357 



CUSCO-CHINA. 



CUSTOMS. 



358 



tioned must be introduced. The use of this distinction would be, the 

 elimination of disputes about words. 



CUSCO-CHINA. There seems now no room to doubt that three 

 different barks pass under this name : one, the produce of Cinchona 

 scrobiculata, var. o t.enuina, called in Peru red Cusco bark. It 

 approximates to the Calisaya bark : so much so that Guibourt has 

 termed it Ctdimya Uger ; but it differs from all the known cinchonas 

 in the character of the alkaloid it contains. The second appears to be 

 the produce of Cinchona pitbeicens, var. a PeUetieriana. This was the 

 bark observed and described by Jobst (Buchner, ' Repert.,' xxxii. p. 464), 

 and from which Pelletier procured the alkaloid which he called A ricina, 

 by many used erroneously as a synonym for cusconia. A third kind 

 passes by this name, which may probably be the white Jaen (Jen, 

 corruptly), which Bergen assigns to the C. pubescent. 



The alkaloid is procured by the same process as is used for cinchonia, 

 which it resembles in its physical qualities, but differs in its chemical 

 habitudes. The taste is more bitter, rather heating, and sub-astringent. 

 It is equally insoluble in water, but easily soluble in alcohol and in 

 sulphuric ether. It forma with acids salts which resemble those of 

 cinchonia, but have a more bitter taste. The sulphate conducts itself 

 singularly. A concentrated watery solution of this salt forms on 

 cooling a tremulous jelly, which on drying becomes horny, but which, 

 by the assistance of boiling water, resumes the jelly-like state. 

 Cinchonia, quinia. and cusconia are supposed to be one base or radical 

 with progressively increasing proportions of oxygen. 



The formula of these is 



(C,H 14 Az,) + O cinchonia. 

 (C 4 IIj 4 Ai,) + O, quinia. 

 (C 4 IIj,Az f ) + O 3 cusconia. 



This composition renders it worthy in the highest degree of the 

 attention of medical men. The warmth which it excites points out 

 the propriety of giving it in cold intermittente, and low typhoid states 

 of the system. 



CUSP (Cugpis, a pointed end), a mathematical term used where two 

 branches of the same or different curves appear to end in a point. 

 Thus, in an eclipse of the sun, the borders of the sun and moon make 

 two cusps at their point of intersection. 



In the theory of curves, the cusps which appear are always such 

 that the two branches have a common tangent at the cusp, and they 

 are distinguished into the cases in which the tangent lies between the 

 branches or on one side of both. 



In the actual determination of the position of cusps by means of 

 ordinates to a given axis, there are two distinct ways of proceeding. 



1. For cusps whose tangent is perpendicular to the given axis. 



2. For cusps whose tangent is not perpendicular to the axis. 



The first case ought in part to fall under the theory of maxima and 

 minima ; <f> x being the ordinate, it ia the case where Q'z, the differ- 

 ential coefficient, becomes infinite and changes sign ; or becomes infi- 

 nite and afterwards impossible, having previously had two values of 

 the same sign for each value of x. These cases give cusps of the first 

 and second kinds, as shown in the two diagrams. 



Many other cusps (namely, those whose tangents arc oblique or 

 parallel to the axis) are found by observing the points at which <t>".r, 

 thfi second differential coefficient, takes the form A, having previously 

 had that of A B ; that is, in Q"x, the points must be found at which 

 a term of double value vanishes and then becomes impossible. If for 

 points immediately preceding, the A + B and A B were of different 

 signs, the cusp is of the first species ; if of the same sign, of the second 

 species. It would be useless to attempt separation of the theory of 

 cusps from the general theory of curves, further than is contained by 

 tin: [.receding rules. There is no universal test by which they may be 

 detected. The two species of cusps are said to be of the first and 

 second kind, as marked. Few will remember which is the first and 

 which is the second. It would be better to call them cuepg of similar 

 curvatures, and cusps of opposite curvatures. 



CUSP, a term given by Sir James Hall, in his ' Essay on the Origin 

 of Gothic Architecture,' and now commonly applied to the foliated 

 points terminating the internal curves of the trefoiled. cinquefoiled, 

 &c., heads of pointed arch windows. Cusps were originally introduced, 

 both on the Continent and in England, in the later period of First 

 Pointed architecture. In the earliest instances they were simple points 

 or finished with a small leaf, and they sprang directly from the soffit 

 or under-side of the arch. In what is known in England as Decorated 

 Gothic, the cusps spring from the inner moulding of the arch, and are 

 terminated with leaven, flowers, curls, &c. In the latest or Perpen- 

 dicular style, cusps are sometimes very florid in style. The beauty of 

 the tracer)- in a pointed window is largely due to its cusps. 



< 'I 'SI- A I; INK. an alkaloid found in the Cutfara f drift 

 which little is known 



CUSTOMARY FREEHOLDS. [COPYHOLD.] 



Cuspara febrifuga, and of 



CUSTOM-HOUSE. An office established in seaports, at which the 

 customs-duties are collected from importers and exporters of custom- 

 able commodities. 



CUSTOMS, or USAGES, in law (consuetudines), are either general 

 or local. The first kind consists of those usages which have prevailed 

 throughout England from time immemorial, but, without their ori- 

 ginal institution having been handed down to us in records or writing, 

 have been recognised by judicial decision,* and form that common 

 law, or lex non scripta, which is the chief foundation of English juris- 

 prudence. To like immemorial usage is to be ascribed the existence 

 of such parts of the civil and canon laws, as from the earliest times 

 have formed the rule in the king's ecclesiastical, military, and admiralty 

 tribunals, and also in the courts of the two English universities. 

 These laws of foreign origin subsist however only as inferior branches 

 of the customary law, subject to the superintendence and control of 

 their proceedings by the superior temporal courts, and to a strict 

 observance of the rules of construction assigned by these last to the 

 statute law. 



These general customs of the realm, which form the common law, 

 properly so called, alone warrant the existence and jurisdiction of the 

 king's superior courts ; and can only be drawn into question there. 

 These general customs, as originally methodised by the Saxon kings, 

 and in some cases modified in the early Norman reigns, supplied those 

 fundamental rules by which, in cases not provided for by express 

 enactment, thft course of inheritances, the interpretation of acts of 

 parliament, and most of the remedies for civil and criminal injuries 

 are regulated. Numerous axioms essential to the administration of 

 common justice have no other binding force than ancient and uninter- 

 rupted usage, which has obtained the force of law by the recognition 

 of the courts. [COMMON LAW.] 



Among these general customs must be enumerated those laws which 

 govern the particular bodies of men to which they relate ; merchants, 

 innkeepers, carriers, owners of land adjoining the sea coast, &c., &c., as 

 well as the inhabitants of particular counties or boroughs, in the par- 

 ticular instances of gavelkind and borough English. That custom 

 called the law of the road, by which riders and drivers are expected to 

 keep the left hand, as well as that respecting servants hired at yearly 

 wages, by which either master or servant may determine the contract 

 at a month's warning, or on paying a mouth's wages, have been recog- 

 nised by the courts from time to time as parts of the common law. 

 These, like the rest, originated in general convenience, and being gradu- 

 ally drawn more into notice by frequent recurrence, have been finally 

 sanctioned by judicial authority. For immemorial customs may be 

 extended to things and circumstances which arise at the present time. 

 Thus a custom from time immemorial that all officers of a court of 

 justice shall be exempt from serving other offices includes offices 

 created within the time of legal memory, but cannot be enlarged 

 beyond the extent to which the use has been carried ; for that, and 

 not the reason of the thing, determines the courts in declaring what 

 the law is in such cases. 



The customs by which the superior courts of Westminster Hall 

 regulate their administration of justice, are popularly termed their 

 practice. These rules are founded on ancient usage, and, in respect 

 of their universality, form a part of the common law without its being 

 necessary to allege custom or prescription to warrant them. 



Where a custom is already part of the common law, the superior 

 courts will take judicial notice of its existence as such, without re- 

 quiring it to be stated in the written pleadings. Thus each of these 

 tribunals will take judicial notice of its own customs or practice as 

 well as of that of the rest ; whereas the practice of inferior courts, as 

 well as particular or local customs, extending to certain persons or 

 districts only, being therefore different from and contrary to the com- 

 mon law, must, with the exception of gavelkind and borough English, 

 be set forth with due precision. 



This, though an observation apparently technical only, forms in its 

 application the test by which we distinguish general from the local or 

 particular customs just described. These latter customs must neces- 

 sarily have had their origin in the peculiar wants of their respective 

 districts, and are the remains of that multitude of similar usages from 

 which Alfred and his Saxon successors collected those laws which 

 may be considered as forming the common law of the nation at the 

 time. 



Many of these customs, for reasons now forgotten, were permitted 

 to remain in some counties, cities, and manors, &c., in their former 

 vigour, though at variance with the laws of the rest of the nation, and 

 are confirmed by Magna Charta and other acts of parliament. Such 

 are the customs of gavelkind (abolished in Wales by stat. Henry VIII.), 

 by which all the sons inherit alike ; of borough English, by which 

 lands held in burgage tenure descend to the youngest, instead of the 

 eldest sou ; and of some boroughs, that widows shall have dower of all, 



* Bracton's definition of a custom Is this " Consuetude vero quandoquc pro 

 lege observatur, in partibus ubi fuerit more utentium approbata, et vicem legis 

 obtinct ; longtevi enim temporis usus et consuetudinis non cst vilis authoritas." 

 (Bracton, fol. ii., cd. Lend. 1569.) This i no inapt definition of a custom 

 observed as if it were law, by those who find it convenient and reasonable ; but 

 we can hardly conclude from this passage that this excellent old writer clearly 

 saw that custom could not be law till made so by the sovereign power, or those 

 to whom the sovereign power has delegated parts of its authority. 



