CHLORIS. 
chlorine and nitrogen. Three distinct compounds | 
of chlorine and carbon have of late been made 
known by Faraday; but for an account of these, 
as well as of the chlorides of sulphur and of phos- 
phorus, and the chloro-carbonic acid gas, the reader 
is referred to the larger treatises on chemistry. 
CHLORIS. A genus of grasses, forming the 
type of the larger portion of the subterminally 
spiked division of the gramineous family. All 
the species are exotics, and a large proportion 
are tender; nearly twenty have been introduced 
to Britain, and about a dozen more are known to 
botanists. All the introduced species have a 
handsome appearance; they vary in height from 
6 to 15 inches; the greater number are annuals ; 
and about one half are hardy.. 
CHLOROPHYLLE. The green colouring mat- 
ter of the leaves and cuticle of plants. It is ob- 
tained by bruising and pressing leaves, washing 
off their proper juices, treating the residue with 
alcohol, and evaporating the alcoholic mixture to 
dryness. It appears to be closely akin in consti- 
tution to wax. It is soluble in ether, alcohol, 
oil, or alkali; it is first softened, and next de- 
composed, by heat; it is partly soluble in the 
acetic, sulphuric, and hydrochloric acids, but is 
precipitated from solution in them by the adding 
of water; and it is saponified by alkalies, and 
bleached by light, chlorine, or the acids. Not 
more than about 100 grains of it are supposed 
by Berzelius to be diffused over a tree, and to 
occasion the greenness of all its leaves and shoots. 
CHOCOLATE. See Cacao. 
CHOKE. ‘Two species of cherry-tree. The 
northern choke, Cerasus borealis, is a native of 
North America, and was introduced to Britain in 
1822. It usually attains a height of about 20 
feet, and flowers in May and June. The winter 
black choke, Cerasus hyemalis, is also a native of 
North America, and was introduced to Britain in 
1805. It seldom grows taller than 4 or 5 feet. 
and usually flowers in May. Both species are 
deciduous, hardy, and ornamental. 
CHOKING. Obstruction in the gullet by 
unmasticated food. It may occur in any kind 
of domestic animals, but is most frequent in 
cattle, and most dangerous in horses. When 
potatoes, carrots, parsnips, or turnips are given 
to cows or horses, without being so minutely 
sliced as to pass easily down the gullet, some are 
liable to be swallowed with little or no mastica- 
tion, and in consequence to stick fast in the 
throat. The liability is greatly increased if, for 
the purposes of medicine or of improving the con- 
dition, fatty, tarry, or resinous substances, or new- 
laid eggs, have recently been administered. A 
potato, or a very small turnip, or any other 
roundish piece of food, also, has a greater fitness 
to fill the orifice of the throat and to press all 
round upon its sides, and is therefore much more 
dangerous, than a section of a tap-root or any 
other piece of food with angularities and flat 
sides. 
I 
CHOLESTERINE. 
801 
A choking animal shows symptoms of great 
suffering, stretches and labours its neck to bring 
up the obstructing substance, discharges a pro- 
fusion of saliva, exhibits a convulsive action of 
the respiratory organs, soon suffers distension of 
the abdomen from the accumulation of gas, and, 
if the obstruction be closely fitted to the sides of 
the throat, very speedily dies. Coarse, common 
practice on the farm lifts a cartwhip, a piece of 
stifish rope, or even the handle of a rake, and 
forces or attempts to force the'obstructing body 
down the throat; but this practice, especially in 
rude hands, and more particularly when so rigid 
an instrument as the handle of a rake is used, is 
not a little hazardous, and may inflict very seri- 
ous evil by both strength and obliquity of pres- 
sure. In an extremely bad case, when rapid and 
excessive distension has occurred, the puncturing 
of the rumen may be highly advisable, yet this 
ought, if possible, to be avoided. When the ob- 
struction occurs in the very entrance of the 
throat, it may be removed either by the hand 
alone, or by the hand with the aid of a balling- 
iron; but when it occurs at a great depth down 
the throat, it ought to be treated with both com- 
plication and caution,—first administering half 
a pint of oil to lubricate the passage, and next 
introducing the probang, ascertaining whether 
extraction or forcing-down is likely to be the 
more successful, and making a series of pulls or 
pushings till relief be effected. See the article 
Propane. If the stomach be distended, and the 
obstructing object be forced down, the probang 
should be allowed to remain for a short time to 
facilitate the escape of the accumulated gas. 
When all ordinary methods fail, or when the ob- 
structing object, on being pushed down, sticks 
fast in the thorax, recourse should be had to the 
operation of cutting through the skin into the 
cesophagus; for though this operation is confcss- 
edly perilous, it, in this case, affords a hope, which 
otherwise cannot exist, of saving the animal’s life. 
When the cure of a case of choking has been 
effected, no solid food should be given for several 
days, or till the muscles of the throat have had 
time to recover their tone. 
CHOKO,—botanically Sechiwm. A small genus 
of plants, of the cucumber tribe. The eatable 
species, Sechium edule, formerly called Sicyos edu- 
lis, is a native of the West Indies, and was intro- 
duced to Britain in 1816. It is a weeping, half- 
tender, cultivated annual, of 6 or 7 feet in height; 
and carries a yellow flower in June and July. 
The fruit is used in the West Indies for fattening 
hogs; and the generic name, Sechium, is formed 
from a word which signifies ‘to fatten.’ Two 
other species have been described. 
CHOLESTERINKE. The peculiar chemical prin- 
ciple of biliary concretions in man. _ It very 
closely resembles spermaceti, both in appearance 
and in constitution,—being a white, brittle, adi- 
pocirous solid, of crystalline lamellated structure 
and brilliant lustre; but. it is distinguishable by 
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