[1] This word is possibly connected with _col_, coal; distinguish
"culm," the stem of a plant, Lat. _culmus_.
CULMINATION (from Lat. _culmen_, summit), the attainment of the highest
point. In astronomy the term is given to the passage of a heavenly body
over the meridian of a place. Two culminations take place in the course
of the day, one above and the other below the pole. The first is called
the upper, the second the lower. Either or both may occur below the
horizon and therefore be invisible.
CULPRIT, properly the prisoner at the bar, one accused of a crime; so
used, generally, of one guilty of an offence. In origin the word is a
combination of two Anglo-French legal words, _culpable_, guilty, and
_prit_ or _prist_, i.e. prest, Old French for pret, ready. On the
prisoner at the bar pleading "not guilty," the clerk of the crown
answered "culpable," and stated that he was ready (_prest_) to join
issue. The words _cul. prist_ (or _prit_) were then entered on the roll
as showing that issue had been joined. When French law terms were
discontinued the words were taken as forming one word addressed to the
prisoner. The formula "Culprit, how will you be tried?" in answer to a
plea of "not guilty," is first found in the trial for murder of the 7th
earl of Pembroke in 1678.
CULROSS (locally pronounced _Coo-rus_), a royal and police burgh,
Fifeshire, Scotland, 6(1/2) m. W. by S. of Dunfermline and 2(1/2) m.
from East Grange station on the North British railway company's line
from Dunfermline to Stirling. Pop. 348. Until 1890 it belonged to the
detached portion of Perthshire. Attractively situated on a hillside
sloping gently to the Forth, its placid old-world aspect is in keeping
with its great antiquity. Here St Serf carried on his missionary
labours, and founded a church and cemetery, and here he died and was
buried. For centuries the townsfolk used to celebrate his day (July 1st)
by walking in procession bearing green boughs. Kentigern, the apostle to
Cumbria and first bishop of Glasgow, was born at Culross, his mother
having been driven ashore during a tempest, and was adopted by St Serf
as his son. These religious associations, coupled with the fertility of
the soil, led to the founding of a Cistercian abbey in 1217. Of this
structure the only remains are the western tower and the choir, which,
greatly altered as well as repaired early in the 19th century, now forms
the parish church. It is supposed that a chapel of which some traces
exist in the east end of the town was dedicated to Kentigern. James VI.
made Culross a royal burgh in 1588. In 1808 there was discovered in the
abbey church, embalmed in a silver casket, still preserved there,
bearing his name and arms, the heart of Edward, Lord Bruce of Kinloss,
who was killed in August 1613 near Bergen-op-Zoom in a duel with Sir
Edward Sackville, afterwards earl of Dorset. Robert Pont (1524-1606),
the Reformer, was born at Shirresmiln, or Shiresmill, a hamlet in
Culross parish. Nearly all its old industries--the coal mines, salt
works, linen manufacture, and even the making of iron girdles for the
baking of scones--have dwindled, but its pleasant climate and
picturesqueness make it a holiday resort. Dunimarle Castle, a handsome
structure on the sea-shore, adjoins the site of the castle where,
according to tradition, Macbeth slew the wife and children of Macduff.
Culross belongs to the Stirling district group of parliamentary burghs.
CULTIVATOR,[1] also called SCUFFLER, SCARIFIER or GRUBBER, an
agricultural implement employed in breaking up land or in stirring it
after ploughing. The first all-iron cultivator, known as Finlayson's
grubber, was a large harrow with curved teeth carried on wheels, and was
brought out about 1820. It was designed to meet the need for some
implement of intermediate character between the plough and harrow, which
should stir the soil deeply and expeditiously without reversing it, and
bring the weeds unbroken to the surface. The chief modern improvement
has been the imparting of vibratory movement and hence greater stirring
capacity to the tines, either by making them of spring steel or by
fitting springs to the point of attachment of the tine to the framework
of the machine. In its modern form the implement consists of a framework
fitted with rows of curved stems or tines, which may be raised clear of
the ground or lowered into work by means of a lever, and differs from
the harrow in that it is provided with two wheels, which prevent the
tines from embedding themselves too deeply in the soil. The stems may be
fitted either with chisel-points or with broad shares, according as it
is required to merely stir the soil or to bring up weeds and clean the
surface. In the disk cultivator revolving disks take the place of tines.
The implement is usually provided with a seat for the driver and is
drawn by horses, but steam power is also commonly applied to it, the
speed of the operation in that case increasing its effectiveness. The
method is the same as that of steam-ploughing (see PLOUGH).
[Illustration: Ransome's Spring Tine Cultivator.]