CURATOR. 



I' MA 







%lsTti into the alimentary canal of man or of animals with impunity, 

 whilst a YSTT small quantity introduced beneath the skin, rapidly 

 produces fatal result*. 



It (from rarsr* ; that U. " to care," or " take care "), one 

 who is appointed to Uke care of anything : in this general sense there 

 were many kinds of curators. 



In the civil law the word denotes one who U appointed to administer 

 > of any person who U not legally competent to manage his 

 1. there was the curatorship (that is, guardianship) of 

 tn SMmst). Every person who was utijurit (that is, not 

 subject to paternal or domestic dominion, but who was still under age) 

 was put under the superintendence of a guardian. But the Roman 

 law distinguishes two kinds of guardianship ; namely, tutelage (t atria) 

 and curatorship (rtratrM. (Institutes of Justinian, i. 13.) The former 

 kind of guardianship wax in use if the minor was impubes ; that is, if 

 a male minor was not fourteen and a female not twelve years old. The 

 guardian in this oase was called tutor, and the minor, pupillus. After 

 the tutelage wai ended, in order to give some legal protection to those 

 who, owing to youth and inexperience, might be overreached, without 

 interfering with the old principle of full legal capacity being attained at 

 the age of puberty, a law (Lex Phctoria) of uncertain date wai passed, 

 dividing citizen! into two nlassmi, those above and those below twenty- 

 fire years of age, for the purpose of protecting minors against fraud, 

 by enabling them to receive curators till they attained twenty-five 

 years. This distinction had some important consequences in the civil 

 law, which have only recently fallen into disuse even in countries 

 where the Roman law is still in force, a distinction which Savigny 

 has seised with his practised eye and explained with his usual clear- 

 ness and ability. The maxim of the Romans, " persona; nou rei vel 

 causa tutor datur " (D. 26, 26, 14), is the key to the whole system 

 of Koinan tutelage. The persona is the legal personal capacity of the 

 ward, his capacity for formal transactions. The tutor's principal 

 duty was to render this capacity complete (which is the meaning of 

 the passage), and therefore his functions extended necessarily over 

 the whole property of the ward, whose incapacity to contract or to 

 enter into any kind of business was supplied by the tutor's direct 

 personal intervention (auctoritas). The distinctive and important 

 function of the Roman tutor, therefore, was to do what the word could 

 not legally do for himself, and what a mrrt rtpramlatire could in i 'I" 

 for him ; namely, transact mancipations, stipulations, and other MU h 

 forms. Hence we obtain the precise difference between the tutor and 

 the curator, that the former was the legal alter ego of the pupil or 

 minor; the latter the mere representative of the ward, the ordinary 

 administrator of his rights; and, therefore, in the maxim ''per extra- 

 neam personam nihil adquiri (ne que alienari) posse," I. 2. 9. 5. the 

 difference between the tutor and the curator is distinctly aimed at. 

 (See ' The Vocation of our Age for Legislation,' by Von Savigny, trans, 

 by A. Hayward,' p. 121 ) According to the strictness of law, the 

 curatorship terminated with the twenty-fifth year of the minor ; but it 

 also be determined by a solemn declaration of the emperor that 

 the minor should be of age. (C. 2, tit. 45, de Us qui veniani ictatia.) 

 This was called receiving vemam tetatis, and it could take place in the 

 oase of males in their twentieth, and females in their eighteenth year. 

 2. As spendthrifts and deaf and dumb persons could not legally admi- 

 nister their estates, they also were put under the superintend! ; 

 curator. 8. A third kind of curator was the curator bonorum ; that is, 

 a trustee for the administration of the estate of absent or deceased 

 persons and insolvent debtors. Between this curatorship and that of a 

 minor there was this important difference; the latter was regarded as 

 a public office, which could not be refused, except for such reasons as 

 the law allowed ; whilst between tutela and curateht this distinction 

 deserves notice, that the duties of the tutor related to the person of 

 the pupil, those of the curator to the property. 



(Gains, i. 197-200 ; Just, 1, 23-26 ; D. 26, 3-10, and 27 ; and 5, 

 81-78; 'Ulp. Frag.,' tit. 11 & 12; 'Wornkonig Institutiones,' lib. i. 

 ch. 4, $ 23S-265; ' Muhlcnbruch Doctrina Pandectarum,' vol. iii., 



v. urnu>r in ancient Home were also public omeers ot various I 

 particularly after the time of Augustus, who established several ol 

 ith this title. (Hurt., ' Vit. Aug.,' cap. 37.) 1. Curatores via 

 that is, curator* who superintended the laying out and repairing ( 



oh. 3, H 576-08; and ' Dictionary of Oreek and Roman Antiquities,' 



Curator.') 

 Curators in ancient Rome were also public officers of various kinds, 







viarum; 



tying out and repairing of the 



public roads. This office existed under the republic, but it was only 

 held as an extraordinary one, and was conferred for special pur- 

 poses. 2. Curatores operum publicorum, aquarum, cloacaruin, who 

 had the superintendence of the public buildings, theatres, bridges, 

 aqueducts, and cloaca}. 3. Curatores alvei Tiberis, who were the con- 

 servators of the Tiber. 4. Curatores frumenti populo dividuudi, whose 

 duty was to distribute corn among the people. Under the emperors 

 we find other officers with the name of curatorea ; as, for instance, the 

 curatores ludorum, who had the superintendence of the public amuse- 

 menu ; and curatores reipubucc, also called logiste, whose duty . 

 to administer the landed property of municipia. 



CURCUMA LONG A, ileJiral PrtftHitt of. This perennial r ,M. 

 belonging to the tribe Zingibertcea, is not ascertained to be nat 

 any particular country in the East; it U occasionally wild, and it is 

 also extensively cultivated in China, Java, Malacca, and in Bengal, 

 prospering in a nioi.-t but not swampy soil. The mode of cult 

 described under Ci m i MA, in NAT. II, i. l'i\. The Chinese sort is 

 most esteemed, rather on account of its superior richness in col 

 matter than from any other cause. Two varieties are found in 

 merce, the round tunnerie (Curcuma rotunda) and long I 

 Ivnga). These are generally regarded as the produce of the same 

 plant ; but even were they yielded by two, it is altogether incorrect 

 to assign the round to Curcuma rotunda, Linn., which is tlu- A 

 feria orala, Rosooe, a rare plant, the root of which is destitute 

 colouring principle. The name is derived from the Persian kurkuni, 

 which means saffron ; hence it is termed Saffron des Indes, but must 

 not be confounded with common saffron, from Orocut ntina. It is 

 likewise called by the French Terra mcrita (Curcuma, hiec (iollu 

 Terra merita male dicitur), see Royle, 'Antiquity of Hindoo Medieine,' 

 p. 87. The rhizoma or rootstock alone contains the aroma: 

 colouring principles, as the tubers common in this and other scitami- 

 neous plants, are devoid of both, and yield much of the East Indian 

 arrow-root, being one of the kinds called by the natives Tikor. (Tar- 

 awa tedoaria, lipxb., yields /edoary, which resembles turn; 



Round turmeric occurs in knobs, roundish, ovate, or oval, sometimes 

 pointed, and insensibly running into the long turmeric, and is of a 

 deeper, more cambo^e like colour in the interior. The pieces are from 

 one to two inches Ion'/, and neatly one in diameter. The long tunnerie 

 occurs in pieces about two inches lunx, either straight, or curved, and 

 doubled up, presenting on the surface more marks whence the root- 

 fibres have sprung. The colour externally is of a brownish \ 

 internally lighter than that of the round sort The fracture has a 

 waxy appearance, ami the odour is unctuous. The taste is bitterish, 

 aromatic, and like ginger, but less potent. " In the fresh state it has 

 a rather unpleasant smell, somewhat resembling cerate, which goes off 

 a good deal on drying." Ainslie's ' Mat. Indica.' This article i 

 liable to be eaten by small beetles. Old, worm-eaten specimens should 

 be rejected. Hard compact pieces, which with dilliculty can be 

 powdered, are best. It has been analysed by John, and subse<] 

 by Vogel and Pelletier : 



Voircl and Pelleu>r'. 



Acrid volatile oil. 



Curcumin. 



Brown colouring mattrr. 



Gum (a little). 



Starch. 



Woody fibre. 



Chloride of calcium. 



The colouring matter is given out very freely to water, and al 



