IV. The pontifical "family" (_familia_) forms the pope's civil court.
First come the palatine cardinals, i.e. those who, on account of their
office, have the right of living in the papal palaces. These were
formerly four in number: the _pro-datarius_ (now _datarius_), the
secretary of state, the secretary of briefs, and the secretary of the
memorials; the two last of these were suppressed in 1908. Next come the
four palatine prelates, the majordomo, the superintendent of the
household and its staff, and successor of the ancient _vicedominus_; the
master of the chamber, who presides over the arrangement of audiences;
the _auditor_, or private secretary; and finally the master of the
sacred palace (_magister sacri palatii_), a kind of theological adviser,
always a Dominican, whose special duty is nowadays the revision of books
published at Rome. Other prelates rank with the above, but in a lower
degree, notably the almoner and the various secretaries. All
ecclesiastics admitted, by virtue of their office or by a gracious
concession of the pope, to form part of the "family," are called
domestic prelates, prelates of the household; this is an honorary title
conferred on many priests not resident in Rome. The external service of
the palace is performed by the Swiss Guard and the _gendarmerie_; the
service of the ante-chamber by the lay and ecclesiastical chamberlains;
this service has also given rise to certain honorary titles both for
ecclesiastics, e.g. honorary chamberlain, and for laymen, e.g. secret
chamberlain (_cameriere segreto_). (See CHAMBERLAIN.)
Pontifical chapel.
V. The pontifical "chapel" (_capella_) is the papal court for purposes
of religious worship. In it the pope is surrounded by the cardinals
according to their order; by the patriarchs, archbishops and bishops
attending at the throne, and others; by the prelates of the Curia, and
by all the clergy both secular and regular. Among the prelates we should
mention the protonotaries, the successors of the old notaries or
officials of the papal chancery in the earliest centuries; the seven
_protonotarii participantes_ were restored by Pope Pius X. to the
chancery, as noted above, but they have kept important honorary
privileges; this is yet another source of distinctions conferred upon a
great number of priests outside of Rome, the protonotaries of different
classes. In a lower degree there are also the chaplains of honour. Since
1870 the great pontifical ceremonies have lost much of their splendour.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--_La Gerarchia cattolica_, an annual directory published
at Rome; Lunadoro, _Relazione della corte di Roma_ (Rome, 1765);
Moroni, _Dizionario di erudizione_, under the various headings; Card.
De Luca, _Relatio curiae romanae_ (Cologne, 1683); Bouix, _De curia
romana_ (Paris, 1859); Ferraris, _Prompta bibliotheca_ (addit.
_Cassinenses_), s.v. _Congregatio_; Grimaldi, _Les Congregations
romaines_ (Sienna, 1891); _Dictionnaire de theologie catholique_, s.v.
_Cour romaine_ (Paris, 1907); Publications of the acts of the Roman
Congregations: Bishops and regulars--Bizzarri, _Collectanea in usum
Secretariae_ (Rome, 1866, 1885). Council: the _Thesaurus resolutionum_
has published all business since 1700; a volume is issued every year,
and the contents have been published in alphabetical order by Zamboni
(4 vols., Rome, 1812; Arras, 1860) and by Pallottini (18 vols., Rome,
1868, &c.). Immunity: Ricci, _Synopsis, decreta et resolutiones_
(Palestrina, 1708). Propaganda: De Martinis, _Juris pontificii de
Propaganda Fide_, &c. (Rome, 1888, &c.); _Collectanea S. C. de Prop.
Fide_ (2nd ed., Rome, 1907). Index: _Index librorum prohibitorum_
(Rome, 1900). Rites: _Decreta authentica_ (Rome, 1898). Indulgences:
_Decreta authentica_ (Regensburg, 1882); _Rescripta authentica_ (ib.,
1885). (A. Bo.*)
CURICO, a province of central Chile, lying between the provinces of
Colchagua and Talca and extending from the Pacific to the Argentine
frontier; area, 2978 sq. m.; pop. (1895) 103,242. The eastern and
western sections are mountainous, and are separated by the fertile
valley of central Chile. The mineral resources are undeveloped, but are
said to include copper, gold and silver. Cattle, wheat and wine are the
principal products, but Indian corn and fruit also are produced. On the
coast are important salt-producing industries. The climate is mild and
the rainfall more abundant than at the northern part of the valley, and
the effects of this are to be seen in the better pasturage. Irrigation
is used to a large extent. The province was created in 1865 by a
division of Colchagua. The capital is Curico, on the Mataquito river, in
lat. 34 deg. 58' S. long. 71 deg. 19' W., 114 m. S. of Santiago by the
Chilean Central railway, which crosses the province. The city stands on
the great central plain, 748 ft. above sea-level, and in the midst of a
comparatively well-cultivated district. It was founded in 1742 by Jose
de Manso, and is one of the more cultured and progressive provincial
towns of Chile. Pop. (1895) 12,669. Vichiquen, on a tide-water lake on
the coast, is a prosperous town, the centre of the salt trade.
CURIE, PIERRE (1859-1906), French physicist, was born in Paris on the
15th of May 1859, and was educated at the Sorbonne, where he
subsequently became professor of physics. Although he had previously
published meritorious researches on piezoelectricity, the magnetic
properties of bodies at different temperatures, and other topics, he was
chiefly known for his work on radium carried out jointly with his wife,
Marie Sklodowska, who was born at Warsaw on the 7th of November 1867.
After the discovery of the radioactive properties of uranium by Henri
Becquerel in 1896, it was noticed that some minerals of uranium, such as
pitchblende, were more active than the element itself, and this
circumstance suggested that such minerals contained small quantities of
some unknown substance or substances possessing radioactive properties
in a very high degree. Acting on this surmise M. and Mme Curie subjected
a large amount of pitchblende to a laborious process of fractionation,
with the result that in 1898 they announced the existence in it of two
highly radioactive substances, polonium and radium. In subsequent years
they did much to elucidate the remarkable properties of these two
substances, one of which, polonium, came to be regarded as one of the
transformation-products of the other (see RADIOACTIVITY). In 1903 they
were awarded the Davy medal of the Royal Society in recognition of this
work, and in the same year the Nobel prize for physics was divided
between them and Henri Becquerel. Professor Curie, who was elected to
the Academy of Sciences in 1905, was run over by a dray and killed
instantly in Paris on the 19th of April 1906.
His elder brother, PAUL JACQUES CURIE, born at Paris on the 29th of
October 1856, published an elaborate memoir on the specific inductive
capacities of crystalline bodies (_Ann. Chim. Phys._ 1889, 17 and 18).
CURIO, GAIUS SCRIBONIUS, Roman statesman and orator, son of a
distinguished orator of the same name, flourished during the 1st century
B.C. He was tribune of the people in 90 B.C., and afterwards served in
Sulla's army in Greece against Archelaus, general of Mithradates, and as
his legate in Asia, where he was commissioned to restore order in the
kingdoms abandoned by Mithradates. In 76 he was consul, and as governor
of Macedonia carried on war successfully against the Thracians and
Dardanians, and was the first Roman general who penetrated as far as the
Danube. On his return he was granted the honour of a triumph. During the
discussion as to the punishment of the Catilinarian conspirators he
supported Cicero, but he spoke in favour of P. Clodius (q.v.) when the
latter was being tried for the Bona Dea affair. This led to a violent
attack on the part of Cicero, but it does not appear to have interfered
with their friendship. Curio was a vehement opponent of Caesar, against
whom he wrote a political pamphlet in the form of a dialogue. He was
pontifex maximus in 57, and died in 53. His reputation as an orator was
considerable, but according to Cicero he was very illiterate, and his
only qualifications were brilliancy of style and the purity of his
Latin. He was nicknamed Burbuleius (after an actor) from the way in
which he moved his body while speaking.
Orelli, _Onomasticon_ to Cicero; Florus iii. 4; Eutropius vi. 2; Val.
Max. ix. 14, 5; Quintilian, _Instit._, vi. 3, 76; Dio Cassius xxxviii.
16.
His son, GAIUS SCRIBONIUS CURIO, was first a supporter of Pompey, but
after his tribuneship (50 B.C.) went over to Caesar, by whom he was said
to have been bribed. But, while breaking off relations with Pompey,
Curio desired to keep up the appearance of impartiality. When it was
demanded that Caesar should lay down his imperium before entering Rome,
Curio proposed that Pompey should do the same, adding that, if the
rivals refused to do so, they ought both to be declared public enemies.
His proposal was carried by a large majority, but a report having spread
that Caesar was on the way to attack Rome, the consuls called upon
Pompey to undertake the command of all the troops stationed in Italy.
Curio's appeal to the people to prevent the levying of an army by Pompey
was disregarded; whereupon, feeling himself in danger, he fled to
Ravenna to Caesar. He was commissioned by Caesar, who was still
unwilling to proceed to extremities, to take a message to the senate.
But Curio's reception was so hostile that he hurriedly returned during
the night to Caesar. It was now obvious that civil war would break out.
Curio collected troops in Umbria and Etruria for Caesar, who sent him to
Sicily as propraetor in 49. After having fought with considerable
success there against the Pompeians, Curio crossed over to Africa, where
he was defeated and slain by Juba, king of Numidia. Curio, although a
man of profligate character, possessed conspicuous ability, and was a
distinguished orator. In spite of his faults, Cicero, as an old friend
of his father, took a great interest in him and did his utmost to reform
him. Seven of Cicero's letters (_Ad. Fam._ ii. 1-7) are addressed to
him. There can be no doubt that Curio's behaviour in regard to the
laying down of the imperium by Caesar and Pompey in great measure
contributed to the outbreak of civil war. The first amphitheatre in Rome
was erected by him (50), for the celebration of the funeral games in
honour of his father.
Orelli, _Onomasticon_ to Cicero; Livy, _Epit._ 109, 110; Caesar,
_Bell. Civ._, ii. 23, for Curio's African campaign; Appian, _Bell.
Civ._, ii. 26-44; Vell. Pat. ii. 48.
CURITYBA (also CORITYBA and CURITIBA), capital of the state of Parana,
Brazil, situated on an elevated plateau (2916 ft. above sea-level) 68 m.
W. of its seaport Paranagua, with which it is connected by a railway
remarkable for the engineering difficulties overcome and for the
beautiful scenery through which it passes. Pop. (1890) 22,694; of the
municipality, 24,553. There is a large foreign element in the
population, the Germans preponderating. The city has a temperate,
healthy climate, and is surrounded by a charming _campo_ country, which,
however, is less fertile than the forested river valleys. Mate is the
principal export.
CURLEW (Fr. _Courlis_ or _Corlieu_), a name given to two birds, of whose
cry it is an imitation, both belonging to the group _Limicolae_, but
possessing very different habits and features.
1. The long-billed curlew, or simply curlew of most British writers, the
_Numenius arquata_ of ornithologists, is one of the largest of the
family _Scolopacidae_, or snipes and allied forms. It is common on the
shores of the United Kingdom and most parts of Europe, seeking the
heaths and moors of the interior and more northern countries in the
breeding-season, where it lays its four brownish-green eggs, suffused
with cinnamon markings, in an artless nest on the ground. In England it
has been ascertained to breed in Cornwall and in the counties of Devon,
Dorset, Salop, and Derby--though sparingly. In Yorkshire it is more
numerous, and thence to the extreme north of Scotland, as well as
throughout Ireland, it is, under the name of whaup, familiar to those
who have occasion to traverse the wild and desolate tracts that best
suit its habits. So soon as the young are able to shift for themselves,
both they and their parents resort to the sea-shore or mouths of rivers,
from the muddy flats of which they at low tide obtain their living, and,
though almost beyond any other birds wary of approach, form an object of
pursuit to numerous gunners. While leading this littoral life the food
of the curlew seems to consist of almost anything edible that presents
itself. It industriously probes the mud or sand in quest of the worms
that lurk therein, and is also active in seeking for such crustaceans
and molluscs as can be picked up on the surface, while vegetable matter
as well has been found in its stomach. During its summer-sojourn on the
moorlands insects and berries, when they are ripe, enter largely into
its diet. In bulk the curlew is not less than a crow, but it looks
larger still from its long legs, wings and neck. Its bill, from 5 to 7
in. in length, and terminating in the delicate nervous apparatus common
to all birds of its family, is especially its most remarkable feature.
Its plumage above is of a drab colour, streaked and mottled with very
dark brown; beneath it is white, while the flight-quills are of a
brownish black.
Nearly allied to the curlew, but smaller and with a more northern range,
is the whimbrel (_N. phaeopus_), called in some parts jack-curlew, from
its small size; May-fowl, from the month in which it usually arrives;
and titterel, from one of its cries.[1] This so much resembles the
former in habit and appearance that no further details need be given of
it. In the countries bordering on the Mediterranean occurs a third
species (_N. tenuirostris_). Some fifteen other species, or more, have
been described, but it is probable that this number is too great. The
genus _Numenius_ is almost cosmopolitan. In North America three very
easily recognized species are found--the first (_N. longirostris_)
closely agreeing with the European curlew, but larger and with a longer
bill; the second (_N. hudsonicus_) representing the British whimbrel;
and the third (_N. borealis_), which has several times found its way to
Britain, very much less in size--indeed the smallest of the genus. All
these essentially agree with the species of the Old World in habit; but
it is remarkable that the American birds can be easily distinguished by
the rufous colouring of their axillary feathers--a feature which is also
presented by the American godwits (_Limosa_).
2. The curlew of inlanders, or stone-curlew--called also, by some
writers, from its stronghold in England, the Norfolk plover, and
sometimes the thick-knee--is usually classed among the _Charadriidae_,
but it offers several remarkable differences from the more normal
plovers. It is the _Charadrius oedicnemus_ of Linnaeus, the _C.
scolopax_ of Sam. Gottl. Gmelin, and the _Oedicnemus crepitans_ of K. J.
Temminck. With much the same cry as that of the _Numenii_, only uttered
in a far sweeter tone, it is as fully entitled to the name of curlew as
the bird most commonly so called. In England it is almost solely a
summer visitor, though an example will occasionally linger throughout a
mild winter; and is one of the few birds whose distribution is affected
by geological formation, since it is nearly limited to the
chalk-country--the open spaces of which it haunts, and its numbers have
of late years been sensibly diminished by their inclosure. The most
barren spots in these districts, even where but a superficial coating of
light sand and a thin growth of turf scarcely hide the chalk below,
supply its needs; though at night (and it chiefly feeds by night) it
resorts to moister and more fertile places. Its food consists of snails,
coleopterous insects, and earth-worms, but larger prey, as a mouse or a
frog, is not rejected. Without making the slightest attempt at a nest,
it lays its two eggs on a level spot, a bare fallow being often chosen.
These are not very large, and in colour so closely resemble the sandy,
flint-strewn surface that their detection except by a practised eye is
difficult. The bird, too, trusts much to its own drab colouring to elude
observation, and, on being disturbed, will frequently run for a
considerable distance and then squat with outstretched neck so as to
become almost invisible. In such a case it may be closely approached,
and its large golden eye, if it do not pass for a tuft of yellow lichen,
is perhaps the first thing that strikes the searcher. As autumn advances
the stone-curlew gathers in large flocks, and then is as wary as its
namesake. Towards October these take their departure, and their
survivors return, often with wonderful constancy, to their beloved
haunts. In size this species exceeds any other European plover, and
looks even still larger than it is. The bill is short, blunt, and stout;
the head large, broad, and flat at the top; the wings and legs long--the
latter presenting the peculiarity of a singular enlargement of the upper
part of the tarsus, whence the names _Oedicnemus_ and Thick-knee have
been conferred. The toes are short and fleshy, and the hind-toe is
wanting. This bird seems to have been an especial favourite with Gilbert
White, in whose classical writings mention of it is often made. Its
range extends to North Africa and India. Five other species of
_Oedicnemus_ from Africa have also been described as distinct.
Australia possesses a very distinct species (_O. grallarius_), and the
genus has two members in the Neotropical Region (_O. bistriatus_ and _O.
superciliaris_). An exaggerated form of _Oedicnemus_ is found in
_Aesacus_, of which two species have been described, one (_A.
recurvirostris_) from the Indian, and the other (_A. magnirostris_) from
the northern parts of the Australian region. (A. N.)