CURRY POWDER GUSHING. 



571 



rubbing the grain or hair side with a piece of pu- 

 mice stone, or with some other stone of a good grit. 

 These stones force out of the leather a white sub- 

 stance, called the bloom, produced by the oak bark 

 in tanning. The hide or skin is then conveyed to 

 the shade or drying place, where the oily substances 

 are applied, termed stuffing or dubbing. When it is 

 thoroughly dry, an instrument, with teeth on the 

 under side, called a graining-board, is.first applied to 

 the flesh-side, which.is called graining ; then to the 

 grain-side, called bruising. The whole of this opera- 

 tion is intended to soften the leather to which it is 

 applied. Whitening, or paring succeeds, which is 

 performed with a fine edge to the knife already de- 

 scribed, and used in taking off the grease from the 

 6esh. It is then boarded up, or grained again, by 

 applying the graining-board first to the grain, and 

 then to the flesh. It is now fit for waxing, which is 

 performed first by colouring. This is effected by 

 rubbing, with a brush dipped in a composition of oil 

 and lamp-black, on the flesh, till it be thoroughly 

 black: it is then sized, called black-sizing, with a 

 brush or sponge, dried and tallowed ; and, when 

 dry, this sort of leather, called waxed or black on the 

 flesh, is curried. The currying leather on the hair 

 or grain side, called black on the grain, is the same 

 with currying on the flesh, until we come to the 

 operation of scouring. Then the first black is ap- 

 plied to it while wet; which black is a solution 

 of the sulphate of iron called copperas, in fair water, 

 or in the water in which the skins, as they come from 

 the tanner, have been soaked. This is first put 

 upon the grain after it has been rubbed with a stone ; 

 then rubbed over with a brush dipped in stale urine ; 

 the skin is then stuffed, and, when dry, it is seasoned, 

 that is, rubbed over with a brush dipped in copperas 

 water, on the grain, till it is perfectly black. After 

 this, the grain is raised with a fine graining -board. 

 When it is thoroughly dry, it is whitened, bruised 

 again, and grainea in two or three different ways, 

 and, when oiled upon the grain, with a mixture of 

 oil and tallow, it is finished. 



CURRY-POWDER. See Turmeric. 



CURTIUS, MARCUS; a noble Roman youth, 

 known by the heroic manner in which, according to 

 tradition, he sacrificed himself for the good of his 

 country. In the year of Rome 392 (B. C. 362), it is 

 said, a chasm opened in the Roman forum, from 

 which issued pestilential vapours. The oracle de- 

 clared that the chasm would close whenever that 

 which constituted the glory of Rome should be 

 thrown into it. Curtius asked if anything in Rome 

 was more precious than arms and valour ; and, being 

 answered in the negative, he arrayed himself in ar- 

 mour, mounted a horse splendidly equipped, solemnly 

 devoted himself to death, in presence of the Roman 

 people, and sprang into the abyss, which instantly 

 closed over him. 



CURTIUS RUFUS, QCINTUS, the author of a 

 History of Alexander the Great, hi ten books, the 

 two first of which are lost, has been supposed to be 

 the son of a gladiator. He recommended himself by 

 his knowledge to Tiberius, and during his reign, re- 

 ceived the praetorship ; under Claudius, the consul- 

 ship, also the emperor's consent to celebrate a tri- 

 umph, and finally the proconsulship of Africa. He 

 died in Africa, A. D. 69, at an advanced age. We 

 should have had more complete accounts concerning 

 him, if the first books of his work had been pre- 

 served. Curtius deserves no great praise asan his- 

 torian. His style is florid, and his narratives have 

 more of romance than of historical certainty. The 

 lost parts have been supplied by Christopher Bruno, 

 a Bavarian monk, in a short and dry manner; by 

 Freinshemius, in a diffuse style; and by Christopher 



Cellarius, in a style which forms a medium between 

 the two. The best edition is by Snakenburg (Ley- 

 den, 1724, 4to). Among the new editions are that 

 by Schmieder (Goettingen, 1814). Buttmann, Hirt, 

 and Niebuhr (the Roman historian), have writter 

 treatises on his life. The last named gentlemar 

 read, in 1821, before the academy of Berlin, a dis- 

 quisition on the period of Curtius a performance 

 distinguished for critical acumen and erudition. Nie- 

 buhr thinks that the work was under Severus, and 

 not under Vespasian. The essay is to be found in 

 his Kleme historische und philologische Schriften, erste 

 Sammlung (Bonn, 1828). 



CURVES (from the Latin curuus, crooked, bent), 

 in geometry. The simplest objects are the most dif- 

 ficult to be defined, and mathematicians have never 

 succeeded in giving a definition, satisfactory to them- 

 selves, of a line. It is equally difficult to give a 

 satisfactory definition of a curve. Perhaps the sim- 

 plest explanation of it is, a line which is not a straight 

 line, nor made up of straight lines. This definition, 

 however, is deficient in mathematical precision. Since 

 Descartes' application of algebra to geometry, the 

 theory of the curves has received a considerable ex- 

 tension. The study of the curves known to the an- 

 cients has become much easier, and new ones have 

 been investigated. Curves form, at present, one of 

 the most interesting and most important subjects of 

 geometry. Such as have not all their parts in the 

 same plane, are called curves of a double curvature. 

 The simplest of all curves is the circle. The spiral 

 of Archimedes, the conchoid of Nicomedes, the cissoid 

 of Diocles, the quadratrix of Dipostratus, &c., are 

 celebrated curves. 



CUSCO, or CUZCO ; a city of Peru, capital of an 

 intendency of the same name, the ancient capital of 

 the Peruvian empire ; 550 miles E. S. E. of Lima ; 

 Ion. 71 4' W. ; lat. 13 42' S. ; population stated from 

 20 to 32,000. It is a bishop's see. It was founded, 

 according to tradition, in 1043, by Manco Capac, the 

 first inca of Peru, on a rough and unequal plain, 

 formed by the skirts of various mountains, which are 

 washed by the small river Guatanay. The wall was 

 of an extraordinary height, and built of stone, with 

 astonishing neatness. The Spaniards, in 1534, found 

 the houses built of stone ; among them a temple of the 

 sun, and a great number of magnificent palaces, whose 

 principal ornaments were of gold and silver, which 

 glittered on the walls. Cusco is, at present, a large 

 city : the houses are built of stone, and covered with 

 red tiles ; the apartments are well distributed ; the 

 mouldings of the doors are gilt, and the furniture 

 not less magnificent. The cathedral church is large, 

 built of stone, and of an elegant and noble archi- 

 tecture. About three-fourths of the inhabitants are 

 Indians. 



CUSHING, THOMAS ; an American patriot, was 

 born at Boston, in 1725, and finished his education 

 at the college of Cambridge (New England), in 1744. 

 Both his grandfather and rather had spent a consider- 

 able portion of their lives in the public service, the. 

 latter having been, for several years previous to his 

 death, speaker of the house of representatives in 

 Massachusetts. He engaged early hi political life, 

 and was sent, by the city of Boston, as its represen- 

 tative to the general court, where he displayed such 

 qualifications for the despatch of business, that, when 

 governor Bernard, in 1763, negatived James Otis ; 

 tiie father, as speaker, he was chosen in his place, 

 and continued in the station for many consecutive 

 years. While he was in the chair, he had frequent 

 opportunities of evincing his patriotism and aversion 

 to the arbitrary course of the British government ; 

 and, as his name was signed to all the public docu- 

 ments, in consequence of his office, he acquired 



