Chapter XI: Part 11

CURWEN, JOHN (1816-1880), English Nonconformist minister and founder of the Tonic Sol-Fa system of musical teaching, was born at Heckmondwike, Yorkshire, of an old Cumberland family. His father was a Nonconformist minister, and he himself adopted this profession, which he practised till 1864, when he gave it up in order to devote himself to his new method of musical nomenclature, designed to avoid the use of the stave with its lines and spaces. He adapted it from that of Miss Sarah Ann Glover (1785-1867) of Norwich, whose Sol-Fa system was based on the ancient gamut; but she omitted the constant recital of the alphabetical names of each note and the arbitrary syllable indicating key relationship, and also the recital of two or more such syllables when the same note was common to as many keys (e.g. "C, Fa, Ut," meaning that C is the subdominant of G and the tonic of C). The notes were represented by the initials of the seven syllables, still in use in Italy and France as their names but in the "Tonic Sol-Fa" the seven letters refer to key relationship and not to pitch. Curwen was led to feel the importance of a simple way of teaching how to sing by note by his experiences among Sunday-school teachers. Apart from Miss Glover, the same idea had been elaborated in France since J. J. Rousseau's time, by Pierre Galin (1786-1821), Aime Paris (1798-1866) and Emile Cheve (1804-1864), whose method of teaching how to read at sight also depended on the principle of "tonic relationship" being inculcated by the reference of every sound to its tonic, by the use of a _numeral_ notation. Curwen brought out his _Grammar of Vocal Music_ in 1843, and in 1853 started the Tonic Sol-Fa Association; and in 1879, after some difficulties with the education department, the Tonic Sol-Fa College was opened. Curwen also took to publishing, and brought out a periodical called the _Tonic Sol-fa Reporter_, and in his later life was occupied in directing the spreading organization of his system. He died at Manchester on the 26th of May 1880. His son John Spencer Curwen (b. 1847), who became principal of the Tonic Sol-Fa College, published _Memorials of J. Curwen_ in 1882. The Sol-Fa system has been widely adopted for use in education, as an easily teachable method in the reading of music at sight, but its more ambitious aims, which are strenuously pushed, for providing a superior method of musical notation generally, have not recommended themselves to musicians at large.

CURZOLA (Serbo-Croatian _Korcula_ or _Karkar_), an island in the Adriatic Sea, forming part of Dalmatia, Austria; and lying west of the Sabionicello promontory, from which it is divided by a strait less than 2 m. wide. Its length is about 25 m.; its average breadth, 4 m. Curzola (_Korcula_), the capital and principal port, is a fortified town on the east coast, and occupies a rocky foreland almost surrounded by the sea. Besides the interesting church (formerly a cathedral), dating from the 12th or 13th century, the _loggia_ or council chambers, and the palace of its former Venetian governors, it possesses the noble mansion of the Arnieri, and other specimens of the domestic architecture of the 15th and 16th centuries, together with the massive walls and towers, erected in 1420, and the 15th-century Franciscan monastery, with its beautiful Venetian Gothic cloister. The main resources of the islanders are boat-building (for which they are celebrated throughout the Adriatic), fishing and sea-faring, the cultivation of the vine, corn and olives, and breeding of mules. Pop. (1900) of island, 17,377; of capital (town and commune), 6486. Prehistoric grave-mounds are common on the hills of the interior, and in later times Curzola may have been a Phoenician settlement. Its early history is very obscure, but it was certainly colonized by Greeks from Cnidus. The present name is a corruption of the Gr. [Greek: Kerkyra Melaina], or Lat. _Corcyra Nigra_, "Black Corcyra"; and is perhaps due to the dark pines which still partly cover the island. In 998 Curzola first came under Venetian suzerainty. During the 12th century it was ruled by Hungary and Genoa in turn, and enjoyed a brief period of independence; but after 1255 its hereditary counts again submitted to Venice. The Roman Catholic see of Curzola, created in 1301, was only suppressed in 1806. Curzola surrendered to the Hungarians in 1358, was purchased by Ragusa (1413-1417), and finally declared itself subject to Venice in 1420. In 1571 it defended itself so gallantly against the Turks that it obtained the designation _fidelissima_. From 1776 to 1797 it succeeded Lesina as the main Venetian arsenal in this region. During the Napoleonic wars it was ruled successively by Russians, French and British, ultimately passing to Austria in 1815.

CURZON OF KEDLESTON, GEORGE NATHANIEL, 1ST BARON (1859- ), English statesman, eldest son of the 4th baron Scarsdale, rector of Kedleston, Derbyshire, was born on the 11th of January 1859, and was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. At Oxford he was president of the Union, and after a brilliant university career was elected a fellow of All Souls College in 1883. He became assistant private secretary to Lord Salisbury in 1885, and in 1886 entered parliament as member for the Southport division of S.W. Lancashire. He was appointed under secretary for India in 1891-1892 and for foreign affairs in 1895-1898. In the meantime he had travelled in Central Asia, Persia, Afghanistan, the Pamirs, Siam, Indo-China and Korea, and published several books describing central and eastern Asia and the political problems connected with those regions. In 1895 he married Mary Victoria Leiter (d. 1906), daughter of a Chicago millionaire. In January 1899 he was appointed governor-general of India, where his extensive knowledge of Asiatic affairs showed itself in the inception of a strong foreign policy, while he took in hand the reform of every department of Indian administration. He was created an Irish peer on his appointment, the creation taking this form, it was understood, in order that he might remain free during his father's lifetime to re-enter the House of Commons. Reaching India shortly after the suppression of the frontier risings of 1897-98, he paid special attention to the independent tribes of the north-west frontier, inaugurated a new province called the North West Frontier Province, and carried out a policy of conciliation mingled with firmness of control. The only trouble on this frontier during the period of his administration was the Mahsud Waziri campaign of 1901. Being mistrustful of Russian methods he exerted himself to encourage British trade in Persia, paying a visit to the Persian Gulf in 1903; while on the north-east frontier he anticipated a possible Russian advance by the Tibet Mission of 1903, which rendered necessary the employment of military force for the protection of the British envoys. The mission, which had the ostensible support of China as suzerain of Tibet, penetrated to Lhasa, where a treaty was signed in September 1904. In pursuance of his reforming policy Lord Curzon appointed a number of commissions to inquire into Indian education, irrigation, police and other branches of administration, on whose reports legislation was based during his second term of office as viceroy. With a view to improving British relations with the native chiefs and raising the character of their rule, he established the Imperial Cadet corps, settled the question of Berar with the nizam of Hyderabad, reduced the salt tax, and gave relief to the smaller income-tax payers. Lord Curzon exhibited much interest in the art and antiquities of India, and during his viceroyalty took steps for the preservation and restoration of many important monuments and buildings of historic interest. In January 1903 he presided at the durbar held at Delhi in honour of the coronation of King Edward VII. It was attended by all the leading native princes and by large numbers of visitors from Europe and America; and the magnificence of the spectacle surpassed anything that had previously been witnessed even in the gorgeous ceremonial of the East. On the expiration of his first term of office, Lord Curzon was reappointed governor-general. His second term of office was marked by the passing of several acts founded on the recommendations of his previous commissions, and by the partition of Bengal (1905), which roused bitter opposition amongst the natives of that province. A difference of opinion with the commander-in-chief, Lord Kitchener, regarding the position of the military member of council in India, led to a controversy in which Lord Curzon failed to obtain support from the home government. He resigned (1904) and returned to England. In 1904 he was appointed lord warden of the Cinque Ports; in the same year he was given the honorary degree of D.C.L. by Oxford University, and in 1908 he was elected chancellor of the university. In the latter year he was elected a representative peer for Ireland, and thus relinquished any idea of returning to the House of Commons. In 1909-1910 he took an active part in defending the House of Lords against the Liberals. Lord Curzon's publications include _Russia in Central Asia_ (1889); _Persia and the Persian Question_ (1892); _Problems of the Far East_ (1894; new ed., 1896).

See Caldwell Lipsett, _Lord Curzon in India_, 1898-1903 (1906); and C.
J. O'Donnell, _The Failure of Lord Curzon_ (1903).

CUSANUS, NICOLAUS (NICHOLAS OF CUSA) (1401-1464), cardinal, theologian and scholar, was the son of a poor fisherman named Krypffs or Krebs, and derived the name by which he is known from the place of his birth, Kues or Cusa, on the Moselle, in the archbishopric of Trier (Treves). In his youth he was employed in the service of Count Ulrich of Manderscheid, who, seeing in him evidence of exceptional ability, sent him to study at the school of the Brothers of the Common Life at Deventer, and afterwards at the university of Padua, where he took his doctor's degree in law in his twenty-third year. Failing in his first case he abandoned the legal profession, and resolved to take holy orders. After filling several subordinate offices he became archdeacon of Liege. He was a member of the council of Basel, and dedicated to the assembled fathers a work entitled _De concordantia Catholica_, in which he maintained the superiority of councils over popes, and assailed the genuineness of the False Decretals and the Donation of Constantine. A few years later, however, he had reversed his position, and zealously defended the supremacy of the pope. He was entrusted with various missions in the interests of Catholic unity, the most important being to Constantinople, to endeavour to bring about a union of the Eastern and Western churches. From 1440 to 1447 he was in Germany, acting as papal legate at the diets of 1441, 1442, 1445 and 1446. In 1448, in recognition of his services, Nicholas V. raised him to the cardinalate; and in 1450 he was appointed bishop of Brixen against the wish of Sigismund, archduke of Austria, who opposed the reforms the new bishop sought to introduce into the diocese. In 1451 he was sent to Germany and the Netherlands to check ecclesiastical abuses and bring back the monastic life to the original rule of poverty, chastity and obedience--a mission which he discharged with well-tempered firmness. Soon afterwards his dispute with the archduke Sigismund in his own diocese was brought to a point by his claiming certain dues of the bishopric, which the temporal prince had appropriated. Upon this the bishop was imprisoned by the archduke, who, in his turn, was excommunicated by the pope. These extreme measures were not persisted in; but the dispute remained unsettled at the time of the bishop's death, which occurred at Lodi in Umbria on the 11th of August 1464. In 1459 he had acted as governor of Rome during the absence of his friend Pope Pius II. at the assembly of princes at Milan; and he wrote his _Crebratio Alcorani_, a treatise against Mahommedanism, in support of the expedition against the Turks proposed at that assembly. Some time before his death he had founded a hospital in his native place for thirty-three poor persons, the number being that of the years of the earthly life of Christ. To this institution he left his valuable library.

Although one of the great leaders in the reform movement of the 15th century, Nicholas of Cusa's interest for later times lies in his philosophical much more than in his political or ecclesiastical activity. As in religion he is entitled to be called one of the "Reformers before the Reformation," so in philosophy he was one of those who broke with scholasticism while it was still the orthodox system. In his principal work, _De docta ignorantia_ (1440), supplemented by _De conjecturis libri_ duo published in the same year, he maintains that all human knowledge is mere conjecture, and that man's wisdom is to recognize his ignorance. From scepticism he escapes by accepting the doctrine of the mystics that God can be apprehended by intuition (_intuitio, speculatio_), an exalted state of the intellect in which all limitations disappear. God is the absolute maximum and also the absolute minimum, who can be neither greater nor less than He is, and who comprehends all that is or that can be ("deum esse omnia, ut non possit esse aliud quam est"). Cusanus thus laid himself open to the charge of pantheism, which did not fail to be brought against him in his own day. His chief philosophical doctrine was taken up and developed more than a hundred years later by Giordano Bruno, who calls him the divine Cusanus. In mathematical and physical science Cusanus was much in advance of his age. In a tract, _Reparatio Calendarii_, presented to the council of Basel, he proposed the reform of the calendar after a method resembling that adopted by Gregory. In his _De Quadratura Circuli_ he professed to have solved the problem; and in his _Conjectura de novissimis diebus_ he prophesied that the world would come to an end in 1734. Most noteworthy, however, in this connexion is the fact that he anticipated Copernicus by maintaining the theory of the rotation of the earth.

The works of Cusanus were published in a complete form by Henri Petrie
(1 vol. fol., Basel, 1565). See F. A. Scharpff's _Der Kardinal und
Bischof Nikolaus von Cusa als Reformator in Kirche, Reich, und Philos.
des 15. Jahrhund_. (Tubingen, 1871); J. M. Dux, _Der deutsche Kard.
Nicolaus von Cusa und die Kirche seiner Zeit_ (Regensburg, 1848); R.
Falckenberg, _Grundzuge d. Philos. d. Nikolaus Cusanus_ (Breslau,
1880) and _Aufgabe und Wesen d. Erkenntniss bei Nikolaus von Kues_
(Breslau, 1880); T. Stumpf, _Die politischen Ideen des Nikolaus von
Cues_ (Cologne, 1865); M. Glossner, _Nikolaus von Cusa und Marius
Nizolius als Vorlaufer der neueren Philosophie_ (Munster, 1891); F.
Fiorentino, _Il Risorgimento filosofico nel quattro cento_ (Naples,
1885); Axel Herrlin, _Studier i Nicolaus af Cues' Filosofi_ (Lund,
1892); H. Hoffding, _Hist. of Mod. Phil._ (Eng. trans., 1900), bk. i.
chap. x.; F. J. Clemens, _Giordano Bruno und Nikolaus Cusanus_ (Bonn,
1847); R. Zimmermann, _Der Card. Nikolaus Cusanus als Vorlaufer
Leibnitzens_ (Vienna, 1852); J. Ubinger, Philosophie des Nikolaus
Cusanus (Wurzburg, 1881); art. by R. Schmid in Herzog-Hauck,
_Realencyk._ s.v. "Cusanus"; see also MYSTICISM.

CUSH, the eldest son of Ham, in the Bible, from whom seems to have been derived the name of the "Land of Cush," commonly rendered "Ethiopia" by the Septuagint and by the Vulgate. The locality of the land of Cush has long been a much-vexed question. Bochart maintained that it was exclusively in Arabia; Schulthess and Gesenius held that it should be sought for nowhere but in Africa (see ETHIOPIA). Others again, like Michaelis and Rosenmuller, have supposed that the name Cush was applied to tracts of country both in Arabia and in Africa, but the defective condition of the ancient knowledge of countries and peoples, as also the probability of early migrations of "Cushite" tribes (carrying with them their name), will account for the main facts. The existence of an African Cush cannot reasonably be questioned, though the term is employed in the Old Testament with some latitude. The African Cush covers Upper Egypt, and extends southwards from the first cataract (Syene, Ezek. xxix. 10). That the term was also applied to parts of Arabia is evident from Gen. x. 7, where Cush is the "father" of certain tribal and ethnical designations, all of which point very clearly to Arabia, with the very doubtful exception of Seba, which Josephus (_Ant._ ii. 10. 2) identifies with Meroe.[1] Even in the 5th century A.D. the Himyarites, in the south of Arabia, were styled by Syrian writers Cushaeans and Ethiopians. Moreover, the Babylonian inscriptions mention the Kashshi, an Elamite race, whose name has been equated with the classical [Greek: Kossaioi], [Greek: Kissioi], and it has been held that this affords a more appropriate explanation of Cush (perhaps rather Kash), the ancestor of (the Babylonian) Nimrod in Gen. x. 8. Although decisive evidence is lacking, it seems extremely probable that several references to Cush in the Old Testament cannot refer to Ethiopia, despite the likelihood that considerable confusion existed in the minds of early writers. The Cushite invasion in 2 Chron. xiv. (see ASA) is intelligible if the historical foundation for the story be a raid by Arabians, but in xvi. 8 the inclusion of Libyans shows that the enemy was subsequently supposed to be African. In several passages the interpretation is bound up with that of Mizraim (q.v.), and depends in general upon the question whether Ethiopia at a given time enjoyed the prominence given to it.

On Num. xii. I see JETHRO; and consult H. Winckler, _Keil. u. das alte
Test._, 3rd ed., p. 144 sq., and _Im Kampfe um den alten Orient_, ii.
pp. 36 seq., and the literature cited under MIZRAIM. (S. A. C.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] For Seba, see SABAEANS, and cf. generally the commentaries on
Gen. x. 7. In Hab. iii. 7 Cushan (obviously a related form) is
parallel to Midian.

CUSHING, CALEB (1800-1879), American political leader and lawyer, was born in Salisbury, Massachusetts, on the 17th of January 1800. He graduated at Harvard in 1817, was tutor in mathematics there in 1820-1821, was admitted to practice in the court of common pleas in December 1821, and began the practice of law in Newburyport, Mass., in 1824. After serving, as a Democratic-Republican, in the state house of representatives in 1825, in the state senate in 1826, and in the house again in 1828, he spent two years, from 1829 to 1831, in Europe, again served in the state house of representatives in 1833 and 1834, and in the latter year was elected by the Whigs a representative in Congress. He served in this body from 1835 until 1843, and here the marked inconsistency which characterized his public life became manifest; for when John Tyler had become president, had been "read out" of the Whig party, and had vetoed Whig measures (including a tariff bill), for which Cushing had voted, Cushing first defended the vetoes and then voted again for the bills. In 1843 President Tyler nominated him for secretary of the treasury, but the senate refused to confirm him for this office. He was, however, appointed later in the same year commissioner of the United States to China, holding this position until 1845, and in 1844 negotiating the first treaty between China and the United States. In 1847, while again a representative in the state legislature, he introduced a bill appropriating money for the equipment of a regiment to serve in the Mexican War; although the bill was defeated, he raised the necessary funds privately, and served in Mexico first as colonel and afterwards as brigadier-general of volunteers. In 1847 and again in 1848 the Democrats nominated him for governor of Massachusetts, but on each occasion he was defeated at the polls. He was again a representative in the state legislature in 1851, became an associate justice of the supreme court of Massachusetts in 1852, and during the administration (1853-1857) of President Pierce, was attorney-general of the United States. In 1858, 1859, 1862 and 1863 he again served in the state house of representatives. In 1860 he presided over the National Democratic Convention which met first at Charleston and later at Baltimore, until he joined those who seceded from the regular convention; he then presided also over the convention of the seceding delegates, who nominated John C. Breckinridge for the presidency. During the Civil War, however, he supported the National Administration. At the Geneva conference for the settlement of the "Alabama" claims in 1871-1872 he was one of the counsel for the United States. In 1873 President Grant nominated him for chief justice of the United States, but in spite of his great learning and eminence at the bar, his ante-war record and the feeling of distrust experienced by many members of the senate on account of his inconsistency, aroused such vigorous opposition that his nomination was soon withdrawn. From 1874 to 1877 Cushing was United States minister to Spain. He died at Newburyport, Mass., on the 2nd of January 1879. He published _History and Present State of the Town of Newburyport, Mass._ (1826); _Review of the late Revolution in France_ (1833); _Reminiscences of Spain_ (1833); _Oration on the Growth and Territorial Progress of the United States_ (1839); _Life and Public Services of William H. Harrison_ (1840); and _The Treaty of Washington_ (1873).

CUSHING, WILLIAM BARKER (1842-1874), American naval officer, was born in Delafield, Wisconsin, on the 4th of November 1842. He entered the Naval Academy from New York in 1857, but resigned in March 1861. When, however, the Civil War began, he volunteered into the navy, was rated acting master's mate, and became a midshipman in October 1861, and a lieutenant in July 1862, serving in the North Atlantic blockading squadron. The work of blockade, and of harassing the Confederates on the coast and the rivers of the Atlantic seaboard, called for much service in boats, and entailed a great deal of exposure. Cushing was distinguished by his readiness to volunteer, his indefatigability, and by his good fortune, the reward of vigilance and intelligence. The feat by which he will be remembered was the destruction of the Confederate ironclad "Albemarle" in the Roanoke river on the 27th of October in 1864. The vessel had done much damage to the Federal naval forces, and her destruction was greatly desired. She was at anchor surrounded by baulks of timber, and a cordon of boats had been stationed to row guard against an expected Federal attack. Lieutenant Cushing undertook the attack on her with a steam launch carrying a spar-torpedo and towing an armed cutter. He eluded the Confederate lookout and reached the "Albemarle" unseen. When close to he was detected, but he had time to drive the steam launch over the baulks and to explode the torpedo against the "Albemarle" with such success that a hole was made in her and she sank. Cushing's own launch was destroyed. He and the few men with him were compelled to take to the water; one was killed, another was drowned, Cushing and one other escaped, and the rest were captured. Cushing himself swam to the swamps on the river bank, and after wading among them for hours reached a Federal picket boat. For destroying the "Albemarle" he was thanked by Congress and was promoted to be lieutenant-commander. On the 15th of January 1865 he took a conspicuous part in the land attack on the sea-front wall of Fort Fisher. After the war he commanded the "Lancaster" (1866-1867) and the "Maumee" (1868-1869) in the Asiatic Squadron. In 1872 he was promoted commander at what was an exceptionally early age, but he died on the 17th of December 1874 of brain fever. He had suffered extreme pain for years before his death, and in fact broke down altogether under disease contracted in the discharge of his duty.

CUSHION (from O. Fr. _coisson_, _coussin_; according to the _New English Dict._, from Lat. _coxa_, a hip; others say from Lat. _culcita_, a quilt), a soft bag of some ornamental material, stuffed with wool, hair, feathers, or even paper torn into fragments. It may be used for sitting or kneeling upon, or to soften the hardness or angularity of a chair or couch. It is a very ancient article of furniture, the inventories of the contents of palaces and great houses in the early middle ages constantly making mention of it. It was then often of great size, covered with leather, and firm enough to serve as a seat, but the steady tendency of all furniture has been to grow smaller. It was, indeed, used as a seat, at all events in France and Spain, at a very much later period, and in Saint-Simon's time we find that at the Spanish court it was still regarded as a peculiarly honourable substitute for a chair. In France the right to kneel upon a cushion in church behind the king was jealously guarded and strictly regulated, as we may learn again from Saint-Simon. This type of cushion was called a _carreau_ or square. When seats were rude and hard the cushion may have been a necessity; it is now one of the minor luxuries of life.

The term "cushion" is given in architecture to the sides of the Ionic capital. It is also applied to an early and simple form of the Romanesque capitals of Germany and England, which consist of cubical masses, square at the top and rounded off at the four corners, so as to reduce the lower diameter to a circle of the same size as the shaft.

CUSHMAN, CHARLOTTE SAUNDERS (1816-1876), American actress, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on the 23rd of July 1816. Her father, a West India merchant, left his family in straitened circumstances, and Charlotte, who had a fine contralto voice, went on the operatic stage. In 1835 she successfully appeared at the Tremont theatre as the countess Almaviva in _The Marriage of Figaro_. But her singing voice failing her she entered the drama, and played Lady Macbeth in the same year. She then engaged herself as a stock actress, but was soon given leading parts. In 1842 she managed and played in the Walnut Street theatre in Philadelphia. She accompanied Macready on an American tour, winning a great reputation in tragedy, and in 1845 and in 1854-1855 she fulfilled successful engagements in London. She was a keen student, and acquired a large range of classic roles. Her best parts were perhaps Lady Macbeth and Queen Katherine, her most popular Meg Merrilies, in a dramatization of Scott's _Guy Mannering_. Her figure was commanding and her face expressive, and she was animated by a temperament full of vigour and fire. These qualities enabled her to play with success such male parts as Romeo and Cardinal Wolsey. During her later years Miss Cushman worked hard as a dramatic reader, in which capacity she was much appreciated. Her last appearance on the stage took place on the 15th of May 1875, at the Globe theatre, Boston, in which city she died on the 18th of February 1876.

See Emma Stebbins's _Charlotte Cushman, her Letters and Memories of
her Life_ (Boston, 1878); H. A. Clapp's _Reminiscences of a Dramatic
Critic_ (Boston, 1902); and W. T. Price, _A Life of Charlotte Cushman_
(New York, 1894).

CUSP (Lat. _cuspis_, a spear, point), a projecting point, or pointed end. In architecture (Fr. _feuille_, Ital. _cuspide_, Ger. _Knopfe_), a cusp is the point where the foliations of tracery intersect. The earliest example of a plain cusp is probably that at Pythagoras school, at Cambridge,--of an ornamented cusp at Ely cathedral, where a small roll, with a rosette at the end, is formed at the termination of a cusp. In the later styles the terminations of the cusps were more richly decorated; they also sometimes terminate not only in leaves or foliages, but in rosettes, heads and other fanciful ornaments. The term "feathering" is used of the junction of the foliated cusps in window tracery, but is usually restricted to those cases where it is ornamented with foliage, &c.

CUSTARD[1] APPLE, a name applied to the fruit of various species of the genus _Anona_, natural order _Anonaceae_. The members of this genus are shrubs or small trees having alternate, exstipulate leaves, and flowers with three small sepals, six petals arranged in a double row and numerous stamens. The fruit of _A. reticulata_, the common custard apple, or "bullock's heart" of the West Indies, is dark brown in colour, and marked with depressions, which give it a quilted appearance; its pulp is reddish-yellow, sweetish and very soft (whence the name); the kernels of the seeds are said to be poisonous. The sour-sop is the fruit of _A. muricata_, native of the West Indies. The plant, which is a small tree, has become naturalized in some parts of India where it is extensively cultivated, as elsewhere in the tropics. It is covered with soft prickles, is of a light-greenish hue, and has a peculiar but agreeable sour taste, and a scent resembling that of black currants. The sweet-sop is produced by _A. squamosa_, also a native of the West Indies and widely cultivated in the tropics. It is known as the custard apple by Europeans in India. It is an egg-shaped fruit, with a thick rind and luscious pulp. An acrid principle, fatal to insects, is contained in its seeds, leaves and unripe fruits, which, powdered and mixed with the flour of gram (_Cicer arietinum_), are used to destroy vermin. _A. Cherimolia_ yield the Peruvian cherimoyer, which is held to be a fruit of very superior flavour, and is much esteemed by the creoles. _A. palustris_, alligator apple, or cork-wood, a native of South America and the West Indies, is valued for its wood, which serves the same purposes as cork; the fruit, commonly known as the alligator-apple, is not eaten, being reputed to contain a dangerous narcotic principle.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] The term "custard," now given to a dish made with eggs beaten up
with milk, &c., and either served in liquid form or baked to a stiff
consistency, originally denoted a kind of open pie. It represents the
older form "crustade," Fr. _croustade_, Ital. _crostata_, from
_crostare_, to encrust.

CUSTER, GEORGE ARMSTRONG (1839-1876), American cavalry soldier, was born in New Rumley, Harrison county, Ohio, on the 5th of December 1839. He graduated from West Point in 1861, and was at once sent to the theatre of war in Virginia, joining his regiment on the battlefield of Bull Run. Afterwards he served on the staff of General Kearny, and on that of General W. F. Smith in the Peninsular Campaign. His daring and energy, and in particular a spirited reconnaissance on the Chickahominy river, brought him to the notice of General McClellan, who made him an aide-de-camp on his own staff, with the rank of captain. A few hours afterwards Custer attacked a Confederate picket post and drove back the enemy. He continued to serve with McClellan until the general was relieved of his command, when Custer returned to duty with his regiment as a lieutenant. Early in 1863 General Pleasonton selected him as his aide-de-camp, and in June 1863 Custer was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers. He distinguished himself at the head of the Michigan cavalry brigade in the battle of Gettysburg, and frequently did good service in the remaining operations of the campaign of 1863. When the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac was reorganized under Sheridan in 1864, Custer retained his command, and took part in the various actions of the cavalry in the Wilderness and Shenandoah campaigns. At the end of September 1864, he was appointed to command a division, and on the 9th of October fought, along with General Merritt, the brilliant cavalry action called the battle of Woodstock. Soon afterwards he was made brevet-major-general, U.S.V., having already won the brevets of major, lieutenant-colonel and colonel U.S.A., for his services at Gettysburg, Yellow Tavern and Winchester. His part in the decisive battle of Cedar Creek (q.v.) was most conspicuous. He served with Sheridan in the last great cavalry raid, won the action of Waynesboro, and in the final campaign added to his laurels by his conduct at Dinwiddie and Five Forks, and in other operations. At the close of the war he received the brevets of brigadier and major-general in the regular army, and was promoted major-general of volunteers. In 1866 Custer was made lieutenant-colonel of the 7th U.S. Cavalry, and took part under General Hancock in the expedition against the Cheyenne Indians, upon whom he inflicted a crushing defeat at Washita river on the 27th of November 1868. In 1873 he was sent to Dakota Territory to serve against the Sioux.

In 1876 an expedition, of which Custer and his regiment formed part, was made against the Sioux and their allies. As the advanced guard of the troops under General Terry, Custer's force arrived at the junction of Big Horn and Little Big Horn rivers, in what is now the state of Montana, on the night of June 24; the main body was due to join him on the 26th. Unfortunately, the presence of what was judged to be a small isolated force of Indians was reported to the general. On the 25th, dividing his regiment into three parties, he moved forward to surround this force. But instead of meeting only a small force of Indians, the 7th were promptly attacked by the full forces of the enemy. The flanking columns maintained themselves with difficulty until Terry came up. Custer and 264 men of the centre column rode into the midst of the enemy and were slaughtered to a man.

The general's wife, ELIZABETH BACON CUSTER, who accompanied him in many of his frontier expeditions, wrote _Boots and Saddles, Life with General Custer in Dakota_ (1885), _Tenting on the Plains_ (1887) and _Following the Guidon_ (1891). General Custer himself wrote _My Life on the Plains_ (1874).

See F. Whittaker, _Life of General George A. Custer_ (1876).

His brother THOMAS WARD CUSTER (1845-1876), in spite of his youth, fought in the early campaigns of the Civil War. Becoming aide-de-camp to General Custer, he accompanied him throughout the latter part of the war, distinguishing himself by his daring on all occasions, and winning successively the brevets of captain, major and lieutenant-colonel, though he was barely twenty years of age when the war ended. He was first lieutenant in the 7th cavalry when he fell with his brother at the Little Big Horn.

CUSTINE, ADAM PHILIPPE, COMTE DE (1740-1793), French general, began his military career in the Seven Years' War. He next served with distinction against the English in the War of American Independence. In 1789 he was elected to the states-general by the _bailliage_ of Metz. In October 1791 he again joined the army, with the rank of lieutenant-general and became popular with the soldiers, amongst whom he was known as "_general moustache_." General-in-chief of the army of the Vosges, he took Spires, Worms, Mainz and Frankfort in September and October 1792. He carried on the revolutionary propaganda by proclamations, and levied heavy taxes on the nobility and clergy. During the winter a Prussian army forced him to evacuate Frankfort, re-cross the Rhine and fall back upon Landau. He was accused of treason, defended by Robespierre, and sent back to the army of the north. But he dared not take the offensive, and did nothing to save Conde, which the Austrians were besieging. Sent to Paris to justify himself, he was found guilty by the Revolutionary Tribunal of having intrigued with the enemies of the republic, and guillotined on the 28th of August 1793. (See FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WARS.)

See A. Rambaud, _Les Francais sur le Rhin_ (Paris, 1880); A. Chuquet,
_Les Guerres de la Revolution_ (1886-1895; vol. vi. "L'Expedition de
Custine").

CUSTOM (from O. Fr. _custume_, _costume_ or _coustume_; Low Lat. _costuma_, a shortened form of _consuetudo_), in general, a habit or practice. Thus a tradesman calls those who deal with him his "customers," and the trade resulting as their "custom." The word is also used for a toll or tax levied upon goods; there was at one time a distinction between the tax on goods exported or imported, termed _magna custuma_ (the great custom), and that on goods taken to market within the realm, termed _parva custuma_ (the little custom), but the word is now used in this sense only in the plural, to signify the duties levied upon imported goods. It is also used as a name for that department of the public service which is employed in levying the duty.

In law, such long-continued usage as has by common consent become a rule of conduct is termed custom. Jessel, M. R. (_Hammerton_ v. _Honey_, 24 W. R. 603), has defined it as "local common law. It is common law because it is not statute law; it is local law because it is the law of a particular place, as distinguished from the general common law. Local common law is the law of the country (i.e. particular place) as it existed before the time of legal memory." There has been much discussion among jurists as to whether custom can properly be reckoned a source of law (see JURISPRUDENCE). As to the distinction between prescription (which is a personal claim) and custom, see PRESCRIPTION. The adoption of local customs by the judiciary has undoubtedly been the origin of a great portion of the English common law. Blackstone divides custom into (1) general, which is the common law properly so called, and (2) particular, which affects only the inhabitants of particular districts. The requisites necessary to make a particular custom good are: (1) it must have been used so long that the memory of man runneth not to the contrary; (2) it must have been continued, and (3) enjoyed peaceably; (4) it must be reasonable, and (5) certain; (6) it must be compulsory, and not left to the option of every man whether he will use it or no; (7) it must be consistent with other customs, for one custom cannot be set up in opposition to another. Customs may be of various kinds, for example, customs of merchants, customs of a certain district (such as gavelkind and borough English), customs of a particular manor, &c. The word custom is also generally employed for the _usage_ of a particular trade or market; for a trade custom to be established to the satisfaction of the law it must be a uniform and universal practice so well defined and recognized that contracting parties must be assumed to have had it in their minds when they contracted (Russell, C. J., _Fox-Bourne_ v. _Vernon_, 10 _Times_ Rep. 649).

In the history of France the term "custom" was given to those special usages of different districts which had grown up into a body of local law, as the "custom of Paris," the "custom of Normandy" (see FRANCE: _Law and Institutions_).

CUSTOMARY FREEHOLD, in English law, a species of tenure which may be described as a variety of copyhold. It is also termed privileged copyhold or copyhold of frank tenure. It is a tenure by copy of court roll, but not expressed to be at the will of the lord. It is, in fact, only a superior kind of copyhold, and the freehold is in the lord. It is subject to the general law of copyholds, except where the law may be varied by the custom of the particular manor. (See COPYHOLD.)

CUSTOM-HOUSE, the house or office appointed by a government where the taxes or duties (if any) are collected upon the importation and exportation of commodities; where duties, bounties or drawbacks payable or receivable upon exportation or importation are paid or received, and where vessels are entered and cleared. In the United Kingdom there is usually a custom-house established at every port or harbour to which any considerable amount of shipping resorts, the officer in charge being called "collector of customs"; in the minor ports the officer is usually termed "superintendent of customs" or "principal coast officer."

CUSTOM DUTIES, the name given to taxes on the import and export of commodities. They rank among the most ancient, as they continue to prevail as one of the most common modes, in all countries, of levying revenue for public purposes. In an insular country like the United Kingdom customs duties came in process of time to be levied only or chiefly in the seaports, and thus applied only to the foreign commerce, where they may be brought under the control of fair and reasonable principles of taxation. But this simplification of customs duties was only reached by degrees; and during a long period special customs were levied on goods passing between England and Scotland; and the trade of Ireland with Great Britain and with foreign countries was subjected to fiscal regulations which could not now stand in the light of public reason. The taxes levied, on warrant of some ancient grant or privilege, upon cattle or goods at a bridge or a ferry or other point of passage from one county or province to another, of which there are some lingering remains even in the United Kingdom, and those levied at the gates of cities on the produce of the immediate country--a not uncommon form of municipal taxation on the European continent--are all of the nature of customs dues. It is from the universality of this practice that the English term "customs" appears to have been derived.

See TAXATION; PROTECTION; TARIFF.

CUSTOS ROTULORUM, the keeper of the English county records, and by virtue of that office the highest civil officer in the county. The appointment until 1545 lay with the lord chancellor, but is now exercised by the crown under the royal sign-manual, and is usually held by a person of rank, most frequently the lord-lieutenant of the county. He is one of the justices of the peace. In practice the records are in the custody of the clerk of the peace. This latter official was, until 1888, appointed by the _custos rotulorum_, but since the passing of the Local Government Act of that year, the appointment is made by the standing joint-committee of the county council. Lambarde described the _custos rotulorum_ as a "man for the most part especially picked out either for wisdom, countenance or credit."

CUSTOZZA, a village of Italy, in the province of Verona, 11 m. S.W. of Verona, famous as the scene of two battles between the Austrians and the Italians in the struggle for Italian unity. The first battle of Custozza was fought on the 23rd-25th of July 1848, the Austrians commanded by Field-Marshal Radetzky being victorious over the Piedmontese army under King Charles Albert. The second battle was fought on the 24th of June 1866, and resulted in the complete victory of the Austrians under the archduke Albert, over the Italian army of King Victor Emmanuel I. (See ITALIAN WARS, 1848-1870.)

CUSTRIN, or KUSTRIN, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Prussia, a fortress of the first rank, at the confluence of the Oder and Warthe, 18 m. N.E. from Frankfort-on-Oder and 51 m. N.E. of Berlin by rail. Pop. (1900) 16,473 (including the garrison). It consists of the town proper within the strong fortifications, a suburb on the left bank of the Oder, and one on the right bank of the Warthe. There are three Evangelical churches and one Roman Catholic, and a handsome town hall. There are bridges over both rivers. Custrin has some manufactories of potato-meal, machinery, pianos, furniture, cigars, &c., and there is a considerable river trade.

About 1250 a town was erected on the site of Custrin, where a fishing village originally stood. From 1535 till 1571 it was the residence of John, margrave of Brandenburg-Custrin, who died without male heirs in 1571. Custrin was the prison of Frederick the Great when crown-prince, and the scene of the execution of his friend Hans Hermann von Katte on the 6th of November 1730.

CUTCH, or KACH, a native state of India within the Gujarat division of Bombay, with an area of 7616 sq. m. It is a peninsular tract of land, enclosed towards the W. by the eastern branch of the Indus, on the S. by the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Cutch, and on the N. and E. towards the interior, by the great northern Runn, a salt morass or lake. The interior of Cutch is studded with hills of considerable elevation, and a range of mountains runs through it from east to west, many of them of the most fantastic shapes, with large isolated masses of rock scattered in all directions. The general appearance of Cutch is barren and uninteresting. The greater part is a rock destitute of soil, and presenting the wildest aspect; the ground is cold, poor and sterile; and the whole face of the country bears marks of volcanic action. From the violence of tyranny, and the rapine of a disorderly banditti, by which this district long suffered, as well as from shocks of earthquakes, the villages have a ruinous and dilapidated appearance; and, with the exception of a few fields in their neighbourhood, the country presents a rocky and sandy waste, with in many places scarcely a show of vegetation. Water is scarce and brackish, and is chiefly found at the bottom of low ranges of hills, which abound in some parts; and the inhabitants of the extensive sandy tracts suffer greatly from the want of it. Owing to the uncertainty of the periodical rains in Cutch, the country is liable to severe famines, and it has suffered greatly from plague.

The temperature of Cutch during the hot season is high, the thermometer frequently rising to 100 deg. or 105 deg. F.; and in the months of April and May clouds of dust and sand, blown about by hurricanes, envelop the houses, the glass windows scarcely affording any protection. The influence of the monsoon is greatly moderated before it reaches this region, and the rains sometimes fail altogether. Bhuj, the capital of the state, is situated inland, and is surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills, some of which approach within 3 or 4 m. of the city. The hill of Bhuja, on which the fort is situated, rises to the height of 500 ft. in the middle of the plain, and is detached from other high ground. The residency is 4 m. distant in a westerly direction. There are many mountain streams, but no navigable rivers. They contain scarcely any water except in the rainy season, when they are very full and rapid, and discharge themselves into the Runn, all along the coast of which the wells and springs are more or less impregnated with common salt and other saline ingredients.

Various causes have contributed to thin the population of this country. In 1813 it was ravaged by a famine and pestilence, which destroyed a great proportion of its inhabitants,--according to some accounts, nearly one-half. This, joined to the tyranny and violence of the government until the year 1819, and subsequently to a succession of unfavourable seasons, forced many of the cultivators to remove to Sind and other countries. The inhabitants numbered 488,022 in 1901, being a decrease of 13% during the decade, due to the famines of 1899-1900. One-third are Mahommedans and the remainder Hindus of various castes. The Jareja Rajputs form a particular class, being the aristocracy of the country; and all are more or less connected with the family of the rao or prince. There are in Cutch about 200 of these Jareja chiefs, who all claim their descent from a prince who reigned in Sind about 1000 years ago. From him also the reigning sovereign is lineally descended, and he is the liege lord of whom all the chiefs or nobles hold their lands in feu, for services which they or their ancestors had performed, or in virtue of their relationship to the family. They are all termed the brotherhood of the rao or Bhayad, and supposed to be his hereditary advisers, and their possessions are divided among their male children. To prevent the breaking down of their properties, the necessary consequence of this law of inheritance, there is no doubt that infanticide was common among them, and that it extended to the male as well as the female progeny, but it has been put down by the Infanticide Rules, which provide for the registration of Jareja children. The Jarejas have a tradition that when they entered Cutch they were Mahommedans, but that they afterward adopted the customs and religion of the Hindus. It is certain, indeed, that they still retain many Mahommedan customs. They take oaths equally on the Koran or on the Shastras; they employ Mussulman books; they eat from their hands; the rao, when he appears in public, alternately worships God in a Hindu pagoda and a Mahommedan mosque; and he fits out annually at Mandvi a ship for the conveyance of pilgrims to Mecca, who are maintained during the voyage chiefly by the liberality of the prince. The Mahommedans in Cutch are of the same degenerate class as those usually found in the western parts of India. The natives are in general of a stronger and stouter make, and even handsomer, than those of western India; and the women of the higher classes are also handsome. The peasants are described as intelligent, and the artizans are justly celebrated for their ingenuity and mechanical skill. The palace at Mandvi, and a tomb of one of their princes at Bhuj, are fair specimens of their architectural skill. The estimated gross revenue is L126,322. There are special manufactures of silver filigree-work and embroidery. The maritime population supplies the best sailors in India. There are cotton presses and ginning factories.

The country of Cutch was invaded about the 13th century by a body of Mahommedans of the Summa tribe, who under the guidance of five brothers emigrated from Sind, and who gradually subdued or expelled the original inhabitants, consisting of three distinct races. Cutch continued tranquil under their sway for many years, until some family quarrel arose, in which the chief of an elder branch of the tribe was murdered by a rival brother. His son Khengayi fled to Ahmedabad to seek the assistance of the viceroy, who reinstated him in the sovereignty of Cutch, and Morvi in Kathiawar, and in the title of rao, about the year 1540. The succession continued in the same line from the time of this prince until 1697, when a younger brother, Pragji, murdered his elder brother and usurped the sovereignty. This line of princes continued till 1760 without any remarkable event, when, in the reign of Rao Ghodji, the country was invaded four times by the Sinds, who wasted it with fire and sword. The reign of this prince, as well as that of his son Rao Rayadan, by whom he was succeeded in 1778, was marked by cruelty and blood. The latter prince was dethroned, and, being in a state of mental derangement, was during his lifetime confined by Fateh Mahommed, a native of Sind, who continued, with a short interval (in which the party of the legal heir, Bhaiji Bawa, gained the ascendancy), to rule the country until his death in 1813. It was in the reign of Fateh Mahommed that a communication first took place with the British government. During the contests for the sovereignty between the usurper and the legal heir, the leader of the royal party, Hansraj, the governor of Mandvi, sought the aid of the British. But no closer connexion followed at that time than an agreement for the suppression of piracy, or of inroads of troops to the eastward of the Runn or Gulf of Cutch. But the gulf continued notwithstanding to swarm with pirates, who were openly encouraged or connived at by the son of Hansraj, who had succeeded his father, as well as by Fateh Mahommed. The latter left several sons by different wives, who were competitors for the vacant throne. Husain Miyan succeeded to a considerable portion of his father's property and power. Jugjevan, a Brahman, the late minister of Fateh Mahommed, also received a considerable share of influence; and the hatred of these two factions was embittered by religious animosities, the one being Hindu and the other Mahommedan. The deceased rao had declared himself a Mahommedan, and his adherents were preparing to inter his body in a magnificent tomb, when the Jarejas and other Hindus seized the corpse and consigned it to the flames, according to Hindu custom.

The administration of affairs was nominally in the hands of Husain Miyan and his brother Ibrahim Miyan. Many sanguinary broils now ensued, in the course of which Jugjevan was murdered, and the executive authority was much weakened by the usurpations of the Arabs and other chiefs. In the meantime Ibrahim Miyan was assassinated; and after various other scenes of anarchy, the rao Bharmulji, son of Rao Rayadan, by general consent, assumed the chief power. But his reign was one continued series of the grossest enormities; his hostility to the British became evident, and accordingly a force of 10,500 men crossed the Runn in November 1815, and were within five miles of Bhuj, the capital of the country, when a treaty was concluded, by which the rao Bharmulji was confirmed in his title to the throne, on agreeing, among other stipulations, to cede Anjar and its dependencies in perpetuity to the British. He was, however, so far from fulfilling the terms of this treaty that it was determined to depose him; and an army being sent against him, he surrendered to the British, who made a provision for his maintenance, and elevated his infant son Desalji II. to the throne (1819).