particular kind of diet, started the modern dietetic treatment, at first called “Banting” after the author. After trying almost every known remedy without effect, Banting was induced, on the suggestion of Mr Harvey, a London aurist, to place himself upon an entirely new form of diet, which consisted chiefly in the removal, as far as possible, of all saccharine, starchy and fat food, the reduction of liquids, and the substitution of meat or fish and fruit in moderate quantity at each meal, together with the daily use of an antacid draught. Under this regimen his weight was reduced 46 ℔ in the course of a few weeks, while his health underwent a marked improvement. His experience, as might have been expected, induced many to follow his example; and since then various regimens have been propounded, all aiming at treating corpulence on modern physiological principles (see also Dietetics, Metabolic Diseases and Nutrition). It is important, however, to bear in mind that the treatment should be followed under medical advice and observation; for, however desirable it be to get rid of superabundant fat, it would be manifestly no gain were this to be achieved by the sacrifice of the general health.
CORPUS CHRISTI, a city and the county-seat of Nueces county, Texas, U.S.A., situated on Corpus Christi Bay opposite the mouth of the Nueces river, 192 m. W.S.W. of Galveston and about 150 m. S.S.E. of San Antonio. Pop. (1890) 4387; (1900) 4703, including 963 foreign-born and 460 negroes; (1910) 8299. It is served by the National of Mexico, the St Louis, Brownsville & Mexico, and the San Antonio & Aransas Pass railways. In 1908 the Federal government began work on a project to connect Corpus Christi harbour with Aransas Pass by a channel 8½ ft. deep at low water and 75 ft. wide at the bottom, following a natural depression between the two bays. Corpus Christi is a summer and winter resort, with a very dry equable climate (average annual mean, 70.2° F.) and good bathing on the horseshoe beach of Corpus Christi Bay. The city has an extensive coasting trade, and exports fruit, early vegetables, fish and oysters. There was a small Spanish settlement here at an early date, but no American settlement was made until after the Mexican War. Corpus Christi was the base from which General Zachary Taylor made his forward movement to the Rio Grande in 1846. It was chartered as a city in 1876.
CORPUS CHRISTI, FEAST OF (Lat. festum corporis Christi, i.e. festival of the Body of Christ, Fr. fête-Dieu or fête du sacrement, Ger. Frohnleichnamsfest), a festival of the Roman Catholic Church in honour of the Real Presence of Christ in the sacrament of the altar, observed on the first Thursday after Trinity Sunday. The doctrine of transubstantiation was defined by the Lateran Council in 1215, and shortly afterwards the elevation and adoration of the Host were formally enjoined. This naturally stimulated the popular devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, which had been already widespread before the definition of the dogma. The movement was especially strong in the diocese of Liége, and when Julienne, prioress of Mont-Cornillon near Liége (1222–1258), had a vision in which the need for the establishment of a festival in honour of the Sacrament was revealed to her, the matter was taken up with enthusiasm by the clergy, and in 1246 Robert de Torote, bishop of Liége, instituted such a festival for his diocese. The idea, however, did not spread until, in 1261, Jacob Pantaleon, archdeacon of Liége, ascended the papal throne as Urban IV. By a bull of 1264 Urban made the festival, hitherto practically confined to the diocese of Liége, obligatory on the whole Church,[1] and a new office for the festival was written by Thomas Aquinas himself. As yet the stress was laid on reverence for the Holy Sacrament as a whole; there is no mention in Urban’s bull of the solemn procession and exposition of the Host for the adoration of the faithful, which are the main features of the festival as at present celebrated. Urban’s bull was once more promulgated, at the council of Vienne in 1311, by Pope Clement V.; and the procession of the Host in connexion with the festival was instituted, if the accounts we possess are trustworthy, by Pope John XXII.
From this time onwards the festival increased in popularity and in splendour. It became in effect the principal feast of the Church, the procession of the Sacrament a gorgeous pageant, in which not only the members of the trade and craft gilds, with the magistrates of the cities, took part, but princes and sovereigns. It thus became in a high degree symbolical of the exaltation of the sacerdotal power.[2] In the 15th century the custom became almost universal of following the procession with the performance of miracle-plays and mysteries, generally arranged and acted by members of the gilds who had formed part of the pageant.
The rejection of the doctrine of transubstantiation at the Reformation naturally involved the suppression of the festival of Corpus Christi in the reformed Churches. Luther, in spite of his belief in the Real Presence, regarded it as the most harmful of all the medieval festivals and, though he fully realized its popularity, it was the first that he abolished. This attitude of the reformers towards the festival, however, intensified by their abhorrence of the traffic in indulgences with which it had become closely associated, only tended to establish it more firmly among the adherents of the “old religion.” The procession of the Host on Corpus Christi day became, as it were, a public demonstration of Catholic orthodoxy against Protestantism and later against religious Liberalism. In most countries where religious opinion is sharply divided the procession of Corpus Christi is therefore now forbidden, even when Catholicism is the dominant religion. In England occasional breaches of the law in this respect have been for some time tolerated, as in the case of the Corpus Christi procession annually held by the Italian community in London. An attempt to hold a public procession of the Host in connexion with the Eucharistic Congress at Westminster in 1908, however, was the signal for the outburst of a considerable amount of opposition, and was eventually abandoned owing to the personal intervention of the prime minister.
CORRAL (Span. from corro, a circle), a word used chiefly in Spanish America and the United States for an enclosure for cattle and horses, and also for a defensive circle formed of wagons against attacks from Indians. It is also used as a verb, meaning to drive into a corral, and so figuratively to enclose,
hem in. The word is probably connected with the South African Dutch word kraal (q.v.). In Ceylon it is especially used for an enclosure meant for the capture of wild elephants. In this last sense of the word the corresponding term in India is keddah (q.v.).
CORREA, a genus of Australian plants belonging to the natural order Rutaceae, named after the Portuguese botanist José Francisco Correa da Serra. The plants are evergreen shrubs and extremely useful for winter flowering. They are increased by cuttings, and grown in a cool greenhouse in rough peaty soil, with a slight addition of loam and sand. After the plants have done flowering, they should all get a little artificial warmth, plenty of moisture, and a slight shade, while they are making their growth, during which period the tips of the young shoots should be nipped out when 6 or 8 in. long. When the growth is complete, a half-shady place outdoors during August and September will be suitable, with protection from parching winds and hot sunshine.
CORREA DA SERRA, JOSÉ FRANCISCO (1750–1823), Portuguese politician and man of science, was born at Serpa, in Alemtejo, in 1750. Educated at Rome, he took orders under the protection of the duke of Alafoès, uncle of Mary I. of Portugal. In 1777 he returned to Lisbon, where he resided with his patron, with whose assistance he founded the Portuguese Academy of Sciences. Of this institution he was named perpetual secretary, and he received the privilege of publishing its transactions without reference to any censor whatever. His use of this right brought him into conflict with the Holy Office; and
- ↑ The pope’s decision, so the story goes, was hastened by a miracle. A priest, saying mass at the church of Santa Christina at Bolsena, was troubled, after the consecration, with grave doubts as to the truth of the doctrine of transubstantiation. His temptation was removed by the Host beginning to bleed, the blood soaking through the corporal into the marble of the altar.
- ↑ Nothing caused more offence to Liberal sentiment in France after the Restoration than the spectacle of King Louis XVIII. walking and carrying a candle in the procession through the streets of Paris.
