CYNOMORPHA 



rvi'KKss 



641 



( 'i/iu'iiton'itm coccineum, a plant of a strange fungus. 

 like iippeaninre, is found in the inlands of Malta 

 and Gozo. It was long 

 known ax Ftin</ua Meli- 

 (I'H.st*, and enjoyed the 

 highest reputation as a 

 styptic, besides being 

 u-'-'l as an astringent in 

 dysentery and other 

 maladies. These uses, 

 however, depended on 

 the doctrine of signa- 

 tures alone, its scarlet 

 colour and blood-like 

 juice being interpreted 

 as providential indica- 

 tions of its curative 

 destination for all in- 

 juries or diseases accom- 

 panied by bleeding. So 

 nigh a value was set 

 upon this plant, that the 

 knights of Malta took 

 it under their particular 

 care as one of their 

 choicest possessions ; it 

 was carefully gathered 

 and deposited in a 

 government office, from 

 which the grand-master 

 Cynomorium coccineum, sent it to friendly sove- 

 grow ing upon the root* of (a) its reigns, and to the hos- 

 phaneroxamous host ; b, c, d, pitals of the island. Up 

 different stages of develop- to a recent date a keeper 

 of the rock which most 

 abundantly produces the 



plant was still appointed by the British govern- 

 ment. 



Cynomqrpha (literally, 'dog-shaped'), the 

 lower division of Old-World or Catarrhine mon- 

 keys. Baboon (Cynocephalus) and Magot (Maca- 

 cus) are good examples. See MONKEY. 



CynoscephalaR ( ' dog's heads ' ), two hills near 

 Scntusjsa, in Thessaly, wnere Flaminius defeated 

 Philip of Macedon, 197 B.C. 



Cy'nosure (Gr. kynosoura, literally, 'the tail 

 of the dog ' ), the Greek name for the constellation 

 of the Little Bear, which contains the pole star, by 

 which the Phoenician mariners steered their course, 

 while the Greeks steered by the Great Bear. The 

 name is metaphorically applied to anything that 

 attracts attention, or to which all eyes* are turned. 

 Its use, with this meaning in reference to a lady, in 

 Milton's classic poems L Allegro and Comus, will 

 be remembered. In the Greek mythology, Callisto, 

 daughter of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, was changed 

 into the Greater Bear (called also Helice), and her 

 son. Areas, into the Lesser (called also Cynosura). 

 The Dog's-tail Grass is called Cynosurus. 



Cypera'cea% the order of reeds and sedges, are 

 nearly akin to grasses, but easily distinguished by 

 their solid, irhjointed, generally triangular stems, 

 undivided leaf-sheaths, and absence of palerc. There 

 are about 2000 species, widely distributed through- 

 out all climates, but more especially in temperate 

 and cold regions, and in marshy soils, of whii-h 

 they often take almost entire possession. Dry and 

 rough in texture, they furnish only the very poorest 

 constituent of fodder or hay, nor with few excep- 

 tions (see BULRUSH, CYPERUS, PAPYRUS, CAREX, 

 KEKD) have they any other economic uses. 



Cyperns, a large genus of Cyperacete, chiefly 

 tropical. The tubers or root-stocks of some species 

 are edible, notably C. esculentus, cultivated in 

 southern Europe for its aniandesde terre. C. longus 

 and others are used in medicine and perfumery. 

 C. textilis of South Africa yields tibre. In America, 

 145 



C. hydra, a tuberous species, is an exceedingly 

 troublesome weed in cultivated lands, such as 

 cotton-fields. 



Cy-pres, which, roughly translated, means 'as 

 near as possible,' in applied to a well-known doc- 

 trine in the law of charitable trusts in England. 

 Tin- doctrine is to the effect that where a truster 

 mentions a general pur|>oH to which money is to 

 be applied e.g. higher education, and also some 

 particular method e.g. payment to an institution 

 which ceases to exist, the court will direct the 

 application of the money in some other particular 

 method, as near as possible to the one mentioned, 

 and consistent with the general purpose. The 

 doctrine is closely connected with another viz. 

 that where only a general charitable intention is 

 expressed e.g. relief of the poor, the court will 

 devise some particular scheme, and will not hold 

 the trust void for uncertainty. These doctrines 

 also exist in Scots law, though not under the name 

 of cy-pres. The expression is also applied to a 

 principle on which the court acts, so as to avoid 

 illegality in settlements of property. In the 

 United States it is held that the equity courts 

 cannot make valid charities which are uncertain, 

 but where charitable trusts have once been set 

 agoing, they will prevent the trust from being 

 defeated by change of circumstances. 



Cypress (Cupressus), a genus of evergreen 

 coniferous trees or shrubs, with small generally 

 appressed and imbricated leaves, and with almost 

 globular cones, the peltate woody scales of which 

 bear numerous hard winged seeds. The best- 

 known species is the Common Cypress ( C. semper- 

 virens), a native of the Mediterranean countries, 

 Asia Minor, and Persia, whence it has been intro- 

 duced into rnild localities in Britain. It has two 

 main varieties, one ( var. horizontalis) with spreading 

 or drooping branches, forming a flat-topped tree, 

 the other (var. fastiyiata) with closely appressed 

 branches like a Lombardy poplar, and capable of 

 attaining a height of 100 feet. On account of its 

 sombre colour yet upward aspect, this variety has 

 been planted since classic times around temples and 



Brancli of Cypress. 



tombs ; in this latter aspect, the drooping variety 

 often took a marked place. The Greeks and 

 Romans put its twigs in the coffins of the dead, 

 they used it to indicate the house of mourning, 

 and planted it about burial-grounds, as is still the 

 custom in the East. The vast Turkish cemeteries, 

 of which European and American cemeteries may 

 be regarded as imitations, are thickly planted with 

 the poplar-like variety, and are often growing into 

 sombre forests. The wood of the cypress is yellow 

 or reddish, and has a pleasant smell. It is very 

 hard, compact, and durable ; the ancients reckoned 

 it indestructible ; and the resin which it contains 

 gives it the property of resisting for a long time the 

 action of water. It is not liable to the attacks of 



