cur 



CUR 



petal) ed ; calyx five-leaved ; capsule two- 

 celled, acuminate, many-seeded ; styles 

 longer than the flower. There is but one 

 species, viz. C capensis, a native of the 

 Cape of Good Hope. 



CUP galls, in natural history, a name 

 given to a curious kind of galls found on 

 the leaves of the oak, and some other 

 trees. They derive their name from their 

 shape. Besides this species, the oak 

 leaves furnish us with several others, qf 

 various shapes and sizes, which appear 

 on the leaves at different seasons of the 

 year. They all contain the worm of some 

 small fly ,t hat passes through all its changes 

 in this habitation, being sometimes found 

 in the worm, sometimes in the nymph, and 

 sometimes in the fly state, in the cavity. 

 See CYNIPS. 



CUPANIA, in botany, so named from 

 Francesco Cupani, of Sicily, a genus of 

 the Octandria Monogynia, or Polygamia 

 Monoecia class and order. Natural order 

 of Trihilatae. Sapindi, Jussieu. Essen- 

 tial character : calyx five-leaved ; petals 

 five-cowled at the top ; style trifid ; cap- 

 sule three-celled ; seeds solitary, arilled. 

 There are two species, viz. C. tomentosa, 

 and C. glabra, both natives pf the West 

 Indies. 



CUPEL, in chemistry, a small vessel, 

 made generally of bone ; it absorbs me- 

 tallic bodies when changed by fire into 

 a fluid scoria. See LABORATORY. 



CUPELLATION. See ASSAYING. 



CUPOLA, in architecture, a vaulted 

 roof or covering, being the section of a 

 sphere or ellipsoid, formed upon a curvi- 

 linear or polygonal plan. 



CUPPING, in surgery, the operation of 

 applying cupping glasses for the dis- 

 charge of blood, and other humours, by 

 the skin. 



CUPRESSUS, in botany, a genus of the 

 Monoecia Monadelphia class and order. 

 Natural order of Coniferae. Essential cha- 

 racter : male calyx, scale of an ament ; 

 corolla none ; anthers four, sessile, with- 

 out filaments ; female calyx of a strobile ; 

 scales one-flowered ; corolla none ; styles, 

 concave dots ; nut angular. There are 

 seven species. These are very beautiful 

 and ornamental trees. C. horizontalis, 

 spreading cypress tree, is by far the larg- 

 est growing tree, and is the most com- 

 mon timber in some parts of the Levant ; 

 it is said to resist the worm, moth, and 

 all putrefaction, and to last many hundred 

 years. The doors of St. Peter's Church 

 at Rome were framed of this material, 

 which lasted from Constantine to Pope 

 Eugenius the Fourth's time, which was 



eleven hundred years, and were then 

 sound and entire, when the Pope changed 

 them for gates of brass. The coffins 

 were made of this material, in which the 

 Athenians used to bury their heroes, and 

 the mummy chests brought with those 

 bodies out of Egypt are made of this 

 wood . 



CURATE, properly signifies the par- 

 son or vicar of a parish, who has the 

 charge or cure of the parishioners souls. 



CURATE, also signifies a person substi- 

 tuted by the incumbent, to serve his cjure 

 in his stead. A cure is to be licensed or 

 admitted by the bishop of the diocese, or 

 ordinary, having episcopal jurisdiction, 

 and when a curate hath the approbation 

 of the bishop, he usually appoints the 

 salary too ; and in such case, if he be not 

 paid, the curate hath a proper remedy in 

 the ecclesiastical court, by a sequestration 

 of the profits of the benefice ; but if he 

 have no licence from the bishop, he is put 

 to his remedy at common law, where he 

 must prove the agreement. 



CURATELLA, in botany, a genus of 

 the Polyandria Digynia class and order. 

 Natural order of magnoliae, Jussieu. Es- 

 sential character : calyx five-leaved ; pe- 

 tals four : styles two; capsule two-part- 

 ed, with two seeds in a cell. There is 

 but one species, viz. C. americana, a na- 

 tive of South America. 



CURATOR, among civilians, a person 

 regularly appointed to manage the affairs 

 of minors, or persons mad, deaf, dumb, 

 &c. In countries, where the civil law 

 prevails, minors have tutors assigned 

 them, till they are of the age of fourteen, 

 between which and twenty-five they have 

 curators appointed the.m. There are al- 

 so curators for the estates of debtors, and 

 of persons dying without heirs. 



CURATOR of .an university, in the Unit- 

 ed Netherlands, an officer that has the 

 direction of the affairs of the university, 

 such as the superintendance of the pro- 

 fessors, the management of the revenues, 

 &c. these officers, being elective, are 

 chosen by the states of each province. 

 Leyden has three curators 



CURCULIGO, in botany, a genus of the 

 Polygamia Monoecia class and order. Es- 

 sential character : calyx none ; corolla 

 six-petalled ; filaments six; pistil one; 

 capsule ; seeds beaked. There is only one 

 species, viz. C. orchoides, native of shady, 

 uncultivated places about Samulcotab, 

 but by no means common. It is the Nal- 

 latady of the Telingas. 



CURCULIO, -weevil, in natural history, 

 a genus of insects of the order Coleopte- 



