CROCOITE CROWE, EYRE EVANS
CROCUS CROWE, SIR JOSEPH ARCHER
CROESUS CROW INDIANS
CROFT, SIR HERBERT CROWLAND
CROFT, SIR JAMES CROWLEY, ROBERT
CROFT, WILLIAM CROWN (coin)
CROFTER CROWN and CORONET
CROKER, JOHN WILSON CROWN DEBT
CROKER, RICHARD CROWNE, JOHN
CROKER, THOMAS CROFTON CROWN LAND
CROLL, JAMES CROWN POINT
CROLY, GEORGE CROWTHER, SAMUEL ADJAI
CROMAGNON RACE CROYDON
CROMARTY, GEORGE MACKENZIE CROZAT, PIERRE
CROMARTY CROZET ISLANDS
CROMARTY FIRTH CROZIER, WILLIAM
CROME, JOHN CROZIER
CROMER, EVELYN BARING CRUCIAL
CROMER CRUCIFERAE
CROMORNE CRUDEN, ALEXANDER
CROMPTON, SAMUEL CRUDEN
CROMPTON CRUELTY
CROMWELL, HENRY CRUIKSHANK, GEORGE
CROMWELL, OLIVER CRUNDEN, JOHN
CROMWELL, RICHARD CRUSADES
CROMWELL, THOMAS CRUSENSTOLPE, MAGNUS JAKOB
CRONJE, PIET ARNOLDUS CRUSIUS, CHRISTIAN AUGUST
CROOKES, SIR WILLIAM CRUSTACEA
CROOKSTON CRUSTUMERIUM
CROP CRUVEILHIER, JEAN
CROPSEY, JASPER FRANCIS CRUZ E SILVA, ANTONIO DINIZ DA
CROQUET CRYOLITE
CRORE CRYPT
CROSBY, HOWARD CRYPTEIA
CROSS, and CRUCIFIXION CRYPTOBRANCHUS
CROSSBILL CRYPTOGRAPHY
CROSSEN CRYPTOMERIA
CROSSING CRYPTO-PORTICUS
CROSSKEY, HENRY WILLIAM CRYSTAL-GAZING
CROSS RIVER CRYSTALLITE
CROSS-ROADS, BURIAL AT CRYSTALLIZATION
CROSS SPRINGER CRYSTALLOGRAPHY
CROTCH, WILLIAM CRYSTAL PALACE, THE
CROTCHET CSENGERY, ANTON
CROTONA CSIKY, GREGOR
CROTONIC ACID CSOKONAI, MIHALY VITEZ
CROTON OIL CSOMA DE KOROS, ALEXANDER
CROUP CTENOPHORA
CROUSAZ, JEAN PIERRE DE CTESIAS
CROW CTESIPHON
CROWBERRY CUBA
CROWD
CROCOITE, a mineral consisting of lead chromate, PbCrO4, and
crystallizing in the monoclinic system. It is sometimes used as a paint,
being identical in composition with the artificial product
chrome-yellow; it is the only chromate of any importance found in
nature. It was discovered at Berezovsk near Ekaterinburg in the Urals in
1766; and named crocoise by F. S. Beudant in 1832, from the Greek
[Greek: krokos], saffron, in allusion to its colour, a name first
altered to crocoisite and afterwards to crocoite. It is found as
well-developed crystals of a bright hyacinth-red colour, which are
translucent and have an adamantine to vitreous lustre. On exposure to
light much of the translucency and brilliancy is lost. The streak is
orange-yellow; hardness 2(1/2)-3; specific gravity 6.0. In the Urals the
crystals are found in quartz-veins traversing granite or gneiss: other
localities which have yielded good crystallized specimens are Congonhas
do Campo near Ouro Preto in Brazil, Luzon in the Philippines, and Umtali
in Mashonaland. Gold is often found associated with this mineral.
Crystals far surpassing in beauty any previously known have been found
in the Adelaide Mine at Dundas, Tasmania; they are long slender prisms,
3 or 4 in. in length, with a brilliant lustre and colour.
Associated with crocoite at Berezovsk are the closely allied minerals
phoenicochroite and vauquelinite. The former is a basic lead Chromate,
Pb3Cr2O9, and the latter a lead and copper phosphate-chromate, 2(Pb,
Cu)CrO4. (Pb, Cu)3(PO4)2. Vauquelinite forms brown or green monoclinic
crystals, and was named after L. N. Vauquelin, who in 1797 discovered
(simultaneously with and independently of M. H. Klaproth) the element
chromium in crocoite. (L. J. S.)
CROCUS, a botanical genus of the natural order Iridaceae, containing
about 70 species, natives of Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia,
and especially developed in the dry country of south-eastern Europe and
western and central Asia. The plants are admirably adapted for climates
in which a season favourable to growth alternates with a hot or dry
season; during the latter they remain dormant beneath the ground in the
form of a short thickened stem protected by the scaly remains of the
bases of last season's leaves (known botanically as a "corm"). At the
beginning of the new season of growth, new flower- and leaf-bearing
shoots are developed from the corm at the expense of the food-stuff
stored within it. New corms are produced at the end of the season, and
by these the plant is multiplied.
These crocuses of the flower garden are mostly horticultural varieties
of _C. vernus_, _C. versicolor_ and _C. aureus_ (Dutch crocus), the two
former yielding the white, purple and striped, and the latter the yellow
varieties. The crocus succeeds in any fairly good garden soil, and is
usually planted near the edges of beds or borders in the flower garden,
or in broadish patches at intervals along the mixed borders. The corms
should be planted 3 in. below the surface, and as they become crowded
they should be taken up and replanted with a refreshment of the soil, at
least every five or six years. Crocuses have also a pleasing effect when
dotted about on the lawns and grassy banks of the pleasure ground.
Some of the best of the varieties are:--_Purple_: David Rizzio, Sir J.
Franklin, purpureus grandiflorus. _Striped_: Albion, La Majestueuse, Sir
Walter Scott, Cloth of _Silver_, Mme Mina. _White_: Caroline Chisholm,
Mont Blanc. _Yellow_: Large Dutch.
The species of crocus are not very readily obtainable, but those who
make a specialty of hardy bulbs ought certainly to search them out and
grow them. They require the same culture as the more familiar garden
varieties; but, as some of them are apt to suffer from excess of
moisture, it is advisable to plant them in prepared soil in a raised
pit, where they are brought nearer to the eye, and where they can be
sheltered when necessary by glazed sashes, which, however, should not be
closed except when the plants are at rest, or during inclement weather
in order to protect the blossoms, especially in the case of winter
flowering species. The autumn blooming kinds include many plants of very
great beauty. The following species are recommended:--
Spring flowering:--_Yellow_: _C. aureus_, _aureus_ var. _sulphureus_,
_chrysanthus_, _Olivieri_, _Korolkowi_, _Balansae_, _ancyrensis_,
_Susianus_, _stellaris_. _Lilac_: _C. Imperati_, _Sieberi_, _etruscus_,
_vernus_, _Tomasinianus_, _banaticus_. _White_: _C. biflorus_ and vars.,
_candidus_, _vernus_ vars. _Striped_: _C. versicolor_, _reticulatus_.
Autumn flowering:--_Yellow_: _C. Scharojani_. _Lilac_: _C. asluricus_,
_cancellatus_ var., _cilicicus_, _byzantinus_ (_iridiflorus_),
_longiflorus_, _medius_, _nudiflorus_, _pulchellus_, _Salzmanni_,
_sativus_ vars. _speciosus_, _zonatus_. _White_: _caspius_,
_cancellatus_, _hadrialicus_, _marathonisius_.
Winter flowering:--_C. hyemaeis_, _laevigatus_, _vitellinus_.
CROESUS, last king of Lydia, of the Mermnad dynasty, (560-546 B.C.),
succeeded his father Alyattes after a war with his half-brother. He
completed the conquest of Ionia by capturing Ephesus, Miletus and other
places, and extended the Lydian empire as far as the Halys. His wealth,
due to trade, was proverbial, and he used part of it in securing
alliances with the Greek states whose fleets might supplement his own
army. Various legends were told about him by the Greeks, one of the most
famous being that of Solon's visit to him with the lesson it conveyed
of the divine nemesis which waits upon overmuch prosperity (Hdt. i. 29
seq.; but see SOLON). After the overthrow of the Median empire (549
B.C.) Croesus found himself confronted by the rising power of Cyrus, and
along with Nabonidos of Babylon took measures to resist it. A coalition
was formed between the Lydian and Babylonian kings, Egypt promised
troops and Sparta its fleet. But the coalition was defeated by the rapid
movements of Cyrus and the treachery of Eurybatus of Ephesus, who fled
to Persia with the gold that had been entrusted to him, and betrayed the
plans of the confederates. Fortified with the Delphic oracles Croesus
marched to the frontier of his empire, but after some initial successes
fortune turned against him and he was forced to retreat to Sardis. Here
he was followed by Cyrus who took the city by storm. We may gather from
the recently discovered poem of Bacchylides (iii. 23-62) that he hoped
to escape his conqueror by burning himself with his wealth on a funeral
pyre, like Saracus, the last king of Assyria, but that he fell into the
hands of Cyrus before he could effect his purpose.[1] A different
version of the story is given (from Lydian sources) by Herodotus
(followed by Xenophon), who makes Cyrus condemn his prisoner to be burnt
alive, a mode of death hardly consistent with the Persian reverence for
fire. Apollo, however, came to the rescue of his pious worshipper, and
the name of Solon uttered by Croesus resulted in his deliverance.
According to Ctesias, who uses Persian sources, and says nothing of the
attempt to burn Croesus, he subsequently became attached to the court of
Cyrus and received the governorship of Barene in Media. Fragments of
columns from the temple of Attemis now in the British Museum have upon
them a dedication by Croesus in Greek.
See R. Schubert, _De Croeso et Solone fabula_ (1868); M. G. Radet, _La
Lydie et le monde grec au temps des Mermnades_ (1892-1893); A. S.
Murray, _Journ. Hell. Studies_, x. pp. 1-10 (1889); for the
supposition that Croesus did actually perish on his own pyre see G. B.
Grundy, _Great Persian War_, p. 28; Grote, _Hist. of Greece_ (ed.
1907), p. 104. Cf. CYRUS; LYDIA.