COR 



COR 



agreeable scent The seeds are grateful 

 to the taste, and incrusted with sugar are 

 sold by the confectioners. The first sort, 

 though found wild in Essex, where it has 

 been long cultivated, is not a native of 

 this country. They are both brought 

 from the South of Europe, China, and 

 Cochin China. 



CORIARIA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Dioecia Drcandria class and order. Es- 

 sential character: calyx five leaved ; co- 

 rolla five petalled, very like the calyx. 

 Male, anthers two parted : Female, 

 styles five ; seeds five, covered with suc- 

 culent berried petals. There are three 

 species. 



CORIS, in botany, a genus of the Pen- 

 tandria Monogynia class and order. Na- 

 tural order of Lysimachise, Jussieu. Es- 

 sential character: corolla one-petalled, 

 irregular ; calyx spinous ; capsule five- 

 valved superior. There is but one spe- 

 cies, vis. C. monspeliensis, Montpelier 

 coris. This plant is seldom more than 

 aix inches high, and spreads near the 

 surface of the ground like heath. It 

 flowers in June, and makes a very pretty 

 appearance. There are two varieties of 

 this plant, one with a red and the other 

 with a white flower. Native of the South 

 of France 



CORISPERMUM, in botany, a genus 

 of the Monandria Digynia class and or- 

 der. Natural order of Ole race x. Atripli- 

 ees, Jussieu. Essential character : calyx 

 none ; petals two : seed one, oval, naked. 

 There are two species, viz. C. hys- 

 sopifolium, hyssop-leaved tickseed, and 

 C. squarrosum, rough spiked tickseed. 

 These plants having little beauty are sel- 

 dom cultivated, except in botanic gardens. 

 They are natives of Russia. 



CORK, is a substance analogous to 

 wood, it is the exterior bark of a tree be- 

 longing to the genus oak, which grows 

 wild in the southern parts of Europe. 

 When the tree is fourteen or fifteen 

 years old it is fit to be barked, and may 

 be done successively for several years. 

 The bark always grows up again, and its 

 quality improves as the age of the tree 

 increases. If the bark is not taken off in 

 due time, it splits and peels oft' by itself, 

 being pushed away by the second 

 growth. The best bark comes from 

 Spain and Portugal : it is taken oft' in 

 sheets, care being used in keeping them 

 as large as possible. After it is detach- 

 ed from the tree the Portuguese burn or 

 cbar it, laying the convex side of the 

 bark to the five in order to straighten 

 and swell it. It is then piled in stacks 

 ready for sale. 



Cork is formed into soles for shoes, 

 into corks and bungs for stopping bot- 

 tles, &c. into a floatage for the nets of 

 fishermen ; it is employed generally, 

 though perhaps with a considerable de- 

 gree of error, in teaching the art of 

 swimming; it is also ingeniously used, 

 on account of its tightness, when an am- 

 putation of the human leg has been ne- 

 cessary, to supply the deficiency ; the 

 Spaniards line stone walls with it, which 

 not only renders their houses very warm, 

 but corrects the moisture of the air ; the 

 Egyptians made coffins of it, which, be- 

 ing covered in the inside with a re- 

 sinous composition, preserved their dead 

 bodies. It is burnt to make that light 

 black substance called Spanish black, 

 from its having been first made iu 

 Spain. 



Cork bark has not only been applied 

 as above, but also in the preservation of 

 life when endangered by shipwreck; the 

 most conspicuous exhibition of its advan- 

 tages is in the application of it in the 

 construction of the "life boat," or "cork 

 boat," as it was originally called. See 

 BOAT, life. 



A cork jacket too has been revived 

 from an old German discovery, by Mr. 

 Dubourg, to preserve the lives of person! 

 in danger of drowning, which is construct- 

 ed as follows : pieces of cork about three 

 inches long by two wide, and the usual 

 thickness of the bark, are inclosed be 

 tween two pieces of strong cloth or can- 

 vass, and formed like a jacket without 

 sleeves ; the pieces of cloth are sewed to- 

 gether round each piece of cork, to keep 

 them in their proper situations ; the lower 

 part of the jacket, about the hips, is 

 made like the same part of womens* 

 stays, to give freedom to the thighs in 

 swimming : it is made sufficiently large 

 to fit a robust man, and is srcured to the 

 body by two or three strong tapes sewed 

 far back on each side, and tied before ; 

 the strings are thus placed to enable any 

 wearer to tighten it to his own conve- 

 nience. Cork in its action has the elas- 

 ticity of a spring, and when pressed into 

 any aperture, it exerts a force acting out- 

 wardly on all sides from the centre. It is 

 this quality that makes it valuable in 

 shutting out the external air from liquors 

 and elastic fluids ; and it is fitted for this 

 purpose in a degree proportioned to the 

 impermeability of its pores. The elas- 

 ticity of cork has also been employed for 

 many other purposes in the arts ; it forms 

 the spring of the lifter in ordinary candle- 

 sticks, and where the frame is not 



