CRO 



CRU 



cision of the part is the most certain ' 

 remedy. Spirits of hartshorn and j 

 wine are necessary to save the pa- 

 tient from sinking. 



CROTON OIL. An extremely ac- j 

 live purge, obtained from the seeds of 

 the Croton ttglium, an Eastern shrub. 



CROUP. An acute inflammation 

 of the throat and windpipe, attended 

 with a shrill wheezing and suffoca- ' 

 tion, occurring in children. It runs ; 

 its course rapidly, and must be treat- 

 ed with decision. Bleeding, leeches, 

 external irritations, and large doses 

 of calomel are most successful. Hogs 

 are subject to this disease, and are 

 to be treated similarly, blood being \ 

 drawn freely from the neck, by cut- \ 

 ting to the jugular vein. | 



CROW. Corvus corone. Too well, 

 known to require description. The . 

 crow is a remarkably intelligent and 

 suspicious bird, but easily domestica- 

 ted, and may be rendered useful on 

 the farm. He destroys insects, mice, 

 rats, and small vermin, but, unfor- 

 tunately, also delights in chickens, 

 eggs, and corn. His suspicious na- 

 ture renders it an easy matter to keep 

 him from fields by scarecrows and 

 moveable objects. Corn steeped in 

 stupii'ying drugs, as hellebore, or in 

 tar and nitre, either destroy him or 

 are rejected. Martins are well known 

 to annoy the crow. Buffon prescribes 

 two curious methods of destroying 

 them : 1st. By wrapping a piece of 

 paper in the form of a long cone, 

 smearing the interior with birdhme, 

 and placing a piece of meat in the 

 bottom : the crow, reaching after it, 

 fits the cone to his head, and becomes^ 

 blinded ; in this dilemma he flies 

 straight upward into the air, until, 

 becoming fatigued, he alights nearly 

 at the spot whence he had flown, 

 and may be shot. The second meth- 

 od is that of pinning a live crow to ; 

 the ground by the wings, stretched 

 out on his back, and retained in this 

 posture by two sharp, forked sticks. 

 In this situation, his loud cries at- 

 tract other crows, who come sweep- 

 ing down to the prostrate prisoner, 

 and are grappled in his claws. In 

 this way each successive prisoner 



may be made the innocent means of 

 capturing his companions. 



CROWSFOOT. Several species 

 of ranunculas, which are acrid and 

 poisonous. 



CROWS' NET. A net made of fine 

 packthread, used chiefly for catching 

 wild fowl, but which may be employ- 

 ed on newly-sown fields to entrap 

 crows, pigeons, and other birds that 

 destroy grain, or in stubble, where 

 this is sufficiently long to conceal 

 the network. 



CROWN OF A LAND. The cen- 

 tral part of the ridge. 



CRUCIBLE. A chemical vessel 

 used to expose bodies to a strong 

 heat. For coarse purposes, the Hes- 

 sian crucible, made of sand and clay, 

 is used. Porcelain crucibles are ne- 

 cessary for finer work, and where 

 the platinum will not answer, but are 

 destroyed by fixed alkalies. The 

 platinum crucible is the finest, from 

 the ease with which it may be clean- 

 ed and managed, but is unfit for the 

 treatment of lead, arsenic, mercury, 

 and a few other metals which alloy 

 with platinum. A black-lead crucible 

 is used for coarse work, and resists 

 a stronger heat than the Hessian. 



In delicate operations the platinum 

 crucible is placed within another of 

 coarse porcelain, or in a muffle. 



CRUCIFORM, or CRUCIFER- 

 OUS PLANTS. CrucifcrcB (from 

 crux, a cross). Plants which have a 

 flower consisting of four petals, ar- 

 ranged as a Maltese cross, as the 

 cabbage, cress, turnip, mustard, rad- 

 ish, &c. They require rich land, are 

 wholesome, abound in pungent oil, 

 and when grown for seed are ex- 

 tremely exhaustmg. They are es- 

 sentially sulphur and potash, or soda 

 plants. 



CRUOR. The clot of blood. 



CRUPPER. The horse's rump; 

 the leather harness which passes un- 

 der the tail. 



CRURAL (from crus, the thigh). 

 Belonging to the thigh or leg. 



CRUSHERS FOR GRAIN, &c. 

 Mortars, mills on the same princi- 

 ple as the cotfee mill, bark mills, and 

 grooved rollers running into one an- 



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