C O II 
COR'VEY, a town and celebrated abbey of Germany, 
and fmall principality, ip the circle of Weftphalia, about 
twelve miles long and ten wide, fnu.ited on the wedern 
bank of the Wefer. The abbey was founded in 822. 
]t pays fixty florins for a Roman month, and is taxed to 
the Imperial chamber 108 rixdollars. The abbot de¬ 
pends immediately on the pope. The annual revenues 
of the abbey are from 30,000 to 40,000 florins : twenty- 
four miles eaft of Faderborn. Lat. 51. 39. N. Ion. 26.40. 
E. Ferro. 
CORVl'NUS (Meflala), -an eloquent orator, in the 
Auguftan age, diftinguifhed for integrity and patriotifm, 
yet ridiculed for his frequent quotations of Greek in his 
actions. In his old age he became lo forgetful as not 
even to remember his name. 
CORUNCA'NUS, the firft plebeian who was made 
high-pridt at Rome. The family of the Coruncani was 
famotjs for the number of great men which it fupplied, 
for the fervice and honour of the Roman republic. 
CORUN'DUM STONE, afpeciesof adamantine fpar, 
found principally in Afia, and ufed by Aone-cutters and 
others for all the purpofes of emery. 
CORUN'NA, (La), a feaport town of Spain, in the 
province of Galicia ; of which it is called the capital, 
from being the feat of a royal audience, of a governor- 
general, and the intendant of the province. Itisdivided 
into Upper and Lower Town: the former lituated on 
the fide of a hill, furrounded with walls, and defended 
by a caftle ; the latter, called alfo Pexaria, is lituated at 
the bottom of a hill, on a tongue of land, wafhed on 
three tides by the waters of the Atlantic. The town is 
of a circular form, fortified in the ancient manner, and 
contains one collegiate and four pari lit churches, and 
four convents. The harbour is large and fafe, and de¬ 
fended by two callles : fixty miles north of Orenfe. Lat. 
43. 23. N. Ion. 8. 23. E. Peak of TenerilF. 
COR'VO, the moll northerly of Che Azore illands in 
the Atlantic, about four leagues in circumference, with 
a fmall port; and containing about five hundred inhabi¬ 
tants. It is faid to have derived its name from the num¬ 
ber of crows found there on the firfl: difeovery. Lat. 
39.42.N. Ion. 31. 6. W. Greenwich. 
COR'VOL ORGUEILLEUSE, a town of France, 
in the department of the Nyevre : two leagues fouth- 
weft of Clamecy. 
CG'RUS, J'. An ancient corn-meafure, heaped up, 
from the Hebrew cora, a hill : eight bulhels of wheat in 
a heap, making a quarter, are of the lhape of a little 
hill ; and probably a corns of wheat was eight bulhels : 
decern coros tritici, Jive decern, quart ria. Brabt. lib. ii. c. 6. 
CO'RUS. See Omar. 
CORUS'CANT, adj. [ contfco, Lat.] Glittering by 
flalhes ; flalhing. 
CORUSCA'TION, f. [corufcatio, Lat.] Flalh ; quick 
vibration of light.—We may learn that fulphureous 
fleams abound in the bowels of the earth, and ferment 
with minerals, and fometimes take fire with a fudden 
coruj'cation and explolion. Neivton. 
How heat and moifture mingle in a mafs, 
Or belch in thunder, or in lightning blaze; 
Why nimble coruj'cations flrike the eye, 
And bold tornados blufler in the Iky. Garth. 
Artificial corufcations, fuch as blazing liars, flalhes of 
lightning, flaming meteors, See. are ealily made by a 
"mixture of chemical ingredients ; for which fee the ar¬ 
ticle Pyrotechny. 
COR'VORANT. See Cormorant. 
COR'VUS, J. [from Nip kara, a croaking noife.] In 
ornithology, a genus belonging to the order of picas, 
containing fix lamilies or divilions, viz. the ravens, the 
crows, the rooks, the daws, the magpies, and the jays. 
Molt of them occur in every climate, and are confc- 
quently well known. They are exceedingly noify ; nefile 
generally upon trees, and take both animal and vegetable 
COR 2:^5 
food. Their generic chambers are thefe : bill convex, 
and knife-lhaped ; nofirils hid beneath reclining brilliy 
feathers; tongue cartilaginous and bifid; fast ambula¬ 
tory. There are lixty-one ipecies, belides feveral varie¬ 
ties, which are as follow : 
1. Corvus corax, the common raven. This is regarded 
as the lowed of the rapacious tribes. Filth and carrion 
are its chief food ; and, when it gluts its appetite on live 
prey, its victims are the weak and defencelefs, fuch as 
young rabbits, leverets, ducklings, chickens, &c. and it 
fometimes attacks the larger animals, as weakly kids and 
lambs. This indifcriminating voracity of the raven has 
procured it various treatment: fometimes it has been 
proferibed as a pernicious animal; fometimes it has been 
afforded the protection of law, as ufeful in extirpating 1 
noxious infeCts. In poor thinly-inhabited ftates, the ra¬ 
ven may prove an unwelcome guefi ; but in rich popu¬ 
lous countries, it is found ferviceable, by devouring the 
filth generated in them. For this reafon it was formerly 
held facred in England, and people were forbidden to 
kill it. In Surinam, according to Dr. Fermin, the raven 
enjoys a fimilar protection.; but in the. narrow iflands of 
Ferro, Malta, &c. a premium is offered for its deftruc- 
tion. If to thefe features of the raven we join its gloomy 
plumage, its hoarfe cry, its favage look, we firalI not 
be furprifed that in al! ages it lias been regarded as an 
object of averfion. Its flefh was forbidden to the Jews ; 
and favages never eat it but with difguft. In every fu- 
perftitious country the raven has been reckoned an omi¬ 
nous bird, announcing impending calamities. Grave 
hiftorians have defcribed pitched battles between armies 
of crows and tlrofe of other ravenous birds, and have re¬ 
garded thefe combats as foreboding bloody wars kindling 
among nations. And how many perfons, even at prefent, 
are alarmed and dejected at the noife of its croaking ! tire 
whole of its knowledge of futurity is limited, however, 
like that of the other inhabitants of the air, to a greater 
fenfibility to the changes in its element, and to tire ex- 
preflion of its feelings by certain cries and actions, lrr 
the fouthern provinces of Sweden, Linnaeus informs us, 
that the ravens, in fine weather, foar to an immenfe 
height, and make a clangorous noife, which is heard at 
a great diftance. Pennant, in his Britifh Zoology, adds, 
that in this cafe they fly generally in pairs. Other writers, 
in lefs enlightened times, have given remarks mingled 
with fable and fuperflition. In thole ages when augury 
formed a part of religion, the ravens, though bad pro¬ 
phets, could not fail to be birds of valt importance. The 
fondnefs of prying into futurity, how difnval foever may 
be the profpect, was an ancient fpeculation of the human 
race. All the various motions of the raven were fludied 
with the mod fcrupulous attention, the circumftances of 
its flight, and the tones of its voice, of which, not to 
mention the minute diferiminations too difficult to be 
appreciated, no lefs than lixty-four diftinft inflexions 
were reckoned ftp. Each had its determined lignification; 
the artifice enriched its inventors, and credulity drew 
multitudes to their oracles. Pliny, though fuperior to 
the prejudices of the vulgar, was fo far carried away by 
the tide of popular opinion, as to mention its mefl in:, 
fauftous cries. Some even carried this folly to fuch 
lengths as to eat the heart and entrails of thefe birds, 
from the hope of acquiring the fpirit of prophecy. The 
raven has not only a great number of inflections of'voice, 
but it has alfo the talent of imitating the cry of other 
animals, and even of human dilcourfe. Thefe fpeaking 
birds were highly prized at Rome, and Pliny has not dil- 
dained to relate the hiltory of one of them. Being early 
accuftomed to talk, it flew every morning to the roflra, 
and faluted Tiberius, then the two Csefars, GermaniCus 
and Drufus, and afterwards the Roman people as they 
palled by. They certainly can be tamed though old, and 
appear even fufceptible of a lading attachment. Witnefs 
the tame raven mentioned by Schwenckfeld,which having 
fullered itlelf to be carried too far by its wild compa- 
I u i y 
