1. From half a pint to a pint of the best old mild
beer, with a little grated ginger.
2. Best Cognac brandy, from 2 to 4 oz.
Warm water 6 to 12 oz.
3. Anodyne carminative tincture 2 oz.
Water 6 or 8 oz.
4. Allspice, powdered 2 to 4 drs.
Caraway seeds (fresh), powdered 4 dr. to 1 oz.
Treacle enough to form a ball.
5. Ginger, powdered 1 dr.
Allspice, powdered 2 drs.
Caraway seeds, powdered 4 drs.
Treacle enough to form a ball.
The cordials No. 4 and 5 may be given as a drench with a little water;
and if the cordials 1, 2, and 3, were sweetened with treacle or sugar,
they would be more palatable to the horse, and probably have a better
effect. The above cordials are as well suited to cattle as to horses;
and, though much stronger drenches are often given, those will be found,
I think, of sufficient strength.—_White._
CORDIAL, _a._ Reviving, invigorating, sincere.
CORE, _s._ The heart; the inner part of any thing; the inner part of
a fruit, which contains the kernel; the matter contained in a
bile or sore.
CORIANDER, _s._ A plant.
CORK, _s._ A glandiferous tree, in all respects like the ilex,
excepting the bark; the bark of the cork-tree used for stopples;
the stopple of a bottle.
CORMORANT, COLE GOOSE, or GREAT BLACK CORMORANT, (_Pelicanus Corbo_,
LINN.; _Le Cormoran_, BUFF.) _s._ A bird that preys upon fish.
[Illustration]
The weight of this species varies from four to seven pounds, and the
size from thirty-two inches to three feet four or five in length, and
from four feet to four feet six inches in breadth. The bill, to the
corners of the mouth, measures four inches, and on its ridge two and
three quarters; it is of a dark horn colour, and the tip or nail of the
upper bill is much hooked and sharp; from the base of this it is
furrowed on each side nearly to the tip, without any visible appearance
of nostrils; the lower bill is compressed, and covered, about the gape
of the mouth, with a naked yellowish skin, extended under the chin and
throat, where it hangs loose, and forms a kind of pouch, which, together
with the springing blade on each side, forming its rim, is capable of
distension to a great width, and enables the bird to swallow prey
apparently too large to be admitted into its throat; the skin about the
eyes is also naked, and of the same colour as the pouch; the eyes, which
have a remarkable wild stare, and are placed near the bill, look like
two little greenish glass globes. The crown of the head, and the neck,
are black; on the hinder part of the former the feathers appear
elongated, and form a sort of loose short crest. In some specimens the
throat is white, with a kind of stripe passing from it, upwards, behind
each eye; in others the cheeks and throat are mixed with brown and
white; and again, in others the head and neck are streaked with
scratches of the latter colour. The middle of the belly is white, with a
patch of the same colour over each thigh; all the under parts, however,
together with the back and rump, are commonly of a glossy blue black,
with green reflections: the shoulders, scapulars, and wing-coverts, are
of a bronze brown, tinged and glossed with green, and each feather is
bordered with shining blueish black; the secondary quills are nearly of
the same colour; the coverts and the primaries are dusky. The tail
consists of fourteen stiff husky feathers, which look as if they were
discoloured by being dipped in mud or dirty kennel-water: the legs are
thick, strong, black, and coarse, about two inches and a half long, and
the outer toe is more than four in length.
The cormorant is found in every climate. In Greenland, where it is said
they remain throughout the year, the jugular pouch is made use of by the
natives, as a bladder to float their fishing-darts, after they are
thrown; their skins, which are tough, are used for garments, and their
flesh for food; “but the eggs are too fetid to be eaten even by the
Greenlanders.”
* * * * *
These birds usually assemble in flocks on the summits and inaccessible
parts of the rocks which overhang or are surrounded by the sea, upon
which the female makes her nest of the withered sea-tang, weeds, sticks,
and grasses, which are cast on shore by the waves: she lays four or more
greenish-white eggs, of the size of those of a goose, but of a longer
shape. There are writers who assert that, in some parts of the world,
they build their nests on trees, like the rook and the heron; other
authors, stricken with the singular conformation of the feet and
serrated claws, have ascribed properties to them which they do not
possess, and believe that they hold their prey in one foot, while with
the other they push forward to the shore, or carry it thither, in the
same manner, on the wing; but this seems mere conjecture, for the feet
of this tribe are not fitted for any such purpose; they are, like those
of all the expert divers, placed far behind; and while, by the position
of these, and the powerful strokes from their broad webs, the bird is
enabled to pursue and overtake its slippery prey, the hooked,
sharp-edged beak is the only fit instrument both to catch and to secure
it; and there is no need to use the awkward expedient of removing it
afterwards to the foot.
At sea, or on the inland lakes, they make terrible havoc. From the
greatest height they drop down upon the object of pursuit, dive after it
with the rapidity of a dart, and, with an almost unerring certainty,
seize the victim; then emerging with the fish across the bill, with a
kind of twirl, throw it up into the air, and, dexterously catching it
head foremost, swallow it whole.
While at rest on the shore, commonly on the ledge of a projecting rock,
these birds sit, more or less, in an erect posture, and are propped up
by the stiff feathers of the tail; and in places where they have not
experienced the fatal effects of the gun, they have been known, however
wary at other times, to sit and receive repeated shots, without offering
to move out of the danger. At other times and places, while they sit in
a dosing and stupified state, from the effects of one of their customary
surfeits, they may easily be taken, by throwing nets over them, or by
putting a noose around their necks, which they avoid no further than by
slipping the head from side to side as long as they can.
Notwithstanding the natural wildness of their disposition, it seems,
according to some accounts, that certain species of these birds have
formerly been tamed and rendered subservient to the purposes of man,
both in this and other countries. Among the Chinese it is said they have
frequently been trained to fish, and that some fishermen keep many of
them for that purpose, by which they gain a livelihood. “A ring placed
round the neck hinders the bird from swallowing; its natural appetite
joins with the will of its master, and it instantly dives at the word of
command; when, unable to gorge down the fish it has taken, it returns to
the keeper, who secures it to himself. Sometimes, if the fish be too big
for one to manage, two will act in concert, one taking it by the head
and the other by the tail.” In England, according to Willoughby, “when
they came to the rivers, they take off their hoods, and having tied a
leather thong round the lower part of their necks, that they may not
swallow down the fish they catch, they throw them into the river. They
presently dive under water, and there for a time, with wonderful
swiftness, they pursue the fish; and when they have caught them, they
arise presently to the top of the water, and pressing the fish lightly
with their bills, they swallow them, till each bird hath in this manner
swallowed five or six fishes; then their keepers call them to the fist,
to which they readily fly, and, little by little, one after another,
vomit up all their fish, a little bruised with the nip they gave them
with their bills. When they have done fishing, setting the birds on some
high place, they loose the string from their necks, leaving the passage
to the stomach free and open, and for their reward they throw them part
of the prey they have caught, to each, perchance, one or two fishes,
which they by the way, as they are falling in the air, will catch most
dexterously in their mouths.”
Whitelock tells us “That he had a cast of them manned like hawks, which
would come to hand.” He took much pleasure in them, and relates, that
the best he had was one presented to him by Mr. Wood, Master of the
Cormorants to Charles the First.
Dr. Heysham relates that, about the year 1759, one of these birds
“perched upon the castle at Carlisle, and soon afterwards removed to
the cathedral, where it was shot at upwards of twenty times without
effect; at length a person got upon the cathedral, fired at, and
killed it.” “In another instance, a flock of fifteen or twenty
perched, at the dusk of evening, in a tree on the banks of the river
Esk, near Netherby, the seat of Sir James Graham. A person who saw
them settle, fired at random at them in the dark six or seven times,
without either killing any or frightening them away: surprised at
this, he came again, at day-light, and killed one, whereupon the rest
took flight.”—_Bewick_—_Latham_—_Willoughby, &c._
CORN, _s._ The seeds which grow in ears, not in pods; grain
unreaped; grain in the ear, yet unthrashed; an excrescence on
the foot, hard and painful.
_Corns_ are a very common and a very troublesome disorder, and may truly
be said to be often occasioned by the smith, being generally in
consequence of bad shoeing. Corns most commonly happen in white feet
with weak low heels; but they are too common in feet of all colours.
They are occasioned by the pressure of the heel of the shoe, either by
its bearing directly on the sole when it is too thin to bear the
pressure, or by its forcing the heel of the crust inwards. In this way
the sensible sole and laminæ are bruised, their blood-vessels ruptured,
and the blood penetrates into the pores of the horn, causing the dark
red appearance observable on removing the shoe, and scraping off the
surface of the sole. This bruised part is exceedingly tender, and
incapable of bearing the pressure of the shoe, and so are the crust and
bar on each side of it. In the treatment of this complaint all this must
be cut away, that is, all the parts must be so cut down, crust, bar, and
sole, that when a bar shoe is applied it may be full half an inch
distant from its surface. In this way a horse will be able to do his
work, provided the shoe is removed, and the heel pared down as often as
is necessary. As in this case the frog will be constantly receiving
considerable pressure from the bar shoe, it is necessary to take care
that the heels are not too thick and inflexible, in which case it is
necessary to rasp them; and whenever there is a morbid degree of heat in
the feet, or dryness, they should be kept constantly moist and cool in
the stable, either by poultice or by several folds of old woollen
wrapped round the coronet, and kept constantly wet. The common practice
of pairing _out_ the corn and leaving the bar and crust to be in contact
with the heel of the shoe, is doing no good, nor would it afford even
temporary relief, if the shoe were not bent up or made to bear off that
quarter a little, as they term it; yet after riding a few miles the shoe
is sure to yield to the horse’s weight, and bear upon the tender heel.
It is thus that corns are made so troublesome as we find them, and many
horses are rendered nearly unserviceable, or absolutely ruined by this
improper treatment. Matter is often formed within the heel from this
sort of management, and breaks out at the coronet, frequently doing
great mischief, and even rendering the horse useless. When corns have
been suffered to go this length the foot must be poulticed, and all the
hollow horn cut away. After the inflammation has been thus completely
subdued, the sensible parts which have been laid bare may be dressed
with Friars’ balsam and the tar ointment. The radical cure of corns is
always practicable if taken early, but in old cases the sensible parts
will always remain in a tender state, however carefully they may be
treated, and will always require the defence of the bar shoe, applied as
I have described. A run at grass _without shoes_ is a great relief to a
horse with corns, provided the tender heel is cut down as I have
described, and the heel and quarter rasped very thin. When a radical
cure is attempted, this is the most likely means of effecting
it.—_White._