576 



CYDER CYPRESS. 



the Riphaean ores, and wrought them, though dN- 

 turbetl by the griffins which watched the gold. From 

 this time, the two classes of Cyclops are confounded. 

 A part of these Cyclops forged Jupiter's thunder- 

 bolts; another purl went on an adventure to Greece, 

 where they left several buildings, as momunents of 

 Cyclopean art. (O. Mueller understands, by the Cy- 

 clops, whole nations, united under an ecclesiastical 

 government. This wall-building people mijjht have 

 been humble peasants in the Pelasgian plains of 

 Argos (which is especially called the Cyclopean 

 region), tributary to the Acn/cans.) When men's 

 acquaintance with the surface of the earth became 

 -till more increased, the fabled Riplucan hills were 

 carried still farther into the undiscovered night of the 

 North ; and here the history of the one-eyed nation 

 is wrapped in confusion. Some authors place them 

 still on theRipluean hills to the North: most writers, 

 however, treat them as dwelling again in Sicily, en- 

 gaged in the service of Vulcan, but working under 

 .Etna, or among the flaming crags of the Lipari 

 islands. The mountains emitting fire were their 

 forges ; and the roaring within them, the sound of 

 their hammers. How they acquired the character of 

 l>eing one-eyed is unknown, as their name only attri- 

 butes to them round eyes. Polyphemus, in many 

 figures, is represented with two eyes. Among the 

 Greek pastoral poets, we find the Cyclops exhibited 

 in a rustic and natural character. 



Cyclops is likewise a name which zoologists give to 

 a certain minute aquatic animal. 



CYDER. See Cider. 



CYLINDER ; the name of a geometrical solid, 

 formed by two parallel circular surfaces, called the 

 superior base and the inferior base, and a convex 

 surface terminated by them. There is a distinction 

 between rectangular cylinders and oblique cylinders. 

 In the first case, the axis, that is, the straight line 

 joining the centre of the two opposite bases, must be 

 perpendicular ; in the second, the axis must form an 

 angle with the inferior base. The solidity of a cy- 

 linder is equal to the product of the base by the 

 altitude. Archimedes found that the solidity of a 

 sphere inscribed in an equilateral cylinder, that is, of 

 a sphere whose diameter is equal to the height, and 

 also to the diameter of the base of the cylinder, is 

 equal to two-thirds of the solidity of the cylinder. 

 The cylinder is one of those figures which are con- 

 stantly in use for the most various purposes. 



CYLINDER GLASS. See Glass. 



CYMBALS, among the ancients; musical instru- 

 ments, consisting of two hollow basins of brass, which 

 emitted a ringing sound when struck together. The 

 brazen instruments which are now used in military 

 music, and have been borrowed by Europeans from 

 the East, seem to have taken their rise from these. 

 The invention of -them, according to some writers, 

 must be referred to the worship of Cybele. 



CYNICS. After the Greeks had explored, with 

 unparalleled rapidity, all the regions of philosophy, 

 and sects of the most various kinds had formed them* 

 selves, it was not unnatural that a school should arise 

 which condemned speculation, and devoted itself to 

 the moral reformation of society. The Cynics were 

 founded by Antisthenes, a scholar of Socrates, at 

 Athens, about 380 B. C. The character of this phi- 

 losophy for the most part remained true to the 

 Socratic, particularly in making practical morals its 

 chief, or rather its only object, and in despising all 

 speculation. There were some noble features in the 

 doctrines of the Cynics. They made virtue to con- 

 sist in self-denial and independence of external cir- 

 cumstances, by which, as they thought, man assimi- 

 lates himself to God. This simplicity of life, however, 

 was soon carried so far by the Cynics, that it de- 



generated into carelessness, and even neglect of 

 decency. In their attempts at living conformably to 

 nature, they brought themselves down to the level of 

 savages, and even of brutes. No wonder, then, that 

 the Cynics soon became objects of contempt. The 

 most famous of their number were, besides their 

 founder, the ingenious zealot Diogenes of Sinope, 

 Crates of Thebes, witli his wife Hipparchia, and 

 Menippus, who was the last of them. After him, 

 this philosophy merged in the Stoic, a more worthy 

 and honourable sect. The word cynicism is stiil 

 used to mark an uncommon contempt or neglect of 

 all external things. 



CYNOSURA ; a nymph of mount Ida, who edu- 

 cated Jupiter, and was afterwards placed in the con- 

 stellation of the Little Bear. By this star, the Phoe- 

 nicians directed their course in their voyages. 

 Cynosure, in a figurative sense, is hence used as 

 synonymous with pole-star or guide. 



CYNTHIUS; a surname of Apollo, from mount 

 Cynthus, on the island of Delos, at the foot of which 

 he had a temple, and on which he was born. Diana, 

 his sister, is called Cynthia, from the same moun- 

 tain, because it was also her birth-place. 



CYPRESS. The cypress-tree (cupressus semper- 

 virens) is a dark-coloured evergreen, a native of the 

 Levant, the leaves of which are extremely small, and 

 entirely cover the slender branches, lying close upon 

 them, so as to give them a somewhat quadrangular 

 shape. In some of the trees, the branches diminish 

 gradually in length, from the bottom to the top, in 

 such a manner as to form a nearly pyramidal shape. 

 In many of the old gardens in Europe, cypress-trees 

 are still to be found ; but their generally sombre and 

 gloomy appearance has caused them, of late years, 

 to be much neglected. They are, however, very 

 valuable, on account of their wood, which is hard, 

 compact, and durable, of a pale or reddish colour, 

 with deep veins and a pleasant smell. We are in- 

 formed by Pliny, that the doors of the famous temple 

 of Diana, at Ephesus, were of cypress-wood, and, 

 though 400 years old at the tune that he wrote, ap- 

 peared to be nearly as fresh as when new. Indeed, 

 this wood was so much esteemed by the ancients, that 

 the image of Jupiter, in the capitol, was made of it. 

 The gates of St Peter's church, at Rome, are stated 

 to have been of cypress, and to have lasted more than 

 1000 years, from the time of the emperor Constantine 

 until that of pope Eugenius IV., when gates of brass 

 were erected in their stead. As this wood, in addi- 

 tion to its other qualities, takes a fine polish, and is 

 not liable to the attacks of insects, it was formerly 

 much esteemed for cabinet furniture. By the Greeks, 

 in the time of Thucydides, it was used for the coffins 

 of eminent warriors ; and many of the chests which 

 enclose Egyptian mummies are made of it. The 

 latter afford very decisive proof of its almost incorrup- 

 tible nature. The name of this tree is derived from 

 the island of Cyprus, in the Mediterranean, where it 

 still grows in great luxuriance. Its gloomy hue 

 caused it to be consecrated, by the ancients, to Pluto, 

 and to be used at the funerals of people of eminence. 

 Pliny states that, in his time, it was customary to place 

 branches of cypress-tree before those houses in which 

 any person lay dead. Its perpetual verdure served 

 the poets as the image of eternity, as its dark and 

 silent leaf, unmoved t>y gentle breezes, is, perhaps, 

 a proper symbol of melancholy. Large collections 

 of cypresses, as they are often seen surrounding 

 Turkish minarets, have a gloomy and interesting ap- 

 pearance. In the western parts of the United States, 

 upon the Mississippi and other rivers, the cypress 

 constitutes large forests of a most sombre and pecu- 

 liar character. The dark, dense nature of their 

 foliage, the shade, impenetrable to the sun, which 



