C R U
CRY
CRUClSLEfCy-/.)— Thefe veffels, (6 much ufed by affayers,&o are belt made of a pure and well-waihed clay, with an admix- ture of the pureft fand, powder of flint, or the powder of other bro!;en crucibles, which have already fuftained a gre.it fire, and rirc very ciear. They are formed in wooden, or brafs moulds, divided longitudinally into two parts, and to be disjoined, or put together again atpleafure: fur this purpofe alio a broad iron rinfj: ir. adapted to the outiidc of the mould, in fuch man- ner, that the two fides are kept firmly together while this ring is on, and fall afunder as foon as it is taken off. This mould, however, gives only the outer fhape of the crucible, its cavity mull be made by apeftle, or other fuch inurnment. When thefe veflfels are to be made, the ring is put upon the mould, and the whole fet upon a ftrong fupport : then the ca- vity of the mould is to be filled with the matter very ftift"; this is to be pre/Ted down firft with the fingers, or with a flick, making a hollow in the middle, and leaving the edges of the matter above the fides of the mould ; then apply to this hollow the pcftlc, rubbed over with the fat of bacon, and drive it in with feveral ftrong ftrokes of a mallet: then take away the peftle, and, taking the ring off from the mould, the crucible is taken out perfect, and fin if bed, and is to be dried, and baked in a potter's kiln. See Tab. of Chemiftry, N° 2 <;. If, from the too great moifture of the matter, when put into the mould, or from any inequalities or roughnenes in the mould, the crucible will not readily feparate from it fides, as foon as made, place the mould in a dry, warm place, for a few minutes, and the veffel will, after that, come out eafily. In the making thefe veffels, a fufneient quantity of the matter muft always be put at once into the mould ; for if you add to the matter once comprefled, a new lump of the fame, it will not cohere with the firft. If the matter be put into the mould in fmall maffes, not moulded thoroughly together firft by hand- ling, thefe never cohere neither; but the veffel, when finifhed, will be full of chinks, and pores, which, though not to be dif covered either by the eye, or by the found of the veflel when ftruck, yet let the falts in fufion pafs through them. If thefe veffels are not made with a large bottom, the concave mould muft not be greafed ; for if it be, the veffel comes out of it with the peftle, and fticks fo firmly to it, as not to be got off without breaking. Cramer, Art of Ail', p. 66.
CRUCIFIX (Cycl.) — Supcrftitious people will not be without crucifixes, or fomething which they fuppofe to refemble them, even in the mineral kingdom. The lapis crucis, or crofi-Jlone, is well known, but this has only a reprefentation of two lines crofting one another; yet this thePortuguefe failors carry to fea with them, and fixing them up againft a maft, or board, pray to them in time of danger : but much more regular crucifixes than thefe are found in the collections of the curious, in mine- rals. In the mufeum of the king of Denmark, at Copenhagen, there is preferved a piece of marble which has an elegant fi- ' gure of a crucifix delineated on its outfide, by the natural veins of the marble. Dr.Hartman, who wrote a book of amber, has alfo given an account of a whitifh piece of amber, in which was a figure of a woman holding a child in her arms. This he would have to be the virgin Mary, with our Saviour. Dr. Oli- ver obferves, in the philofopbical tranfactions, that he faw the thing itfelf ; he fays he fufpected it to be artificial, but that Hart. -.an was firmly perfuaded that it was natural, and kept it very facredly.
Scheuchzer alfo, in his Herbarium diluvianum, among the va- riety of odd reprefentations of things which he has there got together, figures a piece of cryftal, in which, I fuppofe, with the help of a little fancy, bimfelf and the engraver, had made out the figure of a man on a crofs. The weak minds of fomc have led them to fuppofe that thefe were miraculous delinea- tions ; but reafon fpeaks the contrary, and we fee, every day, figures, at leaft as exact as thefe, wildly delineated in various foffils, by the mere natural flaws, or other accidents of them.
CRUCIFORM flowers, in botany, a term for fuch flowers as are compofed of four leaves, difpofed in form of a crofs. Some of thefe flowers have a cup, others have not : thofe which have cups, ufually have them compofed of four leaves, and placed in the fame order and direction with thofe of the flower. Of this clafs of plants are the cabbage, rocket, wall-flower, Ike. Tourn. Inft. p. 210. See Tab. i. of Botany, Clafs i.
CRUCICOL/E, a defignation given to the primitive chriftians, by the heathens. Hofm. Lex. in voc.
CRUISERS, in the navy, are fmall men of war, made ufe of to and fro in the channel, and elfewhere, to fecure our merchant- ihips, and veffels, from the enemy's fmall trigats, and priva- teers They are generally fuch as fail well, and are commonly well manned : and, indeed, the fafety of the tiade in the chan- nel, and up and down the foun.iings, and other places, abfo- lutely requires the conftant keeping out of fuch ihips at fea.
CRUMENA, in zoology, the name given by Cardan, and fome others, to the purfe, or pouch, which the opoffum has under its belly, and into which it receives the young in time of danger. See Opossum.
Sculiger fuppofing there might be other animals, as well as the opofliim, to which nature might have given this fort of pouch, has erected a generical diftinction, under the name otanimalia crwnentata ; but the opoffum is the only fpecies yet known to belong to this genus. The only inftance that naturalifts feem to afford us of a like provifion of nature Suppl. Vol. I.
for the care of the young, is what is related of fomc of the fim kind. Oppian, in his Halieutics, mentions this property of receiving the young into the body, in time of d.mger, to be in the dog-fifh, and in the fquatina, and fume others j and Tyfon obferves, that, in the anatomy of a female dug-fifh, he faw two flits under the belly, clofed up in their natural ftate, but eafily diftenfible, fo as to be capable of receiving the youTiir fifh ; and that thefe went not into the womb, nor any other peculiar part, but only into the cavity of the abdomen. The account given by Oppian is, that, in time of danger from a ftorm, or from any fifh of prey purfuing the young fry, they go into their parent's belly. It therefore, after this account of Tyfon's, any young fifh mould ever be found loofe, in the ca- vity of the mother's belly, it will prove the truth of this paf- fage in Oppian, which has been fo much difputed. Phil. Tranf. N° 239. p. 12c. CRUMENTATA, a term ufed by JuliusScaliger to exprefs fuch animals as have a pouch, or bag, under their belly, into which young ones may be received in time of danger. This author feems to fuppofe that there may be feveral animals for whole prefervation nature has made this provifion j but as we yet know of only one, which is the opoffum of America, Tyfon has judged it proper to call that by a name expreflive of this furprifing character, marjupiale. This, while we know of no other creature of the quadruped kind that has fuch a purfe, is a fufticiently diftinetive name, and if it fhould happen that here- after more fuch fhould be difcovered, it may {till be referved as the generical name. CRUPEZIA, K ( -«:s.£tt, in antiquity, wooden {hoes, or clogs,
worn by the mefiochori. See Mesochdri. CRUPINA, in botany, a name by which fome authors call the
car duns jhllatus, or ftar-thiftle. Dill. Nov. Gen. p. 140. CRUSTA {Cycl.) — Crusta Iciclea, in furgery, fignifies a cruft of fcabby ulcers, apt to affect the faces of children. The cure of it depends principally on regulating the diet of the nurfe, and giving her gentle purges, and fwcetening powders ; the infant ought alfo to take at times a few gentle dofes of phyfic, and, in the intervals, between the purges, to take powders of crude, or diaphoretic antimony, with flower of brimfione, and crab's claws, and other of the tcftaceous powders. When this method has been purfued for fome time, the parts may be anointed with cream, with a fmall quantity of chalk, or cerufe, mixed in it, or with a mix-? ture of oil of eggs, with a fmall quantity of oil of bricks. Ointments of mercury, or fulphur, are very dangerous in the beginning of this diforder, or to weakly infants ; and when fuch have been ufed by ignorant perfons, the belt method to be taken is the endeavouring to throw out the humor again by fudorifics. Heijler's Surgery, p 269, CRUSTACtOUS animals. See Malacos 1 raca. CRUSTULA,in medical writers, the fame as eccbymowa, in the eye being a defcent of the blood from the arteries into the tunica covjunSiiva, occafioned by a wound, ftroke &c. Blaqcard. CRbYSHAGE, in zoology, the name of a fifh of the {hark kind, fomewhat approaching to that ftrange fifh the zygse- na, but mu.h lefs monftrous, its head being only triangu- lar, or fomething like the figure of an heart, whence Wil- lughby has named it, 7,yg<znce ajfin'n capite t'iangido. The eyes are very fmall, and are placed, as in the zygsena, at the fides of the head : the mouth is fmall and triangular, and placed a vaft way below the end of the nofe, and is furnifhed with three rows of very fmall teeth. Marggrave^ p. 132. CRYMODES, in medical writers, a cold, fhivering fever 3 but often accompanied with an inflammation of the inner parts. Blancard. CRYPTOGAM1A, in botany, a clafs of plants whofe flowers are either wholly invifiblc, or fcarce difcernable by the eye. The word is formed of the Greek x^'fa, hidden, andya^, marriage. Thefe are a clafs of plants whofe fructification is concealed, and under it are comprehended thofe plants which either flower, as is generally fuppofed, within the fruit, or have the organs of their fructification fo minute, as to efcape our obfervation. Of this clafs are the ferns, moffes, liver-worts, mufhrooms, &c. See Tab. 1. of Botany, Clafs 1., CRYSTALS, (Cycl.) in natural liiftory, are defined to be hard, pellucid, and naturally colourlcfs bodies, of regularly an- gular figures, compofed of fimple not filamentous plates, not flexile nor elaftic, giving fire with fteel, not fermenting in acid menftrua, and calcining in a itrofig fire. This clafs of bodies is arrang'd into three diftinct orders, and under thofe is divided into nine genera.
Of the fi'Ji order, are the perfect columnar cryjlals, with double pyramids, compofed of eighteen planes, in an hexangu- lar column, terminated by an hexaugular pyramid at each end. See Tab. ofFoffils, Clafs 3.
Of the fecond order, are the perfect cryjlals^ with double py- ramids, and without a column. Thefe are compofed cither of twelve or of fixteen planes, in two hexangular pyramids, joined clofely bafe to bafe, without the intervention of any column.
Of the third order, are the imperfect cryjla's, with fingle py- ramids. Thefe are the cryjiats of the common kind, and are compofed either of twelve or of ten planes, in an hex- angular or pentangular column, affixed irregularly at one end 7 P t*
