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CONVOLVULUS, in botany, a genus 
«f the Pentandria Monogynia class and 
order. Natural order of Campanaceae, or 
bell-form flowers. Convolvuli, Jussieu. Es- 
sential character: corolla bell-shaped, 
plaited ; stigmas two ; capsules two-celled, 
with two seeds in each cell. There are 
110 species of this very numerous genus, 
not more than thirteen species are natives 
of Europe ; the others are mostly inhabi- 
tants of the warmer climates of Asia and 
America. Very few of them are cultivated 
in our gardens, except C. purpureus, pur- 
ple bindweed; and C. tiicolor, trailing 
bindweed, more commonly known by the 
names of convolvulus, major, and minor; 
the stems are herbaceous and milky, in the 
greater part twining, in a very few shrub- 
by ; leaves alternate ; peduncles axillary 
or terminating, one flowered, with two 
bractes, or many flowered. 
CONVOY, in marine affairs, one or more 
ships of war, employed to accompany and 
protect merchant-ships, and prevent their 
being insulted by pirates, or the enemies 
of the state in time of war. 
Convoy, in military matters, a body of 
men that guar d any supply of men, money, 
ammunition, or provisions, conveyed by 
land into a town, army, or the like, in time 
of war. 
CONVULSION. See Medicine. 
CONUS, in natural history, a genus of 
Vermes Testacea: animal a Umax; shell 
univalve, convolute, turbinate; aperture 
effuse, longitudinal, linear, without teeth, 
entire at the base; pillar smooth. This 
genus is divided into five distinct families, 
viz. A. spire or turban nearly truncate. B. 
pyriform with a rounded base; the cylin- 
der half as long again as the spire. C. 
elongated and rounded at the base ; the 
cylinder as long again as the spire. D. 
ventricose in the middle, and contracted at 
each end. E. thin, ventricose, and making 
a tinkling sound when thrown on its back 
upon a table or board. There are upwards 
of 70 species enumerated. Many of the 
conus tribe are beautiful shells, and bear 
a high price on account of their rarity. 
We have no species of this genus upon tlie 
English coast. Some very curious kinds 
have been discovered in a fossil state in 
England, chiefly in the chalk cliffs of Hamp- 
shire. 
CONYZA, in botany, a genus of the 
Syngenesia Polygamia Superflua class and 
order. Natural order of Composite Dis- 
soidese. Corymbiferae, Jussieu. Essential 
character ; calyx imbricate, roundish ; cor- 
rolla of the ray three-cleft ; down simple ; 
recepticle naked. There are forty-three 
species. The Conyzas or Fleabanes are 
either herbaceous or shrubby ; in a few of 
them the leaves are decurrent ; the flowers 
are of the compound kind without any ray, 
in corymbs or panicles at the top of the 
stem and brahches. 
COOKI.(E, in botany, a genus of the 
Decandria Monogynia class and order. 
Calyx five-cleft, inferior ; corolla five-pe- 
talled, equal inferior ; pome five-celled ; 
the cells one seeded. One species found 
in China. 
COOKERY, or cooking, the exercise of 
art in the preparation of food for human 
sustenance. It consists not only in the ap- 
plication of heat under various modifica- 
tions and circumstances, but also in the due 
intermixture of condiments, calculated as 
well to please the palate as tp promote nu- 
trition. The exercise of this art is peculiar 
to man, and it has been deemed by natu- 
ralists one of his peculiar characteristics, 
that he is “ a cooking animal.” Dr. Cullen 
says, that the cooking of vegetables by 
boiling renders them more soluble in the 
stomach, notwithstanding the degree of 
coagulation which their juices undergo. In 
the second place, tlie application of a boil- 
ing heat dissipates the volatile parts of ve- 
getable substances, which are seldom of a 
nutritious nature, but, in many cases, have 
a tendency to prove noxious. In the third 
place, boiling, helps to extricate a consider- 
able quantity of air that, in the natural 
state of vegetables, is always fixed in their 
substance ; and it is probably in this way 
especially, that heat contributes to the di- 
viding and loosening the cohesion of their 
smaller parts. Thus they are rendered less 
liable to ferment, and to produce that fla- 
tulence which is so troublesome to weak 
stomachs. 
In the cookery of animal substances, 
some practices, previous to the application 
of heat, are to he considered as affecting 
their solubility in the stomach ; particularly 
salting and pickling. These processes are 
spoken of under the article Condiments. 
The cookery of animal substances is of 
two kinds, as it is applied in a humid form 
in boiling and stewing; or in a di-y form, in 
roasting, broiling, and baking. By the 
joint application of heat and moisture to 
meat in boiling, the texture is certainly ren- 
dered more tender and more soluble in the 
stomach ; and it is only in this way that the 
