CREPE 



1632 



CRETACEOUS SYSTEM 



tar has been found most desirable. In its pure 

 state it is heavy, colorless and oily, and has 

 a penetrating, distinctive odor. As an anti- 

 septic (which see), its action is similar to that 

 of carbolic acid. Apart from its medicinal 

 value, it is in great demand commercially for 

 its preservative qualities. Wood soaked in 

 creosote will not rot for many years, hence it 

 is extensively used for treatment of railroad 

 ties and other timbers. 



CREPE, krape. See CRAPE. 



CRESCENT, kres'ent, a universal symbol of 

 growth and progress, and, in one instance, of 

 governmental power. Its use as such was in- 

 spired by that beautiful thing of the heavens, 

 the curved, silvery crescent new moon, with its 



THE CRESCENT 



At left, emblem of the Turkish Order of the 

 Crescent ; at right, the merchant flag of Turkey, 

 described in accompanying article. 



thickened center and its tapering horns up- 

 turned, from which form it expands into the 

 glorious full moon. The moon goddesses wor- 

 shiped by the Egyptians and the Greeks were 

 decorated with the crescent symbol. Athenians 

 and Romans of high rank were permitted to 

 wear crescents of silver and ivory. 



The crescent was the emblem of the ancient 

 Greek city Byzantium, which became Constan- 

 tinople. Since the establishment of the Turks 

 in Europe, especially since 1453, when Con- 

 stantinople was captured, it has been the uni- 

 versal emblem of their empire, the crescent 

 and a star in white on a red background con- 

 stituting the Turkish flag. The Order of the 

 Crescent, a Turkish order of knighthood, was 

 instituted in 1799 by Sultan Selim. As the 

 cross is the emblem of Christianity, so is the 

 graceful crescent the emblem of Moham- 

 medanism. The Red Cross banners of other 

 countries were not adopted by the Turkish Red 

 Cross Society ; its banner bears the red crescent 

 on a white field. 



Crescent City is a nickname for the city of 

 New Orleans, because formerly most of it lay 



in a great crescent-shaped bend of the Missis- 

 sippi River. 



CRESS, kress, a name given numerous plants 

 whose foliage has a pungent taste and is used 

 as salad or garnishing. Watercress is most 

 popularly known, and its smooth, bright-green, 

 round-lobed leaves on long slender stems are 

 prized as cold-weather salad in America and 

 Europe. It is native in most parts of the 

 world, growing best in clear, shallow running 

 water with a sand or gravel bottom. Common, 

 or garden, cress, also called pepper-grass, is cul- 

 tivated in American and European gardens for 

 garnishing purposes. It is a powerful remedy 

 for scurvy. Virginia cress is used in North 

 America and the West Indies as a salad and 

 as a medicine to produce perspiration. Com- 

 mon winter cress, American cress and common 

 bitter cress are also widely cultivated in North 

 America and Europe. 



CREST, krest. See HERALDRY. 



CRETACEOUS, krcta'shus, SYSTEM, or 

 CHALK SYSTEM, in geology, is the system 

 of rocks which contains the great chalk beds, 

 from which it takes its name. It lies between 

 the Jurassic system below and the Eocene 

 above, and is the final system of the Mesozoic 

 Era. Geologists now divide the system into 

 the Lower and Upper Cretaceous, and some 

 give the name Comanchean, or Shastan, to 

 the Lower. The system is very extensive, and 

 while it takes its name from the chalk forma- 

 tions in England and France, these form only 

 a very small portion of it. During the period 

 a great inland sea extended from the Gulf of 

 Mexico to the Arctic Ocean, dividing North 

 America into two unequal parts, the eastern 

 being the larger. The rocks of the Lower Cre- 

 taceous are prominent in Mexico, Arizona, 

 California and British Columbia. Those of 

 the Upper are more prominent in the eastern 

 part of the continent and in the Mississippi 

 Valley, extending northward into Alberta and 

 Saskatchewan and as far as the mouth of the 

 Mackenzie River. 



Most of the rocks were formed under water, 

 and they include extensive formations of chalk, 

 sand, clay and gravel, together with iron and 

 lignite, but the latter in such small quantities 

 that it is of no commercial value. Plants and 

 animals were abundant. Many species of trees 

 now living first appeared during this period; 

 among these are the birch, the pine of the 

 southern hemisphere, the oak, the walnut and 

 the maple. Among the animals were flying 

 reptiles which resembled huge bats; birds with 



