[1] The name spowe (cf. Icelandic _Spoi_) also seems to have been
anciently given to this bird (see Stevenson's _Birds of Norfolk_, ii.
201).
CURLING, THOMAS BLIZARD (1811-1888), British surgeon, was born in London
in 1811. Through his uncle, Sir William Blizard, he became
assistant-surgeon to the London hospital in 1833, becoming full surgeon
in 1849. After filling other important posts in the College of Surgeons,
he was appointed president in 1873. In 1843 he won the Jacksonian prize
for his investigations on tetanus; and he became famous for his skill in
treating diseases of the testes and rectum, his published works on which
went through many editions. He died on the 4th of March 1888.
CURLING, a game in which the players throw large rounded stones upon a
rink or channel of ice, towards a mark called the tee. Where the game
originated is not precisely known; but it has been popular in Scotland
for three centuries at least. Some writers, looking to the name and
technical terms of the game, trace its invention to the Netherlands;
thus "curl" may have been derived from the Ger. _kurzweil_, a game;
"tee" from the Teutonic _tighen_, to point out; "bonspiel," a district
curling competition, from the Belgic _bonne_, a district, and _spel_,
play; the further supposition that "rink" is merely a modification of
the Saxon _hrink_, a strong man, seems scarcely tenable. Curling is
called "kuting" in some parts of Lanarkshire and Ayrshire, and very much
resembles quoiting on the ice, so that the name may have some connexion
with the Dutch _coete_, a quoit; while Cornelis Kiliaan (1528-1607) in
his _Teutonic Dictionary_ gives the term _khuyten_ as meaning a pastime
in which large globes of stone like the quoit or discus are thrown upon
ice. Possibly some of the Flemish merchants who settled in Scotland
towards the close of the 16th century may have brought the game to the
country. Unfortunately, however, for the theory that assigns to it a
far-away origin, we find no early mention of it in the literature of the
continent; while Camden, when describing the Orkney Islands in 1607,
tells us that one of them supplies "plenty of excellent stones for the
game called curling"; and incidental references to it as a game played
in Scotland are made by several authors during the first half of the
same century.
If the game be not indigenous to Scotland it certainly owes its
development to that country, and in the course of time it has come to be
the national sport. It was played at first with very rude
engines--random whin boulders fashioned by nature alone, or misshapen
granite blocks, bored through to let in the thumb of the player, having
been the primitive channel stones. In course of years the rough block
was superseded by a symmetrical object usually made of whinstone or
granite, beautifully rounded, brilliantly polished, and supplied with a
convenient handle.
Although curling boasts a literature of its own and songs innumerable,
yet it has received but the scantiest notice from such important
Scottish writers as Scott and Burns, or from contemporary literature in
general. In 1834 an "Amateur Curling Club of Scotland" was formed, but
this "mutual admiration amateur society came to nothing, as might be
expected." Far more businesslike were the methods of the men who set
afoot the "Grand Caledonian Curling Club," which began its existence on
the 15th of November 1838, and which, under its present title of "The
Royal Caledonian Curling Club," is regarded in all parts of the world as
the mother-club and legislative body, even in Canada, where, however,
curling conditions differ widely from those of Scotland; devotion to the
mother-club does not by any means imply submission. Starting with 28
allied clubs the Royal Club grew so rapidly that there were 500 such in
1880 and 720 in 1903. It was under the auspices of the Royal Caledonian
that a body of Scottish curlers visited Canada and the United States in
the winter of 1902-1903, and, while a slight margin of victory remained
with the home players under their own climatic conditions, the visit
did much to bring together the lovers of the game on both sides of the
Atlantic. The assumption of the title "Royal" in place of "Grand" was
due to the visit of Queen Victoria and the prince consort to Scotland in
1842, on which occasion they were initiated into the mysteries of the
game on the polished floor of the drawing-room in the Palace of Scone;
and the prince consort, who was presented with a pair of curling-stones,
consented to become patron of the club. On his death he was succeeded by
the prince of Wales, who, as Edward VII., still continued his patronage.
The Club's main duties are to further the interests of the game, to
revise the laws and to arrange the important matches, especially the
grand match, played annually between the Scottish clubs north of the
Forth & Clyde Canal and those south of it. In the first of these matches
(1847) only twelve "rinks" were played; in 1903 there were no fewer than
286. During this time the southern clubs were usually victorious.
Curlers claim to be a united brotherhood within which peer and peasant
are equal "on the ice." To the same end the laws of the club are framed
with a due regard to economy, not forgetting conviviality in the matter
of "beef and greens," the curler's traditional dish, washed down with
whisky. A formal freemasonry exists among curlers, who must be initiated
into the mysteries and instructed in the grip, password and ceremony,
being liable at any moment to be examined in these essentials and fined
for lapses of memory. Betting, excepting for the smallest stakes, is
discountenanced.
_Glossary._--As curling has a language which contains many curious
terms, puzzling to the uninitiated, the English equivalents of some of
them are here given. _Baugh ice_, rough or soft ice. _Bias_, a slope
on the ice. _Boardhead_ (also house or parish), the large circle round
the tee. _Bonspiel_, a match between two clubs. _Break an egg on a
stone_, touch it very slightly. _Broughs_, the small circles round the
tee. _Chipping_, striking a stone of which a small part can be seen.
_Core_, old name for rink. _Cowe_ or _kowe_, a besom made of
broom-twigs. _Draw_, to play gently. _Drive_, to play hard. _Drug
ice_, soft bad ice. _Fill the port_, to block the interval between two
stones. _Gogsee_, tee. _Guard_, a stone that covers and protects
another. _Hack_, a hollow cut in the ice for the player's foot, used
in place of a crampit. _Hands up!_ stop sweeping. _Hog_, a stone that
stops short of the _hog-score_, a line drawn one-sixth of the length
of the rink from the tee. _Head_, an innings, both sides delivering
all their stones once. _Howe_, the middle of the rink, gradually
hollowed by stones. _In-ringing_, gaining a good position by
rebounding off another stone. _In-wick_, the same. _Lie shot_, the
stone resting nearest the tee. _Mar_, to interfere with a stone while
running. _Out-Turn_, to make the stone twist to the left. _In-Turn_,
to make one turn to the right. _Out-wick_, to strike a stone on the
edge so as to drive it towards the tee. _Pat-lid_, a stone that lies
on the tee. _Pittycock_, the oldest form of curling-stone. _Raise_, to
drive a "friendly" stone nearer the tee. _Rebut_, to deliver the stone
with great force, so as to scatter the stones on the boardhead. _Red
the ice_, clear away the opponents' stones. _Rink_, the space in which
the game is played; also the members of a side. _Sole_, the under part
of the stone; also to deliver the stone. _Soop_, to sweep. _Souter_,
to win without allowing the opponents to score at all; a term derived
from a famous team of cobblers (souters) of Lochmaben, whose opponents
seldom or never scored a point. _Spiel_, a match between members of
the same club. _Spend the stone_, to waste a shot by playing wide
intentionally. _Stug_, a fluke. _Tee_, the mark in the centre of the
boardhead, against which it is the curler's object to lay the stone.
The tee may be any kind of a mark; a small iron plate with a spike in
it is often used. _Tozee_, tee. _Tramp_, _crampit_, _trigger_ or
_tricker_, an iron plate fitted with spikes which the player stands
upon to deliver the stone. _Wittyr_, tee.
_The Rink and Implements._--The rink is marked out in the ice, which
should be very hard and smooth, in curling language "keen and clear." To
keep it swept every curler carries a broom, sometimes a mere bundle of
broom-twigs, more often an ordinary housemaid's broom. Good "sooping,"
or sweeping, is part of the curler's art, and is performed subject to
strict rules and under the direction of the skip, or captain; its
importance lying in the fact that the progress of a stone is retarded by
the ice-dust caused by the play, the sweeping of which in front of a
running stone consequently prolongs its course. Apart from the broom and
the crampit, the "roarin' game," as curlers love to call it, requires no
further implement than the stone, a flattened, polished disk, fitted
with a handle. In weight it must not exceed 44 lb., 35 to 40 lb. being
usual. It must not exceed 36 in. in circumference or be less in height
than one-eighth of the circumference. The two flat sides, or soles, are
so shaped that one is serviceable for keen ice and the other for ice
that is soft, rough or "baugh." The handle can be fitted to either side,
as the case demands. The cost of a pair of stones is not less than L2,
generally more. In the intense cold of Canada and the United States iron
is found more serviceable than stone, and the irons weigh from 60 to 70
lb. Even these are light compared with the earlier rough boulder-stones,
some of which weighed over 115 lb., although the very early ones were
much lighter. The modern stone took shape at the beginning of the 19th
century. The ancient stones had no handles, but notches were hewn in
them for finger and thumb, and, as their weight varied from 5 to 25 lb.,
it is probable that they were thrown after the manner of quoits.
Channel-stones, stones rounded by the action of water in a river-bed,
were the favourites, while the shape was a matter of individual taste,
oblong and triangular stones having been common. The soles were
artificially flattened. During the next period we find the heavy
boulder-stones, unhewn blocks fitted with handles and probably used at
shorter distances, 70 or 80 lb. being no uncommon weight. The rounded
stone, made on scientific principles, did not appear until about 1800.
Even then it was of all shapes and sizes, with and without handles, and
not uncommonly made of wood. The stones of to-day are named after the
places in which they are quarried, Ailsa Craigs, Burnocks, Carsphairn
Reds and Crawfordjohns being some of the best-known varieties. The
stones are quarried and never blasted, as the shock of the explosion is
apt to strain or split the rock.
_The Game._--Curling is practically bowls played on the ice, the place
of the "jack" being taken by a fixed mark, as at quoits, called the tee,
to which the curler aims his stone; every stone that finally lies nearer
than any of the opposing stones counting a point or "shot." As each side
has four players, each playing two stones, it is possible for one side
to score eight points at a "head" or innings; but in practice it is
found wiser, when a good shot has been made, to play some or all
following stones to such positions as will prevent opposing stones from
disturbing the stone lying near the tee. Stones thus placed are called
"guards." Strategic matters like this are decided by the skip, or
captain, of the rink, who plays last, and who is an autocrat whose will
is law. The "lead," or first player, is expected to play quietly up the
rink, leaving his stone as close to the tee as possible, but on no
account beyond it. He is followed by the "lead" of the other side, who,
instructed by his skip, will either try to drive away the first stone,
if well placed, or put his own stone in a better position. When the
skip's turn comes he is "skipped," or directed, by another player,
appointed by himself, usually the third player. When all sixteen stones
have been delivered the players cross over, the scores are counted, and
the game proceeds from the other end of the rink. If a stone fails to
cross the "hog-score" it is a "hog" and is removed from the rink, unless
it has struck another stone in position. Stones that pass the back-score
or touch the swept snow on either side are also removed. By a cleverly
imparted twist a stone may be made to curve round a guard and either
drive away an opposing winner or find a favourable lie for itself. This,
the equivalent of "bias" in the game of bowls, is the height of
scientific play. If the situation seems desperate a very hard throw, a
"thunderin' cast," may succeed in clearing away the opponents' stones
from the neighbourhood of the tee. Different methods are adopted in
delivering the stone, but in all of them a firm stand should be taken on
the crampit, and the stone swung, either quietly, or, if the skip calls
for a "thunderin' cast," vigorously; but care must be taken to avoid
striking the ice with the stone so as to crack or "star" the ice. All
matches are for a certain number of "heads" or of points, or for all
that can be made within a certain time limit, as may be agreed.
_Abridged Rules._--Tees shall be 38 yds. apart, and with the tee as
centre a circle having a radius of 7 ft. shall be drawn. In alignment
with the tees, lines, to be called Central Lines, are drawn from the
tees to points 4 yds. behind each tee, and at these points Foot Scores
18 in. long shall be drawn at right angles, on which, at 6 in. from
Central Line, the heel of the Crampit shall be placed. All matches
shall be of a certain number of heads, or shots, or by time, as
agreed. Every rink of players shall be composed of four a side. No
shoes likely to break the ice may be worn.
The skips opposing each other shall settle by lot, or in any other way
they may agree upon, which party shall lead at the first head, after
which the winning party shall do so.
All curling stones shall be of a circular shape. No stone shall be of
a greater weight than 44 lb. imperial, or of greater circumference
than 36 in., or of less height than one-eighth part of its greatest
circumference.
No stone, or side of a stone, shall be changed after a match has been
begun, or during its continuance, unless by consent.
Should a stone happen to be broken, the largest fragment shall be
considered in the game for that end--the player being entitled
afterwards to use another stone or another pair.
If a played stone rolls over, or stops, on its side or top, it shall
be put off the ice. Should the handle quit the stone in delivery, the
player must keep hold of it, otherwise he shall not be entitled to
replay the shot.
Players, during the course of each end, to be arranged along the sides
of the rink, anywhere skips may direct; and no party, except when
sweeping according to rule, shall go upon the middle of the rink, or
cross it, under any pretence whatever. Skips alone to stand at or
about the tee--that of the playing party having the choice of place,
and not to be obstructed by the other.
If a player should play out of turn, the stone so played may be
stopped in its progress, and returned to the player. Should the
mistake not be discovered till the stone be at rest, or has struck
another stone, the opposite skip shall have the option of adding one
to his score, allowing the game to proceed, or declaring the end null
and void. But if a stone be played before the mistake has been
discovered, the head must be finished as if it had been properly
played from the beginning.
The sweeping shall be under the direction and control of the skips.
The player's party may sweep the ice anywhere from the centre line to
the tee, and behind it,--the adverse party having liberty to sweep
behind the tee, and in front of any of their own stones when moved by
another, and till at rest. Skips to have full liberty to clean and
sweep the ice behind the tee at any time, except when a player is
being directed by his skip.
If in sweeping or otherwise, a _running_ stone be marred by any of the
party to which it belongs, it may, at the option of the opposite skip,
be put off the ice; if by any of the adverse party, it may be placed
where the skip of the party to which it belongs shall direct. If
otherwise marred, it shall be replayed.
Every player to be ready to play when his turn comes, and not to take
more than a reasonable time to play. Should he play a wrong stone, any
of the players may stop it while running; but if not stopped till at
rest, the one which ought to have been played shall be placed instead,
to the satisfaction of the opposing skip.
No measuring of shots allowable previous to the termination of the
end. Disputed shots to be determined by the skips, or, if they
disagree, by the umpire, or, when there is no umpire, by some neutral
person chosen by the skips. All measurements to be taken from the
centre of the tee, to that part of the stone which is nearest it. No
stone shall be considered without a circle, or over a line, unless it
clear it;--and in every case, this is to be determined by placing a
square on the ice, at the circle or line.
Skips shall have the exclusive regulation and direction of the game
for their respective parties, and may play last stone, or in what part
of it they please; and, when their turn to play comes, they may name
one of their party to take charge for them.
If any player shall speak to, taunt or interrupt another, not being of
his own party, while in the act of delivering his stone, one shot
shall be added to the score of the party so interrupted.
If from any change of weather after a match has been begun, or from
any other reasonable cause, one party shall desire to shorten the
rink, or to change to another one, and, if the two skips cannot agree,
the umpire shall, after seeing one end played, determine whether the
rink shall be shortened, and how much or whether it shall be changed,
and his decision shall be final.
See _Annual_ of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, Edinburgh.
CURLL, EDMUND (1675-1747), English bookseller, was born in 1675 in the
west of England. His parents were in humble circumstances. After being
apprenticed to an Exeter bookseller he came to London and started
business on his own account, advertising himself by a system of
newspaper quarrels. His connexion with the anonymously-published _Court
Poems_ in 1716 led to the long quarrel with Pope, who took his revenge
by immortalizing Curll in the _Dunciad_. Curll became notorious for his
indecent publications, so much so that "Curlicism" was regarded as a
synonym for literary indecency. In 1716 and again in 1721 he had to
appear at the bar of the House of Lords for publishing matter concerning
its members. In 1725 he was convicted of publishing obscene books, and
fined in 1728 for publishing _The Nun in her Smock_ and _De Usu
Flagrorum_, while his _Memories of John Ker of Kersland_ cost him an
hour in the pillory. When Curll in 1735 announced the forthcoming
publication of "_Mr Pope's Literary Correspondence_," his stock, at
Pope's instigation, was seized. It has since been proved that the
publication was really instigated by Pope, who wanted an excuse to print
his letters, as he actually did (1737-1741). In his forty years of
business Curll published a great variety of books, of which a very large
number, fortunately, were quite free from "Curlicisms." A list of his
publications contains, indeed, 167 standard works. He died on the 11th
of December 1747.
For Curll's relations with Pope, see the _Life of Pope_, by Sir Leslie
Stephen in the English Men of Letters series.
CURRAGH, a level stretch of open ground in Co. Kildare, Ireland, famous
for its race-course and its military camp. It has an area of upwards of
4800 acres; and its soft natural sward, which has never been broken by
the plough, affords excellent pasture for sheep. From the peculiarity of
its herbage, the district is known in the neighbourhood as "the short
grass"; and the young men of Kildare are jocularly distinguished as the
"boys of the short grass." The land is the property of the crown, which
appoints a special officer as the ranger of the Curragh; but the right
of pasturage is possessed by the landowners of the vicinity. The oldest
mention of the Curragh occurs in the _Liber Hymnorum_ (the manuscript of
which probably dates from the 10th century) in connexion with St
Bridget, who is said to have received a grant of the district from the
king of Leinster, and is popularly credited with the honour of having
turned it into a common. It is evident, however, that long before the
days of the saint the downs of Kildare had afforded a regular place of
assembly for the people of the south of Ireland. The word _cuirrech_,
cognate with the Lat. _cursus_, signifies a race-course, and
chariot-races are spoken of as taking place on the Curragh as early as
the 1st century A.D. The _Aenach Colmain_ (Curragh fair), also called
_Aenach Life_ (the fair on the plain of the Liffey), is frequently
mentioned in the Irish annals, and both racing and other sports were
carried on at this, the principal meeting of its kind in southern
Ireland, and the plain appears from time to time as the scene of hostile
encounters between the kings of Meath, Leinster and Offaly. In 1234 the
earl of Pembroke was defeated here by the viceroy of Ireland, Lord
Geoffrey de Monte Marisco; and in 1406 the Irish under the prior of
Connell were routed by the English. In 1789 the Curragh was the great
rendezvous for the volunteers, and in 1804 it saw the gathering of
30,000 United Irishmen. The camp was established at the time of the
Crimean War, and is capable of accommodating 12,000 men. The races are
held in April, June, September and October.
See W. M. Hennessy, in _Proceedings of Royal Irish Acad._, 1866.
CURRAN, JOHN PHILPOT (1750-1817), Irish politician and judge, was born
on the 24th of July 1750, at Newmarket, Cork, where his father, a
descendant of one of Cromwell's soldiers, was seneschal to the
manor-court. He was educated at Middleton, through the kind help of a
friend, the Rev. Nathaniel Boyse, and at Trinity College, Dublin; and in
1773, having taken his M.A. degree, he entered the Middle Temple. In
1774 he married a lady who brought him a small dowry; but the marriage
proved unhappy, and Mrs Curran finally eloped from her husband.
In 1775 Curran was called to the Irish bar, where he very soon obtained
a practice. On his first rising in court excessive nervousness prevented
him from even reading distinctly the few words of a legal form, and when
requested by the judge to read more clearly he became so agitated as to
be totally unable to proceed. But, his feelings once roused, all
nervousness disappeared. His effective and witty attack upon a judge who
had sneered at his poverty, the success with which he prosecuted a
nobleman for a disgraceful assault upon a priest, the duel which he
fought with one of the witnesses for this nobleman, and other similar
exploits, gained him such a reputation that he was soon the most popular
advocate in Ireland.
In 1783 Curran was appointed king's counsel; and in the same year he was
presented to a seat in the Irish House of Commons. His conduct in
connexion with this affair displays his conduct in a most honourable
light; finding that he differed radically in politics from the gentleman
from whom he had received his seat, he expended L1500 in buying another
to replace that which he occupied. In his parliamentary career Curran
was throughout sincere and consistent. He spoke vigorously on behalf of
Catholic emancipation, and strenuously attacked the ministerial bribery
which prevailed. His declamations against the government party led him
into two duels--the first with John Fitzgibbon, then attorney-general,
afterwards Lord Clare; the second with the secretary of state, Major
Hobart, afterwards earl of Buckinghamshire. The Union caused him the
bitterest disappointment; he even talked of leaving Ireland, either for
America or for England.
Curran's fame rests most of all upon his speeches on behalf of the
accused in the state trials that were so numerous between 1794 and 1803;
and among them may be mentioned those in defence of Hamilton Rowan, the
Rev. William Jackson, the brothers John and Henry Sheares, Peter
Finnerty, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Wolfe Tone and Owen Kirwan. Another of
his most famous and characteristic speeches is that against the marquis
of Headfort, who had eloped with the wife of a clergyman named Massey.
On the arrest of Robert Emmet, who had formed an attachment to his
daughter, Curran was himself under suspicion; but, on examination before
the privy council, nothing was brought forward to implicate him in the
intended rebellion.
In 1806, on the death of Pitt and the formation of the Fox ministry,
Curran received the post of master of the rolls, with a seat in the
privy council, much to his disappointment, for he had desired a position
of greater political influence. For eight years, however, he held this
office. He then retired on a pension of L3000; and the three remaining
years of his life were spent in London, where he became one of the most
brilliant members of the society which included Sheridan, Erskine,
Thomas Moore, and William Godwin. He died at his house in Brompton on
the 14th of October 1817.
Curran's legal erudition was never profound; and though he was capable
of the most ingenious pleading, his appeal was always to the emotions of
his audience. His best speeches are one fiery torrent of invective,
pathos, national feeling and wit. His diction was lofty and sonorous. He
was, too, a most brilliant wit and of wonderful quickness in repartee.
To his personal presence he owed nothing; for he was short, slim and
boyish-looking, and his voice was thin and shrill.
See _Curran and his Contemporaries_, a most entertaining work, by
Charles Phillips, a personal friend of Curran's (1818), and the _Life
of Curran_, by his son, W. H. Curran (1819), and with additions by Dr
Shelton Mackenzie, New York, (1855), both of which contain numerous
samples of Curran's eloquence. See also _Curran's Speeches_ (1805,
1808, 1845); _Memoirs of Curran_, by Wm. O'Regan (1817); Letters to
Rev. H. Weston (1819); T. Moore's _Memoirs_ (1853).
CURRANT. (1) The dried seedless fruit of a variety of the grape-vine,
_Vitis vinifera_, cultivated principally in Zante, Cephalonia and
Ithaca, and near Patras, in the Morea (see GREECE). Currants were
brought originally from Corinth, whence their name; in the 13th and 14th
centuries they were known as _raisins de Corauntz_. In the Ionian
Islands the currant-vine is grown on the sides of the lower hills, or in
the valleys, the grape-vine occupying the higher and less open and rich
ground. Gypseous marls, or calcareous marls containing a little gypsum,
are preferred to limestone soils, as they allow of deep penetration of
the roots of the vines. The most favourable situations are those where a
good supply of water can be obtained for the irrigation of the
plantations. This is carried on from the end of October to the close of
the year, after which all that is necessary is to keep the ground moist.
The vines are planted in rows 3 or 4 ft. apart. Propagation is effected
by grafting on stocks of the grape-vine, or by planting out in spring
the young, vigorous shoots obtained at the end of the previous year from
old currant-vines that have been cut away below the ground. The grafts
bear fruit in three years, the slips in about double that time. The vine
stock for grafting is cut down to the depth of a foot below the surface
of the soil; two or three perpendicular incisions are made near the bark
with a chisel; and into these are inserted shoots of the last year's
growth. The engrafted part then receives an application of moist marls,
is wrapped in leaves and bound with rushes, and is covered with earth,
two or three eyes of the shoots being left projecting above ground. In
December the currant plantations are cleared of dead and weak wood. In
February the branches are cut back, and pruned of median shoots, which
are said to prevent the lateral ones proceeding from the same bud from
bearing fruit. In order effectually to water the trees, the earth round
about them is in February and March hoed up so as to leave them in a
kind of basin, or is piled up against their stems. In March, when the
leaves begin to show, the ground is thoroughly turned, and if requisite
manured, and is then re-levelled. By the middle of April the leaves are
fully out, and in June it is necessary to break back the newly-formed
shoots. The fruit begins to ripen in July, and in the next month the
vintage takes place. At this season rain is greatly dreaded, as it
always damages and may even destroy the ripe fruit. The plantations,
which are commonly much exposed, are watched by dogs and armed men. In
Cephalonia the currant-grape is said to ripen at least a week earlier
than in Zante. To destroy the oidium, a fungal pest that severely
injures the plantations, the vines are dusted, at the time the fruit is
maturing, with finely-ground brimstone. The currants when sufficiently
ripe are gathered and placed on a drying ground, where they are exposed
to the sun in layers half an inch thick; from time to time they are
turned and swept into heaps, until they become entirely detached from
stalk. They are then packed in large butts for exportation. The wine
made from the currant-grape is inferior in quality, but is said to be
capable of much improvement. The fresh fruit is luscious and highly
flavoured, but soon cloys the palate.
(2) The currants of British kitchen-gardens--so called from a
resemblance to the foregoing--are the produce of _Ribes nigrum_ and _R.
rubrum_, deciduous shrubs of the natural order _Ribesiaceae_, indigenous
to Britain, northern and central Europe, Siberia and Canada. The former
species bears the black, the latter the red currant. White currants are
the fruit of a cultivated variety of _R. rubrum_. Both red and black
currants are used for making tarts and pies, jams, jellies and wine; the
latter are also employed in lozenges, popularly supposed to be of value
in relieving a sore throat, are occasionally preserved in spirits, and
in Russia are fermented with honey to produce a strong liquor.
Currants will flourish in any fairly good soil, but to obtain large
crops and fine fruit a good rich loam is desirable; with an annual
dressing of farmyard manure or cowdung, after the winter pruning, for
established trees. The plants are best propagated by cuttings, which
should consist of strong well-ripened young shoots taken off close to
the old wood. These should be planted as soon as possible after the wood
is matured in autumn about 6 in. apart. The plants are grown with the
best results as bushes, but may also be trained against a wall or
trellis. In the matter of pruning it must be borne in mind that red and
white currants form their fruit buds on wood two to three years old, and
the main shoots and side branches may therefore be cut back. Black
currants on the other hand form fruit buds on the new wood of the
previous year, hence the old wood should be cut away and the young left.
The black currant is subject to the attacks of a mite, _Phytoptus
ribis_, which destroys the unopened buds. The buds, when attacked,
recognized by their swollen appearance, should be picked off and burned.
The attacks of the caterpillars of the gooseberry and other moths may be
met by dusting the bushes with lime and soot when the plants are moist
with dew or after syringing.
The following forms are recommended for cultivation:--_Black_: Lee's
Prolific, Baldwin's or Carter's Champion and Black Naples; _Red_:
Cherry, Raby Castle, Red Dutch and Comet; _White_: White Dutch. A kind
of black currant (_Ribes magellanicum_), bearing poor and acid fruit, is
indigenous to Tierra del Fuego.
CURRICLE (Lat. _curriculum_, a small car), a light two-wheeled vehicle,
generally for driving with two horses.
CURRIE, SIR DONALD (1825-1909), British shipowner, was born at Greenock
on the 17th of September 1825. At a very early age he was employed in
the office of a shipowner in that port, but at the age of eighteen left
Scotland for Liverpool, where shipping business offered more scope. By a
fortunate chance he attracted the notice of the chief partner in the
newly started Cunard steamship line, who found him a post in that
company. In 1849 the Cunard Company started a service between Havre and
Liverpool to connect with their transatlantic service. Currie was
appointed Cunard agent at Havre and Paris, and secured for his firm a
large share of the freight traffic between France and the United States.
About 1856 he returned to Liverpool, where till 1862 he held an
important position at the Cunard Company's headquarters. In 1862 he
determined to strike out for himself, and leaving the Cunard established
the "Castle" line of sailing-ships between Liverpool and Calcutta.
Business prospered, but in 1864 Currie found it profitable to substitute
London for Liverpool as the home port of his vessels, and himself
settled in London. In 1872 he came to the conclusion, after a careful
study of all the circumstances, that the development of Cape Colony
justified the starting of a new line of steamers between England and
South Africa. The result of this decision was the founding of the
successful Castle line of steamers (see under Steamship Lines), which
after 1876 divided the South African mail contract with the older Union
line, and was finally amalgamated with the latter under the title Union
Castle line in 1900. Currie's intimate knowledge of South African
conditions and persons was on several occasions of material service to
the British government. His acquaintance with Sir John Brand, the
president of what was then the Orange Free State, caused him to be
entrusted by the home government with the negotiations in the dispute
concerning the ownership of the Kimberley diamond-fields, which were
brought to a successful conclusion. He introduced the two Transvaal
deputations which came to England in 1877 and 1878 to protest against
annexation, and though his suggestions for a settlement were disregarded
by the government of the day, the terms on which the Transvaal was
subsequently restored to the Boers agreed, in essentials, with those he
had advised. The first news of the disaster of Isandhlwana in the Zulu
War was given to the home government through his agency. At that time
there was no cable between England and South Africa, and the news was
sent by a Castle liner to St Vincent, and telegraphed thence to Currie.
At the same time by diverting his outward mail-boat then at sea from its
ordinary course to St Vincent, he enabled the government to telegraph
immediate instructions to that island for conveyance thence by the mail,
thus saving serious delay, and preventing the annihilation of the
British garrison at Eshowe. The present arrangement under which the
British admiralty is enabled to utilize certain fast steamers of the
mercantile marine as armed cruisers in war-time was suggested and
strongly urged by Currie in 1880. In the same year he was returned to
parliament as Liberal member for Perthshire, but, though a strong
personal friend of W. E. Gladstone, he was unable to follow that
statesman on the Home Rule question, and from 1885 to 1900 he
represented West Perthshire as a Unionist. In 1881 his services in
connexion with the Zulu War were rewarded with knighthood, and in 1897
he was created G.C.M.G. He died at Sidmouth on the 13th of April 1909.
CURRIE, JAMES (1756-1805), Scottish physician and editor of Burns, son
of the minister of Kirkpatrick-Fleming, in Dumfriesshire, was born there
on the 31st of May 1756. Attracted by the stories of prosperity in
America he went in 1771 to Virginia, where he spent five hard years,
much of the time ill and always in unprofitable commercial business. The
outbreak of war between the Colonies and England ended any further
chance of success, and sailing for home in the spring of 1776 after many
delays he reached England a year later. He then proceeded to study
medicine at Edinburgh, and after taking his degree at Glasgow he settled
at Liverpool in 1780, where three years later he became physician to the
infirmary. He died at Sidmouth on the 31st of August 1805. Among other
pamphlets Currie was the author of _Medical Reports on the Effects of
Water, Cold and Warm, as a Remedy in Fevers and Febrile Diseases_
(1797), which had some influence in promoting the use of cold water
affusion, and contains the first systematic record in English of
clinical observations with the thermometer. But he is best known for his
edition (1800), long regarded as the standard, of Robert Burns, which he
undertook in behalf of the family of the poet. It contained an
introductory criticism and an essay on the character and condition of
the Scottish peasantry.
See the _Memoir_ by W. W. Currie, his son (1831).
CURRY. (1) (Through the O. Fr. _correier_, from Late Lat. _conredare_,
to make ready, prepare; a later form of the French is _courroyer_, and
modern French is _corroyer_), to dress a horse by rubbing down and
grooming with a comb; to dress and prepare leather already tanned. The
currier pares off roughnesses and inequalities, makes the leather soft
and pliable, and gives it the necessary surface and colour (see
LEATHER). The word "currier," though early confused in origin with "to
curry," is derived from the Late Lat. _coriarius_, a leather dresser,
from _corium_, hide. The phrase "to curry favour," to flatter or cajole,
is a 16th century corruption of "to curry favel," i.e. a chestnut horse.
This older phrase is an adaptation of an Old French proverbial
expression _estriller fauvel_, and is paralleled in German by the
similar _den fahlen Hengst streichen_. A chestnut or fallow horse seems
to have been taken as typical of deceit and trickery, at least since the
appearance of a French satirical beast romance the _Roman de fauvel_
(1310), the hero of which is a counterpart of Reynard the Fox (q.v.).
(2) A name applied to a great variety of seasoned dishes, especially
those of Indian origin. The word is derived from the Tamil _kari_, a
sauce or relish for rice. In the East, where the staple food of the
people consists of a dish of rice, wheaten cakes, or some other cereal,
some kind of relish is required to lend attraction to this insipid food;
and that is the special office of curry. In India the following are
employed as ingredients in curries: anise, coriander, cumin, mustard and
poppy seeds; allspice, almonds, assafoetida, butter or ghee, cardamoms,
chillies, cinnamon, cloves, cocoa-nut and cocoanut milk and oil, cream
and curds, fenugreek, the tender unripe fruit of _Buchanania
lancifolia_, cheroonjie nuts (the produce of another species, _B.
latifolia_), garlic and onions, ginger, lime-juice, vinegar, the leaves
of _Bergera Koenigii_ (the curry-leaf tree), mace, mangoes, nutmeg,
pepper, saffron, salt, tamarinds and turmeric.
The cumin and coriander seeds are generally used roasted. The various
materials are cleaned, dried, ground, sifted, thoroughly mixed and
bottled. In the East the spices are ground freshly every day, which
gives the Indian curry its superiority in flavour over dishes prepared
with the curry-powders of the European market.
CURSOR, LUCIUS PAPIRIUS, Roman general, five times consul and twice
dictator. In 325 he was appointed dictator to carry on the second
Samnite War. His quarrel with Q. Fabius Maximus Rullianus, his _magister
equitum_, is well known. The latter had engaged the enemy against the
orders of Cursor, by whom he was condemned to death, and only the
intercession of his father, the senate and the people, saved his life.
Cursor treated his soldiers with such harshness that they allowed
themselves to be defeated; but after he had regained their good-will by
more lenient treatment and lavish promises of booty, they fought with
enthusiasm and gained a complete victory. After the disaster of the
Caudine Forks, Cursor to some extent wiped out the disgrace by
compelling Luceria (which had revolted) to surrender. He delivered the
Roman hostages who were held in captivity in the town, recovered the
standards lost at Caudium, and made 7000 of the enemy pass under the
yoke. In 309, when the Samnites again rose, Cursor was appointed
dictator for the second time, and gained a decisive victory at Longula,
in honour of which he celebrated a magnificent triumph. Cursor's
strictness was proverbial; he was a man of immense bodily strength,
while his bravery was beyond dispute. He was surnamed Cursor from his
swiftness of foot.
Livy viii., ix.; Aurelius Victor, _De viris illustribus_, 31;
Eutropius ii. 8. 9.
His son of the same name, also a distinguished general, completed the
subjection of Samnium (272). He set up a sun-dial, the first of its kind
in Rome, in the temple of Quirinus.
Livy x. 39-47; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._, vii. 60.
CURSOR MUNDI, an English poem in the Northern dialect dating from the
13th century. It is a religious epic of 24,000 lines "over-running" the
history of the world as related in the Old and New Testaments. "Cursur o
werld man aght it call, For almast it over-rennes all." The author
explains in his prologue his reasons for undertaking the work. Men
desire to read old romances of Alexander, Julius Caesar, Greece, Troy,
Brut, Arthur, of Tristram, Sweet Ysoude and others. But better than
tales of love is the story of the Virgin who is man's best lover,
therefore in her honour he will write this book, founded on the
steadfast ground of the Holy Trinity. He writes in English for the love
of English people of merry England, so that those who know no French may
understand. The history is treated under seven ages. The first four
include the period from the creation of the world to the successors of
Solomon, the fifth deals with Mary and the birth and childhood of Jesus,
the sixth with the lives of Christ and the chief apostles, and with the
finding of the holy cross, and the seventh with Doomsday. Four short
poems follow, more in some MSS. The bulk of the poem is written in
rhyming couplets of short lines of four accents, and maintains a fair
level throughout. The narrative is enlivened by many legends and much
entertaining matter drawn from various sources; and the numerous
transcripts of it prove that it was able to hold its own against profane
romance.
The chief sources of the compilation have been identified by Dr
Haenisch. For the Old Testament history the author draws largely from
the _Historia scholastica_ of Peter Comestor; for the history of the
Virgin he often translates literally from Wace's _Etablissement de la
fete de la conception Notre Dame_; the parables of the king and four
daughters, and of the castle of Love and Grace, are taken from "Sent
Robert bok" (1.9516), that is, from the _Chasteau d'Amour_ of Robert
Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln; other sources are the apocryphal gospels
of Matthew and Nicodemus, a southern English poem on the Assumption of
Our Lady, attributed by the writer of _Cursor mundi_ to Edmund Rich of
Pontigny, the Vulgate, the _Legenda aurea_ of Jacobus de Voragine, and
the _De vita et morte sanctorum_ of Isidore of Seville. The original of
the section on the invention of the holy cross is still to seek. In its
general plan the work is similar to the _Livre de sapience_ of Herman de
Valenciennes.
Of the author nothing is known. In the Cotton MS. Vespasian (A III.) the
name of the owner William Cosyn is given (for particulars of this
family, which is mentioned in Lincolnshire records as early as 1276, see
Dr H. Hupe in the E.E.T.S. ed. of _Cursor mundi_, vol. i. p. 124 *). The
date of the book was placed by Dr J. A. H. Murray (_The Dialect of the
Southern Counties of Scotland_, 1873, p. 30) in the last quarter of the
13th century, and the place of writing near Durham. Dr Hupe (_loc. cit._
p. 186 *) gives good reasons for believing that the author was a
Lincolnshire man, who wrote between 1260 and 1290, although the Cotton
MS. probably belongs to the late 14th century. In the Gottingen MS.
there are lines (17099-17110) desiring the reader to pray for John of
Lindbergh, "that this bock gart dight," and cursing anybody who shall
steal it. Lindberg is probably Limber Magna, near Ulceby, in north
Lincolnshire. Dr Hupe hazards an identification of the author with this
John of Lindberg, who may have been a member of the Cistercian Abbey of
Lindberg; but this is improbable.
_Cursor mundi_ was edited for the Early English Text Society in
1874-1893 by Dr Richard Morris in parallel columns from four
MSS.:--Cotton Vespasian A III., British Museum; Fairfax MS. 14, in the
Bodleian library, Oxford; MS. theol. 107 at Gottingen; and MS. R. 3.8
in Trinity College, Cambridge. The edition includes a "Preface" by the
editor, "An Inquiry into the Sources of the _Cursor mundi_" (1885),
by Dr Haenisch, an essay "On the Filiation and the Text of the MSS. of
_Cursor mundi_" (1885), by Dr H. Hupe, "Cursor Studies and Criticisms
on the Dialects of its MSS." (1888), by Dr Hupe and a glossary by Dr
Max Kaluza.
CURTAIN, a screen of any textile material, running by means of rings
fixed to a rod or pole. Curtains are now used chiefly to cover windows
and doors, but for many centuries every bed of importance was surrounded
by them, and sometimes, as in France, the space thus screened off was
much larger than the actual bed and was called the _ruelle_. The curtain
is very ancient--indeed the absence of glass and ill-fitting windows
long made it a necessity. Originally single curtains were used; it would
appear that it was not until the 17th century that they were employed in
pairs. Curtains are made in an infinite variety of materials and styles;
when placed over a door they are usually called _portieres_. In
fortification the "curtain" is that part of the enceinte which lies
between two bastions, towers, gates, &c.
The word comes into English through the O. Fr. _cortine_ or _courtine_
from the Late Lat. _cortina_. According to Du Cange (_Glossarium_, s.v.
"Cortis") this is a diminutive of _cortis_, an enclosed space, a court.
It is used in the various senses of the English "curtain." Classical
Latin had also a word _cortina_, meaning a caldron or round kettle. It
was very rarely applied to round objects generally. In the Vulgate
_cortina_ is used of the curtains of the tabernacle (Exodus xxvi). There
is some difficulty in connecting the classical and the Late Latin words.
The earliest use in English is, according to the _New English
Dictionary_, for the hangings of a bed.
CURTANA (a latinized form of the A.-Fr. _curtein_, from Lat. _curtus_,
shortened), the pointless sword of mercy, known also as Edward the
Confessor's sword, borne at the coronation of the kings of England
between the two pointed swords of temporal and spiritual justice (see
REGALIA).
CURTEA DE ARGESH (Rumanian, _Curtea de Arges_; also written _Curtea
d'Argesh_, _Curtea d'Ardges_, _Argish_ and _Ardjish_), the capital of
the department of Argesh, Rumania; situated on the right bank of the
river Argesh, where it flows through a valley of the lower Carpathians;
and on the railway from Pitesci to the Rothenthurm Pass. Pop. (1900)
4210. The city is one of the oldest in Rumania. According to tradition
it was founded early in the 14th century by Prince Radu Negru,
succeeding Campulung as capital of Walachia. Hence its name _Curtea_,
"the court." It contains a few antique churches, and was created a
bishopric at the close of the 18th century.
The cathedral of Curtea de Argesh, by far the most famous building in
Rumania, stands in the grounds of a monastery, 1(1/2) m. N. of the city.
It resembles a very large and elaborate mausoleum, built in Byzantine
style, with Moorish arabesques. In shape it is oblong, with a many-sided
annexe at the back. In the centre rises a dome, fronted by two smaller
cupolas; while a secondary dome, broader and loftier than the central
one, springs from the annexe. Each summit is crowned by an inverted
pear-shaped stone, bearing a triple cross, emblematic of the Trinity.
The windows are mere slits; those of the tambours, or cylinders, on
which the cupolas rest, are curved, and slant at an angle of 70 deg., as
though the tambours were leaning to one side. Between the pediment and
the cornice a thick corded moulding is carried round the main building.
Above this comes a row of circular shields, adorned with intricate
arabesques, while bands and wreaths of lilies are everywhere sculptured
on the windows, balconies, tambours and cornices, adding lightness to
the fabric. The whole is raised on a platform 7 ft. high, and encircled
by a stone balustrade. Facing the main entrance is a small open shrine,
consisting of a cornice and dome upheld by four pillars. The cathedral
is faced with pale grey limestone, easily chiselled, but hardening on
exposure. The interior is of brick, plastered and decorated with
frescoes. Close by stands a large royal palace, Moorish in style. The
archives of the cathedral were plundered by Magyars and Moslems, but
several inscriptions, Greek, Slav and Ruman, are left. One tablet
records that the founder was Prince Neagoe Bassarab (1512-1521); another
that Prince John Radu completed the work in 1526. A third describes the
repairs executed in 1681 by Prince Sherban Cantacuzino; a fourth, the
restoration, in 1804, by Joseph, the first bishop. Between 1875 and 1885
the cathedral was reconstructed; and in 1886 it was reconsecrated. Its
legends have inspired many Rumanian poets, among them the celebrated V.
Alexandri (1821-1890). One tradition describes how Neagoe Bassarab,
while a hostage in Constantinople, designed a splendid mosque for the
sultan, returning to build the cathedral out of the surplus materials.
Another version makes him employ one Manole or Manoli as architect.
Manole, being unable to finish the walls, the prince threatened him and
his assistant with death. At last Manole suggested that they should
follow the ancient custom of building a living woman into the
foundations; and that she who first appeared on the following morning
should be the victim. The other masons warned their families, and Manole
was forced to sacrifice his own wife. Thus the cathedral was built
except the roof. So arrogant, however, did the masons become, that the
prince bade remove the scaffolding, and all, save Manole, perished of
hunger. He fell to the ground, and a spring of clear water, which issued
from the spot, is still called after him.
CURTESY (a variant of "courtesy," q.v.), in law, the life interest which
a husband has in certain events in the lands of which his wife was in
her lifetime actually seised for an estate of inheritance. As to the
historical origin of the custom and the meaning of the word there is
considerable doubt. It has been said to be an interest peculiar to
England and to Scotland, hence called the "curtesy of England" and the
"curtesy of Scotland"; but this is erroneous, for it is found also in
Germany and France. The _Mirroir des Justices_ ascribes it to Henry I.
K. E. Digby (_Hist. Real Prop._ chap. iii.) says that it is connected
with curia, and has reference either to the attendance of the husband as
tenant of the lands at the lord's court, or to mean simply that the
husband is acknowledged tenant by the courts of England (_tenens per
legem Angliae_). The requisites necessary to make tenancy by the curtesy
are: (1) a legal marriage; (2) an estate in possession of which the wife
must have been actually seised; (3) issue born alive and during the
mother's existence, though it is immaterial whether the issue live or
die, or whether it is born before or after the wife's seisin; in the
case of gavelkind lands the husband has a right to curtesy, whether
there is issue born or not; but the curtesy extends only to a moiety of
the wife's lands and ceases if the husband marries again. The issue must
have been capable of inheriting as heir to the wife, e.g. if a wife were
seised of lands in tail male the birth of a daughter would not entitle
the husband to a tenancy by curtesy; (4) the title to the tenancy vests
only on the death of the wife. The Married Women's Property Act 1882 has
not affected the right of curtesy so far as relates to the wife's
undisposed-of realty (_Hope_ v. _Hope_, 1892, 2 Ch. 336), and the
Settled Land Act 1884, s. 8, provides that for the purposes of the
Settled Land Act 1882 the estate of a tenant by curtesy is to be deemed
an estate arising under a settlement made by the wife.
See Pollock and Maitland, _Hist. Eng. Law_; K. E. Digby, _Hist. Real
Prop._; Goodeve, _Real Property_.
CURTILAGE (Med. Lat. _curtilagium_, from _curtile_ or _cortile_, a court
or yard, cf. "court"), the area of land which immediately surrounds a
dwelling-house and its yard and outbuildings. In feudal times every
castle with its dependent buildings was protected by a surrounding wall,
and all the land within the wall was termed the curtilage; but the
modern legal interpretation of the word, i.e. what area is enclosed by
the curtilage, depends upon the circumstances of each individual case,
such as the terms of the grant or deed which passes the property, or
upon what is held to be a convenient amount of land for the occupation
of the house, &c. The importance of the word in modern law depends on
the fact that the curtilage marks the limit of the premises in which
housebreaking can be committed.
CURTIN ANDREW GREGG (1817-1894), American political leader, was born at
Bellefonte, Centre county, Pennsylvania, on the 22nd of April 1817, the
son of a native of Ireland who was a pioneer iron manufacturer in
Pennsylvania. He graduated from the law department of Dickinson College
in 1837, was admitted to the bar in 1839, and successfully practised his
profession. Entering politics as a Whig, he was chairman of the Whig
state central committee in 1854, and from 1855 to 1858 was secretary of
the commonwealth. In this capacity he was also _ex officio_ the
superintendent of common schools, and rendered valuable services to his
state in perfecting and expanding the free public school system, and in
establishing state normal schools. Upon the organization of the
Republican party he became one of its leaders in Pennsylvania, and in
October 1860 was chosen governor of the state on its ticket, defeating
Henry D. Foster, the candidate upon whom the Douglas and Breckinridge
Democrats and the Constitutional Unionists had united, by 32,000 votes,
after a spirited campaign which was watched with intense interest by the
entire country as an index of the result of the ensuing presidential
election. During the Civil War he was one of the closest and most
constant advisers of President Lincoln, and one of the most efficient,
most energetic and most patriotic of the "war governors" of the North.
Pennsylvania troops were the first to reach Washington after the
president's call, and from first to last the state, under Governor
Curtin's guidance, furnished 387,284 officers and men to the Northern
armies. One of his wisest and most praiseworthy acts Was the
organization of the famous "Pennsylvania Reserves," by means of which
the state was always able to fill at once its required quota after each
successive call. In raising funds and equipping and supplying troops the
governor showed great energy and resourcefulness, and his plans and
organizations for caring for the needy widows and children of
Pennsylvania soldiers killed in battle, and for aiding and removing to
their homes the sick and wounded were widely copied throughout the
North. He was re-elected governor in 1863 and served until January 1867.
He was United States minister to Russia from 1869 until 1872, when he
returned to America and took part in the Liberal Republican revolt
against President U. S. Grant. In 1872-1873 he was a member of the state
constitutional convention. Subsequently he joined the Democratic party
and was a representative in Congress from 1881 to 1887. He died at his
birthplace, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, on the 7th of October 1894.
See William H. Egle's _Life and Times of Andrew Gregg Curtin_
(Philadelphia, 1896), which contains chapters written by A. K.
McClure, Jno. Russell Young, Wayne McVeagh, Fitz John Porter and
others.
CURTIS, GEORGE TICKNOR (1812-1894), American lawyer, legal writer and
constitutional historian, was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, on the
28th of November 1812. He graduated at Harvard in 1832, was admitted to
the bar in 1836, and practised in Worcester, Boston, New York and
Washington, appearing before the United States Supreme Court in many
important cases, including the Dred Scott case, in which he argued the
constitutional question for Scott, and the "legal tender" cases. In
Boston he was for many years the United States commissioner, and in this
capacity, despite the vigorous protests of the abolitionists and his own
opposition to slavery, ordered the return to his owner of the famous
fugitive slave, Themas Sims, in 1852. He was the nephew and close friend
of George Ticknor, the historian of Spanish literature, and his
association with his uncle was influential in developing his scholarly
tastes; while his other personal friendships with eminent Bostonians
during the period of conservative Whig ascendancy in Massachusetts
politics were of direct influence upon his political opinions and
published estimates. He is best known as the author of _A History of the
Origin, Formation and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States,
with Notices of its principal Framers_ (1854), republished, with many
additions, as _The Constitutional History of the United States from
their Declaration of Independence to the Close of their Civil War_ (2
vols., 1889-1896). This history, which had been watched in its earlier
progress by Daniel Webster, may be said to present the old Federalist or
"Webster-Whig" view of the formation and powers of the Constitution; and
it was natural that Curtis should follow it with a voluminous _Life of
Daniel Webster_ (2 vols., 1870), the most valuable biography of that
statesman. Both these works are characterized by solidity and
comprehensiveness rather than by rhetorical attractiveness or literary
perspective. In his later years Mr Curtis, like so many of the followers
of Webster, turned towards the Democratic party; and he wrote, among
other works of minor importance, an exculpatory life of President James
Buchanan (2 vols., 1883) and two vindications of General George B.
McClellan's career (1886 and 1887). He died in New York on the 28th of
March 1894.
In addition to the works above mentioned he published: _Digest of the
English and American Admiralty Decisions_ (1839); _Rights and Duties
of Merchant Seamen_ (1841), which elicited the hearty praise of
Justice Joseph Story; _Law of Patents_ (1849); _Equity Precedents_
(1850); _Commentaries on the Jurisprudence, Practice and Peculiar
Jurisdiction of the Courts of the United States_ (1854-1858);
_Creation or Evolution: A Philosophical Inquiry_ (1887); and a novel,
_John Chambers: A Tale of the Civil War in America_ (1889).
His brother, BENJAMIN ROBBINS CURTIS (1809-1874), also an eminent
jurist, was born on the 4th of November 1809, in Watertown,
Massachusetts, graduated at Harvard in 1829, studied law at Cambridge
and at Northfield, Mass., where, after his admission to the bar in 1832,
he practised law for two years, and then in Boston in 1834-1851. In
1851, being then a member of the lower house of the Massachusetts
legislature, he was on the 22nd of September appointed to the Supreme
Court of the United States, where he gained his greatest fame in 1857 by
his dissenting opinion in the Dred Scott case, in which he argued that
the Missouri Compromise was constitutional, and that negroes could
become citizens. His argument was immediately published as an
anti-slavery document. On the 1st of September 1857 he resigned from the
Supreme Court and resumed his private practice. In 1868 he was one of
the counsel for President Andrew Johnson in his impeachment trial, and
opened for the defence in a remarkable two-days' speech. He died at
Newport, Rhode Island, on the 15th of September 1874. He prepared
_Decisions of the Supreme Court_ (22 vols.) and a _Digest_ of its
decisions down to 1854.
_A Memoir of Benjamin Robbins Curtis, with Some of his Professional
and Miscellaneous Papers_, edited by his son Benjamin R. Curtis, was
published at Boston in 1879, the _Memoir_ being by George Ticknor
Curtis.
CURTIS, GEORGE WILLIAM (1824-1892), American man of letters, was born in
Providence, Rhode Island, on the 24th of February 1824, of old New
England stock. His mother died when he was two years old. At six he was
sent with his elder brother to school in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts,
where he remained for five years. Then, his father having again married
happily, the boys were brought home to Providence, where they stayed
till, in 1839, their father removed to New York. Three years later,
Curtis, being allowed to determine for himself his course of life, and
being in sympathy with the spirit of the so-called Transcendental
movement, became a boarder at the community of Brook Farm. He was
accompanied by his brother, James Burrill Curtis, whose influence upon
him was strong and helpful. He remained there for two years, brought
into stimulating and serviceable relations with many interesting men and
women. Then came two years, passed partly in New York, partly in Concord
in order mainly to be in the friendly neighbourhood of Emerson, and then
followed four years spent in Europe, Egypt and Syria.
Curtis returned from Europe in 1850, handsome, attractive, accomplished,
ambitious of literary distinction. He instantly plunged into the whirl
of life in New York, obtained a place on the staff of the _Tribune_,
entered the field as a popular lecturer, set himself to work on a volume
published in the spring of 1851, under the title of _Nile Notes of a
Howadji_, and became a favourite in society. He wrote much for _Putnam's
Magazine_, of which he was associate editor; and a number of volumes,
composed of essays written for that publication and for _Harper's
Monthly_, came in rapid succession from his pen. The chief of these were
the _Potiphar Papers_ (1853), a satire on the fashionable society of the
day; and _Prue and I_ (1856), a pleasantly sentimental, fancifully
tender and humorous study of life. In 1855 he married Miss Anna Shaw.
Not long after his marriage he became, through no fault of his own,
deeply involved in debt owing to the failure of _Putnam's Magazine_; and
his high sense of honour compelled him to devote the greater part of his
earnings for many years to the discharge of obligations for which he had
become only by accident responsible, and from which he might have freed
himself by legal process. In the period just preceding the Civil War
other interests became subordinate to those of national concern. Curtis
made his first important speech on the questions of the day at Wesleyan
University in 1856; he engaged actively in the presidential campaign of
that year, and was soon recognized not only as an effective public
speaker, but also as one of the ablest, most high-minded, and most
trustworthy leaders of public opinion. In 1863 he became the political
editor of _Harper's Weekly_, and no other journal exercised during the
war and after it a more important part in shaping public opinion. His
writing was always clear, direct, forcible; his fairness of mind and
sweetness of temper were invincible. He never became a mere partisan,
and never failed to apply the test of moral principle to political
measures. From month to month he contributed to _Harper's Monthly_,
under the title of "The Easy Chair," brief essays on topics of social
and literary interest, charming in style, touched with delicate humour
and instinct with generous spirit. His service to the Republican party
was such, that more than once he was offered nominations to office of
high distinction, and might have been sent as minister to England; but
he refused all offers of the kind, feeling that he could render more
essential service to the country as editor and public speaker.
In 1871 he was appointed by President Grant chairman of the commission
to report on the reform of the civil service. The report which he wrote
was the foundation of every effort since made for the purification and
regulation of the service and for the destruction of political
patronage. From that time till his death Curtis was the leader in this
reform, and to his sound judgment, his vigorous presentation of the
evils of the corrupt prevailing system, and his untiring efforts, the
progress of the reform is mainly due. He was president of the National
Civil Service Reform League and of the New York Civil Service Reform
Association. In 1884 he refused to support the nomination of James G.
Blaine as candidate for the presidency, and thus broke with the
Republican party, of which he had been one of the founders and leaders.
From that time he stood as the typical independent in politics. In April
1892 he delivered at Baltimore his eleventh annual address as president
of the National Civil Service Reform League, and in May he appeared for
the last time in public, to repeat in New York an admirable address on
James Russell Lowell, which he had first delivered in Brooklyn on the
22nd of the preceding February, the anniversary of Lowell's birth. On
the 31st of the following August he died. He was a man of consistent
virtue, whose face and figure corresponded with the traits and stature
of his soul. The grace and charm of his manner were the expression of
his nature. Of the Americans of his time few were more widely beloved,
and the respect in which he was held was universal.
See _George William Curtis_, by Edward Cary, in the "American Men of
Letters" series (Boston, 1894), an excellent biography; "An Epistle to
George William Curtis," by James Russell Lowell (1874-1887), in
Lowell's _Poems; George William Curtis_, a Commemorative Address
delivered before The Century Association, 17th December 1892, by Parke
Godwin (New York, 1893); _Orations and Addresses by George William
Curtis_, edited by Charles Eliot Norton (3 vols. New York, 1894).
(C. E. N.)
CURTIUS, ERNST (1814-1896), German archaeologist and historian, was born
at Lubeck on the 2nd of September 1814. On completing his university
studies he was chosen by C. A. Brandis to accompany him on a journey to
Greece for the prosecution of archaeological researches. Curtius then
became Otfried Muller's companion in his exploration of the Peloponnese,
and on Muller's death in 1840 returned to Germany. In 1844 he became an
extraordinary professor at the university of Berlin, and in the same
year was appointed tutor to Prince Frederick William (afterwards the
Emperor Frederick III.)--a post which he held till 1850. After holding a
professorship at Gottingen and undertaking a further journey to Greece
in 1862, Curtius was appointed (in 1863) ordinary professor at Berlin.
In 1874 he was sent to Athens by the German government, and concluded an
agreement by which the excavations at Olympia (q.v.) were entrusted
exclusively to Germany. Curtius died at Berlin on the 11th of July 1896.
His best-known work is his _History of Greece_ (1857-1867, 6th ed.
1887-1888; Eng. trans. by A. W. Ward, 1868-1873). It presented in an
attractive style what were then the latest results of scholarly
research, but was criticized as wanting in erudition. It is now
superseded (see GREECE: _History, Ancient_, S Bibliography). His other
writings are chiefly archaeological. The most important are: _Die
Akropolis von Athen_ (1844); _Naxos_ (1846); _Peloponnesos, eine
historisch-geographische Beschreibung der Halbinsel_ (1851); _Olympia_
(1852); _Die Ionier vor der ionischen Wanderung_ (1855); _Attische
Studien_ (1862-1865); _Ephesos_ (1874); _Die Ausgrabungen zu Olympia_
(1877, &c.); _Olympia und Umgegend_ (edited by Curtius and F. Adler,
1882); _Olympia; Die Ergebnisse der von dem deutschen Reich
veranstalteten Ausgrabung_ (with F. Adler, 1890-1898); _Die
Stadtgeschichte von Athen_ (1891); _Gesammelte Abhandlungen_ (1894). His
collected speeches and lectures were published under the title of
_Altertum und Gegenwart_ (5th ed., 1903 foll.), to which a third volume
was added under the title of _Unter drei Kaisern_ (2nd ed., 1895).
A full list of his writings will be found in L. Gurlitt, _Erinnerungen
an Ernst Curtius_ (Berlin, 1902); see also article by O. Kern in
_Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_, xlvii. (1903), to which may be added
_Ernst Curtius. Ein Lebensbild in Briefen_, by F. Curtius (1903); T.
Hodgkin, _Ernest Curtius_ (1905).
His brother, GEORG CURTIUS (1820-1885), philologist, was born at Lubeck
on the 16th of April 1820. After an education at Bonn and Berlin he was
for three years a schoolmaster in Dresden, until (in 1845) he returned
to Berlin University as _privat-docent_. In 1849 he was placed in charge
of the Philological Seminary at Prague, and two years later was
appointed professor of classical philology in Prague University. In 1854
he removed from Prague to a similar appointment at Kiel, and again in
1862 from Kiel to Leipzig. He died at Hermsdorf on the 12th of August
1885. His philological theories exercised a widespread influence. The
more important of his publications are: _Die Sprachvergleichung in ihrem
Verhaltniss zur classischen Philologie_ (1845; Eng. trans. by F. H.
Trithen, 1851); _Sprachvergleichende Beitrage zur griechischen und
lateinischen Grammatik_ (1846); _Grundzuge der griechischen Etymologie_
(1858-1862, 5th ed. 1879); _Das Verbum der griechischen Sprache_ (1873).
The last two works have been translated into English by A. S. Wilkins
and E. B. England. From 1878 till his death Curtius was general editor
of the _Leipziger Studien zur classischen Philologie_. His _Griechische
Schulgrammatik_, first published in 1852, has passed through more than
twenty editions, and has been edited in English. In his last work, _Zur
Kritik der neuesten Sprachforschung_ (1885), he attacks the views of the
"new" school of philology.
_Opuscula_ of Georg Curtius were edited after his death by E. Windisch
(_Kleine Schriften von E. C._, 1886-1887). For further information
consult articles by R. Meister in _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_,
xlvii. (1903), and by E. Windisch in C. Bursian's _Biographisches
Jahrbuch fur Alterthumskunde_ (1886).
CURTIUS, MARCUS, a legendary hero of ancient Rome. It is said that in
362 B.C. a deep gulf opened in the forum, which the seers declared would
never close until Rome's most valuable possession was thrown into it.
Then Curtius, a youth of noble family, recognizing that nothing was more
precious than a brave citizen, leaped, fully armed and on horseback,
into the chasm, which immediately closed again. The spot was afterwards
covered by a marsh called the Lacus Curtius. Two other explanations of
the name Lacus Curtius are given: (1) a Sabine general, Mettius (or
Mettus) Curtius, hard pressed by the Romans under Romulus, leaped into a
swamp which covered the valley afterwards occupied by the forum, and
barely escaped with his life; (2) in 445 B.C. the spot was struck by
lightning, and enclosed as sacred by the consul, Gaius Curtius. It was
marked by an altar which was removed to make room for the games in
celebration of Caesar's funeral (Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xv. 77), but
restored by Augustus (cf. Ovid, _Fasti_, vi. 403), in whose time there
was apparently nothing but a dry well. The altar seems to have been
restored early in the 4th century A.D. In April 1904, on the N. side of
the Via Sacra and 20 ft. N.W. of the Equus Domitiani, remains of the
buildings were discovered.
See Livy i. 12, vii. 6; Dion Halic. ii. 42; Varro, _De lingua Latina_,
v. 148; Ch. Hulsen, _The Roman Forum_ (Eng. trans. of 2nd ed., J. B.
Carter, 1906); O. Gilbert, _Geschichte und Topographie der Stadt Rom
im Altertum_, i. (1883), 334-338.
CURTIUS RUFUS, QUINTUS, biographer of Alexander the Great. Of his
personal history nothing is known, nor can his date be fixed with
certainty. Modern authorities regard him as a rhetorician who flourished
during the reign of Claudius (A.D. 41-54). His work (_De Rebus gestis
Alexandri Magni_) originally consisted of ten books, of which the first
two are entirely lost, and the remaining eight are incomplete. Although
the work is uncritical, and shows the author's ignorance of geography,
chronology and military matters, it is written in a picturesque style.
There are numerous editions: (text) T. Vogel (1889), P. H. Damste
(1897), E. Hedicke (1908); (with notes), T. Vogel (1885 and later), M.
Croiset (1885), H. W. Reich (1895), C. Lebaigue (1900), T. Stangl
(1902). There is an English translation by P. Pratt (1821). See S.
Dosson, _Etude sur Quinte-Curce, sa vie, et ses oeuvres_ (1887) a
valuable work; F. von Schwarz, _Alexander des Grossen Feldzuge in
Turkestan_ (1893), a commentary on Arrian and Curtius based upon the
author's personal knowledge of the topography; C. Wachsmuth,
_Einleitung in das Studium der alten Geschichte_ (1895), p. 574, cf.
p. 567, note 2; Schwarz, "Curtius Rufus" No. 31 in Pauly-Wissowa
(1901).
CURULE (Lat. _currus_, "chariot"), in Roman antiquities, the epithet
applied to the chair of office, _sella curulis_, used by the "curule" or
highest magistrates and also by the emperors. This chair seems to have
been originally placed in the magistrate's chariot (hence the name). It
was inlaid with ivory or in some cases made of it, had curved legs but
no back, and could be folded up like a camp-stool. In English the word
is used in the general sense of "official." (See CONSUL, PRAETOR and
AEDILE.)
CURVE (Lat. _curvus_, bent), a word commonly meaning a shape represented
by a line bending continuously out of the straight without making an
angle, but only properly to be defined in its geometrical sense in the
terms set out below. This subject is treated here from an historical
point of view, for the purpose of showing how the different leading
ideas were successively arrived at and developed.
1. A curve is a line, or continuous singly infinite system of points. We
consider in the first instance, and chiefly, a plane curve described
according to a law. Such a curve may be regarded geometrically as
actually described, or kinematically as in the course of description by
the motion of a point; in the former point of view, it is the locus of
all the points which satisfy a given condition; in the latter, it is the
locus of a point moving subject to a given condition. Thus the most
simple and earliest known curve, the circle, is the locus of all the
points at a given distance from a fixed centre, or else the locus of a
point moving so as to be always at a given distance from a fixed centre.
(The straight line and the point are not for the moment regarded as
curves.)
Next to the circle we have the conic sections, the invention of them
attributed to Plato (who lived 430-347 B.C.); the original definition of
them as the sections of a cone was by the Greek geometers who studied
them soon replaced by a proper definition _in plano_ like that for the
circle, viz. a conic section (or as we now say a "conic") is the locus
of a point such that its distance from a given point, the focus, is in a
given ratio to its (perpendicular) distance from a given line, the
directrix; or it is the locus of a point which moves so as always to
satisfy the foregoing condition. Similarly any other property might be
used as a definition; an ellipse is the locus of a point such that the
sum of its distances from two fixed points (the foci) is constant, &c.,
&c.
The Greek geometers invented other curves; in particular, the conchoid
(q.v.), which is the locus of a point such that its distance from a
given line, measured along the line drawn through it to a fixed point,
is constant; and the cissoid (q.v.), which is the locus of a point such
that its distance from a fixed point is always equal to the intercept
(on the line through the fixed point) between a circle passing through
the fixed point and the tangent to the circle at the point opposite to
the fixed point. Obviously the number of such geometrical or kinematical
definitions is infinite. In a machine of any kind, each point describes
a curve; a simple but important instance is the "three-bar curve," or
locus of a point in or rigidly connected with a bar pivoted on to two
other bars which rotate about fixed centres respectively. Every curve
thus arbitrarily defined has its own properties; and there was not any
principle of classification.
2. _Cartesian Co-ordinates._--The principle of classification first
presented itself in the _Geometrie_ of Descartes (1637). The idea was to
represent any curve whatever by means of a relation between the
co-ordinates (x, y) of a point of the curve, or say to represent the
curve by means of its equation. (See GEOMETRY: _Analytical_.)
Any relation whatever between (x, y) determines a curve, and conversely
every curve whatever is determined by a relation between (x, y).
Observe that the distinctive feature is in the _exclusive_ use of such
determination of a curve by means of its equation. The Greek geometers
were perfectly familiar with the property of an ellipse which in the
Cartesian notation is x^2/a^2 + y^2/b^2 = 1, the equation of the curve;
but it was as one of a number of properties, and in no wise selected out
of the others for the characteristic property of the curve.
3. _Order of a Curve._--We obtain from the equation the notion of an
algebraical as opposed to a transcendental curve, viz. an algebraical
curve is a curve having an equation F(x, y) = 0 where F(x, y) is a
rational and integral function of the co-ordinates (x, y); and in what
follows we attend throughout (unless the contrary is stated) only to
such curves. The equation is sometimes given, and may conveniently be
used, in an irrational form, but we always imagine it reduced to the
foregoing rational and integral form, and regard this as the equation of
the curve. And we have hence the notion of a curve of a _given order_,
viz. the order of the curve is equal to that of the term or terms of
highest order in the co-ordinates (x, y) conjointly in the equation of
the curve; for instance, xy - 1 = 0 is a curve of the second order.
It is to be noticed here that the axes of co-ordinates may be any two
lines at right angles to each other whatever; and that the equation of a
curve will be different according to the selection of the axes of
co-ordinates; but the order is independent of the axes, and has a
determinate value for any given curve.
We hence divide curves according to their order, viz. a curve is of the
first order, second order, third order, &c., according as it is
represented by an equation of the first order, ax + by + c = 0, or say
(*() x, y, 1) = 0; or by an equation of the second order, ax^2 + 2hxy +
by^2 + 2fy + 2gx + c = 0, say (*() x, y, 1)^2 = 0; or by an equation of
the third order, &c.; or what is the same thing, according as the
equation is linear, quadric, cubic, &c.
A curve of the first order is a right line; and conversely every right
line is a curve of the first order. A curve of the second order is a
conic, and is also called a quadric curve; and conversely every conic is
a curve of the second order or quadric curve. A curve of the third order
is called a cubic; one of the fourth order a quartic; and so on.
A curve of the order m has for its equation (*() x, y, 1)^m = 0; and
when the coefficients of the function are arbitrary, the curve is said
to be the general curve of the order m. The number of coefficients is
1/2(m + 1)(m + 2); but there is no loss of generality if the equation be
divided by one coefficient so as to reduce the coefficient of the
corresponding term to unity, hence the number of coefficients may be
reckoned as 1/2(m + 1)(m + 2) - 1, that is, 1/2m(m + 3); and a curve of
the order m may be made to satisfy this number of conditions; for
example, to pass through 1/2m(m + 3) points.
It is to be remarked that an equation may _break up_; thus a quadric
equation may be (ax + by + c)(a'x + b'y + c') = 0, breaking up into the
two equations ax + by + c = 0, a'x + b'y + c' = 0, viz. the original
equation is satisfied if either of these is satisfied. Each of these
last equations represents a curve of the first order, or right line; and
the original equation represents this pair of lines, viz. the pair of
lines is considered as a quadric curve. But it is an _improper_ quadric
curve; and in speaking of curves of the second or any other given order,
we frequently imply that the curve is a proper curve represented by an
equation which does not break up.
4. _Intersections of Curves._--The intersections of two curves are
obtained by combining their equations; viz. the elimination from the two
equations of y (or x) gives for x (or y) an equation of a certain order,
say the resultant equation; and then to each value of x (or y)
satisfying this equation there corresponds in general a single value of
y (or x), and consequently a single point of intersection; the number of
intersections is thus equal to the order of the resultant equation in x
(or y).
Supposing that the two curves are of the orders m, n, respectively, then
the order of the resultant equation is in general and at most = mn; in
particular, if the curve of the order n is an arbitrary line (n = 1),
then the order of the resultant equation is = m; and the curve of the
order m meets therefore the line in m points. But the resultant equation
may have all or any of its roots imaginary, and it is thus not always
that there are m real intersections.
The notion of imaginary intersections, thus presenting itself, through
algebra, in geometry, must be accepted in geometry--and it in fact plays
an all-important part in modern geometry. As in algebra we say that an
equation of the _m_th order has m roots, viz. we state this generally
without in the first instance, or it may be without ever, distinguishing
whether these are real or imaginary; so in geometry we say that a curve
of the _m_th order is met by an arbitrary line in m points, or rather we
thus, through algebra, obtain the proper geometrical definition of a
curve of the _m_th order, as a curve which is met by an arbitrary line
in m points (that is, of course, in m, and not more than m, points).
The theorem of the m intersections has been stated in regard to an
_arbitrary_ line; in fact, for particular lines the resultant equation
may be or appear to be of an order less than m; for instance, taking m =
2, if the hyperbola xy - 1 = 0 be cut by the line y = [beta], the
resultant equation in x is [beta]x - 1 = 0, and there is apparently only
the intersection (x = 1/[beta], y = [beta]); but the theorem is, in
fact, true for every line whatever: a curve of the order m meets every
line whatever in precisely m points. We have, in the case just referred
to, to take account of a point at infinity on the line y = [beta]; the
two intersections are the point (x = 1/[beta], y = [beta]), and the
point at infinity on the line y = [beta].
It is, moreover, to be noticed that the points at infinity may be all or
any of them imaginary, and that the points of intersection, whether
finite or at infinity, real or imaginary, may coincide two or more of
them together, and have to be counted accordingly; to support the
theorem in its universality, it is necessary to take account of these
various circumstances.
5. _Line at Infinity._--The foregoing notion of a point at infinity is a
very important one in modern geometry; and we have also to consider the
paradoxical statement that in plane geometry, or say as regards the
plane, infinity is a right line. This admits of an easy illustration in
solid geometry. If with a given centre of projection, by drawing from it
lines to every point of a given line, we project the given line on a
given plane, the projection is a line, i.e. this projection is the
intersection of the given plane with the plane through the centre and
the given line. Say the projection is _always_ a line, then if the
figure is such that the two planes are parallel, the projection is the
intersection of the given plane by a parallel plane, or it is the system
of points at infinity on the given plane, that is, these points at
infinity are regarded as situate on a given line, the line infinity of
the given plane.[1]
Reverting to the purely plane theory, infinity is a line, related like
any other right line to the curve, and thus intersecting it in m points,
real or imaginary, distinct or coincident.
Descartes in the _Geometrie_ defined and considered the remarkable
curves called after him the ovals of Descartes, or simply Cartesians,
which will be again referred to. The next important work, founded on the
_Geometrie_, was Sir Isaac Newton's _Enumeratio linearum tertii ordinis_
(1706), establishing a classification of cubic curves founded chiefly on
the nature of their infinite branches, which was in some details
completed by James Stirling (1692-1770), Patrick Murdoch (d. 1774) and
Gabriel Cramer; the work also contains the remarkable theorem (to be
again referred to), that there are five kinds of cubic curves giving by
their projections every cubic curve whatever. Various properties of
curves in general, and of cubic curves, are established in Colin
Maclaurin's memoir, "De linearum geometricarum proprietatibus
generalibus Tractatus" (posthumous, say 1746, published in the 6th
edition of his _Algebra_). We have in it a particular kind of
_correspondence_ of two points on a cubic curve, viz. two points
correspond to each other when the tangents at the two points again meet
the cubic in the same point.
6. _Reciprocal Polars. Intersections of Circles. Duality. Trilinear and
Tangential Co-ordinates.--The Geometrie descriptive_, by Gaspard Monge,
was written in the year 1794 or 1795 (7th edition, Paris, 1847), and in
it we have stated, _in plano_ with regard to the circle, and in three
dimensions with regard to a surface of the second order, the fundamental
theorem of reciprocal polars, viz. "Given a surface of the second order
and a circumscribed conic surface which touches it ... then if the conic
surface moves so that its summit is always in the same plane, the plane
of the curve of contact passes always through the same point." The
theorem is here referred to partly on account of its bearing on the
theory of imaginaries in geometry. It is in Charles Julian Brianchon's
memoir "Sur les surfaces du second degre" (_Jour. Polyt._ t. vi. 1806)
shown how for any given position of the summit the plane of contact is
determined, or reciprocally; say the plane XY is determined when the
point P is given, or reciprocally; and it is noticed that when P is
situate in the interior of the surface the plane XY does not cut the
surface; that is, we have a real plane XY intersecting the surface in
the imaginary curve of contact of the imaginary circumscribed cone
having for its summit a given real point P inside the surface.
Stating the theorem in regard to a conic, we have a real point P (called
the pole) and a real line XY (called the polar), the line joining the
two (real or imaginary) points of contact of the (real or imaginary)
tangents drawn from the point to the conic; and the theorem is that when
the point describes a line the line passes through a point, this line
and point being polar and pole to each other. The term "pole" was first
used by Francois Joseph Servois, and "polar" by Joseph Diez Gergonne
(_Gerg._ t. i. and iii., 1810-1813); and from the theorem we have the
method of reciprocal polars for the transformation of geometrical
theorems, used already by Brianchon (in the memoir above referred to)
for the demonstration of the theorem called by his name, and in a
similar manner by various writers in the earlier volumes of Gergonne. We
are here concerned with the method less in itself than as leading to the
general notion of duality.
Bearing in a somewhat similar manner also on the theory of imaginaries
in geometry (but the notion presents itself in a more explicit form),
there is the memoir by L. Gaultier, on the graphical construction of
circles and spheres (_Jour. Polyt._ t. ix., 1813). The well-known
theorem as to radical axes may be stated as follows. Consider two
circles partially drawn so that it does not appear whether the circles,
if completed, would or would not intersect in real points, say two arcs
of circles; then we can, by means of a third circle drawn so as to
intersect in two real points each of the two arcs, determine a right
line, which, if the complete circles intersect in two real points,
passes through the points, and which is on this account regarded as a
line passing through two (real or imaginary) points of intersection of
the two circles. The construction in fact is, join the two points in
which the third circle meets the first arc, and join also the two points
in which the third circle meets the second arc, and from the point of
intersection of the two joining lines, let fall a perpendicular on the
line joining the centre of the two circles; this perpendicular
(considered as an indefinite line) is what Gaultier terms the "radical
axis of the two circles"; it is a line determined by a real construction
and itself always real; and by what precedes it is the line joining two
(real or imaginary, as the case may be) intersections of the given
circles.
The intersections which lie on the radical axis are two out of the four
intersections of the two circles. The question as to the remaining two
intersections did not present itself to Gaultier, but it is answered in
Jean Victor Poncelet's _Traite des proprietes projectives_ (1822), where
we find (p. 49) the statement, "deux circles places arbitrairement sur
un plan ... ont idealement deux points imaginaires communs a l'infini";
that is, a circle _qua_ curve of the second order is met by the line
infinity in two points; but, more than this, they are the same two
points for any circle whatever. The points in question have since been
called (it is believed first by Dr George Salmon) the circular points at
infinity, or they may be called the circular points; these are also
frequently spoken of as the points I, J; and we have thus the circle
characterized as a conic which passes through the two circular points at
infinity; the number of conditions thus imposed upon the conic is = 2,
and there remain three arbitrary constants, which is the right number
for the circle. Poncelet throughout his work makes continual use of the
foregoing theories of imaginaries and infinity, and also of the
before-mentioned theory of reciprocal polars.
Poncelet's two memoirs _Sur les centres des moyennes harmoniques_ and
_Sur la theorie generale des polaires reciproques_, although presented
to the Paris Academy in 1824, were only published (_Crelle_, t. iii. and
iv., 1828, 1829) subsequent to the memoir by Gergonne, _Considerations
philosophiques sur les elemens de la science de l'etendue_ (_Gerg._ t.
xvi., 1825-1826). In this memoir by Gergonne, the theory of duality is
very clearly and explicitly stated; for instance, we find "dans la
geometrie plane, a chaque theoreme il en repond necessairement un autre
qui s'en deduit en echangeant simplement entre eux les deux mots
_points_ et _droites_; tandis que dans la geometrie de l'espace ce sont
les mots _points_ et _plans_ qu'il faut echanger entre eux pour passer
d'un theoreme a son correlatif"; and the plan is introduced of printing
correlative theorems, opposite to each other, in two columns. There was
a reclamation as to priority by Poncelet in the _Bulletin universel_
reprinted with remarks by Gergonne (_Gerg._ t. xix., 1827), and followed
by a short paper by Gergonne, _Rectifications de quelques theoremes,
&c._, which is important as first introducing the word _class_. We find
in it explicitly the two correlative definitions: "a plane curve is said
to be of the _m_th degree (order) when it has with a line m real or
ideal intersections," and "a plane curve is said to be of the _m_th
class when from any point of its plane there can be drawn to it m real
or ideal tangents."
It may be remarked that in Poncelet's memoir on reciprocal polars, above
referred to, we have the theorem that the number of tangents from a
point to a curve of the order m, or say the class of the curve, is in
general and at most = m(m - 1), and that he mentions that this number is
subject to reduction when the curve has double points or cusps.
The theorem of duality as regards plane figures may be thus stated: two
figures may correspond to each other in such manner that to each point
and line in either figure there correspond in the other figure a line
and point respectively. It is to be understood that the theorem extends
to all points or lines, drawn or not drawn; thus if in the first figure
there are any number of points on a line drawn or not drawn, the
corresponding lines in the second figure, produced if necessary, must
meet in a point. And we thus see how the theorem extends to curves,
their points and tangents; if there is in the first figure a curve of
the order m, any line meets it in m points; and hence from the
corresponding point in the second figure there must be to the
corresponding curve m tangents; that is, the corresponding curve must be
of the class m.
Trilinear co-ordinates (see GEOMETRY: _Analytical_) were first used by
E. E. Bobillier in the memoir _Essai sur un nouveau mode de recherche
des proprietes de l'etendue_ (_Gerg._ t. xviii., 1827-1828). It is
convenient to use these rather than Cartesian co-ordinates. We represent
a curve of the order m by an equation (*() x, y, z)^m = 0, the function
on the left hand being a homogeneous rational and integral function of
the order m of the three co-ordinates (x, y, z); clearly the number of
constants is the same as for the equation (*() x, y, 1)^m = 0 in
Cartesian co-ordinates.
The theorem of duality is considered and developed, but chiefly in
regard to its metrical applications, by Michel Chasles in the _Memoire
de geometrie sur deux principes generaux de la science, la dualite et
l'homographie_, which forms a sequel to the _Apercu historique sur
l'origine et le developpement des methodes en geometrie_ (_Mem. de
Brux._ t. xi., 1837).
We now come to Julius Plucker; his "six equations" were given in a short
memoir in _Crelle_ (1842) preceding his great work, the _Theorie der
algebraischen Curven_ (1844). Plucker first gave a scientific dual
definition of a curve, viz.; "A curve is a locus generated by a point,
and enveloped by a line--the point moving continuously along the line,
while the line rotates continuously about the point"; the point is a
point (ineunt.) of the curve, the line is a tangent of the curve. And,
assuming the above theory of geometrical imaginaries, a curve such that
m of its points are situate in an arbitrary line is said to be of the
order m; a curve such that n of its tangents pass through an arbitrary
point is said to be of the class n; as already appearing, this notion of
the order and class of a curve is, however, due to Gergonne. Thus the
line is a curve of the order 1 and class 0; and corresponding dually
thereto, we have the point as a curve of the order 0 and class 1.
Plucker, moreover, imagined a system of line-co-ordinates (tangential
co-ordinates). (See GEOMETRY: _Analytical_.) The Cartesian co-ordinates
(x, y) and trilinear co-ordinates (x, y, z) are point-co-ordinates for
determining the position of a point; the new co-ordinates, say ([xi],
[eta], [zeta]) are line-co-ordinates for determining the position of a
line. It is possible, and (not so much for any application thereof as in
order to more fully establish the analogy between the two kinds of
co-ordinates) important, to give independent quantitative definitions of
the two kinds of co-ordinates; but we may also derive the notion of
line-co-ordinates from that of point-co-ordinates; viz. taking [xi]x +
[eta]y + [zeta]z = 0 to be the equation of a line, we say that ([xi],
[eta], [zeta]) are the line-co-ordinates of this line. A linear relation
a[xi] + b[eta] + c[zeta] = 0 between these co-ordinate determines a
point, viz. the point whose point-co-ordinates are (a, b, c); in fact,
the equation in question a[xi] + b[eta] + c[zeta] = 0 expresses that the
equation [xi]x + [eta]y + [zeta]z = 0, where (x, y, z) are current
point-co-ordinates, is satisfied on writing therein x, y, z = a, b, c;
or that the line in question passes through the point (a, b, c). Thus
([xi], [eta], [zeta]) are the line-co-ordinates of any line whatever;
but when these, instead of being absolutely arbitrary, are subject to
the restriction a[xi] + b[eta] + c[zeta] = 0, this obliges the line to
pass through a point (a, b, c); and the last-mentioned equation a[xi] +
b[eta] + c[zeta] = 0 is considered as the line-equation of this point.
A line has only a point-equation, and a point has only a line-equation;
but any other curve has a point-equation and also a line-equation; the
point-equation (*() x, y, z)^m = 0 is the relation which is satisfied by
the point-co-ordinates (x, y, z) of each point of the curve; and
similarly the line-equation (*() [xi], [eta], [zeta])^n = 0 is the
relation which is satisfied by the line-co-ordinates ([xi], [eta],
[zeta]) of each line (tangent) of the curve.
There is in analytical geometry little occasion for any explicit use of
line-co-ordinates; but the theory is very important; it serves to show
that in demonstrating by point-co-ordinates any purely descriptive
theorem whatever, we demonstrate the correlative theorem; that is, we do
not demonstrate the one theorem, and then (as by the method of
reciprocal polars) deduce from it the other, but we do at one and the
same time demonstrate the two theorems; our (x, y, z.) instead of
meaning point-co-ordinates may mean line-co-ordinates, and the
demonstration is then in every step of it a demonstration of the
correlative theorem.
7. _Singularities of a Curve. Plucker's Equations._--The above dual
generation explains the nature of the singularities of a plane curve.
The ordinary singularities, arranged according to a cross division, are
_Proper._ _Improper._
Point-singularities-- / 1. The stationary point, 2. The double point
\ cusp or spinode; or node;
Line-singularities-- / 3. The stationary tangent 4. The double
\ or inflection; tangent;
arising as follows:--
1. The cusp: the point as it travels along the line may come to rest,
and then reverse the direction of its motion.
3. The stationary tangent: the line may in the course of its rotation
come to rest, and then reverse the direction of its rotation.
2. The node: the point may in the course of its motion come to
coincide with a former position of the point, the two positions of the
line not in general coinciding.
4. The double tangent: the line may in the course of its motion come
to coincide with a former position of the line, the two positions of
the point not in general coinciding.
It may be remarked that we cannot with a real point and line obtain the
node with two imaginary tangents (conjugate or isolated point or
acnode), nor again the real double tangent with two imaginary points of
contact; but this is of little consequence, since in the general theory
the distinction between real and imaginary is not attended to.
The singularities (1) and (3) have been termed proper singularities, and
(2) and (4) improper; in each of the first-mentioned cases there is a
real singularity, or peculiarity in the motion; in the other two cases
there is not; in (2) there is not when the point is first at the node,
or when it is secondly at the node, any peculiarity in the motion; the
singularity consists in the point coming twice into the same position;
and so in (4) the singularity is in the line coming twice into the same
position. Moreover (1) and (2) are, the former a proper singularity, and
the latter an improper singularity, _as regards the motion of the
point_; and similarly (3) and (4) are, the former a proper singularity,
and the latter an improper singularity, _as regards the motion of the
line_.
But as regards the representation of a curve by an equation, the case is
very different.
First, if the equation be in point-co-ordinates, (3) and (4) are in a
sense not singularities at all. The curve (*() x, y, z)^m = 0, or
general curve of the order m, has double tangents and inflections; (2)
presents itself as a singularity, for the equations d_x(*() x, y, z)^m =
0, d_y(*() x, y, z)^m = 0, d_z(*() x, y, z)^m = 0, implying (*() x, y,
z)^m = 0, are not in general satisfied by any values (a, b, c) whatever
of (x, y, z), but if such values exist, then the point (a, b, c) is a
node or double point; and (1) presents itself as a further singularity
or sub-case of (2), a cusp being a double point for which the two
tangents becomes coincident.
In line-co-ordinates all is reversed:--(1) and (2) are not
singularities; (3) presents itself as a sub-case of (4).
The theory of compound singularities will be referred to farther on.