Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 163

=Gossypium Barbadense.= The 'Barbadoes' or 'Bourbon cotton plant.' This is the species which yields all our best cotton. In the small American islands which fringe the coast from Charlestown to Savannah, this plant has produced the celebrated 'sea-island cotton,' which is unrivalled for the length of its 'staple,' its strength, and silkiness.

=Gossypium herbaceum.= The common cotton plant of India. It produces the Surat cotton of commerce.

=Gossypium Peruvianum or ac.u.minatum.= A species supposed to be indigenous to America. It furnishes the South American varieties of cotton, as Pernambuco, Peruvian, Maranham, and Brazilian.

_Identif._ See LINEN.

_Dyeing._ The fibres of cotton have nearly the same affinity for mordants and the colouring matter of dyed stuffs as linen, and may be treated in the same manner. See DYEING, LINEN, &c.

=Cotton Cake.= The cake remaining after the expression of the oil from the seeds of the cotton plant (_Gossypium_) is used as a cattle food. The decorticated is preferred to the undecorticated variety, as the latter is said to occasionally set up dangerous internal irritation amongst the animals partaking of it.

Composition of cotton-cake (decorticated).

Moisture 918 Oil 1605 Alb.u.minous compounds 4125 Non-nitrogenous principles 1645 Phosphates and insoluble earthy matters 815 Woody fibre 892 ----- 10000

=COTTON, GUN-.= See PYROXYLIN.

=COUGH.= _Syn._ TUS'SIS, L. The sudden and violent expulsion of air from the lungs. It is generally symptomatic of other affections, but is sometimes idiopathic, or a primary disease. Many cases of cough depend upon the extension of catarrh to the trachea and bronchiae, which thus become loaded with mucus or phlegm, which they endeavour to throw off by the convulsive effort called coughing. In some cases it is caused by a vitiation and insp.i.s.sation of the secretions, arising from the imperfect action of the absorbents; this is the common cause of the dry cough of old people. Idiopathic cough is not considered dangerous in itself, or while running its regular course, but it is often productive of most serious consequences, by superinducing the inflammation of some organ, or laying the foundation of phthisis.

Cough is sometimes attended by copious expectoration, and at other times exists without any; it has hence been distinguished into moist or mucous cough, and dry cough.

_Treatment._ That of common catarrhal cough consists in allaying the irritation as much as possible, by demulcents and expectorants, as mucilaginous drinks and lozenges, which act upon the glottis, and sympathetically upon the trachea and bronchiae. Among the first may be mentioned almond milk, barley water, refined Spanish juice, gum Arabic, and a mixture of the last two made into lozenges; among the second, the most innocent and convenient is ipecacuanha, in the shape of lozenges, 2 or 3 of which maybe sucked whenever the cough is troublesome. A light diet should be adopted, the bowels kept slightly relaxed by the use of gentle aperients, and a mild and equable temperature sought as much as possible.

When this plan does not succeed, recourse may be had to an emetic, followed by small doses of Dover's powders, and extract or tincture of henbane or squill pill. When a cough is troublesome at night and unattended with fever, a small dose of laudanum, or tincture of henbane, taken on going to rest, will generally procure sleep. In the treatment of dry cough the more stimulating expectorants are useful, as garlic, ammoniac.u.m, styrax, and benzoin, combined with narcotics and sedatives, as henbane, hemlock, and opium. A diaph.o.r.etic opiate is also very useful, especially in the cough of old people. See DRAUGHT, EMULSION, MIXTURE, PILLS, &c.

=COU'MARIN= (koo). _Syn._ CU'MARIN. The odorous principle of the fruit or bean of _Dipteryxodorata_ (tonquin bean). It exists in several other plants, as _Melilotus officinalis_, _Asperula odorata_, and _Anthoxanthum odoratum_.

_Prep._ From the sliced tonquin beans, by macerating in hot alcohol; straining through cloth, and distilling off the greater part of the spirit. The syrupy residue deposits, on standing, crystals of COUMARIN, which must be purified from fat oil by pressure, and then crystallised from hot water.

_Prop._ Slender, brilliant, colourless needles; fusible at 122 Fahr., and distilling at a higher temperature without decomposition. It has a fragrant odour and burning taste; it is very slightly soluble in cold water, more freely in hot water, and also in alcohol.

=COUNTER-IR'RITANTS.= In _medicine_ and _pharmacy_, substances applied to the surface of the body to establish a secondary morbid action, with the view of relieving one already existing. In painful and spasmodic affections, as neuralgia, spasms, and cramp; in rheumatism, lumbago, swelled and painful joints; in headache, sore throat, sprains, languid glandular tumours, and many other cases, this cla.s.s of medicine often proves extremely valuable. The counter-irritants which are best known are blisters, mustard poultices, hartshorn-and-oil, and liniment of ammonia.

=COURT PLAS'TER.= See PLASTER.

=COW DUNG.= This substance was formerly employed in large quant.i.ties by the calico printers. Recently a mixture of sulphate, carbonate, and phosphate of lime and soda, with British gum or bran, has been successfully tested as a subst.i.tute for it, and has the advantage of cleanliness and economy.

=COW'HAGE.= _Syn._ COW'ITCH; MUCUN'A (Ph. L. E. & D.), L. "The hairs of the fruit _Mucuna pruriens_" (Ph. L.). "The hairs from the pods" (Ph. E.).

"The hairy down" (Ph. D.). It occasions violent itching when it comes in contact with the skin, which can only be allayed by a solution of green vitriol, or by oil. It is frequently administered as a vermifuge, made into a confection, by sc.r.a.ping the hair off a pod into treacle, syrup, or honey, for a morning dose, which is repeated for 3 or 4 successive days, followed by a brisk purge. It acts more effectually if its administration has been preceded by a gentle emetic.

=COW-POX.= [_Variola Vaccina._] A disease affecting the udder in cows. The treatment consists in fomenting the udder and applying poultices of spent hops, giving laxative and saline medicines, and in drawing off the milk with a teat-syphon.

=COWS.= See DAIRY.

=CRAB.= See Sh.e.l.l-FISH.

=CRACKNELS.= Small, brittle cakes or biscuits, made by first boiling and then baking paste. _Prep._ To flour, 1 pint, add a little grated nutmeg, the yolks of 2 eggs, 2 or 3 spoonfuls of rose-water, and cold water, q. s.

to make a paste; then roll in b.u.t.ter, 1/2 lb., and make it into shapes. In one hour put them into a kettle of boiling water, and boil them until they swim, then throw them into cold water; take them out; and when dry, bake them on tins. Those of the shops contain less b.u.t.ter, and the rose-water is omitted.

=CRACK'NUTS.= Thin and sweet cakes or wafers. _Prep._ 1. Flour, 1 lb.; sugar, 3/4 lb.; melted b.u.t.ter, 1/2 lb.; 6 or 7 eggs, well beaten; make a paste with a gla.s.sful of raisin wine and a little water; add caraways, roll it out as thin as paper, cut it into shapes with a tumbler, wash the pieces with the white of egg, and dust them over with powdered sugar.

2. As the last, but using 1/2 lb. more flour.

=CRAMP.= See SPASMS.

=c.r.a.pE= is cleaned by rinsing it in ox-gall and water, to remove the dirt; afterwards in pure water, to remove the gall; and lastly, in a little gum-water, to stiffen and crisp it. It is then clapped between the hands until dry.

=CRAY-FISH.= See Sh.e.l.l-FISH.

=CRAY'ONS.= Colouring substances made up into small cylinders or any other convenient form for use in writing or drawing.

=Crayons, Draw'ing.= _Prep._ 1. Spermaceti, 3 oz.; boiling water, 1 pint; agitate together till they form a species of emulsion; add bone ash, 1 lb.

(or more, previously reduced to an impalpable powder), and colouring matter, q. s. to give the proper tint; reduce the whole to a perfectly h.o.m.ogeneous paste, and form it into crayons.

2. Pipeclay and the finest prepared chalk, equal parts; or pipeclay alone, q. s.; colouring, a sufficient quant.i.ty; make them into a paste with pale mild ale.

3. White curd or Castile soap, cut into thin shavings, 1 oz.; boiling water, 1 pint; dissolve, and when cold, add gradually as much rectified spirit of wine as will render the liquid barely transparent. With this fluid make equal parts of the finest elutriated clay and chalk into a stiff paste, adding colouring matter, q. s., as before. For common qualities, the spirit of wine may be omitted, but the ma.s.s will then dry more slowly.

4. Curd soap, 1-1/2 oz.; gum Arabic, 1/2 oz.; boiling water, 1-1/4 pint; dissolve, and use it as the last. General Lomet uses a similar mixture to work up the softest varieties of hemat.i.te, with which he thus forms superior red crayon.

5. (Process of the Brothers Joel, of Paris.) Sh.e.l.l-lac, 3 parts; spirit of wine, 4 parts; oil of turpentine, 2 parts; dissolve, add pure clay, 6 parts; colouring matter, q. s.; form the ma.s.s into crayons, and dry them by a stove heat.

6. Pale sh.e.l.l-lac, 5 parts; wood naphtha, 12 parts; dissolve, and with this fluid mix up the colouring powder, previously stirred up with an equal weight of fine pale-blue clay; dry by a stove heat, as before. When this process is well managed, it produces crayons equal to those of the best Parisian houses.

_Obs._ The composition may be formed into crayons by simply rolling it on a slab; but to ensure their solidity the manufacturers generally employ a metallic cylinder of 2 or 3 inches in diameter, with one end open and the other firmly secured to a perforated plate, having holes of the same size as the intended crayons. The crayon composition, in the state of a stiff paste or dough, is introduced into the open end, and is forced down and through the holes, by means of a small plug or piston, that exactly fits the inside of the cylinder, and which is driven by the equable motion of a small screw. The pieces that pa.s.s through the holes are then cut into lengths and dried.

The substances employed as colouring matters for crayons are very numerous, and their choice offers a wide field for the skill and fancy of the artist. The pigment having been selected, it may be reduced to any shade or tint by admixture with other pigments, and by 'dilution' with a proper quant.i.ty of elutriated or prepared chalk. As, however, crayon colours do not admit of being mixed together at the time of using them, like liquid colours, it is usual to make 3 to 6 different shades of each colour, so as to enable the artist at once to produce any effect he chooses.

CRAYONS, BLACK. From prepared black-lead, ivory-black, lamp-black, &c.

Black chalk and charcoal are frequently made into crayons by simply sawing them into suitably sized pieces. They may then be put into a pipkin of melted wax, and allowed to macerate for an hour; after which they should be taken out, drained, and laid on a piece of blotting paper to dry.

Drawings made with these crayons are very permanent, and if warmed slightly on the wrong side, the lines will adhere, and become almost as durable as ink.

CRAYONS, BLUE. From indigo, smalts, Prussian blue, verditer, &c.

CRAYONS, BROWN. From umber (raw and burnt), terra di Sienna (raw and burnt), Cullen's earth, brown ochre, &c.; and some peculiar shades, from a mixture of black, carmine, and either of the above colours.

CRAYONS, GREEN. From a mixture of king's yellow, or yellow ochre, with blues.

CRAYONS, PURPLE. From any of the more brilliant blues, mixed with carmine, lake, or vermilion.

CRAYONS, RED. From carmine, carminated lakes, vermilion, hemat.i.te, and any of the earthy or mineral colours commonly used as pigments. Crayons of red chalk may be prepared in the manner pointed out for crayons of black chalk.

CRAYONS, WHITE. From pure clay and chalk.

CRAYONS, YELLOW. From king's yellow, Naples yellow, orpiment, yellow ochre, &c.

=Crayons, Lithograph'ic.= _Prep._ 1. Tallow-soap, 7 parts; white wax, 6 parts; melt by a gentle heat, and add lamp-black, 1 part; keep it melted with constant stirring, for 20 or 30 minutes, then let it cool a little, and cast it into moulds.

2. White wax, 4 parts; sh.e.l.l-lac and hard tallow-soap, of each 2 parts; lamp-black, 1 part; as last.