474 



CORAL FLOWER 



CORBET 



peculiarly elongated snout, and other interesting 

 Jornis. 



Coral Flower, or COEAL TREE (Erythrina), 



a tropical and subtropical genus of papilionaceous 

 trees and shrubs, with long racemes of beautiful 

 flowers of a rich dull crimson or a scarlet colour, 

 resembling coral. Some species are thorny, and 

 are hence used for hedges, notably E. coralloden- 

 dron in the West Indies, and E. indica in the East. 

 The wood is so light and spongy that it is used not 

 only for portable objects, such as ladders, but even 

 as a substitute for cork. Jatropha multifida, a 

 totally different plant, of the order Euphorbiaceee, 

 is also sometimes called Coral Tree. 



Coralline (Corallina officinalis), a limy sea- 

 weed, exceedingly common on British coasts, where 

 it adds much to the beauty of the rocky pools. It 

 is a hardy perennial plant, and envelops the rocks 

 and almost any object between tide marks with its 

 beautiful branching fronds. In spring it appears 

 as a thin crust, with a fresh delicate pinkish or 

 purplish colour. With the increasing sunshine it 

 grows into prettily jointed and branched tufts, 

 spreading like brushwood over the surface of the 

 rock. Its purple colour increases in depth, till the 

 plant grows old and begins to die ; then the bright- 

 ness pales, and the limy incrustation finally remains 

 as a white skeleton. The 

 purple colour soon fades on 

 exposure ; a bright white light 

 is produced by holding a piece 

 of the alga in a candle flame ; 

 an unpleasant smell lingers for 

 years about the dried specimen. 

 The coralline was formerly re- 

 garded as an animal, ' since all 

 lime,' Linnaeus said, 'is most 

 truly a product of animals.' 

 But neither for this, nor for 

 its supposed medicinal (vermi- 

 fuge) virtues was there any 

 warrant. Technically, the com- 

 mon coralline, along with a few 

 other species, forms a genus of 

 alga in the family Corallinese, 

 the section Rhodospermea?, and the group Floridene. 

 Melobesia is an allied form of similar stony char- 

 acter. It is sometimes used for manuring fields, 

 and is said to have been one of the principal con- 

 stituents in the mortar of lona cathedral. The 

 name coralline is sometimes extended vaguely 

 to certain Zoophytes or Hydroids (q.v.). See 

 Landsborough's British Seaweeds, Harvey's Phyco- 

 logia Britannica, Johnston's British Sponges and 

 Corallines. 



Coralline Crag. See CRAG and PLIOCENE. 

 Coral Rag, or CORALLIAN, a group of the 

 Oxford or Middle Oolites. See JURASSIC SYSTEM. 



Coral Sea is that section of the Pacific which 

 stretches between Australia on the west and the 

 New Hebrides on the east. In 1874 the Challenger 

 expedition found parts of it to be 14,700 feet deep. 

 See PACIFIC. 



Coral Snake (Elaps), small venomous snakes 

 in the same family (Elapidse) as the Cobra (q.v.). 

 The typical species (E. corallinus) frequents woods 

 and thickets in South America. Their very small 

 mouth makes them less dangerous. The usual 

 colour is rich red with black and yellow transverse 

 bands, and it is- an interesting fact that besides the 

 venomous Elaps, at least two other genera occur 

 which are quite harmless. These, Mr Wallace 

 suggests, probably derive advantage from their 

 close resemblance to the venomous forms. 



Coram, THOMAS, philanthropist, was born at 

 Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire, in 1667 or 1668. He was 



Portion of Branch of 

 Corallina officinalis 

 magnified. 



{From Landsborough.) 



bred a seaman, and rose to be a merchant captain. 

 Already in 1694 we hear of him as settled at 

 Taunton, Massachusetts, and engaged in benevolent 

 work of various kinds. A few years after he seems 

 to have returned to sea, and to have settled in 

 London, after suffering shipwreck off Cuxhaven in 

 1719. In London he interested himself in the 

 settlement of Georgia, and in planting English 

 artisans in Nova Scotia ; but he soon began his 

 long agitation for the foundation of a foundling 

 hospital. Children were first admitted in 1741. 

 Coram's portrait was painted by Hogarth, a warm 

 patron of his scheme. More thoughtful for others 

 than for himself, Coram fell into poverty, from 

 which he was relieved in 1745, by an annuity of 

 161 contributed by his friends. He died 29th 

 March 1751. 



Cor Anglais, a wind-instrument of the reed 

 species, similar in construction to the Oboe (q.v.), 

 to which it has the same relation as the Basset-horn 

 ( q. v. ) has to the Clarinet ( q. v. ). It is usually made 

 in the key of F, a fifth lower than the ordinary 

 oboe, and has the same range viz. from E in the 

 bass stave to B|> above the treble stave. 



Cora'to, a large town in Southern Italy, on 

 a fertile plain, 25 miles west of Ban. Pop. ( 1881 ) 

 30,428; (1891) 30,798. 



Corban, properly an offering to God in fulfil- 

 ment of any vow. This might either be of some 

 possession devoted to God, redeemable by an equiv- 

 alent in money, or it might be a pledge to deprive 

 one's self of something lawful in itself, as wine, for a 

 longer or shorter period. A man might so interdict 

 himself by vow, not only from enjoying anything 

 himself, but also from giving it to others, and thus 

 many of the old Jews juggled their consciences into 

 getting rid of natural responsibilities, as the sup- 

 port of decayed parents, and the like. It was this 

 miserable selfishness, under the thin garb of re- 

 ligious hypocrisy, that our Lord rebukes in the 

 Scribes ana Pharisees (Matt. xv. 5 ; Mark, vii. 11 ). 



Corbeil, a town in the French department of 

 Seine-et-Oise, on the Seine, 21 miles S. of Paris by 

 rail, with manufactures of clocks, cotton, and paper, 

 and large flour-mills and granaries for the supply of 

 Paris. Pop. (1881) 7541 ; (1891) 8047. 



Corbel, in Architecture, a projection of stone 

 or wood from the face of a wall, used for supporting 

 pillars or other 

 superincumbent 

 weights. Corbels 

 proper were origin- 

 ally plain on the 

 sides and carved on 

 the front only. 

 Such were the 

 Romanesque cor- 

 bels, which are so 

 numerous and so 

 richly ornamented. 

 The carving at first 

 resembled the end 

 of wooden beams, 

 but gradually all 

 sorts of figures were 

 introduced, chiefly 

 heads of men and 

 animals. Corbels of great size were likewise used 

 to carry the projecting parapets of castles. 



Corbet, RICHARD, poet and bishop, was born 

 in 1582, son of a gardener in Ewell, Surrey. From 

 Westminster School he passed to Broadgates Hall 

 (now Pembroke College), next to Christ Church, 

 Oxford. He took orders, and had already enjoyed 

 preferments at Cassington, Oxfordshire, and Stewk- 

 ley, Bucks, as well as a prebend in Salisbury, 



Corbel : 



Kirkstall Abbey. 



