spring or fountain), an acid and its compounds, so named by Berzelius from having been first found by him in spring water, being among the products of vegetable decomposition, and constituents of humus. This acid and the apocrenic acid associated with it differ from the extract of mould or geine of Berzelius in containing nitrogen. Liebig, Graham, and other distinguished chemists, do not recognize the existence of this substance. The following description is given of it as obtained by Berzelius: a sour, yellow mass, reddening litmus, soluble in water and alcohol; forming salts (crenates) with bases, which salts are soluble in water, but not in alcohol; obtained from ochreous sediments, by boiling with caustic potash, saturating with acetic acid, and precipitating with acetate of copper the crenic acid as a crenate of copper. This is decomposed by sulphuretted hydrogen, and purified by washing with alcohol. Its formula is given as C24H12016, or C,H,NO。.

CREOLE, a corruption of the Spanish word criollo, which signifies one born in America or the West Indies, of European ancestors. In this sense, all the native white people of the United States are creoles. But the word in its English use has undergone both a limitation and an extension. It is limited to persons born within or near the tropics; and it is made to include persons of all colors. Thus the term creole negro is employed in the English West Indies to distinguish the negroes born there from the Africans imported during the time of the slave trade. The application of this term to the colored people has led to an idea common in some parts of the United States, though wholly unfounded, that it implies an admixture, greater or less, of African blood. The creoles of the West Indies and the adjacent coasts of the continent are distinguished by marked physical peculiarities from their European ancestors. Bryan Edwards, who had ample opportunities for observation, and who is a very competent observer, describes them, in his "History of the West Indies," as obviously a taller race on the whole than the European, but in general not proportionately robust. He had known several who were full 6 feet 4 inches in height, but they wanted bulk to come up to the idea of masculine beauty. This peculiarity, however, it is to be observed, is not confined to the creoles of the tropics. The same remark has been made respecting the descendants of Europeans born in the United States and in Australia. The creoles are distinguished (and this is an exclusive peculiarity of them) for the freedom and suppleness of their joints, which enables them to move with great ease, agility, and grace. From the same cause they excel in penmanship, and in every thing requiring flexibility of movement. The effect of climate is likewise obvious in the structure of the eye, the socket being considerably deeper than among Europeans, thus affording a protection against the glare of Their skin feels considerably colder than that of Europeans-a circumstance ob

the sun.

served in a still stronger degree of the negroes, and going to show an effort of nature to protect their bodies against the heat. Even though living in the same way with Europeans, they are rarely subject to those inflammatory disorders, the yellow fever included, which prove so often fatal to the former. This is particularly true of the creole women of the West Indies, who live in general very quiet and regular lives, and who in their diet are abstemious even perhaps to a fault. Simple water or lemonade is the strongest beverage in which they indulge, and a vegetable mess at noon, seasoned with Cayenne pepper, constitutes their principal meal. To a stranger newly arrived, they appear as if just risen from a sick bed. Their voices are soft and spiritless, every step betrays languor, while their cheeks lack entirely the bloom of the rose. They have, however, in general beautiful black hair, and the finest eyes of any women in the world-large, languishing, and expressive. They are also noted for their fine teeth. The early display of mental powers in young creole children, and their superiority in this respect over European children of the same age, has been noted by all travellers. It is difficult, however, to rear white children in that climate; though perhaps the difficulty arises in no small degree from the mode of living indulged in. The peculiarities of the white creole are to be found also in the mixed race, with more of force and vivacity on the part of the latter, the women especially, as being less enervated by the climate. A high degree of tenderness and compassion, and great adhesiveness of affection, characterize the creole women of all colors. There may be observed also a marked distinction between the creole negroes and those imported from Africa. The former are more slender, agile, and graceful, though not less strong or capable of labor, with quicker perceptions and more volatile dispositions. If the white race deteriorates by its transfer to the West Indies, the black race evidently improves physically as well as mentally. How far the native-born whites of the high tropical tablelands of Mexico and South America resemble or differ from the white natives of the lower and hotter regions, no traveller seems yet to have accurately noted.

CREON. I. A mythical king of Corinth, in whose reign Jason returned to Grecce with the sorceress Medea. Visiting Corinth on his way home, the hero beheld the beautiful Creüsa, the only daughter of the king, and became enamored of her. Creon promised to give her to him in marriage if he would divorce Medea. Jason consented to do so, and the king at once ordered Medea to quit his dominions. The sorceress begged to be allowed to remain for a single day, and when this request was granted she prepared in the interval a magical robe, which she sent as a present to Creusa, who, unconscious of danger, put it on, and was burned to death. Creon, who had kissed her while in the agony of death, also caught fire and perished.

II. A king of Thebes, who, alarmed by the ravages of the Sphinx, offered his crown and his sister Jocasta to any one that could solve the enigma propounded by the monster. Edipus, having succeeded in doing so, ascended the throne and married Jocasta, not knowing that she was his mother. The fruit of this marriage was 2 sons, Eteocles and Polynices, who, after their father's death, having long been at enmity, finally slew each other in single combat. Creon, now resuming the government, ordained that Polynices should remain unburied, and that any who infringed this decree should be buried alive. Antigone, sister of Polynices, buried her brother in disregard of this edict, and was imprisoned in a cave. Here she instantly killed herself, whereon Hæmon, her lover, rushed to her prison-house, and slew himself on her corse.

CREOSOTE, an oily, colorless liquid, of a burning and bitter taste, and a peculiar smoky odor. It was first obtained by Dr. von Reichenbach, in 1830, among the products of the distillation of wood, and named from the Greek kpeas, flesh, and oww, to preserve, in reference to its peculiar antiseptic properties. It possesses neither acid nor alkaline reaction. It boils at the temperature of 397°, and does not freeze at 17° below zero. At 68° its specific gravity is 1.037. It evaporates without residue, leaving upon paper a temporary greasy stain, and upon the skin a white spot. In concentrated form it acts as a caustic. It may be inflamed from a candle, and then burns with much smoke. It is but partially soluble in water, but is itself a powerful solvent of the resins, fats, indigo, camphor, &c. Its composition is variously stated. According to Ettling it consists of carbon 77.42, hydrogen 8.12, and oxygen 14.46. Its most remarkable quality is that for which it was named. Meats are preserved by soaking them in a dilute solution of creosote for a quarter of an hour, and then draining off the water and drying. Hams and tongues acquire a very delicate flavor after being immersed for 24 hours in a mixture of 1 part of pure creosote with 100 of water or brine. A process has been patented in England for impregnating salt with the volatile products of wood tar; meats prepared with it are both smoked and salted. It is the creosote in pyroligneous acid and in the smoke from wood that gives to these the property of curing meat. Either crude pyroligneous acid or wood tar may be used to furnish creosote. The liquid distilled off the latter divides into 3 layers, the lowest containing the creosote. The acetic acid also present in it is removed, after separating this layer from the other, by means of carbonate of potash. The oil which after some time collects upon the liquid is distilled, producing a heavy liquid, with other lighter fluids. The latter is agitated with phosphoric acid, and again distilled to remove ammonia. It is then mixed with solution of caustic potash of specific gravity 1.12, which dissolves the

creosote, but leaves the eupione insoluble. This is decanted off. The liquid is then left for some time exposed to the air till it acquires a brown color. Sulphuric acid is then added, which sets the creosote free, so that it may be decanted; but it requires to be again treated with caustic potash and sulphuric acid, and the process repeated until the creosote, on exposure for some time to the air, ceases to turn brown. It still requires, after thorough washing with water, to be distilled from hydrate of potash, or from a strong solution of caustic potash. The first portions that come over are water, and are rejected. Creosote is known to be impure by turning brown on exposure to the air; strong acetic acid also detects its usual impurities, dissolving with the creosote, and leaving them floating on the surface. As a medicine, creosote has been much used, both as an external application and in doses inwardly administered. It is introduced into ointments and applied to wounds, burns, ulcers, and scaly eruptions. It checks hemorrhage, nausea, and vomiting, and applied to an aching tooth, often instantly relieves the pain. It has been successfully given in diarrhoea, cholera morbus, cholera infantum, &c.; indeed, there is hardly a substance in materia medica that has been administered to such a great variety of diseases, and, in many of them, with such decidedly favorable results. In an overdose it is a poison, and no antidote is known; emetics and`stimulants are the only treatment. A few drops of creosote added to a pint of ink will prevent mouldiness.

CRESCENDO, in music, an Italian term signifying that the notes over which it is placed are to be gradually swelled. It is common to designate it by the following sign.

CRESCENT (Lat. crescere, to increase), originally an epithet applied to the moon in its first quarter, when its disk is enlarging and its horns are acute. Any figure or likeness of the new moon was afterward termed a crescent, which became a favorite form for ornaments. The Syrian Astarte and the Greek Artemis were often represented with it placed horizontally over their brows, having its horns turned upward. An ivory crescent was worn as a sort of buckle for the cothurnus by wealthy Athenians, and Roman matrons enlarged it as a decoration for the hair. Throughout antiquity the crescent was especially a Byzantine symbol, and it appears on Byzantine imperial medals from the time of Augustus. When the Turks became masters of Constantinople they adopted this symbol, inscribed it upon their standards, banners, and mosques, and named their dominion the empire of the crescent. In 1448 a military order of the crescent was instituted by René of 'Anjou. It was composed of 50 noble knights, each of whom wore an enamelled crescent on the right arm, from which was suspended a number of small wooden columns equal to that of the combats in which he had been engaged. In 1799, after the battle of the Nile, the sultan Selim III. presented to Nelson a splendid cres

cent adorned with diamonds.

It became a favorite ornament of the English admiral, who often declared himself a knight of the crescent. This circumstance induced the sultan to found in 1801 the order of the crescent, to be conferred as an honor upon foreigners who had deserved well of Turkey.

CRESCENTINI, GIROLAMO, a masculine soprano singer, born near Urbino, Italy, in 1769, died at Naples in 1846. He was received with the utmost enthusiasm all over Europe, especially in Vienna. He was a great favorite with Napoleon I., who engaged him for his private chapel in Paris in 1806; but subsequently he returned to Naples, where he taught music with great success, and published collections of exercises in musical vocalization.

CRESCENZI, PIETRO DE', a Bolognese nobleman, born about 1230, died in 1320, the author of the most valuable work on agriculture of the middle ages, entitled Opus Ruralium Commodorum, which contained not only the personal experiences and observations of the author, but the best information that could be gained from the agriculturists of antiquity. It has been translated into several modern languages, and the best Latin edition is that of Gessner, 2 vols., Leipsic, 1735.

CRESPEL-DELLISSE, LOUIS FRANÇOIS XAVIER JOSEPH, a French scientific agriculturist, born in Lille, March 22, 1789, established the first important manufactory of beet-root sugar in his native city, in 1810, in concert with Messrs. Dellisse and Passy. Subsequently he founded nearly 20 agricultural establishments in various parts of France, of which he made his refinery at Arras the centre.

CRESS, the name of several species of plants, with acrid or pungent leaves, most of which belong to the natural order cruciferæ. The water cresses (nasturtium and sisymbrium) are the most common varieties. They grow abundantly on the brinks of rivulets and small ponds, may be eaten as a salad, and are valued as antiscorbutic medicines.

CRESSON, ELLIOTT, an American philanthropist, born March 2, 1796, died Feb. 20, 1854. He was a successful merchant in Philadelphia, where he resided all his life, and a member of the society of Friends. His benev olent disposition was especially turned toward the Indian and negro population of the United States. At one time he proposed to become a missionary among the Seminoles of Florida, and afterward engaged in establishing the first African colony of liberated slaves in the territory of Bassa Cove. In the winter of 1838-39 he made the tour of the New England states as agent of the national colonization society, and the next winter was spent in a similar mission in the southern states. He everywhere recommended his measures with the eloquence of sincere conviction, and met with much favor and He sailed to England in Dec. 1840, where he spent 2 years in advocating the project of colonization, as also 3 years from 1850

success.

CREST (Lat. crista), originally the reddish caruncle and tuft of feathers which rise on the heads of some birds, as the cock. It also designates the plume or other ornament worn by warriors and cavaliers on the top of the helmet or casque. By Herodotus the invention of martial crests is attributed to the Carians, whose painted bucklers, and casques mounted with feathers, gained them the appellation of cocks. The crests of the Homeric heroes were often bunches of horse hair, and both the Greeks and Romans esteemed the capture of an enemy's crest an honorable feat of war. Crests, made of the feathers of the ostrich or heron, or of painted wood or parchment, were worn by knights at medieval jousts and tournaments. When the shield was not borne, they afforded the principal criterion of nobility.

CRESWICK, THOMAS, an English landscape painter, born at Sheffield, Yorkshire, in 1811. His first pictures, consisting of views in North Wales and Derbyshire, were exhibited at the royal academy in 1828. His pictures are generally elaborate, with admirably pencilled foliage and atmospheric effects, and a precision of drawing never degenerating into stiffness. He was elected an associate of the royal academy in 1842, and an academician in 1851. His pencil is discernible in several recent illustrated works.

CRETACEOUS GROUP (Lat. creta, chalk), a series of stratified rocks forming the upper division of the secondary formation, distinguished as containing the last strata of which the fossil animal remains are wholly of extinct species. The group is subdivided into upper and lower; the former is often called from its principal member the chalk, and the latter for the same reason the greensand. The group underlies the tertiary beds of the London and Paris basins, rising up toward the straits of Dover on each side, along the coast of which its white chalk cliffs form prominent objects in the scenery. The formation is represented in New Jersey by beds of yellowish limestone and of greensand, which contain fossil shells, some of which belong to the same species, and most of them to the same genera, with those found in the cretaceous rocks of Europe. The same genera of fish also are common to the group of the two countries. The formation is traced through the eastern part of North Carolina and central part of Georgia, and after sweeping round the southern termination of the Alleghanies in Alabama passes through that state and Mississippi northward into Tennessee and Kentucky. It is recognized

near Council Bluff on the Missouri, in Texas, upon the Andes near Bogota, S. A., and also in Hindostan. Thus at widely separated points in the ancient seas of 4 continents were similar deposits produced during the same geological period, characterized by the animal remains they include, of the same general type, and often of the same species. For relations of this group to those which precede and succeed it, see GEOLOGY; and for further details regarding its members, see CHALK, GAULT, and GREENSAND.

CRETE. See CANDIA.

CRETINS (called in Carinthia, Tockem; in Styria, Tosten; in Austria, Trotteln; in the Tyrol, Talken; in Saltzburg, Totteln; in Würtemberg, Feren; in Sardinia and some other countries, Lallen; and in many portions of Germany, Geschöpf), persons in whom partial or complete idiocy is combined with great bodily deformity. The most vivid and accurate description of their appearance is that given by Berchtold Beaupié in his Dissertation sur les Cretins: "Who is this melancholy being who bears the human form in its lowest and most repulsive expression? I see a head of unusual form and size, a squat and bloated figure, with a stupid look, with blear, hollow, and heavy eyes, with thick projecting eyelids, and a flat nose. His face is of a leaden hue, his skin is dirty, flabby, covered with tetters, and his thick tongue hangs down over his moist livid lips. His mouth, always open and full of saliva, shows teeth which are going to decay. His chest is narrow, his back curved, his breath asthmatic. I see indeed arms and legs, but his limbs are short, misshapen, lean, stiff, without power and without utility. The knees are thick and inclined inward, and the feet flat. The large head drops listlessly on the breast, the belly resembles a bag, and the integuments are so loose that they cannot retain the intestines in its cavity. This loathsome idiotic being hears not, speaks not, and only now and then utters a hoarse, wild, inarticulate sound. Notwithstanding his greediness, he is scarcely able to support life. One passion alone seems sometimes to rouse him from his usual insensibility; it is the sexual instinct in its rudest brutality. At first we should be inclined to take this being for a gigantic polypus, something in imitation of a man, for it scarcely moves; it creeps with the painful heaviness of a sloth; and yet it is the monarch of the earth, but dethroned and degraded. It is a cretin." The name cretin is of uncertain origin; Viréy derives it from Chrétien, Christian, because the inhabitants of the countries where cretinism prevails were very generally disposed to regard the cretins as incapable of sinfulness ("souls without sin," they call them), and hence regarded them as favored of God, or good Christians." Blackie, however, whose essay on this subject gives evidence of very thorough research, derives it from the Romance or Grison cretina, a corruption of the Latin creatura, a creature. This unfortunate class are far more widely distributed than has been generally supposed. Throughout the whole

sub-Alpine region in Europe, as well as in some of the more level regions, they are found, and often in great numbers. The goitre or bronchocele, so prevalent throughout the whole of the Alpine countries, is often accompanied by cretinism, and is, with very few exceptions, always found on the cretin. Switzerland, and especially the cantons Valais, Vaud, Uri, Aargau, Grisons, and Glarus, seems to be the home of this frightful deformity. It is endemic in portions of Rhenish Prussia, Baden, Sardinia, Bavaria, upper Austria, along the banks of the Danube, particularly in Judenburg, Bruck, Gratz, Marburg, and Cilly, in Würtemberg, Denmark, Norway, in the Alpine departments of France, in portions of Turkey and Russia, and in the highlands of Scotland. In Africa, it has been found prevalent along the northern slope of the Atlas range. In Asia, the districts around the base of the Himalaya range furnish great numbers of cases, as well as China, Chinese Tartary, and Sumatra. In South America, cretins are found in considerable numbers on the eastern or Atlantic slope of the Andes, and scattered cases occur along the Alleghany, Green mountain, and Hoosic ranges in the United States. In some parts of Canada cases have also been observed. The number of cretins in the sub-Alpine districts of Europe, whether considered actually or relatively to the population, is frightfully large. In some localities in Switzerland, Rhenish Prussia, and the Alpine districts of France and Savoy, the number is so great, that in whole villages not an able-bodied man can be found.-The causes of cretinism are involved in some obscurity, though within the past 20 years many of the ablest medical men in Europe have been investigating the subject with great care. The localities in which it is most prevalent in the Alpine districts are low-lying valleys, narrow, and exposed to the direct rays of the sun but for a few hours each day, and usually having but one outlet. In these, the air is often stagnant and the heat intense; the water is also in some cases charged with mineral impurities, especially the salts of lime; the food of the inhabitants is often scanty in quantity, and inferior in quality; they are in many cases grossly intemperate, and intermarriage with near relatives, and those affected with goitre or incipient cretinism, is common. In other countries it occurs on open plains, but in other respects under circumstances analogous to those already named. Whatever may be the obscurity in regard to the causes of this fearful disorder, there is none in regard to the indications to be fulfilled in its treatment. The life of the cretin is usually short; few are found above 30 years of age, and any treatment having in view the improvement of their health must, to be of benefit, be applied to the young. The recovery of a patient beyond the age of 12 years is almost hopeless. The first thing to be accomplished is the removal of the young cretin, as soon as possible after the disease exhibits itself (for in many of the cases cretinism is not developed till the period of dentition, and

sometimes even not until the 6th or 7th year), to a pure bracing atmosphere. It has been ascertained that on the Alps it seldom occurs at an elevation of 3,000 feet above the level of the sea, and never at the height of 4,000 feet. Hence, those who have attempted its treatment in Europe have preferred elevated locations. The treatment requires an abundance of pure water, for drinking, washing, and bathing; warm and cold baths and douches; friction of the skin with brushes and stimulating liquids, to rouse its action; warm clothing; gymnastic exercises of the simplest character, passing on to those more difficult and fatiguing as they can be borne; the administration of some of the mineral tonics; nourishing and abundant, but simple food; iodine in some form, cod-liver oil, and the administration of some of the phosphates to give more firmness to the bony structure. Galvanism and electro-magnetism are also of benefit. As the essential nature of the disease seems to be a

combination of rachitis (rickets) with retarded mental development, the bodily treatment must resemble as far as possible that ordinarily adopted in the treatment of rachitis and other scrofulous affections. The effort to develop the mind must follow, and with considerable interval, the attempt to restore the body to a healthy condition. The method of training for this purpose is similar to that employed in the instruction of idiots. The measure of success has been somewhat greater than with idiots, partly perhaps from the fact that instruction has usually been commenced at an earlier period, and partly because the mental paralysis (if we may be allowed the expression) was less profound than in the case of the idiot. The idea of restoring the cretin to health and to the exercise of his mental faculties had occurred to several individuals, and had been made the topic of some essays in the early part of the present century, by Fodéré, Wenzel, Viréy, Abercrombie, and others; yet no systematic effort for the purpose was made till 1839, when Dr. Guggenbühl undertook the establishment of an institution for the care and cure of cretins. He located this institution on the Abendberg, in the canton of Bern, in 1840, and has devoted his life to the work of their training. That, like the good abbé de l'Epée, whom in many respects he resembles, his enthusiasm may at times have led him to regard the intellectual progress of his pupils as beyond what they had actually attained, and to mistake answers learned by rote for the results of mental activity, is very possible; but, granting all that his detractors say to be true, he has undoubtedly restored many of this abject and degraded class to intelligence, activity, and life. There are now 5 other institutions on the continent expressly for the treatment of cretins, aside from those intended for the instruction of idiots and imbeciles not affected with cretinism. They are Dr. Erlenmayer's at Bendorf, with 25 or 30 pupils; Dr. Zemmer's at Mareaburg, with about 60 pupils; Dr. Müller's at Winterbach, with about

the same number; a small one at Ecksberg, in Bavaria; and another in the valley of Aosta, in Piedmont, occupying the old lepers' hospital at the monastery. These all owe their origin to the example of Dr. Guggenbühl, but they have hardly attained to his measure of success. Some of the idiot schools also admit a few cretins; but the entire provision for their instruction in Europe furnishes accommodation for not more than 250 children, while at the lowest estimate there are more than 50,000 cretins on the continent. Several of the smaller gov ernments of Germany have, however, taken the preliminary steps for the organization of cretin hospitals.

CREUSE, a department of central France, traversed by the river Creuse, from which it de rives its name, and by other streams, none of which are here navigable; area, 2,133 sq. m.; pop. in 1856, 278,889. It is very mountainous, and contains granite, coal, gypsum, and potters' clay. The soil is poor, except in the N. E. part; agriculture is backward; the climate is damp and changeable; and the domestic animals are of an inferior breed. The crops of grain are insufficient for domestic consumption. Fruit, rape seed, and hemp, however, are raised abundantly, and quantities of honey are collected. The chief manufactures are carpets, tapestry, coarse woollen goods, cotton, leather, paper, glass, and porcelain. There are no canals, but the department is traversed by a railway from Châteauroux to Limoges. It is divided into 4 arrondissements, 25 cantons, and 261 communes. Capital, Guéret.

CREUTZ, GUSTAF FILIP, count, a Swedish poet and diplomatist, born in Finland in 1726, died in 1785. His poems were published in 1795, including Atis og Camilla, a pastoral epic in 5 cantos. While Swedish ambassador to Paris, he concluded, April 3, 1783, a commercial treaty with Benjamin Franklin, as representative of the United States. On his return to Stockholm he was appointed minister of foreign affairs, and chancellor of the university of Upsal. Gustavus III. purchased his library, which is now in the palace of Haga, and on April 26, 1786, the king in person pronounced his eulogy, before a chapter of the Swedish order of the seraphim, of which Creutz was a member.

CREUZER, GEORG FRIEDRICH, & German philologist and antiquary, born at Marburg, March 10, 1771, died in Heidelberg, Feb. 16, 1858. He was the son of a bookbinder, commenced his studies in his native city, and completed them at the university of Jena. After his return to Marburg he was appointed to a professorship of Greek, and subsequently of rhetoric, poetry, and Greek literature, which, however, he soon gave up, having accepted in 1804 the professorship of philology and ancient literature at the university of Heidelberg. Here he remained industriously engaged as a teacher till 1845, and as an author to the end of his life. The philological seminary, which was founded at Heidelberg in 1807 according to his