337 



CUDBEAR. 



CUMINIC ACID. 



formed in a more solid manner than it otherwise would be, and thus 

 its delicacy is impaired. The effect of direct light moreover is to cause 

 the production of whatever secretions may be natural to a plant ; the 

 natural secretions of the cucumber are bitter ; hence, the less cucumbers 

 are exposed to direct light while growing, the less bitter, and conse- 

 quently the more delicate they will be. This sufficiently explains the 

 superiority of cucumbers forced quickly at the dull season of the year, 

 to those produced naturally in the open ground in autumn. 



When it is an object to procure very fine and long fruit, the plant 

 should not be allowed to bear early ; all the female blossoms should be 

 destroyed until the plant has become vigorous, and well rooted in the 

 bed ; a fruit set after that time, will grow much faster than one ferti- 

 lised at an earlier time. 



The best sorts of cucumbers are, for gherkins, the Russian ; for stew- 

 ing, the large white Bonneuil ; for large size, the Longford ; and for 

 ordinary forcing purposes, any of the long prickly sorts, whether black 

 tpined or white spined. The Smyrna, which is spineless, and a great 

 bearer, is not in favour with gardeners, for what reason no one can 

 tell. A small sort called the Sandy cucumber is grown in the fields in 

 some parts of Bedfordshire, but it is altogether inferior to the Russian. 

 A fine table cucumber should have no ribs, be perfectly straight, and 

 the end next the stalk should be as thick as the other end. 



CUDBEAR is a violet red powder used in dyeing wool and silk, to 

 which it communicates various shades of brown and purple. It is pre- 

 pared from the same lichens as archil [ARCHIL] and litmus [LITMUS] ; 

 for a list of them see LICHENS, Colouring matters of. They are first 

 reduced to a pulp with water, and then treated with ammoniacal 

 liquor from gas-works, or with stale urine to which lime has been 

 added to set free ammonia, constant agitation being kept up in order 

 that the whole may be well exposed to the air. The expressed liquor 

 is either sent into commerce under the name of archil, sometimes 

 called liquid cudbear ; or thickening materials, such as chalk, plaster 

 of Paris, Ac., are added to it, and it is then dried, powdered, and sold 

 as cudbear, or less frequently as pertio. 



The colouring matters of cudbear consist of some very beautiful 

 crystalline compounds. [LICHENS, Colouring matters of.} 



Cudbear derives its name from Dr. Cuthbert Gordon, who first made 

 it an article of trade in this country, at the commencement of the 

 present century. 



CUIRASS or CUIRASSE.apiece of defensive armour, made of plate 

 well hammered, serving to cover the body from the neck to the girdle, 

 both before and behind ; the front called the breast-, the hinder part 

 the back-plate ; these were fastened to each other by straps, buckles, 

 hooks, or some other contrivance. The name is supposed to be derived 

 from Curatia or Curassa, a Latin word of the middle age, which occurs 

 in charters at least as early as the 14th century (Meyrick's ' Glossary 

 of Military Terms '), originally derived from the French cuir or the 

 Latin corium, " a hide," the earliest cuirasses being made of leather, 

 though afterwards chiefly of metal, both brass and iron. 



This species of armour was known to the Greeks and Romans. A 

 breast- and back-plate of Roman workmanship are preserved among the 

 Hamiltonian antiquities in the British Museum, which, when worn, 

 appear to have been held together by strings or wires, fastened to nipples 

 in front. In later ages the cuirass was disused, and was not revived in 

 Europe till about the beginning of the 14th century. In England it 

 was disused after the reign of Charles II., except in one instance ; but 

 has of late years been revived for our cavalry. The cuirass was stated, 

 in Col. Lygon's evidence before a committee of the House of Commons 

 on army and navy appointments, in 1833, to have been introduced as a 

 part of the accoutrements of the Life-Guards within the preceding 

 twelve years. To a question, " Can you state what was the purchase- 

 cost per man of the cuirass ? " he answered, " I apprehend they cost 

 nothing ; they have been lying in the Tower for years, and were worn 

 at the battle of Dettingen." 



In the Romish calendar, under October 14, we find the name of 

 St. Dominic, who is called loricatvs or the cuirassed, a title given to 

 a saint of the llth century, who constantly wore an iron cuirass next 

 tn his akin. 



I I'lUASSIERS, heavy cavalry armed with cuirasses. Most of the 

 fi<-nnan powers, especially the emperor of Austria and the king of 

 Prussia, have regiments of cuirassiers. They also form a portion of 

 the French cavalry. In England we have no regiments which go by 

 this denomination, although what are called the life-guards now wear 

 the cuirass. [CUIRASS.] 



I TLDEES, the name of a religious order in Scotland, Ireland, and 

 the north of England, whose origin may be dated from the middle of 

 the 6th century. The information regarding their origin is chiefly 

 derived from the memoirs of their founder Columba. Their gradual 

 absorption, by the spread of the Roman hierarchy in Scotland, is shown 

 very clearly in the chartularies and other muniments of the episcopal 

 seeH and abbacies in Scotland. There have been so many etymologies 

 1 Culdee, and they are all so purely hypothetical, that it 

 wmld In; a useless effort to attempt a comparative judgment on them. 



Unfortunately, the history and institutions of the Culdees have been 

 the subject of dispute between the supporters of the Episcopal and 

 those oi the Presbyterian form of church polity : the one maintaining 

 that this primitive body were a mere collection of monastic institutions 

 connected with the Catholic hierarchy ; while it is endeavoured to be 



AETS AND SC7. DIV. VOL. III. 



proved, on the other side, that they were the prototypes of the Pro- 

 testant Presbyterians, and that their church polity was derived from 

 the fountain-head of Christian truth, and communicated to modern 

 times through the Lollards, before the Culdees were entirely extin- 

 guished. They have in this respect been compared with the Waldenses. 

 The Culdees undoubtedly formed a part, if not the whole, of that 

 early Scottish Church, which had established a different epoch for 

 the celebration of Easter from the Western Church , a subject 

 subsequently productive of much dispute between the Scottish and 

 English ecclesiastics. The ground on which the former maintained 

 their own peculiar usages was, that they had been derived directly from 

 the apostles, by whom, and not by the ecclesiastical representatives of 

 St. Peter, the Church in Ireland had been planted. The practice of the 

 Culdees seems to have so far coincided with the later monastic insti- 

 tutions, that they lived in retirement, practised abstinence, and made 

 devotion and the administration of religious and charitable functions 

 their chief pursuits. So far were they, however, from adopting a rule 

 of celibacy, that marriage was practised and reckoned honourable 

 among them. It is difficult to discover their precise polity. It has 

 been found that they ordained bishops ; but it farther appears that 

 the persons bearing that name, instead of having any absolute autho- 

 rity over another class as Presbyters, were themselves under the 

 authority of the president, or head of the establishment, as represent- 

 ing the community. The Culdees had establishments in various parts 

 of Scotland, many of them in the form of colleges, where they kept 

 small libraries of manuscripts, and gave instruction to youth. Their 

 principal establishments, besides that of lona, were at Oronsay, Aber- 

 nethy in Perthshire, the island of St. Serf in Lochleven, Dunkeld, St. 

 Andrew's, and Monymusk in Aberdeenshire. Efforts have been made, 

 though apparently without success, to identify these establishments 

 with the episcopal dioceses, and to prove that each college or monas- 

 tery, with its head and ordinary members, was virtually the dean and 

 chapter of the diocese ; but it is better supported that the first bishops 

 were Culdees, and that they were elected from among the pastors by 

 the votes of this body. The archiepiscopal see of St Andrew's appears 

 to have owed its early predominance to the Culdees, who seem to have 

 had considerable possessions in the neighbourhood. The great abbey 

 of Arbroath is believed to have had a similar origin, and so is that of 

 Melrose. Besides the dispute as to the holding of Easter, and the 

 difference of opinion on the marriage of ecclesiastical persons, the 

 Culdees had many subjects of dispute with the Romish hierarchy, from 

 whose customs they seem to have diverged on the subject of auricular 

 confession, and various others. They were at last obliged to give way 

 before the waxing influence of the Church of Rome. St. Bernard 

 describes the people as beasts and barbarians, who " neither pay tithes 

 nor first fruits. They do not enter into lawful marriage ; they do not 

 go to confession ; no one can be found who applies for the prescription 

 of penance, nor any one who will prescribe it." The erection of the 

 several bishoprics, under the patronage and countenance of the kings 

 of Scotland, raised up powerful enemies to the Culdees who were 

 within the respective territories allotted to them as dioceses, and the 

 order was thus gradually incorporated with the Romish Church. 



(Jamieson, Historical Account of the Ancient Culdees of lona, and of 

 their Settlements in Scotland, England, and Ireland, 4to, Edinb. 1811 ; 

 Maccallum, History of the Culdees, 12mo, Edinb. 1855; Keith, Catalogue 

 of Scottish Bishops.) 



CULMINATION (culmcn, the summit of a thing). A star culminates, 

 or comes to its highest point, at the moment when it is on the 

 meridian. [TRANSIT; MERIDIAN.] 



CULVERIN. [AKTILLKRT.] 



CUMENE. [CCMINIC ACID.] 



CUM-EUGENYL. [CAKYOPHILLIC ACID.] 



CUMIDINE. [CUMINIC ACID.] 



CUMINAMIDE. [CUMINIC ACID.] 



CUMINIC ACID (CjoH.jOJ. Cuminic acid and its derivatives form 

 a group of bodies which are entirely homologous with the benzoic acid 

 group. 



This body, which is the starting point for the preparation of most of 

 the cuminic derivatives, exists in a free state in the etherial oil of cumin 

 (Cuminum cyminum), along with a hydrocarbon cymole. When this 

 oil is treated with an alkaline bisulphite, a crystalline compound of 

 the aldehyde with the bisulphite is formed, and this compound, freed 

 from foreign substances by pressure between bibulous paper, yields on 

 subsequent treatment with potash, hydride of cumyle. 



When pure, hydrate of cumyl is a colourless or slightly yellow 

 liquid, with a strong odour of cumin, and a bitter acrid taste. It boils 

 at 428 F. Exposed to the air, or still more rapidly when treated by 

 oxidising agents, it assimilates oxygen, and becomes converted into 

 cuminic acid. Treated by potassium, hydrogen is liberated, and 

 mmylide of potassium (C 20 H 11 K0 2 ) is formed. 



Cuminic Acid (C^H^O, = HO.C^H,^,). When hydride of cumyle 

 or oil of eumine is dropped on fused hydrate of potash, hydrogen is 

 liberated, and cumulate of potash is formed : 



C O H U + KO HO = KO, 0, H,,0 3 + 2H 



Hydride of Fotonli. Cuminate of 



Cumyl. Fotah. 



