CRE 
GRATER, in astronomy, a constellatioa 
•of the sontbern hemisphere. See Astro- 
SOMY. 
CRATEVA, in botany, a genus of the 
Dodecandria Monogynia class and order. 
Natural order of Putamineae. Capparides, 
Jussieu. Essential character: calyx four 
cleft; corolla thi'ee petalled; berry one- 
celled, many-seeded, lliere are five spe- 
cres. These are trees with ternate leaves, 
and the flowers in terminating panicles. 
Natives of both Indies. 
CRAX, the eurassow, in natural history, 
a genus of birds of the order Gallinee. Ge- 
neric character: bill strong, convex, and 
thick, the base of each mandible covered 
with a cere ; nostrils small, and fixed in the 
cere ; feathers which cover the bead often 
curling at the ends ; tail large and straight. 
Latham mentions four species, and Gmelin 
notices five. We shall select the C. alec- 
tor, or the Peacock Pheasant of Guiana. 
These birds abound in the woods of Guiana, 
and are about the size of a small turkey, 
which they also extremely resemble in taste. 
They are destroyed by the Indians of the 
country in vast numbers, and sold to the 
planters, who are particularly fond of them, 
and with whom, as they are so plentiful, 
they constitute a frequent and almost daily 
article of food. They are easily domesti- 
cated, and found in this state, in great 
abundance, in tlie settlements of Berbice 
and Demerary, and in others of tlie West 
India islands. See Aves, Plate IV. fig. 7. 
CRAYON, a name for all coloured stones, 
earths, or ether minerals used in designing or 
painting in pastel. See Painting. 
CREAM. See Milk. 
Ceeam tf tartar, the common name of 
supertartrate of potash ; it is also denomi- 
nated crystals of tartar. In this salt there 
is an excess of the Tartaric acid, which see. 
CREDIT, in political economy, is the 
trust which an individual places in anotlier 
individual, or in the state, in pecuniary 
transactions. This trust arises from a confi- 
dence in the creditor, that the debtor will 
fulfil the engagement into which he enters. 
The foondation of credit is a knowledge 
Af the circumstances of the debtor, or of bis 
character for industry, ability, and probity. 
The degree of confidence is increased by 
expeiience of his punctuality in making 
good his engagements, and diminished by 
all circumstances which diminish the safety, 
or even interrupt the regular course of mer- 
cantile transactions. 
The money-price of goods Wd upon cre- 
CRE 
dit must be higher than that of goods paid 
for immediately, and this in proportion to 
the length of credit given and tlie risk. 
The advantage of giving credit to men of 
large capitals is that tliey get higher prices, 
the difference between the money-price 
and the credit-price being greater than tlie 
legal interest of the money-priee for the 
time. Hence it is a principle with some 
traders to give very long credit at propor- 
tionate prices. The advantage to purcha- 
sers of small capital is, that these credits are 
so much addition to their capital for the 
time. 
Some men of large property, but whose 
concerns admit of indefinite extension, will 
take all the credit they can get, either ois 
pecuniary loans, or in purchases, being able 
to make a larger profit on any capital they 
can procure by cither of these methods, than 
it costs them. They are exposed, however, 
1, to tlie risk of having great demands made 
upon tliem when it may be inconvenient to 
satisfy them ; and, 2, to the very common 
misfortune of forgetting how much of their 
capital belongs to other people : Dr. Frank- 
lin’s observation being too tine, tliat most 
men think their debt and their sins less 
tlian tliey really are. A person on whom 
credit is placed, and to whom it is advanta- 
geous, should be religiously punctual. No- 
thing will so much confirm his credit. He, 
however, is in a safer condition who can 
give credit without taking any ; who sells 
on credit, but buys for money. And this 
should in general be the otiject of every 
young tradesman. 
The degree of credit among private per- 
sons is considerably affected by the laws. 
If they tend to enforce tlie fiilfihnent of 
engagements, they strengthen credit; if 
they facilitate fraud, they enfeeble it. 
The confidence placed in governments, 
on the public credit, depends exactly on 
the same causes as the credit of individuals, 
on the pmictuality with which they fulfii 
their engagements. Hence in free states, 
i. e. states in which the creditors have a 
control over the government, credit is ex- 
tensive; but in absolute monarchies it is 
little or nothing. It is an alarming circum- 
stance for all creditors of the state, that 
wherein a great national debt has been con- 
tracted, the issue has been a national bank- 
ruptcy. The republics of Italy, and that 
of the United Provinces, as well as the 
monarchs of France, have ultimately dis- 
charged their debts in this unhappy manner. 
This has he&a caused, indeed, by the pres- 
