CURVE 



1G7G 



CUSTER 



devices and has received a medal from the 

 Smithsonian Institution and others from the 

 Aero Club of America. 



A boyhood interest in bicycle racing led to 

 Curtiss's flying career. After winning a number 

 of contests with the old-style pedal bicycle 

 he invented a motor-cycle, on which in 1906 

 he traveled a mile in 26% seconds, a speed of 

 over 136 miles per hour, the fastest up to 

 that time traveled by man. Success in building 

 light but powerful motors induced him to try 

 aeroplaning. In 1906 he won the Scientific 

 American trophy for a flight of over a mile; in 

 1909, the Gordon Bennett cup for a flight at 

 Rheinis, France, at a speed of nearly forty- 

 seven miles an hour, and in 1910 a $10,000 prize 

 for a flight from New York to Albany, 142 

 miles, with only three stops. He then turned 

 his attention to the manufacture of aeroplanes 

 and the development of flying boats. In 1914 

 he made a flight in the famous Langley ma- 

 chine, built in 1903 before the first Wright 

 fliers, but never before successfully operated. 

 See WRIGHT, ORVILLE and WILBUR; LANGLEY, 

 S. P. 



CURVE, kurv, a line no portion of which is 

 straight. A continuous uniformly-curved line 

 is called a circle (which see). Aside from its 

 important place in higher mathematics, too 

 technical for discussion here, the term curve 

 has various applications and meanings. Such 

 expressions as "the railway curve" or "the 

 curve of the winding road" are familiar; this 

 idea is poetically expressed by Tennyson in 

 the often-quoted lines from The Song of the 

 Brook: 



With many a curve my banks I fret 

 By many a field and fallow. 



Curved lines are widely used in text-books 

 and official reports to represent variations in 

 temperature, population, rainfall, etc. In base- 

 ball, the term is used in connection with a ball 

 so thrown that its course is a curve which 

 varies from that ordinarily taken, the varia- 

 tion being due to a peculiar rotation of the 

 ball and the resisting power of the air. 



CURZON, kur'zon, GEORGE NATHANIEL, Lord 

 (1859- ), an English statesman who, as 

 Viceroy of India, materially assisted in con- 

 solidating the Indian Empire and gained a 

 reputation for diplomacy of a high order. He 

 was educated at Eton and Oxford and later 

 became private secretary to Lord Salisbury. 

 He was elected to Parliament as member for 

 Southport, Lancashire, and held his seat for 

 twelve years. In 1895 he married Mary Vic- 



toria Leiter, daughter of a wealthy Chicago 

 merchant. In 1899 he was appointed Viceroy 

 of India, a position he retained until 1905. 

 He endeavored to conciliate the natives of 

 India, but showed firmness in his dealings with 

 them. He took a keen interest in educational 

 movements, and was instrumental in greatly 

 increasing the numbers of available teachers 

 and of schools. He viewed with distrust the 

 growth of Russian influence in the East and 

 urged strong military preparations to check 

 Russia's designs. A disagreement with Lord 

 Kitchener on military matters led to his resig- 

 nation, and on returning to England he was 

 made a peer and took his place in the House 

 of Lords. His works, Persia and the Persian 

 Question, Russia in Central Asia and Problems 

 of the Far East, are regarded as authoritative. 



In 1916 he married again. In 1919 he assumed 

 an important post in the Lloyd George Cabi- 

 net. 



CUSHMAN, CHARLOTTE SAUNDERS (1816- 

 1876), one of the greatest tragic actresses of 

 America, the first member of the theatrical 

 profession whose name has been placed in the 

 Hall of Fame (which see). This honor was 

 accorded her in 1915. She was born in Boston. 

 Possessing a fine contralto voice, she began 

 when a young girl to study for the operatic 

 stage, but after straining her voice in singing 

 high roles she devoted herself to drama. In 

 1835 she appeared as Lady Macbeth, always 

 one of her greatest roles. She also won praise 

 for her interpretation of the part of Meg 

 Merrilies, in Scott's Guy Mannering. Although 

 she occasionally played in high comedy, Miss 

 Cushman was best known as a tragedienne. She 

 had immediate success in both London and 

 Dublin, and remained abroad for several years. 

 The latter part of her life she spent in Amer- 

 ica, and on her last appearance on the stage, in 

 New York City, November, 1874, she was 

 presented with a laurel crown, William Cullen 

 Bryant acting as spokesman. 



CUS'TER, GEORGE ARMSTRONG (1839-1876), 

 an American soldier whose story is one of wild 

 life on the plains and of bloody Indian war- 

 fare in the service of his country. He was 

 born at New Rumley, Ohio. After graduating 

 from West Point, at the outbreak of the War 

 of Secession he was given a commission in a 

 cavalry regiment. Carrying dispatches from 

 Washington to General McDowell, he arrived 

 at the front just in time to take part in the 

 first Battle of Bull Run. He was appointed 

 aid-de-camp to General McClellan, who was 



