503 



CRAMP CRANE. 



Klopstock he was appointed court preacher and consis- 

 torial counsellor of king Frederic V. at Copenhagen, 

 and, in 1765, professor of theology in the same place. 

 Here he was much respected and beloved, and re- 

 ceived the surname tier Kyegode (the very good). The 

 revolution, which caused the downfall of count 

 Struensee and the queen Caroline Matilda, occa- 

 MOIHX! also the disgrace of Cramer, and induced 

 him, in 1771, to accept of an invitation to Luebeck. 

 In 1774, however, he was invited to Kiel as pro- 

 chancellor and first professor of theology ; and, ten 

 years after, was appointed chancellor and curator of 

 the university. He died in 1788, with the reputation 

 of an accomplished scholar, a poet, a fertile author, 

 one of the first pulpit orators, and a man of a noble 

 character and an active seal for the public good. Be- 

 sides many historical and theological works, he wrote 

 a poetical translation of the psalms, and three volumes 

 of poems, of which the odes and hymns are the best. 



His son, Charles Frederic Cramer (born in 1752, 

 died in 1807), was likewise an author, and lived 

 long in Paris, whither he was drawn by the interest 

 wluch he took in the French revolution. His jour- 

 nal, which he kept with great care, contains much 

 information, as his house wns the point of union 

 of many distinguished men, and he was concerned 

 in important transactions. 



CRAMP (kramp, Dutch), in architecture and sculp- 

 ture ; pieces of iron, bronze, or other metal, bent at 

 each end, by which stones in buildings, and limbs, 

 &c., of statues, are held together. The ancient 

 Romans made great use of cramps in their buildings, 

 and the cupidity of modem barbarians, like pope 

 Barberini, lias destroyed many a fine work for the 

 sake of the bronze used in its construction. The 

 Pantheon, with its fine portico, by Agrippa, and 

 the Coliseum, have suffered most from these wanton 

 aggressions and the baldachin of St Peter's, and 

 some eighty pieces of brass ordnance, are nearly all 

 that we have in excliange for some of the finest 

 works of which the world could boast. 



CRANBERRY ; a small red fruit, produced by 

 a slender, wiry plant (vaccinium oxycoccos), growing 

 in peat-bogs and marshy grounds in Russia, Swe- 

 den, the north of England, and Germany, and in 

 North America. The leaves are small, somewhat 

 oval, and rolled back at the edges, and the stem 

 is thread-shaped and trailing. The blossoms are 

 small, but beautiful, each consisting of four dis- 

 tinct petals, rolled back to the base, and of a deep 

 flesh colour. The American cranberry (P. macro- 

 carpori), growing in bogs principally, on sandy soils, 

 and on high lands, frequent from Canada to Vir- 

 ginia, is a larger and more upright plant than the 

 last, with less convex, more oblong, much larger 

 leaves. The berries are larger, of a brighter red, 

 and collected in great abundance for making tarts, 

 jelly, &c. They are also exported to Europe, but are 

 not considered there equal to the Russian cranberries. 

 These fruits are collected, in America, by means of a 

 rake; in Germany, by wooden combs. In England, 

 they are picked by hand, as they grow there but scanti- 

 ly. They are preserved with sugar, much of which is 

 required to correct the natural tartness of the berries. 

 In England, they are preserved dry in bottles, corked 

 so closely as to exclude the external air : some persons, 

 however, fill up the bottles with spring water. They 

 keep very long in fresh and pure water. At sea, 

 they are an agreeable addition to the few articles of 

 diet which can be had. In the Pomarium Britanni- 

 cvm, by Phillips (London, 1827), it is stated, that, 

 in 1826, cranberries arrived in England from New 

 Holland, which were much superior in flavour to 

 those of Europe and America. 



CRANE (grus, Pal., &c.) ; a genus of birds be- 



longing to the order grallce, L. ; and, by the great 

 Swedish naturalist, comprised in his extensive genus 

 ardea, though properly ranked as a distinct genus 

 by all subsequent naturalists. The distinctive cha- 

 racters of this genus are as follow : The bill is but 

 little cleft, is compressed, attenuated towards the 

 point, and rather obtuse at its extremity ; the man- 

 dibles are subequal, with vertical margins, the upper 

 being convex, with a wide furrow on each side at 

 the base, which becomes obliterated before reaching 

 the middle of Uie bill. The nostrils are situated in 

 these furrows, and are medial-concave, elliptical, 

 pervious, and closed posteriorly by a membrane. The 

 tongue is fleshy, broad, and acute. The ophthalmic 

 region and lora are feathered, though the head is 

 generally bald, rough, and sometimes crested. The 

 body is cylindrical, liaving long and stout feet. The 

 naked space above the tarsus is extensive, and the 

 latter is more than twice as long as the middle toe 

 The toes are of moderate length, covered with scii- 

 tellcE, or small plates, and submargined ; a rudimental 

 membrane connects the outer one at base ; the inner 

 is free ; the hind toe is shorter than a joint of the middle 

 one, and is articulated with the tarsus, elevated from 

 the ground ; the nails are tile-shaped, falculate, and 

 obtuse ; the middle one has its cutting edge entire ; 

 the hind nail is the longest ; the wings are moderate, 

 with the first and fifth primaries subequal ; the tail 

 is short, and consists of twelve feathers. 



These birds are generally of considerable size, and 

 remarkable for their long necks and stilt-like legs, 

 which eminently fit them for living in marshes and 

 situations subject to inundations, wnere they usually 

 seek their food. This is principally of vegetable 

 matter, consisting of the seeds of various plants, or 

 grains plundered from grounds recently ploughed 

 and sown. They also devour insects, worms, frogs, 

 lizards, reptiles, small fish, and the spawn of various 

 aquatic animals. They build their nests among 

 bushes, or upon tussucks in the marshes, constructing 

 them of rushes, reeds, &c., surmounted by some sort 

 material, so high that they may cover their eggs 

 in a standing position. They lay but two eggs, for 

 whose incubation the male and female alternately take 

 their place on the nest. During the time that one 

 is thus engaged, the other acts as a vigilant sentinel ; 

 and, when the young are hatched, both parents unite 

 in protecting them. 



The cranes annually migrate to distant regions, 

 and perform voyages astonishing for their great length 

 and hazardous character. They are remarkable for 

 making numerous circles and evolutions in the air, 

 when setting out on their journeys, and generally 

 form an isosceles triangle, led by one of the strongest 

 of their number, whose trumpet-like voice is heard as 

 if directing their advance, when the flock is far above 

 the clouds, and entirely out of sight. To this call- 

 note of the leader the flock frequently respond by a 

 united clangour, which, heard at such a distance, 

 does not produce an unpleasant effect. From the 

 sagacity with which these birds vary their flight, ac- 

 cording to the states of the atmosphere, they have, 

 from the earliest ages, been regarded as indicators 

 of events ; and their manoeuvres were attentively 

 watched by the augurs and aruspices a circumstance 

 which, together with their general Iiarmlessness and 

 apparent gravity of demeanour, led to their being 

 held in a sort of veneration, even by some civilized 

 nations. When obliged to take wing from the 

 ground, cranes rise with considerable difficulty, strik- 

 ing quickly with their wings, and trailing their feel 

 along and near the ground, until they have gained a 

 sufficient elevation to commence wheeling in circles, 

 wliich grow wider and wider, until they have soared 

 to the highest regions ot the air. When their flight 



