4oO 
CRO 
CRU 
one arch, in the middle of which are alkali and 
cross, as in the royal diadem. 2. 'i'hat of 
all the younger sons and brothers of the king, 
consist likewise of crosses and fleurs-de-lis al- 
ternately, but without any arch, or being 
surmounted with a globe and cross at top. 
3. 1 hat of the other princes ol the blood con- 
sists alternately of crosses and leaves like 
those in the coronet of dukes. 
Crowns of noblemen, are a duke’s, com- 
posed of leaves of smallage, or parsley : that 
of a marquis, of flowers and pearls placed al- 
ternately : an earl’s has bo flowers about the 
circle, like the duke’s and marquis’s, but only 
points rising, and a pearl on every one of 
them: a viscount has neither flowers nor 
points raised above the circle, like the other 
superior degrees, but only pearls placed on 
the circle itself without any limited number: 
a baron’s has only six pearls on the- golden 
border, not raised, to distinguish him from 
the earls ; and the number of them limited, 
to shew he is inferior to the viscount. 
Crown, in commerce, a general name for 
coins both foreign and domestic, which are 
of, or very near, the value of five shillings 
sterling. See Coin. 
Crown, in architecture, denotes the up- 
permost member of the cornice, called also 
corona, and larmier. 
Crown, in astronomy, a name given to 
two constellations, the one called borealis, the 
other meridionalis. 
Crown is used also for the clerical tonsure, 
which is the mark and character of ecclesias- 
tics of the Romish church. It is a little 
circle of hair shaved from the crown of the 
head, more or less large, according to the 
quality of the orders received. That of a 
mere clerk is the smallest, that of priests and 
monks the largest. 
Crown, in geometry, is a plane ring in- 
cluded between two concentric, perimeters, 
and is generated by the motion of some part 
of a right line round the, centre, the said 
moving part not being contiguous to the 
centre. 
The area of a crown will be had by multi- 
plying its breadth by the length of the middle 
periphery', for a series of terms in arith- 
metic progression being n X 
« -f- 
2 
•w , 
— , that 
is, 
the sum of the first and last multiplied by half 
the number of terms, the middle terms must be 
*-±— ; therefore that multiplied by the 
breadth, or sum of all the two terms, will give 
the crown. 
Crown of colours, certain coloured rings 
which like halos appear about the body of the 
sun or moon, but of the colours of the rain- 
bow, and at a less distance than the common' 
halos. These crowns sir Isaac Newton has 
shewn to be made by the sun’s shining in a 
fair day, or the moon in a clear night, through 
a thin cloud of globules of water or hail all of 
the same bigness. And according as the 
globules are greater or less, the diameters 
of these crowns will be larger or smaller ; and 
the more equal these globules are to one ano- 
ther, the more crowns of colours will ap- 
pear, and the colours will be the more 
lively. 
Crown-office. The court of king’s 
bench is divided into the plea side and the 
itrwn side. In the plea side it takes cog- 
nizance of civil causes ; in the crown side it 
takes cognizance of criminal causes, and is 
therefore called the crown-office. In the 
Crown-office are exhibited informations in the 
name of the king, for crimes and misdemean- 
ors at common law, as in the case of batte- 
ries, conspiracies, libelling, &c. for which 
the offender is liable to pay a fine to the 
king. 
Crown-post, in architecture, a post which 
in some building stands upright in the middle 
between two principal rafters, and from it 
there go struts or braces to the middle of 
each rafter. It is sometimes called a king’s 
piece, or joggle piece. 
Crown-wheel of a watch, the upper 
wheel next the balance, which by its motion 
drives the balance, and in royal pendulums, is 
called the swing-wheel. 
Crown-work, in fortification, an out- 
work having a very large gorge, generally the 
length of the curtin of the place, and two long 
sides terminating towards the field in two de- 
mibastions, each joined by a particular 
curtin to a whole bastion, which is the head 
of the work. The crown-work is intended to 
inclose a rising ground, or to cover the head 
of a retrenchment. 
CROWTH, or Cruth, a musical instru- 
ment formerly much in use among the com- 
mon people in Wales. It resembles in some 
respects the violin. See PI. Miscel. fig. 26. 
CRUCIAN ELLA, petty madder, a genus 
of the monogynia order, in the tetrandria class 
of plants ; and in the natural method ranking 
under the 47th order, stellatse. The corolla 
is monopetalous and funnel-shaped, with a 
filiform tube and a tailed border; the calyx 
is diphyllous, and there are two linear seeds. 
There are nine species, natives of the southern 
parts of Europe; but none of them possessed 
of any remarkable quality. 
CRUCIBLE, a chemical vessel made of 
earth, and so tempered and baked as to en- 
dure the greatest lire. They are used to 
melt metals, and to flux minerals, ores, &c. 
See Chemistry. 
CRUCITA, or cruzita, a genus of the di- 
gynia order, in the tetrandria class of plants, 
and in the natural method ranking with those 
the order which is doubtful. r lhe interior 
calyx is tetraphyllous, the exterior calyx tri- 
phyllous; there is no corolla, and only one 
seed. There is one species. 
CRU R/EUS, or crurceus musculus. See 
Anatomy. 
CRURAL, in anatomy, an epithet given to 
the artery which conveys the blood to the 
crura or legs, and to the vein by which this 
blood returns towards the heart. ’ See Ana- 
tomy. 
CRUSCA, an Italian term signifying bran, 
is in use among us to denote the celebrated 
academy called Della Crusca, established at 
Elorence, for purifying and perfecting the 
Tuscan language. 
CRUST. By crusts we understand those 
bony coverings of which the whole external 
surface of crabs, lobsters, and other similar 
sea-animals, is composed. These consist of, 
]. Cartilaginous substance, possessing the 
properties of coagulated albumen. 2. Car- 
bonate of lime. 3. Phosphat of lime. By 
the presence of the phosphat of lime, they 
are distinguished from bones. Thus the 
crusts lie as an intermediate substance be. 
tween frones and shells, partaking of the pro- 
C It V 
perlies and constitution of each. The shells 
of the eggs of fowls must be referred likewise 
to the class of crusts, since they contain bolb 
phosphat and carbonatt of lime ; the ani- 
mal cement in them, however, is much 
smaller in quantity. From the experiments 
of Berniard and Hatchett, it is extremely 
probable that the shells of snails are com- 
posed likewise of the same ingredients, phos- 
phat of lime having been detected in them by 
these chemists. 
Mr. Hatchett examined the crust of crabs, 
lobsters, prawns, and cray-lish. When im- 
mersed in diluted nitric acid, these crusts ef- 
fervesced a little, and gradually assumed the 
form of a yellowish-white soft elastic cartilage, 
retaining the form of the crust. The solu- 
tion yielded a precipitate to acetat of lead, 
and ammonia threw down phosphat of lime. 
Carbonat of ammonia threw down a much 
more copious precipitate of carbonat of lime. 
On examining the crust which covers dif- 
ferent species of echini, Mr. Hatchett found 
it correspond with the other crusts in its com- 
position. Some species of star-fish yielded 
phosphat ot lime, others none: hence tiie 
covering of that genus of animal's seems to 
be intermediate between shell and crust. 
With these observations of Mr. Hatchett 
the analysis of Merat-Guillot corresponds. 
From lobster-crust he obtained 
60 carbonat of lime 
14 phosphat of lime 
26 cartilage 
100 . 
One hundred parts of cray-fish crust contain 
60 carbonat of lime 
12 phosphat of lime 
28 cartilage 
100 . 
One hundred parts of hen’s egg-shells cons 
tain 
89.6 carbonat of lime 
5.7 phosphat of lime 
4.7 animal matter 
100.0 
CRUSTACEOUS fisli, in natural history, 
are those covered with shells consisting of 
several pieces or scales ; as those of crabs, 
lobsters, &c. These are usually softer than the 
shells of the testaceous kind, which consist of 
a single piece, and generally are thicker and 
stronger than the former ; such as those of 
the oyster, scallop, cockle, &c. Dr. Wood- 
ward observes, in his Natural History, that of 
all the shells found in beds, and of all the dif- 
ferent matters dug out of the earth, there are 
scarcely any of the crustaceous kind: the 
reason he gives for it is, that these being much 
lighter than the rest, must have floated on the 
surface at the time of the Deluge, when all the 
strata were formed, and there have corrupted 
and perished. 
CRYPSIS, a genus of the diandria digy- 
nia class and order. The calyx is a glume, 
two-valved, one-flowered; corolla glume, 
two-valved, awnless. There is one species, 
a grass of Siberia. 
CRYPd OCEPHALUS, a genus of in- 
sects of the coleoptera class; antennae fili- 
form ; feelers four ; thorax margined ; shells 
immarginate; body somewhat cylindrical* 
