Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 165

=CRICK'ETS.= These insects may be destroyed by putting Scotch snuff into their holes, or by placing some pieces of beetle wafers for them to eat.

=CRINUM ASIATIc.u.m.= (Ind. Ph.) _Habitat._ Low humid localities in Bengal, the Concans, and other parts of India; also cultivated in gardens; Ceylon, the Moluccas, and Cochin China.--_Officinal part._ The fresh root (_Crini Radix_); bulbous, with a terminal stoloniferous fusiform portion issuing from the crown of the bulb; emits an unpleasant narcotic odour; readily dried in a stove, and reducible to powder after desiccation.--_Properties._ Emetic; in small doses nauseant and diaph.o.r.etic.--_Therapeutic uses._ a.n.a.logous to those of squill.

=Juice of Crinum= (_Succus Crini_; _Infusum Crini_, Beng. Ph.). Take of the fresh root of crinum, 1/2 an ounce; cold water, 2 ounces. Bruise the root in a stone mortar, gradually adding the water. Strain, with pressure, through calico.--_Dose._ From 2 to 4 fluid drachms, every twenty minutes, until the desired effect is produced.

=Syrup of Crinum= (_Syrupus Crini_). Take of the fresh root of crinum, sliced, 8 ounces; boiling water, 1 pint; refined sugar, 1 pound. Macerate the root in the water for two hours, bruise in a mortar, press through calico, add the sugar, and dissolve with the aid of gentle heat.--_Dose._ About 2 fluid drachms, repeated as required. Used as a nauseant and emetic for children.

=CROTON CHLORAL.= _Syn._ BUTYL CHLORAL. A colourless oleaginous liquid, having an odour somewhat like that of ordinary chloral; insoluble in water. Croton chloral may be prepared by the process of Kramer and Pinner, who were the first to obtain it. A current of chlorine gas is pa.s.sed into aldehyd during twenty-four hours. At the commencement of the operation the action is very energetic; so much so that it is necessary to surround the vessel containing the aldehyd with a refrigerating mixture, and it is only towards the end that the temperature is raised to 100 C. Large quant.i.ties of hydrochloric acid are generated during all the time the chlorine is acting on the aldehyd. The resulting product is submitted to fractional distillation, and the liquid pa.s.sing over between 163 and 165 C. is croton chloral. Croton chloral is the hydride of trichlorcrotonyl (C_{4}H_{2}Cl_{3}OH), or the aldehyd of crotonic acid (C_{4}H_{5}OOH) in the radical of which three atoms of hydrogen have been replaced by three atoms of chlorine. Like ordinary chloral, croton chloral combines with water to form a crystallised hydrate which is the substance used in medicine. Croton chloral hydrate occurs in white nacreous spangles. It is very slightly soluble in cold water, more so in warm, and extremely soluble in alcohol. A convenient solvent for it is glycerin, in which it dissolves much more easily than in water. The dose of the hydrate as a hypnotic is from 8 to 15 grains, for neuralgia 5 grains are given three times a day. Dr Liebreich, who first introduced croton chloral to the notice of the medical profession, says he has failed to discover that it exercises any hurtful effects on the stomach and other organs. On the contrary, Dr Worms a.s.serts that he finds it not so generally tolerated as ordinary chloral, and Gay affirms that it is more uncertain in its narcotic effects.

=CRO'TON OIL.= _Syn._ OLEUM CROTO'NIS (B. P.), O. TIGLII (Ph. L. & D.), L.

The "oil expressed from the seeds of Croton tiglium" or purging croton.

This oil is a drastic purgative, and a powerful local irritant and rubefacient. Rubbed on the skin, it produces a pustular eruption, and frequently purges. In this way (diluted with thrice its weight of olive oil) it is occasionally used as a counter-irritant.--_Dose_ (as a purge), 1 to 2 drops; in obstinate constipation, lead colic, &c.

The residuum from which the oil has been expressed is sometimes used in veterinary practice under the name of croton cake, or croton farina; but as the amount of oil it contains varies greatly, it is irregular and uncertain in its effects.

=CROUP.= _Syn._ CYNAN'CHE LARYN"GEA, C. SUFFOCA'TIVA, C. TRACHEA'LIS, L.

An inflammatory disease affecting the larynx and trachea.

_Symp._ A permanently laborious and suffocative breathing, accompanied by wheezing, cough, a peculiar shrillness of the voice, and more or less expectoration of purulent matter, which continually threatens suffocation.

There are two varieties, acute croup and chronic croup. The latter is very rare.

_Treat._ Bleeding by leeches or cupping, over the region of the trachea, should be immediately had recourse to, when the symptoms are urgent; or violent local irritants, as pieces of lint dipped in strong acetic acid, or blisters, may be applied to the same part. In weakly subjects of irritable const.i.tution bleeding should be avoided. Dr Larroque recommends repeated vomiting in the croup of children; and M. Marotte and M. Boudet have adopted this plan with great success. The treatment consists in making the patient attacked with croup vomit a great number of times within the day, so as to detach the pseudo-membrane from the larynx nearly as fast as it is formed. For this purpose M. Marotte employs one or other of the following formulae:--

1. Tartar emetic, 1-1/2 gr.; syrup of ipecacuanha, 1 oz.; water, 2 oz.

2. Impure emetine, 3 gr.; syrup of ipecacuanha and water, of each 1-1/2 oz.

These draughts are administered by spoonfuls every ten minutes, until there has been a sufficient number of vomitings. In this manner he says he has been always able to make the patient expectorate a certain quant.i.ty of false membrane. This treatment is accompanied by the use of small doses of calomel, leeches to the throat, and blisters to the nape of the neck; but it is the opinion of M. Marotte that the vomitings alone effect the cure.

Out of 25 cases that occurred at the Hopital des Enfans[Enfants], the only authenticated case of cure among all these was effected by emetics. (M.

Boudet.)

The croup is a very dangerous disease, and medical aid should be immediately sought wherever it can be procured. It is princ.i.p.ally confined to infancy, or to children under 9 years of age; but occasionally attacks adults. One of our early friends, a young medical pract.i.tioner of great promise, died of it prematurely, after only about 20 hours' illness.

=CROWDIE.= Mix the liquor in which a leg of mutton has been boiled with half a pint of oatmeal, and two onions cut very fine; and add pepper and salt. Make the oatmeal into a paste with a little of the liquor over the fire, stir in the remainder of the ingredients, and let them boil gently for twenty minutes. This forms a very nutritious and cheap dish.

=CROWING, IN CHILDREN.= _Syn._ CHILDCROWING. SPURIOUS CROUP. SPASMODIC CROUP. This very formidable disorder almost always occurs during teething.

It comes on in paroxysms. In the intervals between the spasms the respiration is quite natural; but during the attack there is great difficulty of breathing accompanied with a crowing noise, and with violent struggling on the part of the little sufferer. Convulsions and faintness also sometimes occur. In his 'Advice to a Mother' Mr Chava.s.se prescribes the following treatment:--

"The first thing, of course, to be done is to send immediately for a medical man. Have a plentiful supply of cold and hot water always at hand, ready for use at a moment's notice. The instant the paroxysm is on the child, plentifully and perseveringly dash cold water upon his head and face. Put his feet and legs in hot salt-mustard-and-water, and if necessary place the child up to his neck in a hot bath, still dashing water upon his face and head. If he does not quickly come round, sharply smack the back and b.u.t.tocks. As soon as a medical man arrives, he will lose no time in thoroughly lancing the gums, and in applying appropriate remedies. During the intervals, great care and attention must be paid to the diet. If the child be breathing a smoky, close atmosphere, he should be immediately removed to a pure one. Indeed in this disease there is no remedy equal to a change of air--to a dry bracing neighbourhood. Even if it be winter, change of air is the best remedy, either to the coast or to a healthy farmhouse. In a case of this kind where it is not practicable to send a child from home, then let him be sent out of doors during the greater part of every day; let him, in point of fact, almost live in the open air. I am quite sure from an extensive experience that, in this disease, _fresh air, and plenty of it, is the best and princ.i.p.al remedy_."

=CRU'CIBLE.= _Syn._ MELTING POT; CRUCIBULUM, L.; CREUSET, Fr. A vessel used by metallurgists and chemists for holding substances whilst they are exposed to a high temperature. The crucibles commonly used for fusing metals are formed of clay, or a mixture of plumbago and clay. For certain purposes, crucibles of platinum, gold, silver, iron, porcelain, and lime, are employed.

=Crucibles, Earth'en.= _Syn._ CLAY CRUCIBLES. From fire-clay, mixed with silica, c.o.ke, burnt clay, or other infusible matter.

_Manuf._ The materials, having been ground and kneaded, are generally moulded by hand upon a wooden block of the shape of the cavity of the crucible. Another method of shaping a crucible consists in ramming the ingredients into a suitable mould, formed of steel or gun-metal. (See _engr._)

[Ill.u.s.tration:

_a a._ External steel mould.

_b b,_ Clay or composition for forming the crucible.

_c,_ Internal steel mould.

_d d,_ Wooden stand.

_e,_ Cord or chain to withdraw the internal mould or plug.]

Small crucibles are sometimes formed by pouring 'slip,' that is, clay mixed with sufficient water to give it the consistence of cream, into porous moulds, made of a species of stucco. A series of these moulds are placed upon a table and filled with the semifluid composition. By the time the whole (say 50 or 60) are filled, the 'slip' may be poured out of the one first filled, leaving only a very small quant.i.ty behind to give the requisite thickness to the bottom. The second and third may then be treated in the same way, until the whole number have been attended to. In each mould a perfect crucible is formed, by the abstraction of the water of that portion of the 'slip' in immediate contact with the stucco, and the crucible is either thicker or thinner in proportion to the time this absorbent action has been allowed to go on. 70 or 80 crucibles may thus be easily made in less than 15 minutes. The moulds and their contents are next placed in a stove or slow oven. In a short time, from the contraction of the clay in drying, the crucibles may be removed, and the moulds, as soon as they have become dry, may be again filled; by care they will last for years.

Earthen crucibles are used both in the burnt and unburnt state. Small crucibles are generally kiln-burnt before they are used, but the large Stourbridge clay 'casting-pots,' which are extensively employed in bra.s.s foundries, are never previously burnt.

The following kinds of earthen crucibles are much used in the arts:--

=Crucibles, Cornish.= From Teignmouth clay, 1 part; Poole clay, 1 part; sand from St. Agnes's Beacon, Cornwall, 2 parts. When smaller and less refractory crucibles are needed, the same mixture is employed, with the addition of an eighth part of China clay, or Kaolinite from St. Austell.

These crucibles are generally made round, and of two sizes, of which one fits into the other; the larger being 3 inches in diameter at the top, and 3-1/2 inches high outside measure. They are coa.r.s.e in grain, and of a greyish-white colour, spotted with dark specks. They are always kiln-burnt. Of all crucibles, none are more generally useful for metallurgical experiments.

=Crucibles, Hessian.= From a mixture of equal weights of Almerode clay and sand. They are generally triangular in shape, so that the melted metal may be conveniently poured out from each corner. They are usually sold in 'nests' of six crucibles, fitting one in another. In the character of their body, and in composition and qualities, they closely resemble the Cornish.

=Crucibles, London.= From a very refractory clay. They have a reddish-brown colour, and are close in grain. They are exceedingly useful in a.s.saying, as they resist the action of fused oxide of lead much better than most clay crucibles. Being very liable to crack, they require to be used with care.

WHITE FLUXING-POTS. From a peculiar kind of foreign clay. They are manufactured by the Patent Plumbago Crucible Company, and are much esteemed by metallurgists, being well moulded and very refractory. They have a smooth surface, and withstand the action of fluxes satisfactorily.

=Crucibles, Stourbridge-clay.= From Stourbridge clay, 4 parts; burnt clay, obtained by pounding and grinding old gla.s.s pots, 2 parts; pipe-clay and c.o.ke-powder, of each 1 part.

Anstey's Patent. From Stourbridge clay, 2 parts; hard gas-c.o.ke (previously ground and sifted through a sieve of 1/8th-inch mesh), 1 part.

_Obs._ These crucibles of Stourbridge clay are made large enough to hold forty pounds or more of melted bra.s.s. They are only dried, and not baked.

For use they are warmed, placed on the furnace, bottom upwards, the burning c.o.ke gradually heaped round them, and the firing continued until they acquire a fully red heat. They are then quickly taken out of the furnace, and put in again with the mouth upwards. If placed in the furnace with the mouth upwards at first, they are sure to crack. After they have been once used and allowed to become cold they are worthless.

=Crucibles, Plat'inum.= These are indispensable instruments in the laboratory of the a.n.a.lytical chemist. They are chiefly employed in the ignition of precipitates, and in the fusion of silicates with carbonated alkalies to render them soluble, a preliminary step to their a.n.a.lysis. The most ordinary form of the platinum crucible is that of a cup with a flat bottom. They are always provided with lids, which are sometimes so constructed that they may be used, when separated from the crucibles, as capsules for ignitions and evaporations. Platinum crucibles are not acted on by carbonated alkalies at a high temperature, but they are liable to be seriously damaged by the caustic alkalies. Precipitates of the more reducible metals must never be ignited in these crucibles, as the reduction of the metals would infallibly destroy the vessels.

=Crucibles, Gold=, are exceedingly useful for many operations, on account of the way which they stand caustic and carbonated alkalies, and nitric acid, which destroy platinum or silver crucibles respectively. Their drawbacks are their great expense and ready fusibility.

=Crucibles, Silver.= These are much used for fusions of alkalies, being much less acted on than platinum crucibles, and also for water a.n.a.lyses, from their cheapness and light weight. They are easily destroyed, however, by acids.

=Crucibles, Plumba'go.= _Syn._ GRAPHITE C., BLACKLEAD C., BLUE POTS. From graphite, ground and sifted, mixed with sufficient refractory clay to render it plastic. They are shaped by hand on an ordinary potter's wheel, or by moulds of metal like that figured above under the head of CRUCIBLES, EARTHEN.

_Prop., &c._ Good blacklead crucibles, even when of the largest size, support the greatest and most sudden alternations of temperature without cracking, and may be used after repeated heating and cooling. Their surface, within as well as without, may be made very smooth, so that particles of melted metal will not hang about the sides. They are now almost universally used for melting the precious metals.

=Crucibles, Por'celain.= These beautiful vessels are now made in Germany and France of all shapes and sizes. They are formed of the most exquisitely white, thin, and hard porcelain, which does not crack when heated, and which is but little acted on by the most energetic chemical reagents. For some operations they supersede platinum crucibles, particularly in the ignition of the precipitates of the more reducible metals. They do not retain colouring matter, and are not porous. Their covers are excellently adapted for delicate cases of testing, the whiteness of the porcelain showing the changes of colour in a single drop of liquid most distinctly.

=Crucibles, Iron.= Used chiefly for preparing common reagents, as sulphide of iron, calcic chloride, &c., and also for preparing pure caustic pota.s.sa from the nitrate.

=CRUMP'ET.= A sort of m.u.f.fin or tea-cake, very light and spongy. _Prep._ From flour, 2 lbs., made into a dough with warm milk-and-water, adding a little salt, 3 eggs (well beaten), and 3 teaspoonfuls of yeast, mixed to the consistence of thick batter; after standing before the fire for a short time, to rise, it is poured into b.u.t.tered tins, and baked slowly to a fine yellow. For the table, crumpets are toasted lightly on both sides, b.u.t.tered, piled on a hot dish, and cut into halves.

=CRUST.= The paste with which pies, tarts, &c., are made, or covered.