chancellor presides, and where the revenues of and the debts due to the king, are recovered.

This court was originally established by King William, (called "the Conqueror,") who died A.D. 1087; and its name is derived from a checkered cloth (French _echiquier_, a chess-h.o.a.rd, checker-work) on the table.

_Excretion:_ Something discharged from the body, a separation of animal matters. _Excrement.i.tious:_ Consisting of matter excreted from the body; containing excrements.