384 A COMPENDIUM OF 
- partly soluble in alcohol and ether, but insolu- 
ble in water. When fresh, civet has a disgust- 
ing odor of its own kind, but when largely di- 
luted with alcohol the perfume is not disagree- 
able to most persons, and reminds one of musk. 
At one time the civet was obtained from the 
animal while confined in cages, the pouch being 
scraped out once or twice a week. Amsterdam 
furnished the supply obtained in this way many 
years ago. The source of civet is now from 
the province of Malabar and Bassora, a city on 
the river Euphrates. Civet contains, according 
to authority, fat, resin, coloring matter, salts, 
and a volatile ov/, This substance has been 
used as a stimulant and anti-spasmodic, but is 
now wholly employed as an adjunct to perfum- 
ery. 
Coccus, Cochineal.—The female of the coc- 
cus cacti, which belongs to the class Insecta, 
and the order Hemiptera. This little bug or in- 
sect is found clinging and propagating upon the 
opuntia cochinilliferee, and other species of the 
cactus family found growing in Central Amer- 
ica and Mexico. The coccus are obtained by 
brushing or shaking the plants, and then sub- 
jecting the insect to hot water or heated plates 
of sheet iron. In appearance the cochineal 
closely resemble vegetable matter, but upon 
close examination we will find them angular, 
flat, oblong in shape and concave beneath, and 
about one-fifth of an inch long; they have six 
short legs. The insect in a dry state is very 
much wrinkled, and of a gray, inclining to a 
purple color, When powdered, the mass pre- 
sents a dark purple-like appearance, with a faint 
