. BOBB 



CROTON OIL. 



3.' I 



often erected in churchyards, a* well u by the way-side or meeting 

 of four roads; UK! many of thew till remain, though usually in 

 mutiUUxl condition. Perfect churchyard crueses, howeTer, exist t 

 Great Qrimsby H%hm Form*, Jtc. 



Chutes are usuaUy built in the form of a croes. [Cm-acH.] The 

 largest of these oonetruotod crosses are thoM of St Peter 1 * at BOOM 

 and St. Pauls, London. In the Western Church, wht U called the 

 Latin cross hai mu.tly been employed ; wliiUt in the Eastern Church 

 the Creek ero hai been commonly used : the difference in the form 

 being that, in the Greek cross the four armi are of equal length, while 

 in the Latin the lower arm (the nave in churches) U longer than the 

 rest. What ii called the Maltese croa* U merely the Greek crow with 

 an ornamental expansion of the extremities of the anna. On the 

 symbolism of the diSercnt form* of the croa*ee uaed in Roman Catholic 

 ceremonial*, and seen in pictures, sculptures, Ac., aee Didron, ' Icono- 

 graphic OmHienne.' 



Churchei and ecclesiastical building! almost always had crossea fixed 

 on their gable end*. These crosses varied considerably in form and 

 style of ornament in the different periods of Gothic architecture; 

 many of them are of great elegance ; but crosses having being con- 

 demned as superstitious by the parliamentary visitors of the Common- 

 wealth period, large numbers were destroyed or mutilated. A Urge 

 cross, or crucifix, called a rood, was, prior to the Reformation, placed 

 over the chancel in most parish churches, and in all cathedrals, upon a 

 beam or gallery, called the rood-beam or rood-loft. The cross upon 

 the altar was usually a crucifix ; that is, had a figure of the Saviour 

 represented hanging upon it. A cross was very commonly the prin- 

 cipal figure carved upon monumental brasses [BRASSES], and indeed 

 upon monuments generally. 



By European navigators, the planting of a cross was used to indicate 

 that possession was taken of the country for the nation by whom it 

 had been discovered. 



Crosses used for processional purposes were during the middle ages 

 often made of great beauty and costliness. A very excellent specimen 

 of a processional cross of the 14th century U engraved as a frontispiece 

 to Paley's ' Gothic Architecture.' 



In some of the Roman Catholic processions at Rome enormous 

 crosses, constructed of wood and cardboard, are carried, balanced iu a 

 waistband round the body of a strong man. 



CROSS, from the Latin ' Crux.' This cruel mode of punishment 

 appears to have been in use from the earliest recorded periods of 

 history. It was possibly the invention of some barbarous tribe to 

 prevent the escape of a captive by fastening him to a tree, or used to 

 inflict death on an enemy by leaving him to expire of want, or a prey 

 to birds and beast*. 



Crosses, whatever was the original form, were, in course of time, 

 made of two pieces of wood. These crosses have been divided by 

 antiquaries into three kinds. The crux decussata, or cross divided 

 like the letter X, and usually called St. Andrew's cross ; the crux com- 

 miasa, or joined cross, consisting of an upright piece of timber with a 

 transverse piece on the extreme top at right angles with the first, like 

 the letter T ; and the crux immissa, or let-in cross, in which the 

 transverse piece of timber is let into the upright, but placed somewhat 

 below the top of the upright in this form f . This is the cross on 

 which Christ is usually represented to have suffered, and though there 

 may not be any absolute authority for ascertaining the precise form of 

 the cross used on that occasion, yet apart from the fact of the early 

 Christian writers having without exception referred only to this form, 

 the circumstance of an inscription having been placed over bis head 

 would render the conjecture probable. 



Amongst the Carthaginians, persons of all conditions, even com- 

 manders of armies, were subjected to it, but amongst the Romans it 

 was considered as the punishment of slaves, and inflicted on that class 

 only. With respect to the Jews, it seems doubtful whether crucifixion, 

 as we understand it, was a mode of punishment used by them in 

 ancient times. The putting the sons of Saul to death by the Gibeonites 

 has been adduced as furnishing evidence that crucifixion was prac- 

 tised by them (2 Sam. xxi.) ; but the practice does not seem to warrant 

 the conclusion. It is however to be observed that "hanging on a 

 tree " is used in Scripture to describe crucifixion. (Acts x. 88.) 



Previous to crucifixion the sufferer was scourged. He was also 

 forced to carry his own cross ; and this (amongst the Romans at least) 

 probably arose from the disgust and horror with which this instrument 

 of punishment was viewed and considered by that people, ami their 

 disinclination even to touch it. (Cicero ' in Verrem. ) The criminal 

 was accordingly condemned to bear his own instrument of torture. 

 Previous to the infliction of the punishment, the sufferer was stripped 

 naked, and it is probable that he was laid down on the cross for the 

 purpose of having the nails driven in his hand* and feet, or being 

 rutennd with ropes, which was sometimes the case. The cross wss 

 then elevated. Afterwards the legs were broken, wounds inflicted 

 with a spear, or other sharp instrument, to hasten death, but this was 

 not invariably done. As death, in many cases, did not ensue for a 

 length of time, guards were placed to prevent the relatives or friends 

 from giving the sufferers relief, taking them away whilst alive, or re- 

 moving their bodies when dead. The punishment of the cross was abo- 

 lished la the Roman empire by Constantine, who substituted hanging. 

 The representations of crucifixions by painters are calculated to 



pve very erroneous notions both of the cross itaelf and the mode 

 of puniahment It is not probable that the orosjws actually used 

 were so lofty or so Urge and massive as those which we see in 



Instrument* of such dimflnmm would be perfectly unne- 

 cessary for the purpose. Whan we read in Josephus of hundreds of 

 Jews being crucified by Vespasian and Titus in a day, we cannot 

 suppose that so great a quantity of timber would be used on those 

 occasions. The circumstance of the sufferer carrying his own cross 

 weighs against the probability of ita being of the sue which these 

 representations give it. It is not unusual in paintings to represent 

 crucifixion as taking place after the cross is elevated, and the execu- 

 joner is represented standing on a high ladder, and driving a nail int-> 

 tlie band of the crucified person. It sosnin much more likely that the 

 sufferer was nailed to the cross before it was raked and fixed in the 

 pound. " Pone cruoem servo," " Put the cross to the sUve," in the 

 sxpression used by Juvenal Crucifixion sometimes took place with 

 -he bead downwards, sod St. Peter is said to have suffered death in 

 this way. 



Death by the cross, in a strong and healthy person, must neces- 

 sarily have been tedious and lingering, and in^jnna. have occurred 

 of persons who, after remaining some time on the cross, were taken 

 down, and survived. When the crucified person was only attached to 

 the cross by ropes, this seems by no means extraordinary ; and even 

 when it took place by nailing, neither the wounds themselves nor the 



Dr. Merand, an eye-witness at some of the meetings of these persons, 

 relates that he was present at the crucifixion of two females, named 

 Sister Rachel and Sister Kelici U 1 . They were laid down, fixed 1 

 live ini-hes long driven firmly through both hands and feet in 

 wood of which the crosses were made. The crosses were then raised to 

 a vertical position. In this manner they remained nailed, while ..!; r 

 ceremonies of these fanatics proceeded. Sister Rachel, who had been 

 Brst crucified, was then taken down : she lost very little blood. 

 Suiter FelicitiS wag afterwards taken from her cross. Three small 

 basins, called palettes, full of blood, flowed from her hands and feet. 



Their wounds were then dressed, and the meeting was terminated. 

 Sister Keliciu! declared that it was the twenty-first time she had < 

 gone crucifixion. 



CROSS BILL. [PLEADISO.I 



CROSS BOW. [ARCHERY.] 



CltOSS I! KM .UNDER. [llEMAISBEB.] 



CROTALUM (*a^ra\m>), an ancient musical instrument, \\] 

 appears from medals, was used by the Corybantes, or priests of ( 

 The crotalum differed from the sistrum, though the names are often 

 confounded, and is by some supposed to have been of the Castanet kind. 

 (' Diet, de Trevoux.') Some consider it as a cymbal of small dimen- 

 sions ; and from the allusions to it by Virgil, Lucretius, and others, we 

 are inclined to be of the latter opinion. 



CROTCHET, in music, a character or note formed of a round head, 

 and a stem descending from the left side of the upper part 





It is the fourth part of a semibreve, and in slow time (largo, for 

 instance) its duration is about one second. 



CROTON OIL. The seeds of the Croton Tiglii were formerly used 

 as a drastive purgative medicine, under the name of grains of Tilly, or 

 Molucca grains, or purging mite, a term which occasionally leads to 

 confounding them with physic nuts, the produce of the Jutrupka 

 Carats; but at present the oil only is employed. The seeds are 

 roasted, and then subjected to compression ; the oil is therefore termed 

 an expressed oil. It is of a honey-yellow or brownish colour, of mode- 

 rate consistence, having an odour resembling the resin of jalap ; the 

 taste is at first slightly rancid, afterwards acrid, causing a feeling of 

 burning in the throat, which lasts for several hours. 



A portion of the oil is taken up by alcohol, and more by ether ; it u 

 however soluble in every proportion in fixed and volatile oils. It was 

 supposed to contain a peculiar principle termed Tigliii ; but this is now 

 known to be a magnesian soap. It is often adulterated with olive or 

 castor oil, which admixtures may be detected by the process suggested 

 by Dr. Nimnio. An artificially prepared substitute, sometimes mat 

 with, is a mixture of the resin of jalap, Canada balsam, fix< 

 cnpli'irbium, Ac. (Horst.) The oil of the seeds of Jatrophn (.'urea* 

 ( l.inn.) is also sometimes mixed with the genuine oil. In the dose of 

 one drop (when the pure oil is used) it produces consiilerable purgative 

 effect, and may be very advantageously employed when difficulty of 

 swallowing exists, since its application to the tongue is often sufficient 

 to ensure the purgative action. Hence in cases of apoplexy, or paralysis 

 of the throat, the desired effect may be obtained even when the patient 

 U insensible. In the treatment of that form of inflammation of the 

 brain termed bydrocephalus, even whap effusion appears to have taken 

 place, and torpor or paralysis exists, croton oil will often bring about 

 the recovery of the sufferer. (See Aberoombie on ' Diseases of the 

 Brain, 1st edit., p. 167.) In oases of impending apoplexy croton oil to 

 of incalculable value. It is likewise used, but sometimes very impro- 

 perly, in cases of obstruction of the intestinal canal. It is however 



