414 



CONGLETON 



CONGO 



blood through the lungs, cause congestion in 

 various parts. Tubercles in the lungs cause con- 

 gestion of that organ. Obstruction to the transit 

 of blood through the Hver causes congestion in the 

 abdomen, hemorrhoids, &c.' 



Congestion from weakness of the circulation in- 

 cludes a numerous class of cases. Here gravitation 

 comes into play very much more forcibly than in 

 the healthy body in determining the distribution 

 of the blood to different parts and organs, though 

 it always produces some effect. Diseases of the 

 valves of the heart are almost always accompanied 

 by congestion of other internal organs at some 

 stage of their progress. In extreme debility, 

 certain fevers, c., there is general congestion of 

 the parenchymatous organs the lungs, liver, &c. 

 and the blood gravitates to the lowest parts, 

 giving rise to what is termed hypostatic congestion 

 of the posterior parts of the lungs, the skin of the 

 back, &o, In other cases the effect is more local, 

 as when the feet swell after long standing, in con- 

 sequence of over-distension of the veins. Conges- 

 tive affections of this kind are often mistaken for 

 inflammation, and instead of beinjj treated by 

 tonics, are treated by depletion, which, although 

 affording temporary relief, usually aggravates the 

 evil. 



Active congestion, when it requires treatment, 

 must be dealt with in the same manner as inflam- 

 mation. With regard to passive congestion, the 

 end to which treatment must be directed is the 

 removal of its cause. This can be effected in some 

 cases by measures having a local effect, either com- 

 pletely, as by the loosening of a ligature, the disuse 

 of too tight articles of clothing, or by the removal of 

 a tumour compressing veins, or partially, as by ele- 

 vation of the head in affected brain, ana the recum- 

 bent position in congestion of the hemorrhoidal 

 or uterine vessels. Uniform gentle pressure, by 

 supporting the weak vessels, and friction, by 

 increasing the onward movement of the blood in 

 the veins, are often of great use in superficial 

 parts. Where the heart-power is at fault, strength- 

 ening remedies must be given ammonia, cinchona 

 bark, digitalis, &c. The American Witch-hazel 

 (q.v.)when administered internally seems to have 

 the power of diminishing the size of dilated veins, 

 and is sometimes useful in varicose veins, hemor- 

 rhoids, &c. Various remedies are supposed to have 

 a special power of removing the congestion of 

 certain organs ; thus, mercurials are recommended 

 for congestion of the liver ; digitalis and cantha- 

 rides for congestion of the kidneys ; squills, benzoin, 

 and the balsams for bronchial congestion. 



CoilgletOIl, an ancient municipal borough in 

 the east of Cheshire, picturesquely situated in a 

 deep valley on the banks of the Dane, an affluent 

 of the Weaver, 26 miles S. of Manchester. It has a 

 handsome town-hall (1864), manufactures of silk, 

 and neighbouring coal-mines. Pop. ( 1851 ) 11,505 ; 

 ( 1891 ) 10,744. See book by R. Head ( 1887). 



Conglomerate, or PLUMPUDDING-STONE, a 

 rock consisting of various-sized, round, water-worn 

 stones cemented together, the binding material 

 being generally of a calcareous, siliceous, or ferru- 

 ginous character. Now and again the stones are 

 held .together by simple compression without any 

 cement. Conglomerate is evidently gravel com- 

 pacted into a more or less coherent mass. Like 

 coarse gravel and shingle, some conglomerates are 

 very tumultuous in appearance, and show no lines 

 or planes of deposition. Generally, however, rocks 

 f this kind exhibit rudely alternating layers of 

 finer and coarser materials. The included stones 

 may consist of any kind of rock or mineral, but the 

 harder species, such as quartz-rock and quartz, are 

 apt to preponderate. Conglomerates are generally 



beach-deposits, either marine or lacustrine ; some- 

 times they are of fluviatile origin. 



Congo. The earlier history of the Congo, 

 the great equatorial river of Central Africa, may 

 be briefly summed up as follows. In the year 

 1484-85 Diogo Cam (q.v. ) discovered the mouth 

 of a large river in 7 S. latitude while sailing 

 along the West African coast in command of an 

 expedition having for its object the discovery of 

 the East Indies. He erected a pillar on the south 

 bank, and gave it the name of Rio Padrao, or 

 Pillar River. The country in its vicinity, and for 

 some distance to the south, as far as Cape Negro, 

 was known by the name of Congo Land. During 

 the 15th and 16th centuries several attempts were 

 made by the Portuguese to penetrate into the 

 interior, but they never reached farther than 

 San Salvador. The Jesuits established a large 

 missionary station at this place, and made it the 

 capital of the Congo. At the outset this attempt 

 to convert the nations met with considerable 

 success, but towards the end of the 17th century, 

 ravaged by native wars, it had almost ceased to 

 exist. At this time the Portuguese called the 

 great river the 'Zaire,' which is only a corrup- 

 tion of Nzari, Nzadi, Nyali, Niadi, all of which 

 mean ' river ' in the many dialects spoken within 

 the limits of what was then called the kingdom 

 of the Congo. The native name for the river 

 was Moenzi Nzadi, or the ' Receiver of all the 

 Waters ; ' and the European map-makers give it 

 the name it at present enjoys of ' the Congo.' 



In 1816 an expedition under Captain Tuckey 

 was despatched by the British government to solve 

 the question which then agitated the minds 

 of geographers, whether the Congo was one of 

 the mouths of the Niger. Captain Tuckey 

 penetrated with his boats to the head of the 

 navigable portion of the lower river a distance of 

 110 miles and he then proceeded by land to a 

 place called Issangila, about 52 miles farther on ; 

 but his expedition had a most melancholy result, 

 for within three months the period which they 

 remained in the river eighteen out of fifty-six 

 Europeans succumbed to the climate. This great 

 mortality gave the river a bad name, and, with the 

 exception of slave-traders, it was little frequented 

 by Europeans for some years. Valuable additions 

 to geographical- science, however, resulted from 

 Captain Tuckey's expedition, as it proved that the 

 Congo was the outlet of some vast riverine system, 

 and it dispersed much of the fable and myth with 

 which the imaginations of earlier writers had sur- 

 rounded this region. 



From 1867 to 1871 Dr Livingstone, in his re- 

 searches between Lakes Nyassa and Tanganyika, 

 and from thence to Nyangwe, proved the existence 

 of a large river flowing to the north under the 

 native names of Luapula and Lualaba, which he 

 imagined to be the Nile, and this opinion was shared 

 by many men of science on receipt in England of 

 the maps and journals recording these explorations. 

 In October 1876, five years later, Mr H. M. Stanley, 

 despatched to Central Africa under the auspices 

 of the New York Herald ami Daily Telegraph, to 

 complete Livingstone's explorations, arrived at 

 Nyangwe, and he too gazed on that mighty stream 

 with its waters flowing ceaselessly to the north. He 

 determined to folloAV its course, and in 1877 news 

 was received of the successful accomplishment of his 

 adventurous journey, and the establishment of the 

 fact that the Luapula, Lualaba, and the Living- 

 stone ( the name given by Stanley to that part of 

 the river below Nyangwe) are in reality the 

 Congo the great equatorial river of Central Africa, 

 the second largest river of the world. 



The Lake of Bangweolo noticed by Lacerda in 

 1795, and by other earlier Portuguese explorers, of 



