952 CORK 



beads arc in high estimation throughout Hindostan for necklaces and bracelets for 

 women. These beads are manufactured from the red coral fished up in various parts 

 of Asia ; they are very costly, especially when they run to any size ; and they aro 

 generally sold by their weight of silver.' 



Coral beads were always favourite articles for ornament oven in this country; and 

 in the 'Illustrations of Manners and Expences of Antient Times in England,' by 

 Nichols, 1798, we find the following entries from ' the churchwardens' accompts of 

 St. Mary's Hill, London,' containing ' the inventory of John Port, layt the king's ser- 

 vant, as after followeth : ' 



' Item of other old gear found in the house : . s. d. 



1 Item one oz. and A of corall 026 



' Jewels for her body. 

 ' Item, a pair of coral beds, gaudyed with gaudys of silver and gilt, 10 oz. 



at 3s. 4d. 1 13 4' 



(John Port died in 1524.) 



CORAI.IiIlrz:. A scarlet dye, prepared by heating a mixture of carbolic, oxalic 

 and sulphuric acids. See CARBOLIC ACID. 



CORDAGE. (Cordage, Fr. ; Tauwcrk, Ger.) Cordage may be, and is, made of 

 a great variety of materials. In Europe, however, it is mostly formed of hemp, 

 although now much cordage is made of coir. See COIR. 



Professor Eobinson proposed the following rule for determining the strength of 

 cordage: Square the circumference of a rope in inches ; one fifth of the product will 

 be the number of tons' weight which it will bear : this is, however, uncertain. 



CORDOVAN. A leather made at Cordova in Spain from goat-skin, Leather 

 made from horse-hide is called cordovan in this country. 



CORDUROY. A kind of ribbed cloth. See FUSTIAN. 



CORP or CORVE. A basket for carrying coals ; a frame of wood to load coals 

 on ; a sledge to transport minerals on. 



CORIANDER SEED. The fruit of the Coriandum sativum, used as a season- 

 ing, and also for the preparation of an essential oil. 



CORK (Liege, Fr. ; Kork, Ger.) is the bark of the Quercus suber, Linn., a species 

 of oak-tree which grows abundantly in the southern provinces of France, Italy, and 

 Spain. The bark is taken off by making coronal incisions above and below the 

 portions to be removed ; vortical incisions are then made from one of these circles to 

 another whereby the bark may be easily detached. It is steeped in water to soften it, 

 in order to be flattened by pressure under heavy stones, and is then dried at a fire, 

 which blackens its surface. The corks are bound up in bales and sent into the market. 



There are two sorts of cork, the white and the black ; the former grows in France 

 and the latter in Spain. The cakes of the white are usually more beautiful, more 

 smooth, lighter, freer from knots and cracks, of a finer grey, and of a yellowish-grey 

 colour on both sides, and cut more smoothly than the black. When this cork is burnt 

 in close vessels it forms the pigment called Spanish black. 



Cork is employed to fabricate not only bottle corks, but small architectural and 

 geognostic models, which are very convenient from their lightness and solidity. 



The cork-cutters divide the boards of cork first into narrow fillets, which they 

 afterwards subdivide into short parallelepipeds, and then round these into the proper 

 conical or cylindrical shape. The bench before which they work is a square table, 

 where four workmen aro seated, one at every side, the table being furnished with a 

 ledge to prevent the corks from falling over. The cork-cutter's knife has a broad 

 blade, very thin, and fine edged. It is whetted from time to time upon a fine-grained 

 dry whetstone. The workman ought not to draw his knife-edge over the cork, for 

 he would thus make misses, and might cut himself, but rather the cork over the 

 knife-edge. He should seize the knife with his left hand, rest the back of it upon 

 the edge of the table, into one of the notches, made to prevent it from slipping, and 

 merely turn its edge sometimes upright and sometimes to one side. Then holding the 

 squared piece of cork by its two ends, between his finger and his thumb, he presents 

 it in the direction of its length to the edge ; the cork is now smoothly cut into a 

 rounded form by being; dexterously turned in the hand. He next cuts off the two 

 ends, when the cork is finished and thrown into the proper basket alongside, to be 

 afterwards sorted by women or boys, 



Of late years much thicker kinds of cork boards have been imported from 

 Catalonia, from which longer and better corks may be made. In the art of cork- 

 cutting the French surpass the English, as any one may convince himself by 

 comparing the corks of their champagne bottles with thoso made in this country. 

 Cork, on account of its buoyancy in water, is extensively employed for making 



