[1] _Lords Journals._
[2] _Strafford Letters_, i. 156.
CORK, a county of Ireland in the province of Munster, bounded S. by the
Atlantic Ocean, E. by the counties Waterford and Tipperary, N. by
Limerick, and W. by Kerry. It is the largest county in Ireland, having
an area of 1,849,686 acres, or about 2890 sq. m. The outline is
irregular; the coast is for the most part bold and rocky, and is
intersected by the bays of Bantry, Dunmanus, and Roaring Water. The
southern part of the coast projects several headlands into the Atlantic,
and its south-eastern side is indented by Cork Harbour, and Ballycotton
and Youghal Bays. The surface is undulating. It consists of low rounded
ridges, with corresponding valleys, running east and west, except in the
western portion of the county, which is more mountainous. The principal
rivers are the Blackwater, the Lee, and the Bandon, flowing generally
eastward from their sources in the high ground of the west. The most
elevated part of the county is in the Boggeragh Mountains, in the
north-west, which reach an extreme height of 2118 ft. To the south are
the Shehy Mountains, at the root of the two promontories flanking Bantry
Bay, the Caha Mountains forming the backbone of the northern of these
promontories, and the hills of the district of Corbery to the south of
the Shehy range. North of the Blackwater the country is comparatively
level, being a branch of the great plain which occupies a large part of
the centre of Ireland. Of the principal rivers the Blackwater has its
source in the county Limerick. The Lee originates in the wild and
picturesque Gouganebarra Lough, and the Bandon river rises in the
Cullinagh Lough. There are also some smaller streams which flow directly
into the sea, the more important of these being in the south-west
portion of the county. No lakes of any magnitude occur, the largest
being Lough Allua, or Inchigeelagh, an expansion of the river Lee. The
scenery of the western parts of the county is bold and rugged. In the
central and eastern parts, especially in the valleys, it is green and
quiet, and in some spots well wooded.
_Geology._--The county presents a remarkable simplicity of geological
structure. Its surface is controlled throughout by the "Hercynian"
folds, running from the Kerry border eastward to the sea at Youghal.
The Old Red Sandstone comes out in the north, forming the heather-clad
Ballyhoura Hills, which are repeated across the limestone hollow of
Mitchelstown by the western spur of the Knockmealdown Mountains. On
the west, beds as high as the Millstone Grit and Coal Measures remain
above the limestone, extending from Mallow and Kanturk to the Limerick
and Kerry borders. Another synclinal of Carboniferous Limestone runs
from Millstreet through Lismore, and the Blackwater has worn out an
easy course along it. Then the Old Red Sandstone again rises as an
undulating upland through the centre of the county, with a few
synclinal patches of Carboniferous Shale and Limestone caught in on
its back. Cork city lies on the north slope and in the floor of a
larger synclinal, and the Yellow Sandstone, which forms the
passage-beds from the Old Red Sandstone to the Carboniferous, appears
near the city. This hollow continues across the Lee through Middleton.
The limestone in it has become crystalline, veined and brecciated,
while a fine red staining, especially at Little Island, adds to its
value as a marble. After another anticlinal of Old Red Sandstone, the
Carboniferous Slate occupies most of the country southward, with
occasional appearances of the basal Coomhola Grits and of the
underlying Old Red Sandstone along anticlinals. The soils thus vary
from sandy loams, usually on the higher ground, to stiff clays along
the limestone hollows.
This country admirably illustrates the system of river-development
originally traced out by Prof. J. B. Jukes in 1862, and further
explained by Prof. W. M. Davis and others. The folded series,
culminating originally in Upper Carboniferous strata, was worn down,
perhaps as far back as Permian times, until it possessed a fairly
uniform surface. This surface, or "peneplain," was probably the result
of denudation working away the beds almost to sea-level. A subsequent
elevation enabled the streams, as in so many cases now recognized, to
cut into the surface along the direction of greatest inclination,
which here happened to be southward. When the higher strata had been
worn away, the rivers and their tributaries worked upon rocks of very
various hardness, but with a common strike from east to west. The
tributaries, running along the strike, speedily confined themselves to
the synclinals of limestone, along which they could erode and dissolve
long valleys. The present surface of anticlinal sandstone ridges and
synclinal limestone hollows thus began to arise; but the main streams
still held on their courses across the strike, that is, from north to
south. Here and there a more active tributary worked its way back at
its head into the basin of one of the cross-streams, and drew off into
its own system the head-waters of this other stream. With this new
flood of water the strengthened system still further deepened its
original ravine across the strike, while the beheaded cross-stream or
streams rapidly dwindled in importance. Ultimately, the tributaries of
the surviving river-systems appeared as the most important feature,
stretching far west--in the case of county Cork--along the synclinal
hollows; while the original cross-ravine remained in the course of
each river, a right-angled bend occurring thus in the lower portion of
the valleys. Jukes urged that the upper part of the original
cross-ravine can be traced above the bend in each case, though the
stream now descending along it seems merely a tributary entering
parallel with the north-and-south portion of the main stream.
Moreover, the tributaries on the north side of the great synclinal
valleys may in many cases be the relics of original cross-streams that
once flowed directly to the sea until captured by the growth along the
synclinal of the tributary of another stream. The Blackwater, rising
on Upper Carboniferous beds on the Kerry border, thus falls steeply
southward to Rathmore, and then turns eastward along the synclinal
valley of limestone from Millstreet to Cappoquin. Here it abruptly
turns south, keeping, in fact, to that part of its valley which was
first developed. The Lee, rising in the Old Red Sandstone moors of
Gouganebarra, runs east, encountering one or two patches of limestone
in the floor of the synclinal on its way, mere residues of the rock
that once occupied the hollow. Near Cork, the limestone and
accompanying shale are better preserved; but the river, instead of
continuing along the synclinal through Middleton to Youghal, turns
south, and forms the now submerged valley of Cork Harbour.
Observations have shown that the coast lay much at its present level
in pre-Glacial times, and that Cork Harbour was thus a marine inlet
before the ice descended into it. The synclinal valleys of Bantry Bay
and Dunmanus Bay were also, in all probability, submerged at this same
early epoch.
The county has been famous for its copper-mines, notably at Allihies
in the extreme west. The region south-west of Bantry has been mined in
several places. Both gold and silver have been found in the
copper-ores of this latter area. Barytes has been mined near Bantry,
Schull and Clonakilty, and manganese-ore at Glandore. Anthracite has
been raised from time to time in the band of Coal Measures south-west
of Kanturk. The marble of Little Island near Cork is quarried under
the name of "Cork Red," and the veined pink and grey marble of
Middleton is also much esteemed.
_Climate and Watering-places._--The climate is moist and warm, the
prevailing winds being from the west and south-west. The annual
rainfall in the city of Cork is about 40 in., that of the whole county
being somewhat higher. The mean annual temperature is about 52 deg. F.
The snow-fall during the winter is usually slight, and snow rarely
remains long on the ground except in sheltered places. The thermal
spring of Mallow was formerly in considerable repute; it is situated in
a basin on the banks of the Blackwater, rising from the base of a
limestone hill. The chief places for sea-bathing are Blackrock, Passage,
Monkstown, Queenstown, and other waterside villages in the vicinity of
Cork; Bantry, Baltimore, Kinsale, Glengarrif and Youghal are also much
frequented during the summer months.
_Industries._--The soils of the county exhibit no great variety. They
may be reduced in number to four: the calcareous in the limestone
districts; the deep mellow loams found in districts remote from
limestone, and generally occurring in the less elevated parts of the
grey and red sandstone districts; the light shallow soils, and the
moorland or peat soils, the usual substratum of which is coarse
retentive clay. About one-sixth of the total area is quite barren. In a
district of such extent and variety of surface, the state of agriculture
must be liable to much variation. The more populous parts near the sea,
and in the vicinity of the great lines of communication, exhibit
favourable instances of agricultural improvement. Oats, potatoes and
turnips are the principal crops, but the extent of land under tillage
shows a general decrease. Pasture land, however, extends, and the number
of cattle, sheep and poultry rises; for dairies are numerous and the
character of the Cork butter and farmyard produce stands high in English
and foreign markets.
Youghal, Kinsale, Queenstown, Castletown and Bearhaven are the deep-sea
and coast fishing district centres of the county; while the salmon
fishing is distributed among the districts of Cork, Bandon, Skibbereen
and Bantry. The mackerel fishery is especially productive from mid-March
to mid-June. The Blackwater, Lee and Bandon, apart from the netting
industry, afford good rod-fishing for salmon, especially the first, on
which Lismore, Fermoy and Mallow are the principal centres. The loughs,
the upper waters of these rivers and their tributaries, frequently
abound in trout. Macroom, Inchigeelagh, Bandon, Dunmanway and Glandore,
with Bantry and Skibbereen, are all good stations.
_Communications._--The main line of the Great Southern & Western
railway, entering the county from the north at Charleville, serves Cork
and Queenstown. The Cork, Bandon & South Coast line runs west to
Skibbereen, Baltimore, Bantry, Clonakilty and Kinsale; and there are
also the Cork & Macroom line to Macroom; the Cork, Blackrock & Passage
to the western waterside villages of Cork Harbour, and the Great
Southern & Western branch eastward from Cork to Youghal; while from
Mallow a branch of the same system continues towards Killarney and the
south-western coast of Ireland. There is also connexion from this
junction with Fermoy, Mitchelstown and county Waterford eastward. The
Timoleague and Courtmacsherry line connects these villages with the
Clonakilty branch of the Cork, Bandon & South Coast Railway.
_Population._--The population (438,432 in 1891; 404,611 in 1901)
exhibits a decrease among the most serious of the Irish counties, and
emigration is correspondingly heavy. Of the total about 90% are Roman
Catholics, and about 70% constitute the rural population. The principal
towns are Cork (pop. 76,122, a county of a city); Queenstown (7909),
Fermoy (6126); Kinsale (4250), Bandon (2830), Youghal (5393), Mallow
(4542), Skibbereen (3208), Macroom (3016), Bantry (3109), Middleton
(3361), Clonakilty (3098), and among smaller towns Charleville,
Mitchelstown, Passage West, Doneraile and Kanturk. Crookhaven in the
extreme S.W. is of importance as a harbour of refuge, but the chief
ports are Cork and Queenstown. The county is divided into east and west
ridings, and contains twenty-three baronies and 249 parishes. Assizes
are held at Cork, and quarter-sessions at Cork, Fermoy, Kanturk,
Kinsale, Mallow, Middleton, and Youghal in the east riding; and Bandon,
Bantry, Clonakilty, Macroom and Skibbereen in the west riding. The
county is in the Protestant diocese of Cork, and the Roman Catholic
diocese of Cork, Cloyne, Kerry and Ross. There are seven parliamentary
divisions, east, mid, north, north-east, south, south-east and west,
each returning one member.
_History._--Cork is one of the counties which is generally considered to
have been instituted by King John. It had not always its present extent,
for its existing boundaries include part of the ancient territory of
Desmond (q.v.), which, in the later half of the 16th century, ranked as
a separate county. In 1598, however, there were two sheriffs in the
county Cork, one especially for Desmond, which was then included in
Cork, but was afterwards amalgamated with the county Kerry. In the same
period wide lands in the county were given to settlers under the crown,
and among these were Sir Walter Raleigh and Edmund Spenser the poet, who
received 40,000 acres and 3028 acres respectively. In 1602 a large
portion of the estates of Sir Walter Raleigh and Fane Beecher were
purchased by Richard Boyle, 1st earl of Cork, who had them colonized
with English settlers; and by founding or rebuilding the towns of
Bandon, Clonakilty, Baltimore, Youghal, and afterwards those of
Middleton, Castlemartyr, Charleville and Doneraile, which were
incorporated and made parliamentary boroughs, the family of Boyle became
possessed of nearly the entire political power of the county.
_Antiquities._--The earlier antiquities of the county are rude monuments
of the Pagan era. There are two so-called druids' altars, the most
perfect near Cloyne, and certain pillar stones scattered through the
county, with straight marks cut on the edges called Ogham inscriptions,
the interpretation of which is a subject of much controversy. The
remains of the old ecclesiastical buildings are in a very ruinous
condition, being used as burial-places by the country people. The
principal is Kilcrea, founded by Cormac M'Carthy about 1485, some of the
tombs of whose descendants are still in the chancel; the steeple is
still nearly perfect, and chapter-house, cloister, dormitory and kitchen
can be seen. Timoleague church, situated on a romantic spot on rising
ground at the extreme end of Courtmacsherry Bay, contains some tombs of
interest, and is still in fair condition. Buttevant Abbey (13th century)
contains some tombs of the Barrys and other distinguished families.
There is a good crypt here. All these were the property of the
Franciscans. There are two round towers in the county, one in a fine
state of preservation opposite Cloyne Cathedral, the other at Kinneigh.
On the chapter seal at Ross, which is dated 1661, and seems to have been
a copy of a much earlier one, there is a good example of a round tower
and stone-roofed church, with St Fachnan, to whom the church is
dedicated, standing by, with a book in one hand and a cross in the
other. The present church dates from 1837, but is on the site of a
former cathedral united to Cork in 1583. Of Mourne Abbey, near Mallow,
once a preceptory of the Knights Templars, and Tracton Abbey, which once
sent a prior to parliament, the very ruins have perished. On an island
of Lough Gouganebarra are remains of an oratory of St Finbar.
Of the castles, Lohort, built in the reign of King John, is by far the
oldest, and in its architectural features the most interesting; it is
still quite perfect and kept in excellent repair by the owner, the Earl
of Egmont. Blarney Castle, built by Cormac M'Carthy about 1449, has a
wide reputation (see BLARNEY). Castles Mahon and Macroom have been
incorporated into the residences of the earls of Bandon and Bantry. The
walls of Mallow Castle attest its former strength and extent, as also
the castle of Kilbolane. The castles of Buttevant, Kilcrea and Dripsy
are still in good condition. At Kanturk is a huge Elizabethan castle
still known as "M'Donagh's Folly," left unfinished owing to objections
raised by a jealous government. At Kilcolman castle near Doneraile the
"Faerie Queene" was written by Spenser.
CORK, a city, county of a city, parliamentary and municipal borough and
seaport of Co. Cork, Ireland, at the head of the magnificent inlet of
Cork Harbour, on the river Lee, 165-1/2 m. S.W. of Dublin by the Great
Southern & Western railway. Pop. (1901) 76,122. Until the middle of the
19th century it ranked second only to Dublin, but is now surpassed by
Belfast in commercial importance. It is the centre of a considerable
railway system, including the Great Southern & Western, the Cork,
Bandon & South Coast, the Cork & Macroom Direct, the Cork, Blackrock &
Passage railways, and the Cork & Muskerry light railway; each of which
companies possesses a separate station in the city. The passenger
steamers to Great Britain, mainly under the control of the City of Cork
Steam Packet Company, serve Fishguard, Glasgow, Liverpool, Plymouth and
Southampton, London and other ports, starting from Penrose Quay on the
North Channel.
The nucleus of the city occupies an island formed by the North and South
Channels, two arms of the river Lee, and in former times no doubt
merited its name, which signifies a swamp. In the beginning of the 18th
century, indeed, this island was broken up into many parts connected by
drawbridges, by numerous small channels navigable at high tide. It now
includes most of the principal thoroughfares, which form a notable
contrast to many of the smaller streets and alleys, in which good
building and cleanliness are lacking. Three bridges cross the North
Channel, a footbridge, North Gate bridge and St Patrick's bridge, the
last a handsome three-arch structure leading to St Patrick's Street, a
wide and pleasant thoroughfare, containing a statue of Father Mathew,
the celebrated Capuchin advocate of temperance, born in 1790. It
communicates with the Grand Parade and this in turn with Great George's
Street, to the west, and the South Mall to the east, the last containing
the principal banks, the County Club house, and good commercial
buildings. The Clarks, South Gate, Parliament and Parnell bridges cross
the South Channel to the southern parts of the city. Public grounds are
few, but on the outskirts of the city are a park and race-course, with
the fashionable Marina promenade; while the Mardyke walk, on the west of
the island, is pleasantly shaded by a fine avenue, and was the site of
the International exhibition held in 1902. Electric tramways connect the
city and suburbs and traverse the principal streets and the St Patrick's
and Parnell bridges. Both branches of the Lee are lined with fine quays
of cut limestone, extending in total length over 4 m.
The principal church is the Protestant cathedral, founded in 1865, and
consecrated on St Andrew's Day 1870; while the central tower was
completed in 1879. It is dedicated to St Fin Barre or Finbar, who
founded the original cathedral in the 7th century. The present building
is in the south-west part of the city, and replaces a somewhat mean
structure erected in 1735 on the site of the ancient cathedral, which
suffered during the siege of Cork in September 1689. Money for the
erection of the building of 1735 was raised by the curious method of a
tax on imported coal. The new cathedral is in the Early French (pointed)
style, with an eastern apse and a striking west front. Its design was by
William Burges (d. 1881), and its erection was due to the indefatigable
exertions and munificence of Dr John Gregg, bishop of Cork, Cloyne and
Ross; while the tower and spires were the gift of two merchants of Cork.
The other principal Protestant churches are St Luke's, St Nicholas and
St Anne Shandon, with its striking tower of parti-coloured stones; and
its peal of bells extolled in Father Prout's lyric "The Bells of
Shandon." The Roman Catholic cathedral, also dedicated to St Finbar, is
conspicuous on the north side of the city; it dates from 1808, but has
been since restored. Other fine churches of this faith are St Mary, St
Peter and Paul, St Patrick, Holy Trinity and St Vincent de Paul. St
Finbar's cemetery has handsome monuments, and St Joseph's, founded by
Father Mathew in 1830 on the site of the old botanic gardens of the Cork
Institution, is beautifully planted. The court house in Great George's
Street has a good Corinthian portico, happily undamaged in a fire which
destroyed the rest of the building in 1891. The custom-house commands
the river in a fine position at the lower junction of the branches. The
usual commercial and public buildings are mainly on the island. The most
notable educational establishment is the University College, founded as
Queen's College (1849), with those of the same name at Belfast and
Galway, under an Act of 1845. A new charter was granted to it under
letters patent pursuant to the Irish Universities Act 1908, when it was
given its present name. The building, designed by Sir Thomas Deane,
occupies a beautiful site on the river in the west of the city, where
Gill Abbey, of the 7th century, formerly stood. It is a fine building in
Tudor Style, "worthy," said Macaulay, "to stand in the High Street of
Oxford." A large library, museum and well-furnished laboratory are here.
The Crawford School of Science (1885); and the Munster Dairy and
Agricultural School, 1 m. west of the city, also claim notice, while
besides parochial and industrial schools several of the religious orders
located here devote themselves to education. The Cork library (founded
1790) contains a valuable collection of books. The Royal Cork
Institution (1807), in addition to an extensive library and a rare
collection of Oriental MSS., possesses a valuable collection of
minerals, and the collections of casts from the antique presented by the
pope to George IV. There are numerous literary and scientific societies,
including the Cork Cuvierian and Archaeological Society. The principal
clubs are the County and the Southern in South Mall, and the City in
Grand Parade; while for sport there are the Cork Golf Club, Little
Island, three rowing clubs, and the Royal Munster and Royal Cork Yacht
clubs, the latter located at Queenstown. The theatres are the
opera-house in Nelson's Place, and the Theatre Royal.
[Illustration: CORK and QUEENSTOWN
Based on information embodied from the Ordnance Survey, by permission of
the Controller of H. M. Stationery Office.]
The country neighbouring to Cork is highly attractive. The harbour, with
the ceaseless activity of shipping, its calm waters, sheltered by many
islands, and its well-wooded shores studded with pleasant
watering-places, affords a series of charming views, apart from its
claim to be considered one of the finest natural harbours in the
kingdom. Military depots occupy several of the smaller islets, and three
batteries guard the entry. This is about 1 m. wide, but within the width
increases to 3 m. while the length is about 10 m. The Atlantic port of
Queenstown (q.v.) is on Great Island at the head of the outer harbour.
Tivoli (the residence of Sir Walter Raleigh), Fort William, Lota Park,
and Blackrock Castle are notable features on the shore; and Passage,
Blackrock, Glenbrook and Monkstown are waterside resorts. Inland from
Cork runs the picturesque valley of the Lee, and low hills surround the
commanding situation of the port.
The harbour is by far the most important on the south coast of Ireland,
and dredging operations render the quays approachable for vessels
drawing 20 ft. at all states of the tide. Its trade is mainly with
Bristol and the ports of South Wales. The imports, exceeding L1,000,000
in annual value, include large quantities of wheat and maize, while the
exports (about L9000 annually) are chiefly of cattle, provisions, butter
and fish. The Cork Butter Exchange, where classification of the various
qualities is carried out by branding under the inspection of experts,
was important in the early part of the 17th century, and an unbroken
series of accounts dates from 1769 when the present market was founded.
There are distilleries, breweries, tanneries and iron foundries in the
city; and manufactures of woollen and leather goods, tweeds, friezes,
gloves and chemical manure. Nearly six-sevenths of the population are
Roman Catholics. The city does not share with the county the rapid
decrease of population. It is governed by a lord mayor, 14 aldermen and
42 councillors. The parliamentary borough returns two members.
The original site of Cork seems to have been in the vicinity of the
Protestant cathedral; St Finbar's ecclesiastical foundation attracting
many students and votaries. In the 9th century the town was frequently
pillaged by the Northmen. According to the _Annals of the Four Masters_
a fleet burned Cork in 821, in 846 the Danes appear to have been in
possession of the town, for a force was collected to demolish their
fortress; and in 1012 Cork again fell in flames. The Danes then appear
to have founded the new city on the banks of the Lee as a trading
centre. It was anciently surrounded with a wall, an order for the
reparation of which is found so late as 1748 in the city council books
(which date from 1610). Submission and homage were made to Henry II. on
his arrival in 1172, and subsequently the English held the town for a
long period against the Irish, by constant and careful watch. Cork
showed favour to Perkin Warbeck in 1492, and its mayor was hanged in
consequence. In 1649 it surrendered to Cromwell, and in 1689 to the earl
of Marlborough after five days' siege, when Henry, duke of Grafton, was
mortally wounded. Cork was a borough by prescription, and successive
charters were granted to it from the reign of Henry II. onward. By a
charter of Edward IV. the lord mayor of Cork was created admiral of the
port, and this office is manifested in a triennial ceremony in which the
mayor throws a dart over the harbour.
See C. Smith, _Ancient and Present State of the County and City of
Cork_ (1750), edited by R. Day and W. A. Copinger (Cork, 1893); C. B.
Gibson, _History of the City and County of Cork_ (London, 1861); M. F.
Cusack, _History of the City and County of Cork_, 1875.
CORK (perhaps through Sp. _corcha_ from Lat. _cortex_, bark, but
possibly connected with _quercus_, oak), the outer layer of the bark of
an evergreen species of oak (_Quercus Suber_). The tree reaches the
height of about 30 ft., growing in the south of Europe and on the North
African coasts generally; but it is principally cultivated in Spain and
Portugal. The outer layer of bark in the cork oak by annual additions
from within gradually becomes a thick soft homogeneous mass, possessing
those compressible and elastic properties upon which the economic value
of the material chiefly depends. The first stripping of cork from young
trees takes place when they are from fifteen to twenty years of age. The
yield, which is rough, unequal and woody in texture, is called virgin
cork, and is useful only as a tanning substance, or for forming rustic
work in ferneries, conservatories, &c. Subsequently the bark is removed
every eight or ten years, the quality of the cork improving with each
successive stripping; and the trees continue to live and thrive under
the operation for 150 years and upwards. The produce of the second
barking is still so coarse in texture that it is only fit for making
floats for nets and for similar applications. The operation of stripping
the trees takes place during the months of July and August. Two cuts are
made round the stem--one a little above the ground, and the other
immediately under the spring of the main branches. Between these three
or four longitudinal incisions are then made, the utmost care being
taken not to injure the inner bark. The cork is thereafter removed in
the sections into which it has been cut, by inserting under it the
wedge-shaped handle of the implement used in making the incisions. After
the outer surface has been scraped and cleaned, the pieces are flattened
by heating them over a fire and submitting them to pressure on a flat
surface. In the heating operation the surface is charred, and thereby
the pores are closed up, and what is termed "nerve" is given to the
material. In this state the cork is ready for manufacture or
exportation.
Though specially developed in the cork-oak, the substance cork is an
almost universal product in the stems (and roots) of woody plants which
increase in diameter year by year. Generally towards the end of the
first year the original thin protective layer of a stem or branch is
replaced by a thin layer of "cork," that is a layer of cells the living
contents of which have disappeared while the walls have become thickened
and toughened as the result of the formation in them of a substance
known as suberin. Fresh cork is formed each season by an active
formative layer below the layer developed last season, which generally
peels off. Where the formation is extensive and persistent as in the
cork-oak, a thick covering of cork is formed. In some cases, as on young
shoots of the cork-elm, the development is irregular and wing-like
outgrowths of cork are formed. In northern Russia a similar method to
that used for obtaining cork from the cork-oak is employed with the
birch.
Cork possesses a combination of properties which peculiarly fits it for
many and diverse uses, for some of which it alone is found applicable.
The leading purpose for which it is used is for forming bungs and
stoppers for bottles and other vessels containing liquids. Its
compressibility, elasticity and practical imperviousness to both air and
water so fit it for this purpose that the term cork is even more applied
to the function than to the substance. Its specific lightness, combined
with strength and durability, recommend it above all other substances
for forming life-buoys, belts and jackets, and in the construction of
life-boats and other apparatus for saving from drowning. On account of
its lightness, softness and non-conducting properties it is used for
hat-linings and the soles of shoes, the latter being a very ancient
application of cork. It is also used in making artificial limbs, for
lining entomological cases, for pommels in leather-dressing, and as a
medium for making architectural models. Chips and cuttings are ground up
and mixed with india-rubber to form kamptulicon floor-cloth, or
"cork-carpet." The inner bark of the cork-tree is a valuable tanning
material.
Certain of the properties and uses of cork were known to the ancient
Greeks and Romans, and the latter, we find by Horace (_Odes_ iii. 8),
used it as a stopper for wine-vessels:--
"corticem adstrictum pice dimovebit
amphorae"--
It appears, however, that cork was not generally used for stopping
bottles till so recent a period as near the end of the 17th century, and
bottles themselves were not employed for storing liquids till the 15th
century. Many substitutes have been proposed for cork as a stoppering
agent; but except in the case of aerated liquids none of these has
recommended itself in practice. For aerated water bottles several
successful devices have been introduced. The most simple of these is an
india-rubber ball pressed upwards into the narrow of the bottle neck by
the force of the gas contained in the water; and in another system a
glass ball is similarly pressed against an india-rubber collar inserted
in the neck of the bottle. By analogy the term "to cork" is used of any
such devices for sealing up a bottle or aperture.
CORK AND ORRERY, MARY, COUNTESS OF (Mary Monckton) (1746-1840), was born
on the 21st of May 1746, the daughter of the first Viscount Galway. From
her early years she took a keen interest in literature, and through her
influence her mother's house in London became a favourite meeting-place
of literary celebrities. Dr Johnson was a frequent guest. According to
Boswell, Miss Monckton's "vivacity enchanted the sage, and they used to
talk together with all imaginable ease." Sheridan, Reynolds, Burke and
Horace Walpole were among her constant visitors, and Mrs Siddons was her
closest friend. In 1786 she married the seventh earl of Cork and Orrery,
who died in 1798. As Lady Cork, her love of social "lions" became more
pronounced than ever. Among her regular guests were Canning and
Castlereagh, Byron, Sir Walter Scott, Lord John Russell, Sir Robert
Peel, Theodore Hook and Sydney Smith. She is supposed to have been the
original of Lady Bellair in Disraeli's _Henrietta Temple_, and Dickens
is believed to have drawn on her for some of the peculiarities of Mrs
Leo Hunter in _Pickwick_. Lady Cork had a remarkable memory, and was a
brilliant conversationalist. She died in London on the 30th of May 1840.
She was then ninety-four, but within a few days of her death had been
either dining out or entertaining every night. There is a fine portrait
of her by Reynolds.
CORLEONE (Saracen, _Korliun_), a town of Sicily, in the province of
Palermo, 42 m. S. of Palermo by rail and 21 m. direct, 1949 ft. above
sea-level. Pop. (1901) 14,803. The town was a Saracen settlement, but a
Lombard colony was introduced by Frederick II. Two medieval castles rise
above the town, and there are some churches of interest.
CORMENIN, LOUIS MARIE DE LA HAYE, VICOMTE DE (1788-1868), French jurist
and political pamphleteer, was born at Paris on the 6th of January 1788.
His father and his grandfather both held the rank of lieutenant-general
of the admiralty. At the age of twenty he was received advocate, and
about the same time he gained some reputation as a writer of piquant and
delicate poems. In 1810 he received from Napoleon I. the appointment of
auditor to the council of state; and after the restoration of the
Bourbons he became master of requests. During the period of his
connexion with the council he devoted himself zealously to the study of
administrative law. He was selected to prepare some of the most
important reports of the council. Among his separate publications at
this time are noted,--_Du conseil d'etat envisage comme conseil et comme
juridiction dans notre monarchie constitutionnelle_ (1818), and _De la
responsabilite des agents du gouvernement_. In the former he claimed,
for the protection of the rights of private persons in the
administration of justice, the institution of a special court whose
members should be irremovable, the right of oral defence, and publicity
of trial. In 1822 appeared his _Questions de droit administratif_, in
which he for the first time brought together and gave scientific shape
to the scattered elements of administrative law. These he arranged and
stated clearly in the form of aphorisms, with logical deductions,
establishing them by proofs drawn from the archives of the council of
state. This is recognized as his most important work as a jurist. The
fifth edition (1840) was thoroughly revised.
In 1828 Cormenin entered the Chamber of Deputies as member for Orleans,
took his seat in the Left Centre, and began a vigorous opposition to the
government of Charles X. As he was not gifted with the qualifications of
the orator, he seldom appeared at the tribune; but in the various
committees he defended all forms of popular liberties, and at the same
time delivered, in a series of powerful pamphlets, under the pseudonym
of "Timon," the most formidable blows against tyranny and all political
and administrative abuses. After the revolution of July 1830, Cormenin
was one of the 221 who signed the protest against the elevation of the
Orleans dynasty to the throne; and he resigned both his office in the
council of state and his seat in the chamber. He was, however, soon
re-elected deputy, and now voted with the extreme Left. The discussions
on the budget in 1831 gave rise to the publication of his famous series
of _Lettres sur la liste civile_, which in ten years ran through
twenty-five editions. In the following year he was elected deputy for
Belley. In 1834 he was elected by two arrondissements, and sat for
Joigny, which he represented till 1846. In this year he lost his seat in
consequence of the popular prejudice aroused against him by his
trenchant pamphlet _Oui et non_ (1845) against attacks on religious
liberty, and a second entitled _Feu! Feu!_ (1845), written in reply to
those who demanded a retractation of the former. Sixty thousand copies
were rapidly sold.
Cormenin was an earnest advocate of universal suffrage before the
revolution of February 1848, and had remorselessly exposed the corrupt
practices at elections in his pamphlet--_Ordre du jour sur la corruption
electorale_. After the revolution he was elected by four departments to
the Constituent Assembly, and became one of its vice-presidents. He was
also member and president of the constitutional commission, and for some
time took a leading part in drawing up the republican constitution. But
the disputes which broke out among the members led him to resign the
presidency. He was soon after named member of the council of state and
president of the _comite du contentieux_. It was at this period that he
published two pamphlets--_Sur l'independance de l'Italie_. After the
_coup d'etat_ of December 2, 1851, Cormenin, who had undertaken the
defence of Prince Louis Napoleon after his attempt at Strassburg,
accepted a place in the new council of state of the empire. Four years
later, by imperial ordinance, he was made a member of the Institute. One
of the most characteristic works of Cormenin is the _Livre des
orateurs_, a series of brilliant studies of the principal parliamentary
orators of the restoration and the monarchy of July, the first edition
of which appeared in 1838, and the eighteenth in 1860. In 1846 he
published his _Entretiens de village_, which procured him the Montyon
prize, and of which six editions were called for the same year. His last
work was _Le Droit de tonnage en Algerie_ (1860). He died at Paris, on
the 6th of May 1868. Two volumes of his _Reliquiae_ were printed in
Paris in the same year.
CORMON, FERNAND (1845- ), French painter, was born in Paris. He became
a pupil of Cabanel, Fromentin and Portaels, and one of the leading
historical painters of modern France. At an early age he attracted
attention by the better class of sensationalism in his art, although for
a time his powerful brush dwelled with particular delight on scenes of
bloodshed, such as the "Murder in the Seraglio" (1868) and the "Death of
Ravara, Queen of Lanka" at the Toulouse Museum. The Luxembourg has his
"Cain flying before Jehovah's Curse"; and for the Mairie of the fourth
arrondissement of Paris he executed in grisaille a series of Panels:
"Birth," "Death," "Marriage," "War," &c. "A Chief's Funeral," and
pictures having the Stone Age for their subject, occupied him for
several years. He was appointed to the Legion of Honour in 1880.
Subsequently he also devoted himself to portraiture.
CORMONTAINGNE, LOUIS DE (c. 1697-1752), French military engineer, was
born at Strassburg. He was present as a volunteer at the sieges of
Freiburg and Landau in the later years of the War of the Spanish
Succession, and in 1715 he entered the engineers. After being stationed
for some years at Strassburg he became captain, and was put in charge
(at first in a subordinate capacity, and subsequently as chief engineer)
of the new works, Forts Moselle and Bellecroix, at Metz, which he built
according to his own system of fortification. He was present at the
siege of Philipsburg in 1733, and as a lieutenant-colonel took part in
most of the sieges in the Low Countries during the War of the Austrian
Succession. He attained the rank of brigadier and finally that of
_marechal de camp_, and was employed in fortification work until his
death. His _Architecture militaire_, written in 1714, was long kept
secret by order of the authorities, but, an unauthorized edition having
appeared at the Hague in 1741, he himself prepared another version
called _Premier memoire sur la fortification_, which from 1741 onwards
was followed by others. His ideas are closely modelled on those of
Vauban (q.v.), and in his lifetime he was not considered the equal of
such engineers as d'Asfeld and Filley. It was not until twenty years
after his death that his system became widely known. Fourcroy de
Rainecourt, then chief of engineers, searching the archives for valuable
matter, chose the numerous memoirs of Cormontaingne for publication
amongst engineer officers in 1776. Even then they only circulated
privately, and it was not until the engineer Bousmard published
Cormontaingne's _Memorial de l'attaque des places_ (Berlin, 1803) that
Fourcroy, and after him General La Fitte de Clave, actually gave to the
general public the _OEuvres posthumes de Cormontaingne_ (Paris,
1806-1809).
His system of fortification was not marked by any great originality of
thought, which indeed could not be expected of a member of the _corps du
genie_, the characteristics of which were a close caste spirit and an
unquestioning reverence for the authority of Vauban. Forts Moselle and
Bellecroix are still in existence.
See Von Brese-Winiari, _Uber Entstehen etc. der neueren
Befestigungsmethode_ (Berlin, 1844); Prevost du Vernois, _De la
fortification depuis Vauban_ (Paris, 1861); Cosseron de Villenoisy,
_Essai historique sur la fortification_ (Paris, 1869).
CORMORANT (from the Lat. _corvus marinus_,[1] through the Fr., in some
_patois_ of which it is still "cor marin"; in certain Ital. dialects are
the forms "corvo marin" or "corvo marino"), a large sea-fowl belonging
to the genus _Phalacrocorax_[2] (_Carbo_, _Halieus_ and _Graculus_ of
some ornithologists), and that group of the Linnaean order _Anseres_,
now partly generally recognized by Illiger's term _Steganopodes_, of
which it with its allies forms a family _Phalacrocoracidae_.
The cormorant (_P. carbo_) frequents almost all the sea-coast of Europe,
and breeds in societies at various stations, most generally on steep
cliffs, but occasionally on rocky islands as well as on trees. The nest
consists of a large mass of sea-weed, and, with the ground immediately
surrounding it, generally looks as though bespattered with whitewash,
from the excrement of the bird, which lives entirely on fish. The eggs,
from four to six in number, are small, and have a thick, soft,
calcareous shell, bluish-white when first laid, but soon becoming
discoloured. The young are hatched blind, and covered with an inky-black
skin. They remain for some time in the squab-condition, and are then
highly esteemed for food by the northern islanders, their flesh being
said to taste as well as a roasted hare's. Their first plumage is of a
sombre brownish-black above, and more or less white beneath. They take
two or three years to assume the fully adult dress, which is deep
black, glossed above with bronze, and varied in the breeding-season with
white on the cheeks and flanks, besides being adorned by filamentary
feathers on the head, and further set off by a bright yellow gape. The
old cormorant looks nearly as big as a goose, but is really much
smaller; its flesh is quite uneatable.
Taken when young from the nest, this bird is easily tamed and can be
trained to fish for its keeper, as was of old time commonly done in
England, where the master of the cormorants was one of the officers of
the royal household. Nowadays the practice is nearly obsolete. When
taken out to furnish sport, a strap is fastened round the bird's neck so
as, without impeding its breath, to hinder it from swallowing its
captures.[3] Arrived at the waterside, it is cast off. It at once dives
and darts along the bottom as swiftly as an arrow in quest of its prey,
rapidly scanning every hole or pool. A fish is generally seized within a
few seconds of its being sighted, and as each is taken the bird rises to
the surface with its capture in its bill. It does not take much longer
to dispose of the prize in the dilatable skin of its throat so far as
the strap will allow, and the pursuit is recommenced until the bird's
gular pouch, capacious as it is, will hold no more. It then returns to
its keeper, who has been anxiously watching and encouraging its
movements, and a little manipulation of its neck effects the delivery of
the booty. It may then be let loose again, or, if considered to have
done its work, it is fed and restored to its perch. The activity the
bird displays under water is almost incredible to those who have not
seen its performances, and in a shallow river scarcely a fish escapes
its keen eyes, and sudden turns, except by taking refuge under a stone
or root, or in the mud that may be stirred up during the operation, and
so avoiding observation (see Salvin and Freeman, _Falconry_, 1859).
Nearly allied to the cormorant, and having much the same habits, is the
shag, or green cormorant of some writers (_P. graculus_). The shag
(which name in many parts of the world is used in a generic sense) is,
however, about one-fourth smaller in linear dimensions, is much more
glossy in plumage, and its nuptial embellishment is a nodding plume
instead of the white patches of the cormorant. The easiest diagnostic on
examination will be found to be the number of tail-feathers, which in
the former are fourteen and in the shag twelve. The latter, too, is more
marine in the localities it frequents, scarcely ever entering fresh or
indeed inland waters.
In the south of Europe a much smaller species (_P. pygmaeus_) is found.
This is almost entirely a fresh-water bird, and is not uncommon on the
lower Danube. Other species, to the number perhaps of thirty or more,
have been discriminated from other parts of the world, but all have a
great general similarity to one another. New Zealand and the west coast
of northern America are particularly rich in birds of this genus, and
the species found there are the most beautifully decorated of any. All,
however, are remarkable for their curiously-formed feet, the four toes
of each being connected by a web, for their long stiff tails, and for
the absence, in the adult, of any exterior nostrils. When gorged, or
when the state of the tide precludes fishing, they are fond of sitting
on an elevated perch, often with extended wings, and in this attitude
they will remain motionless for a considerable time, as though hanging
themselves out to dry. It was perhaps this peculiarity that struck the
observation of Milton, and prompted his well-known similitude of Satan
to a cormorant (_Parad. Lost_, iv. 194); but when not thus behaving they
themselves provoke the more homely comparison of a row of black bottles.
Their voracity is proverbial. (A. N.)