COR 



COR 



merous tribe of insects ; and that what ap- 

 peared to be the flowers of the coral, and 

 which receded into small apertures on its 

 being withdrawn from the salt water, 

 were those insects, which, on re-immer- 

 sion, again protruded themselves. Added 

 to this, the softness of the terminations of 

 all the points, and their being filled with 

 a milky fluid, gives just reason to con- 

 clude, that nature has not been deficient 

 in providing these insects with both the 

 means of forming their abodes, and with 

 the means of subsistence. What that sub- 

 sistence may be, or to what purpose, or 

 how the milky fluid is formed, naturalists 

 have notyetdiscovered.lt should seemthat 

 the main channels in the principal branches 

 are gradually formed, and that the lateral 

 ramifications are produced by the expul- 

 sion of supernumeraries in the family, 

 which attach themselves to the exterior, 

 and form new galleries. This is the more 

 probable, because pieces of coral, broken 

 off from the main branches, in a few. days 

 are found to be again cemented to such 

 parts as they may happen to light upon. 

 By this we may also infer, that a state of 

 rest is necessary to the existence of the 

 coral insect, and that it has very powerful 

 means of attaching itself to rocks, &c. 

 Coral is generally found covered with a 

 rugged incrustation, and on being left to 

 dry in the sun, soon appears discoloured, 

 and emits a very foetid smell, arising from 

 the corruption of the polypi, or insects, 

 that have died for want of their natural 

 element, and of food. The incrustation 

 being decoriated, the coral presents it- 

 self; mostly of a beautiful blood red co- 

 lour; some are white, and a few pieces are 

 black. The latter is much valued, but the 

 red only is used in medicine as an astrin- 

 gent. Vegetable distilled oils dissolve co- 

 ral; the red kind yields, by distillation in 

 a retort, a volatile vitreous spirit, that ef- 

 fervesces with acids, turns syrup of violets 

 green, and causes the solution of corro- 

 sive sublimate to assume a milky appear- 

 ance. Calcined in a gentle heat it be- 

 comes white, and it imparts to all the 

 menstrua a red colour, which itself gra- 

 dually loses. The white coral is little va- 

 lued, and is generally made into lime of 

 the finest quality, where it grows in abun- 

 dance between high and low water mark. 

 Fisheries for red and black coral are esta- 

 blished in many parts of the world, prin- 

 cipally in the Levant, in the Red Sea, 

 Peruvian Gulf, Chinese Seas, and among 

 many of the numerous clusters of islands 

 in the Eastern and Pacific Oceans. The 

 largest, brightest, and heaviest, is account- 



ed the best. The women of Asia wear 

 necklaces and bracelets made of one or 

 more rows of red coral ; there called 

 moongah. Although obtained in their own 

 quarter of the world, the beads are very 

 dear ; those of about the size of a large 

 marrow-fat pea being usually sold for four 

 or five rupees per tolah of half an ounce ; 

 which is equal to sixteen or twenty pounds 

 sterling for a pound avoirdupois. The na- 

 tives of Hindostan have a mode of imitat- 

 ing coral by means of the butts of large 

 conch-shells, which they colour very art- 

 fully. Coral is sometimes found in a fos- 

 sil state, but invariably of a white or yel- 

 lowish colour ; these, from some remain- 

 ing red spots in their interior, appear to 

 have been formerly entirely of that co- 

 lour, but to have lost it by absorption, or 

 by the action of acids : and the colour of 

 coral is by no means fixed : if a pound of 

 red coral (the isis nobilis of Linnseus) be 

 boiled in a strong syrup, in which a pound 

 of wax is mixed, both being previously 

 dissolved in spirits of wine, the whole co- 

 louring matter of the coral may be extract- 

 ed. Artificial coral is made of leviga- 

 ted cinnabar, or of minium ; but these 

 are easily detected : they will not ef- 

 fervesce with acids, nor do they afford an 

 alkaline earth, as real coral invariably 

 does. 



CORALLINA, Coralline, in natural his- 

 tory, a genus of the Vermes Zoopliyta: 

 Animal growing in the form of a plant ; 

 stem fixed, with calcareous subdivided 

 branches, mostly jointed. C. officinalis 

 is common on almost every shore, grow- 

 ing in clustered tufts from two to five 

 inches long, about the thickness of a large 

 thread ; white, greenish, yellowish, pur- 

 ple or reddish, and frequently a mixture 

 of all the colours. This is the species 

 sometimes used in powder as an ab- 

 sorbent and vermifuge. C. flabellum in- 

 habits the West Indies, of various co- 

 lours, from a greenish- brown to milk- 

 white; sometimes of a flat kidney-shap- 

 ed form, and about an inch high ; some- 

 times expanding to a large subdivided 

 lobed and undulated mass, from one to 

 five inches high, and as many broad: 

 stem terminated by a tuft of fine radical 

 tubes. 



CORCHORUS, in botany, a genus of 

 the Polyandria Monogynia class and or- 

 der. Natural order of Columniferse. Tilia- 

 ceae, Jussieu. Essential character : co- 

 rolla five-petalled ; calyx five-leaved, de- 

 ciduous ; capsule many valved, many 

 seeded. There are sixteen species. Na- 

 tives of both Indies. 



