586 



CROTALID^J 



CROUP 



name from the inflated pods in which the seeds 

 rattle when ripe. The species are annual, perennial, 

 and shrubby plants, some of which yield valu- 

 able fibre, particularly C. juncea, the Sunn, or Hemp 

 Sana, or Janupa Hemp of India, an annual species. 

 The perennial C. tenuifolia (Jubbulpore Hemp) is 

 grown in Southern India, and other species or 

 varieties are in cultivation. Several species are 

 North American. 



Crotalidae. See RATTLESNAKE. 



Crotch, WILLIAM, composer, was born at Nor- 

 wich in 1775. His musical genius was quite as 

 precocious as that of the great Mozart. When 

 little more than two years old he could play God 

 save the King with chords, and in 1779 he was 

 performing in London as a musical prodigy. When 

 only twenty-two lie was appointed professor of 

 Music in Oxford University, and in 1822 he ob- 

 tained the principalship of the Royal Academy of 

 Music. Crotch composed a large number of pieces 

 for the organ and piano, two oratorios, ten anthems, 

 &c. ; and he was author of Elements of Musical 

 Composition (1812) and Styles of Music of all 

 Ages (1807-18). He died at Taunton, December 

 29, 1847. 



Crotchet. See Music. 



Crotoil, a genus of plants of the natural order 

 Euphorbiacese, with numerous species, which are 

 mostly tropical or subtropical trees or shrubs, a 

 few herbaceous. The most important is the 

 Purging Croton ( C. Tiglium ), a small tree, a native 



Croton. 



of India and the more easterly tropical parts of 

 Asia. The leaves are extremely acrid ; the wood 

 in a fresh state is a drastic, and in a dried state, a 

 more mild purgative ; and the seeds ( Croton Seeds, 

 or Tilly Seeds) are a very powerful drastic pur- 

 gative, formerly much employed in Europe, but 

 latterly disused on account of violence and uncer- 

 tainty of action, although still valuable as yield- 

 ing croton-oil. They are oval or oval-oblong, 

 about the size of field-beans. So great is their 

 acridity, that dangerous effects have ensued from 

 working for some hours with packages of them. 

 The oil is obtained mostly by expression, and partly 

 by treating the cake with alcohol. The wood and 

 seeds of C. Pavance are employed in some parts of 

 the East in the same way as those of C. Tiglium. 

 Other species possess similar properties. Very 

 different are the properties of the species which 

 yield Cascarilla (q.v.) and Copalchi (q.v. ) barks. 

 Other species are still more aromatic, and some 



delightfully fragrant, containing in great abund- 

 ance a thickish balsamic sap. The sap of C. 

 gratissimus is employed as a perfume and cosmetic 

 at the Cape of Good Hope ; that of C. origanifolium 

 is used in the West Indies as a substitute for 

 Balsam of Copaiva ; that of C. balsamiferum, also 

 West Indian, furnishes Eau de Mantes by distilla- 

 tion ; and the balsamic sap of some South American 

 species is dried and used as incense. The C. Draco 

 and other species yield a blood-red juice, which, 

 when dried, forms the finest kind of dragon's-blood, 

 and is possessed of astringent properties. 



CROTON-OIL is the oil expressed from the seeds 

 of the C. Tiglium, and is a sherry-coloured, viscid 

 liquid, with an acrid taste, a somewhat rancid 

 smell, and a fluorescent appearance. It contains 

 a number of oily bodies, none of which have as 

 yet been definitely shown to be the cause of its 

 purgative and vesicating properties. Croton-oil 

 is a violent purgative, in most cases a single drop 

 being sufficient to remove constipation. When 

 rubbed upon the skin it produces rubefaction and 

 pustular eruption, and thereby tends to relieve some 

 affections of the internal organs. It is used either 

 by itself in the unmixed state, or diluted with olive- 

 oil, soap liniment, alcohol, &c. It is not to be 

 employed except under the advice of a doctor. 



Crotona, a city of Lucania in ancient Italy, 

 owed its origin to a colony of Achseans, as far back 

 as 710 B.C. It soon became one of the most prosper- 

 ous, wealthy, and powerful cities of Magna Grfecia. 

 Its walls measured 12 miles in circumference, and 

 the territory over which it extended its sway was 

 considerable. Its inhabitants were celebrated for 

 athletic exercises, and they carried off most of the 

 prizes at the Olympic games. Pythagoras settled 

 here about the middle of the 6th century B.C., and 

 became a very important member of the body politic 

 (see PYTHAGORAS). About 510 B.C. Crotona sent 

 forth an army of above 100,000 men, under Milo, 

 its most renowned athlete, to fight the Sybarites ; 

 the latter, though three times as numerous, were 

 utterly defeated, and their city destroyed. The 

 war with Pyrrhus completely ruined the import- 

 ance of Crotona, and in the 2d century B.C. it had 

 sunk so low that a colony of Romans had to be 

 sent to recruit its well-nigh exhausted population. 

 It never afterwards recovered its prosperity. Some 

 ruins belonging to the old exist in the vicinity 

 of the modern city (called Cotrone, q.v.) ; and very 

 fine Greek coins have been found. Cortona ( q. v. ) 

 was also anciently called Crotona. 



Croton River. See AQUEDUCT. 



Crotophilga. ( Gr. , ' tick-eater ' ), a genus of birds 

 in the cuckoo family and order Coccygomorphse. 

 They are also known by the names Ani and Keel- 

 bird, the former referring to the cry, the latter to 

 the blade-like ridge on the compressed arched beak. 

 The best known of the three species ( C. ani ) frequents 

 South America to the east of the Andes, and is 

 often called the Savanna Blackbird. They are dis- 

 tinguished from other cuckoo-like birds by the tail, 

 which has only eight steering feathers. The beak 

 is as long as the head, and the keel is said to be 

 used in unearthing their insect prey ; the wings are 

 long and pointed ; the tail is long, broad, and 

 rounded. They are social birds, and several 

 females lay their eggs in a common nest. They 

 are fond of keeping about herds of horses and 

 cattle for the sake of the insect larvre which they 

 find on their skin. In this connection they are 

 obviously of some importance. 



Croup, a term used in Scotland from an early 

 period to describe a certain train of laryngeal symp- 

 toms, was first applied by Dr Francis Home, in 

 1765, to an acute inflammatory and non-contagious 

 affection of the Larynx (q.v.), in which there is the 



