Encyclopaedia Britannica; or, A dictionary of arts and sciences, compiled upon a new plan … > Volume 2, C-L

/COR ( 2 *
Cor -leonis, or Regulus, in aflronomy, a fixed ftar
■ of the firft magnitude in the conftellation leo.
'CORACO-BRAOHMLIS, in anatomy. See Vol. I.
p. 196.
CORACOIDES, in anatomy. See Vol I. p. 177.
CORACOMANTES, in antiquity, perfons who fore¬
told events from their obfervations on crows.
CORACO-RADIAL1S, in anatomy. See Vol. I. p.
197. . ' :
CORALLINA, or Coral, in zoology, a genus be¬
longing to the order of vermes zoophyta. The trunk
is radicated, jointed, and calcarious. The- fpecies are
eight, ' diftinguifhed by the form of their branches,
and are found in the ocean adhering to (tones, bones,
(hells, tic. The corals were formerly believed to be ve¬
getable fubftances hardened by the air ; but are gene¬
rally believed to be compofed of a congeries of animals,
which are -even endued with the faculty of movdng
tpontaneoufly. Linnaeus’s order of zoophyta is com¬
pofed of animals of this kind, as the fpongia, fertula-
ria, &C. See Natural History.
CORALLODENDRON, inbotany SccErythrina.
Coral fifhery. Red coral i? found in the Mediterra¬
nean, on the fhores of Provence, from Cape de la
Couronne to that of St Tropez; about the ides of
Majorca and Minorca; on the fouth of Sicily; on the
coafts of Africa ; and, laftly, in the Ethiopic ocean,
about cape Negro. The divers fay, that the little
branches are found only in the caverns whofe fituation
is parallel to the earth’s furface, and open to the fouth.
The manner of (idling being nearly the fame where-
ever coral is fotlnd, it will fuifice to inftance the me¬
thod ufed at the baftion of France, under the direc¬
tion of the company edablifhed at Marfeifles for that-
fidiery. Seven or eight men go in a boat commanded
by the patron or proprietor, and when the net is
thrown by the cafter, the reft work the vedel, and
help to draw themet in. The net is compofed of two
rafters of wood tied crofs-wife, with leads fixed to
them : to thefe they faften a quantity of hemp twifted
loofely round, and intermingled with fome large net¬
ting. This inftrument is let down where they think
there is coral, and pulled up again, when the coral is
ftrongly intangled in the hemp and netting. For this
purpofe, fix boats are fometimes required; and if in
hauling in, the rope happens to break, the fifhermen
run the hazard of being loft. Before the (idlers go
to fee, they agree for the price of the coral, which is
fometimes more, fometimes lefs a pound; and they
engage, on pain of corporal punifhment, that neither
they nor their crew (hall embezzle any, but deliver
the whole to the proprietors. When the fiftiery is
ended, which amounts one year with another to twenty-
five quintals for each boat, it is divided into thirteen
parts, of which the proprietor hath four, the carters
two, and the other fix men one each, the thirteenth
belongs to the company for payment of the boat fur-
nifhed them.
CORAN, or Alcoran, See Alcoran.
8 ) CO II
CORAX, in ornithology, the trivial name of a fpecies
•of .con us. See CORVUS.
COR^BxAN, a fcripture term of an offering which had
life, in oppofition to the minchab which had no life.
Corban is alfo a ceremony which the Mahometans per¬
form at the foot of mount Ararat, in Arabia, near
Mecca. It confifts in killing a great number of (heep,
and diftributing them among the poor.
CORBEILS, in fortification. See Basket.
CORBEL, in architedfure, a reprefentation of abalket,
fometimes feen on the heads of.th caryatides.
CORBY, a town of Germany, thirty miles cart: of Pa-
derborn, in Weftphalia: Eaft long. 90 20', N. lat.
5i° 4°'.
CORCHORUS, Jews-sallad, in botany, a genus of
the polyandria monogynia clafs. The corolla confifts
of five petals; the calix is deciduous, and confifts of
five leaves; and the capfule has many cells and valves.
The fpecies are fix, none of them natives of Bri¬
tain.
Cord af •wood, a certain quantity of wood for burning,
fo called becaufe formerly meafured with a cord. The
dimenfions of a ftatute cord of wood are eight feet
long, four feet high, and’four feet broad.
Cord-wood, is new wood, and fuch as, when brought
by water, comes on board a veflel, in oppofition to
that which is floated.
CORDAGE, a term ufed, in general, for all forts of
cord, whether fmall, middling, or great. See Rope.
CORDATED, an appellation frequently given by natu-
ralifts to tilings (bmewhat refembling a heart.
CORDED, in heraldry. A crofs corded fome authors
take for a crofs wound or wrenched about with cords.
Se; Cableo cros$. t
Others, with more probability, take it for a crofs
made of two pieces of cord.
CORDELERAS, mountains of fouth America, other-
wife called Andes. See Andes.
CORDELIER, in chupch-hiftony, a Francifcan or re¬
ligious ef the order of St francis.
COIIDIA, in botany, a gemis of the pentandria mono¬
gynia clafs. The corolla is tunn I-lhaped, and has
but one petal; the ftylus is dichotomous; and the
fruit is a bilocular drupa. The fpecies are five,
none of them natives of Britain.
CORDIAL, in medicine, whatever raifes the fpirits,
and gives them a fodden ftrength and chearfulnefs, as
wine, fpirits, the effluvia of flowers, fruit, and many
other fubftances.
CORDON, in fortification, a row' of (tones, made
round on the outfide, and fet between the wall of the
fortrefs which lies aflope, and the parapet which
(lands perpendicular, after fuch a manner, that this
difference may not be offenfive to the «ye : whence
the cordons ferve only as an ornament, ranging
round about the place, bein^ only ufed in fortification
of (tone-work. For' in thofe made with earth, the
void fpace is filled up with pointed (lakes.
CORDOUA, Cordova, a city of Andalufia, in Spain,
fituated