CHURUBUSCO 



1376 



CICERO 



The earliest churns of which we have any 

 record were made of goat-skins, with the hair 

 side out, in which milk was agitated by swing- 

 ing or beating until the butter was produced. 

 See BUTTER. 



CHURUBUSCO, chooroo boos'ko, BATTLE or, 

 an important battle of the war between Mexico 

 and the United States, fought on August 20, 

 1847. It was one of several victories gained 

 by the American army of General Scott. 

 Churubusco is a small village six miles south 

 of the City of Mexico. Before sunrise the 

 Americans had stormed the fortified camp of 

 Contreras, and immediately afterwards they 

 attacked the Mexican force of 30,000, under 

 Santa Anna, at Churubusco. Many of these 

 were stationed in a strongly-fortified convent 

 with thick, massive walls. The fighting was 

 desperate and lasted about three hours, when 

 the Mexicans fled from their positions and 

 sought refuge within the walls of Mexico City. 

 About 9,000 Americans took part in the bat- 

 tle, losing, in killed and wounded, about 1,110. 

 The Mexicans lost in killed, wounded and cap- 

 tured fully 7,000. This was next to the last 

 engagement of the Mexican War; only Chapul- 

 tepec was yet to be fought, as circumstances 

 proved, before the Americans entered Mexico 

 City and dictated terms of peace. See MEXI- 

 CAN WAR. 



CHYLE, kile. When the partially-digested 

 food leaves the stomach it is mingled with 

 three fluids in the small intestine the bile, 

 the pancreatic juice and the intestinal juice. 

 The action of these fluids changes the food to 

 a milky fluid called chyle. The chyle contains 

 the portions of the food which nourish the 

 body. Some of it is absorbed through the 

 mucous membrane of the intestines directly 

 into the blood, but those portions containing 

 fat enter the blood through the lymphatics. 

 See DIGESTION. 



CHYME, kime. When food enters the 

 stomach the walls of that organ contract in 

 such a way as to impart a sort of churning 

 motion to it. This continues until every por- 

 tion of the food has been brought into contact 

 with the gastric juice. This fluid reduces the 

 food to a pulp called chyme. Chyme is gray- 

 ish-white in color and looks like milk; but it 

 is thick. The chyme passes through the pylo- 

 rus into the small intestine, where it is changed 

 to chyle. See DIGESTION. 



CICADA, sikay'da, a large, noisy insect, 

 one kind being known as harvest fly, another 

 wrongly called seventeen-year "locust." ID late 



summer "dog days" it is heard in the trees, 

 making its peculiar rattling notes on the three 

 drumlike membranes which are attached to 

 the sides of its body and operated by special 

 muscles. These notes issue only from the 

 males, which live only a few days. 



The females lay their eggs in the twigs of 

 trees or shrubs, in small holes which they bore. 

 The damage which they thus do to orchards 

 is often considerable, for the boring of holes 

 weakens the twigs, and they sometimes break 

 off. The young 

 drop to the 

 ground soon after 

 they are hatched, 

 and for several 

 years (see below) 

 they live under- 

 ground. How 

 they continue to 

 exist in that early 

 stage is not well 

 understood , b u t 

 finally the pupa 

 crawls out upon 

 the trunk of a 

 tree or a spear of 

 grass, its skin 

 splits open along 

 the back, and the 

 full-grown insect 

 emerges. At first the wings are merely watery 

 sacs, but in a very short time they expand to 

 their full size. The black and green harvest 

 fly is a two-year cicada, but the young of 

 other cicadas live in the ground as larvae from 

 thirteen to seventeen years; from this latter 

 fact the name seventeen-year locusts is de- 

 rived. The largest of the broods is due again 

 in 1919, and then once more the sparrows will 

 have a wonderful feast of seventeen-year 

 cicadas. But before each brood dies it does 

 great damage to growing crops. 



CICELY, sis'eli, or sys'li, an herb, some 

 species of which, such as parsley, are used in 

 eoups and for garnishing. Sweet cicely, or 

 sweet chervil, is a plant common in Great 

 Britain and other parts of Europe. Its roots 

 are spicy, and taste and smell like anise. Bees 

 are said to like it, so empty hives are often 

 rubbed with sweet cicely to attract a swarm. 

 A species of sweet cicely is found in American 

 woods from Canada to Virginia. See PARSLEY. 



CICERO, sis'ero, MARCUS TULLIUS (106- 

 43 B.C.), an illustrious Roman orator and 

 statesman who lived in the stirring times of 



THE CICADA 



