COT 



COT 



CORVUS. The generic name of 

 the crow and raven. They are om- 

 nivorous or carnivorous. 



CORYMB. A bunch of flowers, 

 the lowest flower stalivs of which rise 

 as hifrh as the uppermost. 



CORYZA. A running from the 

 nose. 



COSMOGONY (from Koafioc, tcodd, 

 and yovoc, birth). The speculations 

 concerning the origin of the earth. 



COSTATE (from costa, a rib). Rib- 

 bed. In botany this term is used to 

 designate the l)undlos of woody fibre 

 in leaves, also called nerves and 

 veins. The numerals are often prefix- 

 ed, as tricostate, with three ribs. 



COSTIVENESS. Want of proper 

 motion in the bowels. Glauber salts, 

 Epsom salts, and aloes are useful 

 purges. 



COTTAGE. A small, low resi- 

 dence, often highly adorned, or omee. 

 The following from Mr. Ellsworth's 

 Reports on building cheap Cottages 

 will be valuable : 



" After selecting a suitable spot of 

 ground, as near the place of building 

 as practicable, let a circle of ten feet 

 or more be described. Let the loam 

 be removed, and the clay dug up one 

 foot thick, or, if clay is not found on 

 the spot, let it be carted in to that 

 depth. Any ordinary clay will an- 

 swer. Tread this clay over with 

 cattle, and add some straw cut six 

 or eight inches long. After the clay 

 is well tempered with working it with 

 the cattle, the material is duly pre- 

 pared for the making of brick. A 

 mould is then formed of plank, of the 

 size of the brick desired. In England 

 they are usually made eighteen inch- 

 es long, one foot wide, and nine inch- 

 es thick. I have found the more 

 convenient size to be one foot long, 

 seven inches wide, and five inches 

 thick. The mould should have a 

 bottom. The clay is then placed in 

 the moulds in the same manner that 

 brick moulds are ordinarily filled. A 

 wire or piece of iron hoop will an- 

 swer very well for striking off the top. 

 One man will mould about as fast as 

 another can carry away, two moulds 

 being used by him. The bricks are 

 192 



placed upon the level ground, where 

 they are suffered to dry two days, 

 turning them up edgewise the sec- 

 ond day, and then packed up in a 

 pile, protected from the rain, and left 

 to dry ten or twelve days, during 

 which time the foundation of the 

 building can be prepared. If a cellar 

 is desired, this must be formed of 

 stone or brick, one foot above the 

 surface of the ground. For cheap 

 buildings on the prairie, wood sills, 

 twelve or fourteen inches wide, may 

 be laid on piles or stones. This will 

 form a good superstructure. Where 

 lime and small stones abound, grout 

 made of those materials (lime and 

 stones) will answer very well. 



" In all cases, however, before 

 commencing the walls for the first 

 story, it is very desirable, as well in 

 this case as in walls of brick, to lay 

 a single course of slate ; this will in- 

 tercept the dampness so often rising 

 in the walls of brick houses. The 

 wall is laid by placing the brick length- 

 wise, thus making the wall one foot 

 thick. Ordinary clay, such as is used 

 for clay mortar, will suffice, though 

 a weak mortar of sand and lime, 

 when these articles are cheap, is rec- 

 ommended as forming a more adhe- 

 sive material for the plaster. The 

 wall may safely be carried up one 

 story, or two or three stories ; the 

 division walls may be seven inches, 

 just the width of the brick. The 

 door and window frames being in- 

 serted as the wall proceeds, the build- 

 ing is soon raised. The roof may 

 be shingles or thatch : in either case 

 it shoidd project over the sides of the 

 house, and also over the two ends, at 

 least two feet, to guard the walls from 

 vertical rains. The exterior wall is 

 plastered with good lime mortar, and 

 then with a second coat pebble- 

 dashed. The inside is plastered with- 

 out dashing. The floor may be laid 

 with oak boards, slit, five or six inch- 

 es wide, and laid down without joint- 

 ing or planing, if they are rubbed over 

 with a rough stone after the rooma 

 are finished. Doors of a cheap and 

 neat appearance may be made by ta- 

 king two single boards of the length 



