COW-PLANT 



COX 



The Life by T. Wright appeared in 1892. The standard 

 edition of Cowper's works is that edited by Southey, 

 with a memoir ( 15 vols. 1834-37 ), and reprinted in Bohn's 

 ' Standard Library ' ( 1853-54 ). Others are those of Grim- 

 shawe (8 vols. 1835), the Aldme edition, with a good life 

 by John Bruce (1865), and the Globe edition, with a 

 memoir by Rev. W. Benham ( 1870 ). There are selections of 

 the poems, by Mrs Oliphant (1883), and of the letters, by 

 liev. W. Benham (1884) in the ' Golden Treasury' series. 

 For criticism, see Ste, Beuve's Causeries du Lundi ( vol. 

 xi. 18b"8); Stopford- Brooke's Theology in the English 

 Poets ( 1874 ) ; Goldwin Smith's monograph in the 

 ' PJnglish Men of Letters ' series ( 1880 ) ; Leslie Stephen, 

 in series iii. of 'Hours in a Library' (1882); and Mrs 

 Oliphant, in The Literary History of England (1882). 



Cow-plant (Gymnema lactiferum), a perennial 

 Asclepiaa of Ceylon, which has acquired a factitious 

 celebrity from the oft- repeated statement that its 

 milky juice is used as milk, and that its leaves are 

 boiled to supply the want of cream ! But this, 

 according to Sir J. E. Tennent, arises entirely from 

 the appearance of the juice, which indeed probably 

 contains a share of the poisonous principles so 

 general in this order. 



Cowry ( Cyprcea ), a large genus of Gasteropods 

 in the Prosobranchiate section, including over a 

 hundred species, some of which are very familiar as 

 decorative objects and as furnishing a medium of 

 exchange with uncivilised peoples. The shell has 

 more or less of an oval form, and is usually thick, 

 polished, and beautifully coloured. The young 

 shells are delicate and more typically snail-like, 

 but in the adults the large last whorl more or less 

 conceals the others, and has its outer lip bent in 

 towards the inner. The internal axis may be 

 wholly absorbed. The animal has a broad head, a 

 protrusible proboscis, eyes associated with the long 

 horns, and a broad foot protruded through the 

 elongated aperture. The mantle or skin fold, 

 which forms the shell as in other molluscs, extends 

 over the whole or most of the surface, and thus 

 conceals during life what gives the dead shells half 

 their charm. In habit the cowries are predomin- 

 antly sluggish animals, creeping slowly on rocks 

 and coral reefs. They are mainly carnivorous in 

 diet. Though widely distributed, they thrive best 

 in the tropical seas. Fossil forms occur abundantly 

 (about 80 species) from the chalk onwards. The 

 nearest relations of the cowries are the two genera 

 Ovulum and Trivia. The former includes the 

 Poached Eggs and the Weaver's Shuttle ( Ovulum 

 volva ) ; two species are found on British shores. 

 The genus Trivia includes the little ' cowry ' 

 (Trivia europcea), not uncommonly found on 

 British coasts e.g. near John o' Groat's House. 



The cowries proper are well known in several 

 practical connections. The money cowry (C. 



moneta), found 

 especially in the 

 Maldive Islands, 

 was long used as 

 currency, and is 

 still so used in 

 Africa from 



Guinea to the 

 Central Soudan. 

 In Siam over 6000 



Money Cowry. 



cowries were re- 

 quired to make a 

 tical worth Is. 8d. 

 Cowries are familiar in England as counters in 

 games of chance. From prehistoric times they have 

 been used to form necklaces and other ornaments of 

 the person. In some cases they are worn as charms, 

 and their bright colours, so attractive to human 

 eyes, have also been utilised in catching cuttle- 

 fishes. Cowries have had their share in later days 

 in the conchological craze, and 'small fortunes' 

 have been spent in gathering that wealth of varied 



colour which a good cabinet displays. A single 

 shell of C. princeps has been sold for 40. 



Cowslip (Primula veris ; see PRIMROSE), a 

 common native of pastures in England and many 

 other parts of Europe, although rare in Scotland, 

 a delicate and modest little flower, a universal 

 favourite, both for its beauty and its fragrance. 

 It differs from the common primrose conspicuously 

 in having umbels of flowers on a scape ; it is sup- 

 posed to be the original of the garden polyanthus. 

 Darwin holds the common oxlip to be a cross 

 between the cowslip and the common primrose. 

 Its bells were long supposed to be the naunt of 

 fairies, and the name of Fairy Cups is still given to 

 them in some parts of England. The flowers are 

 sometimes fermented with sugar to make cowslip 

 wine, which is not unpalatable. It was once a 

 favourite domestic soporific. The leaves are by 

 some used as a salad and pot-herb, and also as food 

 for the silkworm before those of the mulberry have 

 expanded. The American cowslip (sometimes also 

 called Shooting-star) is Dodecatheon Meadia, a 

 very handsome spring flower. This and other 

 species are also well known in cultivation. 



Cow-tree, a name given to a number of trees 

 of different natural orders, the bland milky juice 

 (Latex, q.v.) of which is used instead of milk. The 

 most famous of these is the Palo de Vaca of the 

 Cordilleras and Caraccas (Galactodendron (Brosi- 

 mum) utile), an artocarpaceous tree, with large 

 laurel-like leaves and very small flowers. The 

 milk is obtained by piercing the bark of the trunk 

 or branches, and flows so freely that an ordinary 

 bottle may be filled in half an hour. The milk has 

 an agreeable creamy odour and taste recalling that 

 of cow's milk, but is slightly viscid and soon be- 

 comes yellow, gradually thickening into a some- 

 what cheesy consistency. Its chemical composi- 

 tion, of course, widely differs from that of milk, 

 but its nutritive value is considerable. It is much 

 used by the negroes and IndLins. 



The cow-tree or Hya-hya of Demerara is Taber- 

 ncemontana utilis, a tree belonging to the Asclepia- 

 dacese. In this order the milky juice is usually 

 acrid and poisonous, and even that of other species 

 of the same genus is of sharp and burning taste. 

 In this case, however, the latex is agreeable and 

 wholesome, although somewhat sticky, owing to 

 the large proportion of caoutchouc. 



Cow- wheat (Melampyrum), a genus of Scro- 

 phulariacere, of which the deep-furrowed two-celled 

 capsule somewhat resembles a grain of wheat. 

 They are annual weeds, growing in woods, corn- 

 fields, and pastures, and are eaten by cattle. Being 

 root-parasites, they grow on the roots of other 

 plants. M. pratense is common in Europe and 

 North America. 



Cox, DAVID, landscape-painter, was born at 

 Deritend, a suburb of Birmingham, 29th April 

 1793. His father was a blacksmith, and he worked 

 at the forge for a time ; and after trying various 

 employments and studying drawing under Joseph 

 Barber, he was scene-painter in the Birmingham, 

 Swansea, and Wolverhampton theatres, and occa- 

 sionally appeared upon the boards in minor parts. 

 He next took lessons in London from John Varley ; 

 in 1805 and 1806 visited North Wales, which to 

 the end of his life was his favourite sketching- 

 ground ; and taught as a drawing-master, mainly 

 in Hereford, publishing A Treatise on Landscape 

 Painting and Effect in Water-colours (1814), and 

 other educational works, illustrated by soft-ground 

 etchings by his own hand. In 1813 he joined the 

 Society of Painters in Water-colours, to whose 

 exhibitions he was a regular contributor. From 

 1827 till 1841 his headquarters were in London, 

 but he was constantly sketching in the country, 



