Chapter VI: Front Matter (6)

CROSSBILL (Fr. _Bec-croise_, Ger. _Kreuzschnabel_), the name given to a genus of birds, belonging to the family _Fringillidae_, or finches, from the unique peculiarity they possess among the whole class of having the horny sheaths of the bill crossing one another obliquely,[1] whence the appellation _Loxia_ ([Greek: loxos], _obliquus_), conferred by Gesner on the group and continued by Linnaeus. At first sight this singular structure appears so like a deformity that writers have not been wanting to account it such,[2] ignorant of its being a piece of mechanism most beautifully adapted to the habits of the bird, enabling it to extract with the greatest ease, from fir-cones or fleshy fruits, the seeds which form its usual and almost invariable food. Its mode of using this unique instrument seems to have been first described by Townson (_Tracts on Nat. Hist._, p. 116, London, 1799), but only partially, and it was Yarrell who, in 1829 (_Zool. Journ._, iv. pp. 457-465, pl. xiv. figs. 1-7), explained fully the means whereby the jaws and the muscles which direct their movements become so effective in riving asunder cones or apples, while at the proper moment the scoop-like tongue is instantaneously thrust out and withdrawn, conveying the hitherto protected seed to the bird's mouth. The articulation of the mandible to the quadrate-bone is such as to allow of a very considerable amount of lateral play, and, by a particular arrangement of the muscles which move the former, it comes to pass that so soon as the bird opens its mouth the point of the mandible is brought immediately opposite to that of the maxilla (which itself is movable vertically), instead of crossing or overlapping it--the usual position when the mouth is closed. The two points thus meeting, the bill is inserted between the scales or into the pome, but on opening the mouth still more widely, the lateral motion of the mandible is once more brought to bear with great force to wrench aside the portion of the fruit attacked, and then the action of the tongue completes the operation, which is so rapidly performed as to defy scrutiny, except on very close inspection. Fortunately the birds soon become tame in confinement, and a little patience will enable an attentive observer to satisfy himself as to the process, the result of which at first seems almost as unaccountable as that of a clever conjuring trick.

The common crossbill of the Palaearctic region (_Loxia curvirostra_) is about the size of a skylark, but more stoutly built. The young (which on leaving the nest have not the tips of the bill crossed) are of a dull olive colour with indistinct dark stripes on the lower parts, and the quills of the wings and tail dusky. After the first moult the difference between the sexes is shown by the hens inclining to yellowish-green, while the cocks become diversified by orange-yellow and red, their plumage finally deepening into a rich crimson-red, varied in places by a flame-colour. Their glowing hues, are, however, speedily lost by examples which may be kept in confinement, and are replaced by a dull orange, or in some cases by a bright golden-yellow, and specimens have, though rarely, occurred in a wild state exhibiting the same tints. The cause of these changes is at present obscure, if not unknown, and it must be admitted that their sequence has been disputed by some excellent authorities, but the balance of evidence is certainly in favour of the above statement. Depending mainly for food on the seeds of conifers, the movements of crossbills are irregular beyond those of most birds, and they would seem to rove in any direction and at any season in quest of their staple sustenance. But the pips of apples are also a favourite dainty, and it is recorded by the old chronicler Matthew Paris (_Hist. Angl._ MS. fol. 252), that in 1251 the orchards of England were ravaged by birds, "pomorum grana, & non aliud de eisdem pomis comedentes," which, from his description, "Habebant autem partes rostri cancellatas, per quas poma quasi forcipi vel cultello dividebant," could be none other but crossbills. Notice of a like visitation in 1593 is recorded, but of late it has become evident that not a year passes without crossbills being observed in some part or other of England, while in certain localities in Scotland they seem to breed annually. The nest is rather rudely constructed, and the eggs, generally four in number, resemble those of the greenfinch, but are larger in size. This species ranges throughout the continent of Europe,[3] and occurs in the islands of the Mediterranean and in the fir-woods of the Atlas. In Asia it would seem to extend to Kamtschatka and Japan, keeping mainly to the forest-tracts.

Three other forms of the genus also inhabit the Old World--two of them so closely resembling the common bird that their specific validity has been often questioned. The first of these, of large stature, the parrot-crossbill (_L. pityopsittacus_), comes occasionally to Great Britain, presumably from Scandinavia, where it is known to breed. The second (_L. himalayana_), which is a good deal smaller, is only known from the Himalaya Mountains. The third, the two-barred crossbill (_L. taenioptera_), is very distinct, and its proper home seems to be the most northern forests of the Russian empire, but it has occasionally occurred in western Europe and even in England.

The New World has two birds of the genus. The first (_L. americana_), representing the common British species, but with a smaller bill, and the males easily recognizable by their more scarlet plumage, ranges from the northern limit of coniferous trees to the highlands of Mexico, or even farther. The other (_L. leucoptera_) is the equivalent of the two-barred crossbill, but smaller. It has twice occurred in England. (A. N.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This peculiarity is found as an accidental malformation in the
crows (_Corvidae_) and other groups; it is comparable to the
monstrosities seen in rabbits and other members of the order
_Glires_, in which the incisor teeth grow to an inordinate length.

[2] A medieval legend ascribes the conformation of bill and
coloration of plumage to a divine recognition of the bird's pity,
bestowed on Christ at the crucifixion.

[3] Dr Malmgren found a small flock on Bear Island (lat. 74(1/2) deg.
N.), but to this barren spot they must have been driven by stress of
weather.

CROSSEN, or KROSSEN, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Prussia, on the Oder, here crossed by a bridge, at the influx of the Bober, 31 m. S.E. of Frankfort-on-Oder by rail. Pop. (1900) 7369. Of the churches in the town three are Protestant and one Roman Catholic. Besides the modern school (Realprogymnasium), there are a technical school for viniculture and fruit-growing and a dairy school. There are manufactories of copper and brass ware, cloth, &c., while in the surrounding country the chief industries are fruit and grape growing. There is a brisk shipping trade, mainly in wine, fruit and fish. Crossen was founded in 1005 and was important during the middle ages as a point of passage across the Oder. It attained civic rights in 1232, was for a time the capital of a Silesian duchy, which, on the death of Barbara of Brandenburg, widow of the last duke, passed to Brandenburg (1482). In May 1886 the town was devastated by a whirlwind.

CROSSING, in architecture, the term given to the intersection of the nave and transept, frequently surmounted by a tower or by a dome on pendentives.

CROSSKEY, HENRY WILLIAM (1826-1893), English geologist and Unitarian minister, was born at Lewes in Sussex, on the 7th of December 1826. After being trained for the ministry at Manchester New College (1843-1848), he became pastor of Friargate chapel, Derby, until 1852, when he accepted charge of a Unitarian congregation in Glasgow. In 1869 he removed to Birmingham, where until the close of his life he was pastor of the Church of the Messiah. While in Glasgow his interest was awakened in geology by the perusal of A. C. Ramsay's _Geology of the Isle of Arran_, and from 1855 onwards he devoted his leisure to the pursuit of this science. He became an authority on glacial geology, and wrote much, especially in conjunction with David Robertson, on the post-tertiary fossiliferous beds of Scotland (_Trans. Geol. Soc. Glasgow_). He also prepared for the British Association a valuable series of Reports (1873-1892) on the erratic Blocks of England, Wales and Ireland. In conjunction with David Robertson and G. S. Brady he wrote the _Monograph of the Post Tertiary Entomostraca of Scotland_, &c. for the Palaeontographical Society (1874); and he edited H. Carvill Lewis' _Papers and Notes on the Glacial Geology of Great Britain and Ireland_, issued posthumously (1894). He died at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on the 1st of October 1893.

See _H. W. Crosskey: his Life and Work_, by R. A. Armstrong (with
chapter on his geological work by Prof. C. Lapworth, 1895).

CROSS RIVER, a river of West Africa, over 500 m. long. It rises in 6 deg. N, 10 deg. 30' E. in the mountains of Cameroon, and flows at first N.W. In 8 deg. 48' E., 5 deg. 50' N. are a series of rapids; below this point the river is navigable for shallow-draught boats. At 8 deg. 20' E., 6 deg. 10' N., its most northern point, the river turns S.W. and then S., entering the Gulf of Guinea through the Calabar estuary. The Calabar river, which rises about 5 deg. 30' N., 8 deg. 30' E., has a course parallel to, and 10 to 20 m. east of, the Cross river. Near its mouth, on its east bank, is the town of Calabar (q.v.). It enters the estuary in 4 deg. 45' N. The Cross, Calabar, Kwa and other streams farther east, which rise on the flanks of the Cameroon Mountains, form a large delta. The Calabar and Kwa rivers are wholly within the British protectorate of Southern Nigeria, as is the Cross river from its mouth to the rapids mentioned. The upper course of the river is in German territory.

CROSS-ROADS, BURIAL AT, in former times the method of disposing of executed criminals and suicides. At the cross-roads a rude cross usually stood, and this gave rise to the belief that these spots were selected as the next best burying-places to consecrated ground. The real explanation is that the ancient Teutonic peoples often built their altars at the cross-roads, and as human sacrifices, especially of criminals, formed part of the ritual, these spots came to be regarded as execution grounds. Hence after the introduction of Christianity, criminals and suicides were buried at the cross-roads during the night, in order to assimilate as far as possible their funeral to that of the pagans. An example of a cross-road execution-ground was the famous Tyburn in London, which stood on the spot where the Oxford, Edgware and London roads met.

CROSS SPRINGER, in architecture, the block from which the diagonal ribs of a vault spring or start: the top of the springer is known as the skewback (see ARCH).

CROTCH, WILLIAM (1775-1847), English musician, was born in Green's Lane, Norwich, on the 5th of July 1775. His father was a master carpenter. The child was extraordinarily precocious, and when scarcely more than two years of age he played upon an organ of his parent's construction something like the tune of "God save the King." At the age of four he came to London and gave daily recitals on the organ in the rooms of a milliner in Piccadilly. The precocity of his musical intuition was almost equalled by a singularly early aptitude for drawing. In 1786 he went to Cambridge as assistant to Dr Randall the organist. His oratorio _The Captivity of Judah_ was played at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, on the 4th of June 1789. He was then only fourteen years of age. His intention of entering the church carried him to Oxford in 1788, but the superior attractions of a musical career acquired an increasing influence over him, and in 1790 he was appointed organist of Christ Church. At the early age of twenty-two he was appointed professor of music in the university of Oxford, and there in 1799 he took his degree of doctor in that art. In 1800 and the four following years he read lectures on music at Oxford. Next he was appointed lecturer on music to the Royal Institution, and subsequently, in 1822, principal of the London Royal Academy of Music. His last years were passed at Taunton in the house of his son, the Rev. W. R. Crotch, where he died suddenly on the 29th of December 1847. He published a number of vocal and instrumental compositions, of which the best is his oratorio _Palestine_, produced in 1812. In 1831 appeared an 8vo volume containing the substance of his lectures on music, delivered at Oxford and in London. Previously, he had published three volumes of _Specimens of Various Styles of Music_. Among his didactic works is _Elements of Musical Composition and Thorough-Bass_ (London, 1812). The oratorio bearing the title _The Captivity of Judah_, and produced on the occasion of the installation of the duke of Wellington as chancellor of the university of Oxford in 1834, is a totally different work from that which he wrote upon the same subject as a boy of fourteen. He arranged for the pianoforte a number of Handel's oratorios and operas, besides symphonies and quartetts of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. The great expectations excited by his infant precocity were not fulfilled; for he manifested no extraordinary genius for musical composition. But he was an industrious student and a sound artist, and his name remains familiar in English musical history.

CROTCHET (from the Fr. _croche_, a hook; whence also the Anglicized "crochet," pronounced as in French, for the knitting-work done with a hook instead of on pins), properly a small hook, and so used of the hook-like _setae_ or bristles found in certain worms which burrow in sand. In music, a "crotchet" is a note of half the value of a minim and double that of a quaver; it is marked by a round black head and a line without a tail or hook; the French _croche_ is used of a "quaver" which has a tail, but in ancient music the _semiminima_, the modern crotchet, is marked by an open note with a hook. Derived either from an old French proverbial phrase, _il a des crochues en teste_, or from a meaning of twist or turn, as in the similar expression "crank," comes the sense of a whim, fancy or perverse idea, seen also in the adjective "crotchety" of a fussy unreasonable person.

CROTONA, CROTO or CROTON (Gr. [Greek: Kroton], mod. Cotrone) a Greek town on the E. coast of the territory of the Bruttii (mod. _Calabria_), on a promontory 7 m. N.W. of the Lacinian promontory. It was founded by a colony of Achaeans led by Myscellus in 710 B.C. Its name was, according to the legend, that of a local prince who afforded hospitality to Heracles, but was accidentally killed by him and buried on the spot. Like Sybaris, it soon became a city of power and wealth. It was especially celebrated for its successes in the Olympic games from 588 B.C. onwards, Milo being the most famous of its athletes. Pythagoras established himself here between 540 and 530 B.C. and formed a society of 300 disciples (among whom was Milo), who acquired considerable influence with the supreme council of 1000 by which the city was ruled. In 510 B.C. Crotona was strong enough to defeat the Sybarites, with whom it had previously been on friendly terms, and raze their city to the ground. Shortly afterwards, however, an insurrection took place, by which the disciples of Pythagoras were driven out, and a democracy established. The victory of the Locrians and Phlegians over Crotona in 480 B.C. marked the beginning of its decline. It suffered after this from the attacks of Dionysius I., who became its master for twelve years, of the Bruttii, and of Agathocles, and even more from the invasion of Pyrrhus, after which in 277 the Romans obtained possession of it. Livy states that the walls had a length of 12 m. and that about half the area within them had at that time ceased to be inhabited. After the battle of Cannae Crotona revolted from Rome, and Hannibal made it his winter quarters for three years. It was made a colony by the Romans at the end of the war (194 B.C.). After that time but little is heard of it, though Petronius mentions the corrupt morals of its inhabitants; but it continues to be mentioned down to the Gothic wars. The importance of the city was mainly due to its harbour, which, though not a good one, was the only port between Tarentum and Rhegium. The original settlement occupied the hill above it (143 ft.) and later became the acropolis. Its healthy situation was famous in antiquity, and to this was ascribed its superiority in athletics; it was the seat also of a medical school which in the days of Herodotus was considered the first in Greece. Of the exact site of the ancient city and its remains practically nothing is known; a few fragments of the productions of its art preserved in private hands at Cotrone are described by F. von Duhn in _Notizie degli scavi_, 1897, 343 seq. (T. As.)

CROTONIC ACID (C4H6O2). Three acids of this empirical formula are known, viz. crotonic acid, isocrotonic acid and methacrylic acid; the constitutional formulae are--

HC.CO(2)H, HC.CO2H /CH3
.. .. CH2:C
HC.CH3 CH3.CH \CO2H.
Crotonic Acid. Isocrotonic Acid. Methacrylic Acid.

The isomerism of crotonic and isocrotonic acids is to be explained on the assumption of a different spatial arrangement of the atoms in the molecule (see STEREOCHEMISTRY).

Crotonic acid, so named from the fact that it was erroneously supposed to be a saponification product of croton oil, may be prepared by the oxidation of croton-aldehyde, CH3.CH:CH.CHO, obtained by dehydrating aldol, or by treating acetylene successively with sulphuric acid and water; by boiling allyl cyanide with caustic potash; by the distillation of [beta]-oxybutyric acid; by heating paraldehyde with malonic acid and acetic acid to 100 deg. C. (T. Komnenos, _Ann._, 1883, 218, p. 149).

CH2(COOH)2 + CH3CHO -> CH3CH:C(COOH)2 -> CH3.CH:CH.COOH;

or by heating pyruvic acid with an excess of acetic anhydride and sodium acetate to 160-180 deg. C. (B. Homolka, _Ber._, 1885, 18, p. 987). It crystallizes in needles (from hot water) which melt at 72 deg. C. and boil at 180-181 deg. C. It is moderately soluble in cold water. It combines directly with bromine, and, with fuming hydrobromic acid at 100 deg. C., it gives chiefly [alpha]-brombutyric acid. With hydriodic acid it gives only [beta]-iodobutyric acid. Potash fusion converts it into acetic acid; nitric acid oxidizes it to acetic and oxalic acids; chromic acid mixture to acetaldehyde and acetic acid, and potassium permanganate to [alpha][beta]-dioxybutyric acid.

Isocrotonic acid (Quartenylic acid) is obtained from [beta]-chlorisocrotonic acid, formed when acetoacetic ester is treated with phosphorus pentachloride and the product poured into water, by the action of sodium amalgam (A. Geuther). It is an oil, possessing a smell like that of butyric acid. It boils at 171.9 deg. C., with partial conversion into crotonic acid; the transformation is complete when the acid is heated to 170-180 deg. C. in a sealed tube. Potassium permanganate oxidizes it to [beta][gamma]-dioxybutyric acid.

Methacrylic acid was first obtained in the form of its ethyl ester by E. Frankland and B. F. Duppa (_Annalen_, 1865, 136, p. 12) by acting with phosphorus pentachloride on oxyisobutyric ester (CH3)2.C(OH).COOC2H5. It is, however, more readily obtained by boiling citra- or meso-brompyrotartaric acids with alkalis. It crystallizes in prisms, which are soluble in water, melt at 16 deg. C., and boil at 160.5 deg. C. When fused with an alkali, it forms propionic acid; with biomine it yields [alpha][beta]-dibromisobutyric acid. Sodium amalgam reduces it to isobutyric acid. A polymeric form of methacrylic acid has been described by F. Engelhorn (_Ann._, 1880, 200, p. 70).

CROTON OIL (_Crotonis Oleum_), an oil prepared from the seeds of _Croton Tiglium_, a tree belonging to the natural order Euphorbiaceae, and native or cultivated in India and the Malay Islands. The tree is from 15 to 20 ft. in height, and has few and spreading branches, alternate, oval-oblong leaves, acuminate at the point, and covered when young with stellate hairs, and terminal racemes of small, downy, greenish-yellow, monoecious flowers. The male blossoms have five petals and fifteen stamens; the females have no petals but a large oblong ovary bearing three bifid styles. The fruit or capsule is obtusely three-cornered, and about the size of a hazel-nut; it contains three cells each enclosing a seed. The seeds resemble those of the castor-oil plant; they are about half an inch long, and two-fifths of an inch broad, and have a cinnamon-brown, brittle integument; between the two halves of the kernel lie the large cotyledons and radicle. The ocular distinction between the two kinds of seeds may be of great practical importance. The most obvious distinction is that the castor-oil seeds have a polished and mottled surface. The kernels contain from 50 to 60% of oil, which is obtained by pressing them, when bruised to a pulp, between hot plates. Croton oil is a transparent and viscid liquid of a brownish or pale-yellow tinge, and acrid, peculiar and persistent taste, a disagreeable odour and acid reaction. It is soluble in volatile oils, carbon disulphide, and ether, and to some extent in alcohol. It contains acetic, butyric and valeric acids, with glycerides of acids of the same series, and a volatile body, C5H8O2, tiglic acid, metameric with angelic acid, and identical with methylcrotonic acid, CH3.CH:C(CH3)(CO2H). The odour is due to various volatile acids, which are present to the extent of about 1%. A substance called crotonal appears to be responsible for its external, but not its internal, action. The latter is probably due to crotolinic acid, C9H14O2, which has active purgative properties. The maximum dose of croton oil is two minims, one-fourth of that quantity being usually ample.

Applied to the skin, croton oil acts as a powerful irritant, inducing so much inflammation that definite pustules are formed. The destruction of the true skin gives rise to ugly scars which constitute, together with the pain caused by this application, abundant reason why croton oil should never be employed externally. Despite the pharmacopoeial liniment and the practice of a few, it may be said that this employment of croton oil is now entirely without justification or excuse.

Taken internally, even in the minute doses already detailed, croton oil very soon causes much colic and the occurrence of a fluid diarrhoea which usually recurs several times. It is characteristic of this purgative that it is a hydragogue even in minimal dose, the fluid secretions of the bowel being most markedly increased. The drug appears to act only upon the small intestine. In somewhat larger doses it produces severe gastro-enteritis. The flow of bile is somewhat increased. Such effects may all be produced, even up to the discharge of blood, by the absorption of croton oil from the skin.

The minuteness of the dose, the certainty of the action, and the large amount of fluid drained away constitute this the best drug for administration to an unconscious patient (especially in cases of apoplexy, when it is desirable to remove fluid from the body), or to insane patients who refuse to take any drug. One drop of the oil, placed on the back of the tongue, must inevitably be swallowed by reflex action. A dose should never be repeated. The characters of this drug obviously contra-indicate its use in all cases of organic disease or obstruction of the bowel, in pregnancy, or in cases of constipation in children or the aged.

CROUP, a name formerly given to diseases characterized by distress in breathing accompanied by a metallic cough and some hoarseness of speech. It is now known that these symptoms are often associated with diphtheria (q.v.), spasmodic laryngitis (q.v.), and a third disease, spasmodic croup, to which the term is now alone applied. This occurs most frequently in children above two years of age; the child goes to bed quite well, and a few hours later suddenly awakes with great difficulty in inspiration, the chest wall becomes markedly retracted, and there is a metallic cough. The child becomes cyanosed, and, to the inexperienced nurse, seems in an almost moribund condition. In the course of four or five minutes, normal respiration starts again, and the attack is over for the time being; but it may recur several times a day. The seizure may be accompanied by convulsions, and death has occurred from dyspnoea. The best treatment is to plunge the child into a warm bath, and sponge the back and chest with cold water. Subsequently this can be done two or three times a day. Should the cyanosis become very severe, respiration can be restarted by making the child sick, either with a dose of ipecacuanha wine, or by forcing one's finger down the throat. Generally the bowels should be attended to; and the throat carefully examined for enlarged tonsils or adenoids, which if present should be treated.

CROUSAZ, JEAN PIERRE DE (1663-1750), Swiss writer, was born at Lausanne. He was a many-sided man, whose numerous works on many subjects had a great vogue in their day, but are now forgotten. He has been described as an _initiateur plutot qu'un createur_, chiefly because he introduced at Lausanne the philosophy of Descartes in opposition to the reigning Aristotelianism, and also as a Calvinist pendant (for he was a pastor) of the French _abbes_ of the 18th century. He studied at Geneva, Leyden and Paris, before becoming (1700) professor of philosophy and mathematics at the academy of Lausanne, of which he was four times rector before 1724, when the theological disputes connected with the _Consensus_[1] led him to accept a chair of philosophy and mathematics at Groningen. In 1726 he was appointed governor to the young prince Frederick of Hesse-Cassel, and in 1735 returned to Lausanne with a good pension. In 1737 he was reinstated in his old chair, which he retained to his death. Gibbon, describing his first stay at Lausanne (1752-1755), writes in his _Autobiography_, "the logic of de Crousaz had prepared me to engage with his master Locke and his antagonist Bayle."

The most important of his works are: _Nouvel Essai de logique_ (1712),
_Geometrie des lignes et des surfaces rectilignes et circulaires_
(1712), _Traite du beau_ (1714), _Examen du traite de la liberte de
penser d'Antoine Collins_ (1718), _De l'education des enfants_ (1722,
dedicated to the then Princess of Wales), _Examen du pyrrhonisme
ancien et moderne_ (1733, an attack chiefly on Bayle), _Examen de
l'essai de M. Pope sur l'homme_ (1737, an attack on the Leibnitzian
theory of that poem), _Logique_ (6 vols., 1741), _De l'esprit humain_
(1741), and _Reflexions sur l'ouvrage intitule: La Belle Wolfienne_
(1743). (W. A. B. C.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] The "Consensus ecclesiarum Helveticarum reformatarum" was a
document drawn up in 1675 and imposed in 1722--as a test of strict
Protestant orthodoxy as to the doctrine of grace--by Bern on its
subjects in Lausanne and Vaux.

CROW (Dutch, _kraai_, Ger. _Krahe_, Fr. _corbeau_, Lat. _corvus_), a name most commonly applied in Britain to the bird properly called a rook (_Corvus frugilegus_), but perhaps originally peculiar to its congener, nowadays usually distinguished as the black or carrion-crow (_C. corone_). By ornithologists it is also used in a far wider sense, as under the title crows, or _Corvidae_, is included a vast number of birds from almost all parts of the world, and this family is probably the most highly developed of the whole class _Aves_. Leaving out of account the best known of these, as the raven, rook, daw, pie and jay, with their immediate allies, our attention will here be confined to the crows in general; and then the species of the family to which the appellation is more strictly applicable may be briefly considered. All authorities admit that the family is very extensive, and is capable of being parted into several groups, but scarcely any two agree. Especially must reserve be exercised as regards the group _Streperinae_, or piping crows, belonging to the Australian Region, and referred by some writers to the shrikes (_Laniidae_): and the jays too have been erected into a distinct family (_Garrulidae_), though it seems hardly possible to separate them even as a subfamily from the pies (_Pica_ and its neighbours), which lead almost insensibly to the typical crows (_Corvinae_). Dismissing these subjects for the present, it will perhaps be most convenient to treat of the two groups which are represented by the genera _Pyrrhocorax_ or choughs, and _Corvus_ or true crows in the most limited sense.

_Pyrrhocorax_ comprehends at least two very good species, which have been needlessly divided generically. The best known of them is the Cornish chough (_P. graculus_), formerly a denizen of the precipitous cliffs of the south coast of England, of Wales, of the west and north coasts of Ireland, and some of the Hebrides, but now greatly reduced in numbers, and only found in such places as are most free from the intrusion of man or of daws (_Corvus monedula_), which last seem to be gradually dispossessing it of its sea-girt strongholds, and its present scarcity is probably in the main due to its persecution by its kindred. In Britain, indeed, it would appear to be only one of the survivors of a more ancient fauna, for in other countries where it is found it has been driven inland, and inhabits the higher mountains of Europe and North Africa. In the Himalayas a larger form occurs, which has been specifically distinguished (_P. himalayanus_), but whether justifiably so may be doubted. The general colour is a glossy black, and it has the bill and legs bright red. The remaining species (_P. alpinus_) is altogether a mountaineer, and does not affect a sea-shore life. Otherwise it frequents much the same kind of localities, but it does not occur in Britain. The alpine chough is somewhat smaller than its congener, and is easily distinguished by its shorter and bright yellow bill. Remains of both have been found in French caverns the deposits in which were formed during the "Reindeer Age." Commonly placed by systematists next to _Pyrrhocorax_ is the Australian genus _Corcorax_, represented by a single species (_C. melanorhamphus_), but this assignment of the bird, which is chiefly a frequenter of woodlands, cannot be admitted without hesitation.

Coming now to what may be literally considered crows, our attention is mainly directed to the black or carrion-crow (_Corvus corone_) and the grey, hooded or Royston crow (_C. cornix_). Both these inhabit Europe, but their range and the time of their appearance are very different. The former is, speaking generally, a summer visitant to the south-western part of Europe, and the latter occupies the north-eastern portion--an irregular line drawn diagonally from about the Firth of Clyde to the head of the Adriatic roughly marking their respective distribution. But both are essentially migrants, and hence it follows that when the black crow, as summer comes to an end, retires southward, the grey crow moves downward, and in many districts replaces it during winter. Further than this, it has been incontestably proved that along or near the boundary where these two birds march they not infrequently interbreed, and it is believed that the hybrids, which sometimes wholly resemble one or other of the parents and at other times assume an intermediate plumage, pair indiscriminately among themselves or with the pure stock. Hence it has seemed to many ornithologists who have studied the subject, that these two birds, so long unhesitatingly regarded as distinct species, are only local races of one and the same dimorphic species. No structural difference--or indeed any difference except that of range (already spoken of) and colour--can be detected, and the problem they offer is one of which the solution is exceedingly interesting if not important to zoologists in general.[1] Almost omnivorous in their diet, there is little edible that comes amiss to them, and, except in South America, they are mostly omnipresent. The fish-crow of North America (_C. ossifragus_) demands a few words, since it betrays a taste for maritime habits beyond that of other species, but the crows of Europe are not averse on occasion to prey cast up by the waters. The house-crow of India (_C. splendens_) is not very nearly allied to its European namesakes, from which it can be readily distinguished by its smaller size and the lustrous tints of its darkest feathers; while its confidence in the human race has been so long encouraged by its intercourse with an unarmed and inoffensive population that it becomes a plague to the European abiding or travelling where it is abundant. Hardly a station or camp in British India is free from a crowd of feathered followers of this species, ready to dispute with the kites and the cooks the very meat at the fire. (A. N.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] As bearing upon this question may be mentioned the fact that the
crow of Australia (_C. australis_) is divisible into two forms or
races, one having the irides white, the other of a dark colour. It is
stated that they keep apart and do not intermix.

CROWBERRY, or CRAKEBERRY, the English name for a low-growing heath-like shrub, found on heaths and rocks in Scotland, Ireland and mountainous parts of England. It is known botanically as _Empetrum nigrum_, and has slender, wiry, spreading branches covered with short, narrow, stiff leaves, the margins of which are recurved so as to form a hollow cylinder concealing the hairy under face of the leaf--a device to avoid excessive loss of water from the leaf under the exposed conditions in which the plant grows. The minute flowers are succeeded by black, edible, berry-like fruits, one-fourth to one-third of an inch in diameter. The plant has a wide distribution, occurring in suitable localities throughout the north temperate zone, and on the Andes of South America.

CROWD, CROUTH, CROWTH (Welsh _crwth_; Fr. _crout_; Ger. _Chrotta_, _Hrotta_), a medieval stringed instrument derived from the lyre, characterized by a sound-chest having a vaulted back and an open space left at each side of the strings to allow the hand to pass through in order to stop the strings on the finger-board. The Welsh crwth, which survived until the end of the 18th century, is best represented by a specimen of that date preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and described and illustrated by Carl Engel.[1] The instrument consists of a rectangular sound-chest 22 in. long, 9(1/2) in. wide and 2 in. deep; the body is scooped out of a single block, the flat belly being glued on. Right through the sound-chest on each side of the finger-board is the characteristic open space left for the hand to pass through. There are two circular sound-holes; the left foot of the flat bridge, which lies obliquely across the belly, passes through the left sound-hole and rests inside on the back of the instrument. Six catgut strings fastened to a tail-piece are wound round pegs at the top of the crwth; four of these strings lie over the sound-board and bridge, and are set in vibration by means of a bow, while the two others, used as drones and stretched across the left-hand aperture, are twanged by the thumb of the left hand. The shape and shallowness of the bridge make it impossible to sound a single string with the bow; the arrangement of the strings suggests that they were intended to be sounded in pairs. The instrument is tuned thus: [Music notes].

At the beginning of the 19th century, William Bingley[2] heard a Welsh
peasant playing national airs on a crwth strung as follows:--[Music
notes]. Sir John Hawkins[3] relates that in his time there was still a
Welshman living in Anglesea who understood how to play the crwth
according to traditional usage. Edward Jones[4] and Daines
Barrington[5] both give an account of the Welsh crwth of the 18th
century which agrees substantially with Engel's; the illustration
communicated by Daines Barrington shows the strings of the crwth drawn
through holes at the top, and fastened on the back, as on the Persian
rebab and other Oriental stringed instruments. On these somewhat
scanty authentic records of the instrument, several historians of
music have based an illogical claim that the crwth, or rather chrotta
or rotta, mentioned by Venantius Fortunatus as a British instrument,
was the Welsh crwth as it was known in the 18th century, and was the
earliest bowed instrument, and therefore the ancestor of the violin.
The lines of Fortunatus, who was bishop of Poictiers during the second
half of the 6th century, ran thus:--[6]

"Romanusque lyra, plaudat tibi Barbarus harpa,
Graecus Achilliaca, chrotta Britanna canat."

The bow is not mentioned by Fortunatus, and there is no ground
whatever for believing that the Welsh crwth was played with a bow in
the 6th century, or indeed for several centuries after. The stringing
of the Welsh crwth with the two drone strings still twanged, the form
of the body without incurvations, the flat bridge which rendered
bowing, even in the most highly developed specimens of the 18th
century, a difficult task, together with what is known of the early
history of the chrotta and rotta derived from the lyre and cithara and
like them twanged by fingers or plectrum, all make the claim
untenable. Carl Engel was probably the first to expose the fallacy in
his work on the violin.[7]

British lexicographers all agree in deriving the words crwth, crowd
and other forms of the name, from some word meaning a bulging
protuberant bellying form, while in German the etymology of the word
_Chrotta_ is given as _Chrota_ or _Chreta_, the O.H.G. for _Krote_ =
toad, _Schildkrote_ = tortoise. This word _Chrotta_ was undoubtedly
the German equivalent term for the lyre of Hermes, having as back a
tortoise-shell, [Greek: chelys] in Greek and _testudo_ in Latin.
Chrotta was also spelt _hrotta_, and it is easy to see how this became
rotta. A thoughtful and suggestive treatment of the whole subject will
be found in Engel's work, to which reference has been made. Just as
the lyre and cithara, which appeared to be similar to the casual
observer, and are indeed still confused at the present day, were
instruments differing essentially in construction[8]; so there were,
during the early middle ages, while lyre and cithara were still in
transition, two types of chrotta or rotta. (1) The rotta or improved
cithara had a body either rectangular with the corners rounded, or
guitar-shaped with incurvations, back and sound-board being nearly or
quite flat, joined as in the cithara by ribs or sides. This rotta must
be reckoned among the early ancestors of the violin before the advent
of the bow; it was known both as rotta and cithara, and with a neck
added it became the guitar-fiddle. (2) The tortoise or lyre chrotta
consisted of a protuberant, very convex back cut out of a block of
wood, to which was glued a flat sound-board, at first like the lyre,
without intermediary ribs. This instrument became the crwth, and there
was no further development. The first step in the transition of both
lyre and cithara was the incorporation of arms and cross-bar into the
body, the same outline being preserved; the second step was the
addition of a finger-board against which the strings were stopped,
thus increasing the compass while restricting the number of strings to
three or four; the third step, observed only in the rotta-cithara,
consisted in the addition of a neck,[9] as in the guitar. The crwth,
crowd, crouth did not undergo this third transition even when the bow
was used to set the strings in vibration.

FIG. 2.--Early Crwth, 9th century.]

The earliest representation of the crwth yet discovered dates from the
Carolingian period. In the miniatures of the Bible of Charles the
Bald,[10] in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, one of the musicians
of King David is seen stopping strings on the finger-board with his
left hand and plucking them with the right (fig. 2); this crwth has
only three strings, and may be the crwth _trithant_ of Wales. A second
example occurs in the Bible of St Paul,[11] another of the magnificent
MSS. prepared for Charles the Bald, and preserved during the middle
ages in the monastery of St Paul _extra muros_ in Rome (now deposited
in that of St Calixtus in Rome). Other representations are in the
miniatures of the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. To Edward Heron-Allen
(_De fidiculis opuscula_, viii., 1895) is due the discovery of a
representation of the Welsh crwth, showing the form still retained in
the 18th cent. On the seal of Roger Wade (1316) is a crwth differing
but little from the specimen in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The
14th-century instrument had four strings instead of six, and the foot
of the bridge does not appear to pass through the sound-hole--a detail
which may have escaped the notice of the artist who cut the seal. The
original seal lies in the muniment room at Berkeley Castle in
Gloucestershire attached to a defeasance of a bond between the
_crowder_ and his debtor Warren de l'Isle, and a cast (see fig. 3) is
preserved at the British Museum. The British Museum also possesses two
interesting MSS. which concern the crwth: one of these (Add. MS. 14939
ff. 4 and 27) contains an extract made by Lewis Morris in 1742 from an
ancient Welsh MS. of "Instructions supposed to be wrote for the
Crowd"; the other (Add. MS. 15036 ff. 65b and 66) consists of tracings
from a 16th-century Welsh MS. copied in 1610 of a bagpipe, a harp and
a _krythe_, together with the names of those who played the last at
the Eisteddfod. The drawing is crude, and shows an instrument similar
to Roger Wade's crowd, but having three strings instead of four.

The genealogical tree of the violin given below shows the relative
positions of both kinds of rotta and chrotta.

Egyptian lyre-kissar Assyrian ketharah
| |
| +----------+---------+
Greek lyre or chelys | |
| Greek cithara Persian cithara
Roman testudo | |
| Roman fidicula Arab cuitra, guitra
+-------------+-------------+--------+ | or cuitara
| | | | | |
Latin Old High Germ. Anglo-Saxon Welsh Cithara in |
chrotta, Chrota or crowd crwth transition, Moorish guitarra
rotta, rote Chreta or rotta
|
+-------------------------------------+----------------+
| | |
Spanish viguela or Guitarra Latina Fidel, fidula,
vihuela de arco or vihuela de mano fyella, fythele,
| | &c.
| | |
| Spanish guitar |
+-------+---------+---------------+ |
| | | |
Italian viola French vielle Guitar-fiddle Fiddle
| or viole
Violin

The Welsh crwth was therefore obviously not an exclusively Welsh
instrument, but only a late 18th-century survival in Wales of an
archaic instrument once generally popular in Europe but long obsolete.
An interesting article on the subject in German by J. F. W. Wewertem
will be found in _Monatshefte fur Musik_ (Berlin, 1881), Nos. 7-12, p.
151, &c. (K. S.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See _Early History of the Violin Family_ (London, 1883), pp.
24-36.

[2] See _A Tour round North Wales_ (London, 1804), vol. ii. p. 332.

[3] _History of Music_ (London, 1766), vol. ii. bk. iii. ch. iii.,
description and illustration.

[4] _Musical and Poetical Relicks of Welsh Bards_ (London, 1794),
illustration of crwth, also reproduced by Carl Engel; see note above.

[5] _Archaeologia_, vol. iii. (London, 1775).

[6] Venantius Fortunatus, Poemata, lib. vii. cap. 8, p. 245; see
Migne's _Patrologia Sacra_, vol. 88.

[7] _Op. cit._ chapters "Crwth," "Chrotta," "Rotta."

[8] See Kathleen Schlesinger, _Orchestral Instruments_, part ii.,
"The Precursors of the Violin Family" (London, 1909), pp. 14 to 23,
with illustrations.

[9] See also Kathleen Schlesinger, op. cit. ch. vii., "The Cithara in
Transition," pp. 111-135 with illustrations.

[10] See Auguste de Bastard, _Peintures et ornements des MSS. de
France_, and _Peintures, ornements, &c., de la bible de Charles le
Chauve_, in facsimile (Paris, 1883).

[11] See J. O. Westwood, _Photographic Facsimile of the Bible of St
Paul_ (London, 1876).

CROWE, EYRE EVANS (1799-1868), English journalist and historian, was born about the year 1799. He commenced his work as a writer for the London newspaper press in connexion with the _Morning Chronicle_, and he afterwards became a leading contributor to the _Examiner_ and the _Daily News_. Of the latter journal he was principal editor for some time previous to his death. The department he specially cultivated was that of continental history and foreign politics. He published _Lives of Foreign Statesmen_ (1830), _The Greek and the Turk_ (1853), and _Reigns of Louis XVIII. and Charles X._ (1854). These were followed by his most important work, the _History of France_ (5 vols., 1858-1868). It was founded upon original sources, in order to consult which the author resided for a considerable time in Paris. He died in London on the 25th of February 1868.

CROWE, SIR JOSEPH ARCHER (1828-1896), English consular official and art critic, son of Eyre Crowe, was born in London on the 25th of October 1828. At an early age he showed considerable aptitude for painting and entered the studio of Delaroche in Paris, where his father was correspondent of the _Morning Chronicle_. During the Crimean War he was the correspondent of the _Illustrated London News_, and during the Austro-Italian War represented _The Times_ in Vienna. He was British consul-general in Leipzig from 1860 to 1872, and in Dusseldorf from 1872 to 1880, when he was appointed commercial attache in Berlin, being transferred in a like capacity to Paris in 1882. In 1883 he was secretary to the Danube Conference in London; in 1889 plenipotentiary at the Samoa Conference in Berlin; and in 1890 British envoy at the Telegraph Congress in Paris, in which year he was made K.C.M.G. During a sojourn in Italy, 1846-1847, he cemented a lifelong friendship with the Italian critic Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle (1820-1897), and together they produced several historical works on art of classic importance, notably _Early Flemish Painters_ (London, 1857); _A New History of Painting in Italy from the Second to the Sixteenth Century_ (London, 1864-1871, 5 vols.). In 1895 Crowe published _Reminiscences of Thirty-Five Years of My Life_. He died at Schloss Gamburg in Bavaria on the 6th of September 1896.

Crowe and Cavalcaselle's great _History of Painting_ was under
revision by Crowe up to the time of his death, and then by S. A.
Strong (d. 1904) and Langton Douglas, who in 1903 brought out vols. i.
and ii. of Murray's new six-volume edition, the 3rd vol., edited by
Langton Douglas, appearing in 1909. A reprint of the original edition,
brought up to date by annotations by Edward Huttons, was published by
Dent in 3 vols. in 1909.

CROW INDIANS, or ABSAROKAS (the name for a species of hawk), a tribe of North American Indians of Siouan stock. They are now settled to the number of some 1800 on a reservation in southern Montana to the south of the Yellowstone river. Their original range included this reservation and extended eastward and southward, and no part of the country for hundreds of miles around was safe from their raids. They have ever been known as marauders and horse-stealers, and, though they have generally been cunning enough to avoid open war with the whites, they have robbed them whenever opportunity served. Physically they are tall and athletic, with very dark complexions.

CROWLAND, or CROYLAND, a market-town in the S. Kesteven or Stamford parliamentary division of Lincolnshire, England; in a low fen district on the river Welland, 8 m. N.E. of Peterborough, and 4 m. from Postland station on the March-Spalding line of the Great Northern and Great Eastern railways, and Peakirk on the Great Northern. Pop. (1901) 2747. A monastery was founded here in 716 by King Aethelbald, in honour of St Guthlac of Mercia (d. 714), a young nobleman who became a hermit and lived here, and, it was said, had foretold Aethelbald's accession to the throne. The site of St Guthlac's cell, not far from the abbey, is known as Anchor (anchorite's) Church Hill. After the abbey had suffered from the Danish incursions in 870, and had been burnt in that year and in 1091, a fine Norman abbey was raised in 1113. Remains of this building appear in the ruined nave and tower arch, but the most splendid fragment is the west front, of Early English date, with Perpendicular restoration. The west tower is principally in this style. The north aisle is restored and used as the parish church. Among the abbots was Ingulphus (1085-1109), to whom was formerly attributed the _Historia Monasterii Croylandensis_. A curious triangular bridge remains, apparently of the 14th century, but referred originally to the middle of the 9th century, which spanned three streams now covered, and affords three footways which meet at an apex in the middle.

The town of Crowland grew up round the abbey. By a charter dated 716, Aethelbald granted the isle of Crowland, free from all secular services, to the abbey with a gift of money, and leave to build and enclose the town. The privileges thus obtained were confirmed by numerous royal charters extending over a period of nearly 800 years. Under Abbot Aegelric the fens were tilled, the monastery grew rich, and the town increased in size, enormous tracts of land being held by the abbey at the Domesday Survey. The town was nearly destroyed by fire (1469-1476), but the abbey tenants were given money to rebuild it. By virtue of his office the abbot had a seat in parliament, but the town was never a parliamentary borough. Abbot Ralph Mershe in 1257 obtained a grant of a market every Wednesday, confirmed by Henry IV. in 1421, but it was afterwards moved to Thorney. The annual fair of St Bartholomew, which originally lasted twelve days, was first mentioned in Henry III.'s confirmatory charter of 1227. The dissolution of the monastery in 1539 was fatal to the progress of the town, which had prospered under the thrifty rule of the monks, and it rapidly sank into the position of an unimportant village. The abbey lands were granted by Edward VI. to Lord Clinton, from whose family they passed in 1671 to the Orby family. The inhabitants formerly carried on considerable trade in fish and wild fowl.

See R. Gough, _History and Antiquities of Croyland_ (Bibl. Top. Brit.
iii. No. 11) (London, 1783); W. G. Searle, _Ingulf and the Historia
Croylandensis_ (Camb. Antiq. Soc., No. 27); Dugdale, _Monasticon_, ii.
91 (London, 1846; Cambridge, 1894).

CROWLEY, ROBERT (1518?-1588), English religious and social reformer, was born in Gloucestershire, and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, of which he was successively demy and fellow. Coming to London, he set up a printing-office in Ely Rents, Holborn, where he printed many of his own writings. As a typographer, his most notable production was an edition of _Pierce Plowman_ in 1550, and some of the earliest Welsh printed books came from his press. As an author, his first venture seems to have been his "Information and Petition against the Oppressors of the poor Commons of this realm," which internal evidence shows to have been addressed to the parliament of 1547. It contains a vigorous plea for a further religious reformation, but is more remarkable for its attack on the "more than Turkish tyranny" of the landlords and capitalists of that day. While repudiating communism, Crowley was a Christian Socialist, and warmly approved the efforts of Protector Somerset to stop enclosures. In his _Way to Wealth_, published in 1550, he laments the failure of the Protector's policy, and attributes it to the organized resistance of the richer classes. In the same year he published (in verse) _The Voice of the last Trumpet blown by the seventh Angel_; it is a rebuke in twelve "lessons" to twelve different classes of people; and a similar production was his _One-and-Thirty Epigrams_ (1550). These, with _Pleasure and Pain_ (1551), were edited for the Early English Text Society in 1872 (Extra Ser. xv.). The dozen or more other works which Crowley published are more distinctly theological: indeed, the failure of the temporal policy he advocated seems to have led Crowley to take orders, and he was ordained deacon by Ridley on the 29th of September 1551. During Mary's reign he was among the exiles at Frankfort. At Elizabeth's accession he became a popular preacher, was made archdeacon of Hereford in 1559, and prebendary of St Paul's in 1563, and was incumbent first of St Peter's the Poor in London, and then of St Giles' without Cripplegate. He refused to minister in the "conjuring garments of popery," and in 1566 was deprived and imprisoned for resisting the use of the surplice by his choir. He stated his case in "A brief Discourse against the Outward Apparel and Ministering Garments of the Popish Church," a tract "memorable," says Canon Dixon, "as the first distinct utterance of Nonconformity." He continued to preach occasionally, and in 1576 was presented to the living of St Lawrence Jewry. Nor had he abandoned his connexion with the book trade, and in 1578 he was admitted a freeman of the Stationers' Company. He died on the 18th of June 1588, and was buried in St Giles'. The most important of his works not hitherto mentioned is his continuation of Languet and Cooper's _Epitome of Chronicles_ (1559).