CON 
146 
eruption from thought, and arrogates to its wearers the 
prerogative of brutes. Guardian. 
Th’ oppreffor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely, 
The pang of defpis’d love, the law’s delay. Shakefp. 
To CONTU'SE, v. a. [contufus, Lat.] To beat toge¬ 
ther; to bruife.—Of their roots, barks, and feeds, con- 
tufed together, and mingled with other earth, and well 
watered with warm, water, there came forth herbs much 
like the other. Bacon'. —To bruife tire flefli without a 
breach of the continuity.—The ligature contujcs the lips 
in cutting them, fo that they require to be digelted before 
they can unite. JVifemah. 
CONTU'SION, f. [from contufo, Lat.] The aft of 
beating or bruifing ; tire date of being beaten or bruifed. 
—Take a piece of glafs, and reduce it to powder, it ac¬ 
quiring by contufon a multitude of minute furfaces, from 
a diaphanous, degenerates into a white body. Boyle. —A 
bruife ; a compreflion of tire fibres, diftinguifned from a 
wound.—The bones, in (harp colds, wax brittle ; and 
all contuflons, in hard weather, are more hard to cure. Bacon. 
That winter lion, who' in rage forgets 
Aged contufions , and all bruife of time. ShakeJ'pcare. 
CON'TY, a town of France, in the department of tire 
Somme, and chief place of a canton, in the diftiict of 
Amiens, on the Selle : four leagues Couth of Amiens. 
CO'NU, a town of the illand-of CorJica : twelve miles 
north of Ajaccio. 
CONVALES'CENCE or Convalescency. f. [from 
convalefco, .Lat.] Renewal of health recovery from a 
difeafe.—Being in a place out of the reach of any alarm, 
(lie recovered her fpirits to a reafonable convalfccnce. 
Clarendon. 
CONVALES'CENT, adj. [convakfcens , Lat.] Reco¬ 
vering; returning to a date of health. 
CONVALLA'RIA, f.. [Has its name from growing in 
valleys.] In botany, a genus of tire clafs hexandria, or¬ 
der nronogynia, natural order of farmentacea;. The ge¬ 
neric characters are—Calyx : none. Corolla : monope- 
talous, bell-fhaped, fmooth; border fix-cleft, obtufe, 
open-reflefted. Stamina : filaments fix, fubulate, in- 
fer-ted into the petal, (horter than the corolla ; antherse 
oblong, ere£t. Pidillum : germ globofe ; dyle filiform, 
longer than the damens ; digma obtufe, three cornered. 
Pericarpium : berry globofe, three celled, before matu¬ 
rity fpotted. Seeds : folitary or in pairs, roundiflf. EJfen- 
tial charaEler. —Corolla : fix-cleft; berry fpotted, three- 
ceiled. 
Species. I. Corollas bell-fliaped. i. Convallaria mai- 
alis, or fweet-feented lily of the valley: flowers on a 
fcape; root perennial, with numerous round fibres 
tranfveriely wrinkled, creeping horizontally juft below 
the furface to a confiderable didance ; the whole plant 
is fmooth ; four or five alternate, oblong, blunt, (lightly 
nerved, purpli(h feales, unround and bind together the 
bale of the leaves and dalk ; leaves two, pctioled, el¬ 
liptic or lanceolate, pointed at each end, from four to 
five inches long, and near an inch and half broad in the 
middle, quite_entire, upright, fmooth, nerved, one ufu- 
ally larger, of a bright green colour ; flowers fix to 
eight, in a raceme, nodding, white, fragrant; berry red 
fuperior, fphteroid, fmooth, one or two of the three 
ceils often obliterated ; two feeds in each cell, but one 
ufually abortive, almoft globular, obfcurely angular. 
Authors differ extremely refpecling the number of feeds 
in this fruit. Native of Europe, from Lapland to Italy, 
in woods. In Britain, near London on Hampftead-heath, 
but now Sparingly, fince the trees have been deflroyed ; 
in lord Mansfield’s wood near the Spaniard; between 
Shooter’s-hill and Woolwich ; Norwood abundantly, 
where are frequently feen large patches with very few 
flowers and no berries; Buihy-heath, Cafhioberry in 
Hertfordfhire; near Chifelhurft in Kent; near Lee in 
Eifex ; Woburn in Bedfordfhire, whence the markets in 
CON 
London (as Miller fays) are generally fupplied with the 
flowers. Whiehw.ood foreft in Oxfordlhire, and in 
Beech wood, near Stokenchurch. ' VvTiite-wood near 
Gamlingay in Cambridgefhire ; Norfolk; Buddoti and 
Okely woods in Leicefterfhire ; King’s Clitf in Nor- 
thamptonfhire; Kendal in Weftmorehuid ; county of 
Durham; Ingleborough in Yorkfiiire. Scotland. It 
flowers in May, whence it is named May-lily. Gerarde 
calls it convall lillie ; and fays that in home places it is 
called Uncoil/.ancle. The lily of the valley claims our 
notice both as an ornamental and a medicinal plant. As 
an ornamental one, few are held in greater eftimation ; 
indeed few' flowers can boaft fuch delicacy with fo’.much- 
fragrance. When dried they have a narcotic (cent; and 
if reduced to powder excite fneezing. An extraCt pre¬ 
pared from the flowers, or from the roots, partakes, of 
the bitternefs, as well as of the purgative properties, of 
aloes. The dofe i. from twenty to thirty grains. A 
beautiful and durable green colour may be prepared 
from the leaves, with lime. 
2. Convallaria japonica, or grafs-lcaved lily of the 
valley: fcape ancipital, raceme drooping; root-leaves 
ten or more, linear, drawn to a point at bottom, three- 
cornere'd, flat on one fide, entire, (mated, bent back, 
two feet long and upwards; feed one, white, filling 
the whole berry. There are two varieties, a larger and 
a fmalier. They are found near Nagafaki in Japan. 
Both there and in China, the tubers of the roots pre- 
ferved with fugar, are ufed in fome diforders. 
3. Convallaria fpicata, or fpiked lily of the valley: 
fcape (triated ; raceme fpiked ; flowers aggregate. Na¬ 
tive of Japan, flowering in September. 
II. Corollas funnel-fhaped. 4. Convallaria verticil- 
lata, or narrow-leaved Solomon’s leal.- leaves verticillate; 
root perennial; ftem Ample, angular, llriated ereCt, eigh¬ 
teen inches high ; leaves three or four inches long, and 
from half an inch to aninch in breadth, bright .green, glau¬ 
cous beneath; berries violet or deep red. It flowers in 
June, and was cultivated in 1636, by John Tradefcant, ju¬ 
nior. Native of the north of Europe, Germany, Swiifer- 
land, Carnidla. Ray obferved it near Spa, and on mount 
Saleve, near Geneva. Itwasfound by ArthnrBruce,.efq. 
in 1792, in the Den Rechip, four miles north-calf of 
Dunkeld, in Perthlhire. 
5. Convallaria polygonatum, or fingie-flowered Solo¬ 
mon’s feal : leaves alternate ftem-clafping ; ftem anci¬ 
pital ; peduncles axillary, generally one-flowered ; root 
twilled and full of knots ; on a tranfverfe (eCtion of it, 
characters appear that give it the refemblance of a feal, 
whence its name of Solomon’s feal. Native of the north 
of Europe, Holland, Germany, Hungary, Svvilferland, 
Carniola, Piedmont. In England-, in filfures of rocks 
near Wherf, Settle, and Skipton ;, Syke’s wood near In- 
gleton, Yorkfiiire-.. Alfo'in Virginia. This varies with 
a double flower ; alfo with leaves like white hellebore, 
and a purplifli (talk. * 
6. Convallaria ' iatifolia, - or broad-leaved Solomon’s 
feal : leave.s>alt@rnate ftem-clafping acuminate; ftem an¬ 
gular ; peduncles axillary many-flowered. This agrees 
with convallaria polygonatum and multiflora in root and 
habit, but the root is rather more (lender, has at firft a 
fweet and then an acrid tafte, and is glutinous ; ftem 
from half a foot to two feet in height, round at bottom 
and thence angular the whole length, the angles being 
more remarkable below the middle of the back of the 
leaf; it has a fhort pile of hairs towards the top ; berry 
globular, very dark blue, three-celled, witli three or four, 
l'orqetimes five feeds in each cell. Native of Auftria. 
7. Convallaria multiflora, or many-flowered Solomon’s 
feal: leaves alternate ftem-clafping; ftem round; pe¬ 
duncles axillary many-flowered ; ftem round, from eigh¬ 
teen inches to two or three feet high, ereCt, unbranched ; 
it is a larger plant than the fifth fort ; the ftem is lei's 
furrowed ; the leaves are larger ; the flowers feveral to¬ 
gether, fmalier with the fegments more pointed, the co- 
