COCHLEARIA. 



COCKATRICE. 



60 



is wished to disguise ; but lately it has been stated to possess diuretic 

 and antispasmodic powers, and to be useful iu pertussis, or hooping- 

 cough. Its claim to this character requires yet to be established by 

 further evidence. 



COCHLEA'RIA (from Cochleare, a spoon, the leaves of the species 

 being hollowed out like the bowl of a spoon), a genus of Plants 

 belonging to the natural order Cruciffrtr. the sub-order Pleurorhiiea, 

 the tribe Afyssinete. It has sessile ovate-globose or oblong silieles, 

 with ventricose very convex valves, with a prominent dorsal nerve ; 

 many seeds, not margined; the calyx equal at the base, spreading; 

 the petals entire ; the stamens toothless. The species are annual or 

 perennial herbs, usually smooth aud fleshy, but sometimes pubescent. 

 The flowers are mostly white. 



One of the most common species of this genus, as formerly defined, 

 is the common Hor.^e Radish (C. Armoracia). This species however 

 is now referred by some botanists to a new genus, Armoracia, and is \ 

 described by Babington, in his 'Manual of British Botany,' as 

 A . rtuticana. The genus Armoracia differs from Cochltaria in its 

 globose pouches or silicles being destitute of a prominent dorsal 

 nerve. The Horse-Radish, though described in books on British 

 Botany, can scarcely be considered a native of Great Britain, as the 

 wild specimens are evidently escapes from gardens. 



C. <>j)icina.li, common Scurvy-Grass, has the radical leaves cordate, 

 reniform, stalked ; the stem-leaves sessile, oblong-sinuate, half 

 embracing the stem ; the pouch globose or ovate. It is a native of 

 Great Britain, in muddy places near the sea-coast. This plant varies 

 inueli iii t\/.>', and two or three varieties have been described. The 

 C. Grtenlandica of Smith aud Withering appears to be nothing more 

 than a diminutive variety of this species. In France the Scurvy- 

 Gross is called Cranson Officinal ; in Germany Loffelkraut. When 

 fresh it has a peculiar smell and a bitter acrid taste, which are quite 

 lost, l>y drying. The fresh plant is a stimulant, and possesses the 

 antiscorbutic virtues of the whole order. It has however a peculiar 

 reputation in the disease called scurvy ; hence its common name. It 

 is sometimes used as a salad. When cultivated the seeds should be 

 sown in July, in drills eight inches apart, and when the plants are up 

 they should be thinned to about six inches apart. Those plants 

 which are taken out may be placed in new beds. They will all be fit 

 for use in the following spr; 



6*. Uanica has the leaves all stalked, the radical ones cordate, some- 

 what lobed ; the stem-leaves 3-5-lobed, subdeltoid uppermost, mostly 

 shortly stalked ; the pouch roundish, elliptical. It is found in Great 

 Britain, in a few places on the nea-coast. It is a more abundant 

 native of the sea-coasts of the north of Europe, and is a native of 

 K Hintchatka, 



\ Hi/Urn, English Scurvy-Grass, bos the radical leaves stalked, 

 ovate-oblong, entire ; the stem-leaves oblong, entire or toothed, 

 mostly sessile, the upper ones embracing the stem ; the pouch oval, 

 oblong vein. ij. Jt is a native of muddy sea-shores about the mouths 

 ofri\ lly in Great Britain; but is found in Norway aud 



Lapland and other parts of Kiin.pe. 



There are sevei rim of / 'nr/Uearia described; they are 



however most of them insignificant plants, inhabitants of northern 

 climates. For the culture and medical properties of C. Armoracia 

 see HORSE- RADISH, in ARTS AND Sc. Div. 



I'uc'MI.ICKLLA. [Him 



I'l M'HLIi iiSSA. [Hi:u. 



i i " ' II 1 . 1 1 1 1 1 1 'S, a genus of Placoid Fishes, from the Carboniferous 

 one of Armagh and Bristol. (Agaasiz.) 



riii'lfl.iiDKSMA. [THBACIA.] 



CHCIH.I.Ill.VA. [HF.UCID.fJ 



< i.rlii.onoNTA. IHi.i.i, II..K.] 



nirm.oGKNA. [llu.,, ,,,>. | 



rni'HLuHYDRA. [HKMI-ID*.] 



< 'i ii II I.OSI'ERMI.'M, a genus of Plants placed by Lindley in the 

 natural order Ciftaceit, found in Asia, Africa, and South America. 

 Botanists usually place it amongst the Theads (Ternitromiacere) ; but 

 its parietal placenta;, acrisomeroiis flowers, and curved embryo lying 

 in the midst of albumen, seem fatal objections to that association. 



C. fiwai/iiium i a large tree with downy shoots. Leaves 5-6 inches 

 long, :"> 1 .!.. I : ovary beneath on cylindrical downy stalks. Panicle 

 terminal. Flowers large, and bright yellow. The trunk yields the 

 gum Kuteera, which in the North- Western Provinces of India is 

 substituted for Tragocanth. 



"rignt grows in I'.ra/.il on the plains in the western desert, part of 

 the province of Minos Geraes, and also on the Cuturges of Minas Novas. 

 The leaves are coriaceous, palmate, 5-lobed, the lobes folded together 

 coarsely and sharply double serrated, when full grown nearly smooth. 

 A decoction of the roots is employed in interim! pain*, especially such 

 as result from falls or accidents ; it is also said to heal abscesses 

 already aommDCd. C, tinctorium is used in cases of amenorrhoca, 

 and al.-io a* a yellow dye. 



(Liti<l|.-v. Flora M"l>"< : Undloy, Vegetable Kinydom.) 



(XX III.USTYI.A. [IlKMrlD.K.] 



OlCK. [Pm I.VNC8.] 



' '-K UK THK WOOD, fr M-I i vr.t.] 



1 -..E.J 



COCKATRICE, one of the names by which the Basilisk was known. 

 " Many opinions," says Dr. Thomas Browne, in his ' Pseudodoxia 

 Epidemica,' " are passant concerning the basilisk, or little king of 

 serpents, commonly called the Cockatrice ; some affirming, others 

 denying, most doubting, the relations made hereof. .... That 

 such an animal there is, if we evade not the testimony of Scripture 

 and human writers, we canrlot safely deny." This is very true ; and 

 it is equally true that the alleged generation of the Basilisk or Cocka- 

 trice, and the powers attributed to it in ancient times, were the most 

 ridiculous fables. 



Of Basilisks or Cockatrices there were said to be three, if not four 

 kinds. One species burned up whatever they approached; a sort of 

 breathing upases, they made a desert wherever they went, for every- 

 thing animal and vegetable withered before them ; a second were a 

 kind of wandering Medusa's heads, and their look, like Vathek's eye, 

 caused an instant horror, which was immediately followed by death * ; 

 the touch of a third caused the flesh to fall from the bones of the 

 wretched animal with which they came in contact ; and a fourth, a 

 concentration of evil, was said to be produced from the eggs of 

 extremely old cocks (Ova ceittotiina)}, hatched under toads or ser- 

 pents. There are authors who maintain that this parentage did not 

 belong exclusively to one kind only, but that it was the origin of the 

 whole infernal brood. 



The Greek word Baai\i<TKos is often translated in Latin by the word 

 Reguhn. When mention is mode of these Basilisks or Cockatrices in 

 the Holy Scriptures, nothing appears to occur in the sacred volume 

 beyond words expressive of a very poisonous and deleterious serpent, 

 intended, in the opinion of many commentators, to typify sin, misery, 

 destruction, God's judgments, and the principle of evil, or Anti-Christ. 

 Thus, in -Psalm xci. 13, it is written "Super aspidem et basiliscum 

 ambulabis," which in the old quarto Bible, 'imprinted at London by 

 Robert Barker, printer to the King's most excellent Majestie, 1615,' 

 is translated " Thou sbalt walke upon the lion and aspe ;" and in the 

 more modern editions, " Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder." 

 In the ' Booke of Common Prayer,' by the same printer (Robert 

 Barker), 1613, the passage stands, "Thou shalt goe upon the lion 

 and adder," and so in the more modern editions. Again (Proverbs 

 xxiii. 32), speaking of the abuse of the wine-cup, " Mordebit ut colu- 

 ber etsicut Regulus venena diffundet," which in the old edition above 

 alluded to is rendered, " In the end thereof, it will bite like a serpent 

 and hurt like a cockatrice; " and, in the modern version, " At the last 

 it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder." So, Isaiah xiv. 29, 

 " Ne Iseteris," Ac. " de radice euim colubri egredietur Regulus," &c., 

 in the old quarto, " Rejoyce not (thou whole Palestina) because the 

 rod of him that did beate thee is broken ; for out of y e serpents roote 

 shal come forth a cockatrice, and the fruit thereof shall be a fiery 

 flying serpent:" and lix. 5, speaking of the wicked, "Ova aspi.liw 

 rumpunt et telos arauearum tcxunt ; qni cornederit de ovis ejus morie- 

 tur, et quod fractum erit erumpet in Regulum :" in the old quarto, 

 " They hatch cockatrice egges, and weave the spiders webbe : he that 

 eateth of their egges dieth, and that which is trod upon breaketh out 

 into a serpent ;" which the commentator thus explains, " Whatsoever 

 cometh from them is poison ami bringeth death. They are profitable 

 to no purpose." The present edition reads, " They hatch cockatrice- 

 eggs, and weave the spider's-web : lie that eateth of their eggs dieth, 

 and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper." Also Jeremiah 

 viii. 17, " Ecce ego inittam vobis serpentes Rcgulos," &c., which the 

 same old edition renders, '' For behold I will send serpents and cock- 

 atrices among you, which will not bee charmed : and they shall sting 

 you, saith the Lord ; " which the commentator explains as follows : 

 " God threateneth to send the Babylonians among them, who shall 

 utterly destroy them in such sort as by no meaues they shall escape." 

 The modern edition scarcely varies from the old quarto, except in the 

 substitution of the word ' bite ' for ' sting.' 



These Basilisks were called Kings of Serpents, because all other 

 dragons and snakes, behaving like good subjects, and wisely not wish- 

 ing either to be burnt up, or struck dead, or to have their flesh fall 

 from their bones, although they were in full feast upon the most 

 delicious prey, were supposed, the moment they heard the distant 

 hiss of their king, to turn tail in a ' saure qui pent ' style, leaving the 

 sole enjoyment of the banquet to the royal monster. 



Of the ancient profane writers, Aristotle, as might be expected, 

 says nothing about the wonders of the Cockatrice ; but Pliny, who 

 dearly loved a fable, mentions the Basilisk more than once : thus 

 (' Hist. Nat.' book viii. c. 21, and book xxix. c. 4) he enters at length 

 into its deadly attributes, and records the praises with which magi- 

 cians celebrate the efficacy of its blood, which was considered an 

 | admirable antidote against sorcery (veneficia). Dioscorides, Galen, 

 Solinus, yElian, and others, are eloquent upon Basilisks, as are Avi- 

 cenna, Grevinus, Scaliger, and many more. 



Browne (Ptteud<tdo.< ia) is of opinion that what " we vulgarly call a 

 cockatrice, and wherein ^but under a different name) we intend a 

 formal identity and adequate conception with the basilisk, is not the 

 basilisk of the ancients, whereof such wonders ore delivered ; for this 



* Lady Ann* 1 , in Shakaperc'f* play of Richard III., in answer to IUcli:ir.l'n 

 observation nn her eyes, says 



" \\i-til.l they were basilisks to strike thec (U-.t.t !" 



