Single-source entries: C (114)

Corday, Charlotte

Charlotte (1768-1793), a French heroine. She was of noble birth and was educated in a convent in Caen. She read Voltaire and other progressive French writers, from whom she imbibed the principles of the French Revolution . The bloody scenes enacted by the Parisian leaders filled her with horror. She decided to sacrifice her life in an attempt to strike at the center of the band of men who directed the Reign of Terror. She repaired to Paris, and on July 13, 1793, she gained access to the apartments of Marat, and under pretense of presenting a petition for signature, stabbed that monster to death as he sat in a bath tub seeking relief from an affliction. Two days later she was tried by the tribunal, and was sent to the guillotine. Her act reminds the reader of similar self-sacrifices made by Russian women who have carried out the plans of Nihilist leaders.

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Cordele

a city of Georgia, the county-seat of Crisp co It is on the CORDIACEÆ Georgia Southern and Florida, the Seaboard Air Line, the Atlanta, Birmingham and Atlantic, and the Georgia, Southwestern and Gulf railroads. It is the center of an extensive cotton-growing region, and its manufactures include cottonseed, oil, and lumber. There are a library and other public buildings. Pop. (1910) 5,883; (1920) 6,538.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Cordelia

the youngest daughter of King Lear in Shakespeare's tragedy of that name. Cordelia is introduced in the first scene. She does not appear again until the last part of Act IV. She speaks altogether but 115 lines. Nevertheless, throughout the entire play we are continually conscious of Cordelia. This is due, not alone to the fact that the entire action is a result of her conduct, but as well, to her character which Shakespeare's genius has "painted with few strokes yet vividly and perfectly." The beautiful soul of Cordelia, that is little talked of by herself, and is but stingily set forth by circumstance, engrosses our feeling in scenes from whose threshold her filial piety is banished. We know what Lear is so pathetically remembering; the sisters tell us in their cruellest moments; it mingles with the midnight storm a sigh of the daughterhood that was repulsed. In the pining of the Fool we detect it. Through every wail or gust of this awful symphony of madness, ingratitude, and irony, we feel a woman's breath.-Weiss.

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Cordiacee

an order or sub-order of perigynous exogens, alliance Solanales. It is most closely akin to the boraginaceæ, and next to the convolvulacea. The species are found in the tropics of both hemispheres, in South America straggling into more temperate latitudes. Two hundred species of cordia itself are now known.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Cordierite

DICHROITE, or IOLITE, a natural silicate of magnesia, alumina, and ferric oxide. It crystallizes in stout orthorhombic prisms, and is of various shades of blue, sometimes with a tinge of gray or brown.

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Cordite

an explosive, the component parts of which are nitroglycerine, 58 per cent.; gun cotton, 37, and mineral jelly, 5. Acetone dissolves this combination, but evaporates in drying. One of the features that make cordite valuable is that its two ingredients, which by themselves are dangerous to handle, are almost harmless combined. It can hardly be exploded by accident. While in a plastic state it is pressed through a die in the form of a thread or cord and wound upon reels to dry.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Cordoba

a central province of the Argentine Republic, mostly pampa land, rising to the Sierras de Cordoba and de Pocho in the W. Area, 62,160 square miles. Pop. about 770,000. Copper and silver are mined, but cattle-raising and agriculture are the chief industries. The climate is healthy, but very dry; the temperature ranges from 18° to 107° F. The capital, Cordoba, lies in the valley of the Rio Primero, 246 miles W. N. W. of Rosario. It is regularly built, with open watercourses running through the streets, has street railways, a cathedral with a fine Moorish exterior, numerous other churches, a handsome city hall, the old university building, with walls from 4 to 6 feet thick, a national observatory, and noble baths. The university (1613) sank greatly after the expulsion of the Jesuits (1767), until in 1870 several German professors settled here. The town possesses also a national college, a school of art, and an academy of sciences, which publishes a valuable "Boletin." Founded by Cabrera in 1573, the town was fa- Spanish occupation as a mous during the seat of learning and the center of the Jesuit missions in South America. Pop. about 105,000.

a town of Mexico, 66 miles S. W. of Vera Cruz; in a fruitful Forvalley, 3,045 feet above the sea. merly important, it sank greatly after the revolution; but in later years it has recovered its trade. It is surrounded by rich coffee-plantations. Pop. about 9,000.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Corduroy

a thick, corded, cotton fabric. It is used for the outer garments of laborers and those engaging in out-of-door sports. To a less extent, it is used for covering furniture and for fancy work. Corduroy is a pile fabric belonging to the same class as velveteen. The pile is produced by an extra system of weft threads, which "float" over the ground cloth. These wefts are firmly bound in at intervals. The loops are left on the surface in groups to form the cords. Between these groups, the pile weft disappears into the ground web of the fabric. The loops in the center of a group are longer than those on the sides. After weaving, these loops are slit by the cutter, brushed up and closely sheared. Corduroy was made first in France in the seventeenth century. It was designed for the wear of the king's huntsmen, the name, corduroy, meaning "king's cord." Corduroy has given its name to a kind of road constructed through swampy places by means of small logs laid close together crosswise, forming a solid but uneven roadbed.

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Core

The inner portion of a mould, partially or wholly surrounded with metal. It may be composed of greensand, dry-sand, loam, or iron; the latter usually consisting of a tapered chill with some covering of carbon, as tar, etc., to protect it from the action of the molten metal. The Anti-chill Core Compound Company, Peoria, Ill., explain their core as follows: "Instead of the present process of using a sand core, we use a metal core made of cold-rolled steel shafting of the same size as the shaft on which the casting is intended to be run or used, turning out the castings ready for use, thereby saving from 50 to 75 per cent on the dollar in machine-finishing labor, such as boring, drilling, key-seating, feathering, etc., required when the sand core is used. This metal core before using, is coated by dipping into our compound, which prevents the molten metal from adhering to the core, and also prevents all chilling, blowing, straining, cracking, etc., of the iron or casting."

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