Persian Empire in its largest extent, from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, and from Egypt to the Caspian. There are three classes of cuneiform alphabets; the first is called the Persian, the second the Median, and the third the Babylonian or Assyrian. The first two names are arbitrary, and the third class comprises five varieties, among which there are certainly two distinct languages at least. The Persian alphabet is the most simple and the most

recent; it is made up of thirty-nine

letters, none containing above five

wedges, placed side by side, with

one exception, in which two are

crossed. The second class contains

about 100 letters, composed of a larger number of wedges never crossed. The alphabets of the third class are more copious and complex (at least 400 characters are known), and some characters in several of the varieties contain a dozen arrows crossed and twisted in every possible way.

The

| torical document: it details the genealogy of the monarch, the enumeration of the provinces of his empire, his accession to the throne of Persia, and the battles he had to fit &c. The language is closely allied to the Zend and Vecie Sanskrit. Its discovery touches on the marvellous. attention of savants having been for years directed to these trilingual inscriptions in this unknown writing, no coe knowing whether all the three or any of them were languages akin to those existing, in 1800 Grotefe:d was fortunate enough to hit almost at random on the name of Darius the king, in an inscription which his historical researches assured him was of that period. His conj-ture was quite hypothetical, based on the assumption that a certain group often occurring might represent the king's name in the sounds of the ancient Persian tongue (Darheusch). Testing this by an assumed "Xerxes" he found the sign sch, and the signs h, r, and e, all warranted (Khschhersche). "Darius" and "Xerxes" thus read, and the inscription fixed as in ancient Persian, the rest was merely long-continued arduous labour; and by the year 1844 the Sanskrit scholar Lassen had completed all the alphabets. Rawlinson meanwhile attacked the far more complex Assyrian characters, and was equally succes-fu in this extraordinary task. The "Median" monuments, with a single exception, accompany the Persian, and are translations of them. The language is Turanian, older than the Persian, and as yet is but imperfectly known.

Inscriptions of the third class ("Assyrian" cuneiform) also accompany the Persian monuments, and from this accompaniment the first steps were made in deciphering the language. But there exist also very many original and more ancient documents in these alphabets at Babylon, Nineveh, and other places on the Euphrates and Tigris. They are in the Semitic tongues of Babylonia and Assyria, and Assyrian Cylindrical the oldest are now nearly 4000 years Device and CuneiSignet or Seal, with old. [See BABYLONIA.] The accur- form Inscription acy with which these characters have been deciphered is deeply interesting in itself, and holds out a promise that much may yet be done, in addition to what has already been achieved, by way of confirming ar throwing light on Scripture and other ancient history. As

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Inscriptions of the first class are found at Persepolis, at Hamadan, at Van, and at Behistun. With one or two exceptions all were engraved by command of Darius Hystaspis or his son Xerxes, at the close of the sixth century B.C. They generally contain an invocation to Ormuzd, followed by a statement that the building upon which they were engraved was erected by that monarch. But the great inscription of Behistun, erected by Darius, is distinguished from all the rest by being a distinctly his

British Museum.

an instance of this accuracy it may be stated that the inscription of Tiglath Pileser I., embracing nearly 1900 lines of "Assyrian" cuneiform writings, was submitted under seal to Sir Henry Rawlinson, Dr. Hincks, M. Oppert, and Mr. Fox Talbot, and a translation from each of these

scholars was laid before a committee composed of Dean Milman, Mr. Grote the historian, Professor Wilson, Dr. Cureton, and Sir Gardner Wilkinson. Their translations, thus independently made, when examined, were found to agree in every essential particular. In more recent years very great light has been thrown upon cuneiform inscriptions by the researches and explorations of Mr. George Smith, whose lamented death occurred while engaged in this work in 1876. ("Chaldean Account of Genesis," and "Assyrian Discoveries," G. Smith, Lond. 1876; "Babylonian Literature," Sayce, Lond. 1879; "Keilinschriften," Grotefend, 1854; "Cuneiform Inscriptions," Rawlinson, Lond. 1850.)

CUNNINGHAM'IA is a genus of CONIFERE belonging to the tribe ARAUCARIÆ. There is only one species, Cunninghamia sinensis, a native of China and Japan. It can only be grown in England in conservatories. The leaves are evergreen and like those of Araucaria. The male flowers are in grouped catkins; the anther-cells are two to four. The ovule-bearing lamina is much shorter than the scale, and there are three ovules to each. The seeds are surrounded by a narrow wing. The tree grows to a height of 30 or 40 feet.

CUNOB'ELIN. See CYMBELINE. CU'PAR or CUPAR FIFE, a royal, parliamentary, and municipal burgh of Scotland. The word Fife is added to distinguish it from Cupar Angus and Cupar Grange, in Perthshire. It is the county town of Fifeshire. It is beautifully situated in the vale of the Eden, at the confluence of the Lady Burn with that river, 10 miles west from St. Andrews, and has a station on the North British Railway, 431 miles from London. It is a very ancient place, and consists chiefly of one long street, with some public buildings, a parish church, Episcopalian chapel, several meeting-houses for dissenters, and numerous schools. A corn-exchange, with a spire 136 feet high, was erected in 1862. The town is a very thriving one. The principal occupation is the manufacture of linen; there are also breweries, potteries, tanneries, corn-mills, and a coach factory, and in the neighbourhood are several collieries. Cupar is included in the St. Andrews burghs. Population of the royal burgh, 4916; of the parliamentary burgh, 5010. In ancient times Cupar was a stronghold of the Macduffs, thanes of Fife. The patrimonial estate of the famous Scottish poet, Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, was within a short distance of the town; and on a verdant esplanade, still called the "Play Field," was acted, in 1555, his witty drama of the "Three Estates," a popular satire on the priesthood, which undoubtedly hastened the religious revolution of the period. Cupar was the birthplace of Lord Chancellor Campbell, whose father was the parish minister. The Scotch proverb, "They that will to Cupar maun to Cupar," referring to the determination of people to go to law, originated in the fact that Cupar was a seat of justice. CU'PAR or CUPAR ANGUS, a town of Scotland partly in the county of Perth and partly in that of Forfar, situated on the Isla, a tributary of the Tay, 13 miles N.N.E. of Perth, and 4684 from London. Its chief manufacture is linen goods, and it has some trade in timber. It is popularly known as "the capital o' the How," from its position in the valley of Strathmore. On the site of a Roman camp are the ruins of a monastery founded in 1164 by Malcolm IV. Dunsinane Hill is about 5 miles south-west of Cupar. Population, 2154.

CUPELLA'TION. See ASSAYING.

CU'PID (Lat. cupido, desire), in Latin mythology, the god of love, represented by the poets as a child, usually armed with bow and arrows, or playing with a butterfly, in allusion to his amour with PSYCHE. Cupid is held to be the child of Venus, goddess of love. But both Amor and Cupido are merely Latin names for EROS, a purely Greek conception. See that article therefore.

CU'POLA, a roof like an inverted "cup" (Late Latin cupa, a cup), as its name implics: that is, a small DOME. The word now seems becoming limited to the curved roof of a turret or small apartment, especially if it is borne on pillars, instead of (like the dome) on a "drum."

CUP'PING is of two kinds: one by which some blood is taken away, generally simply termed cupping; the other when no blood is abstracted, which is accordingly termed dry-cupping. The preliminary steps of the operation are the same in both cases. The part to which it is intended to apply the cupping-glasses is washed with warm water, or a warm cloth is merely applied to it, in order to attract blood to the part. A small bell-shaped glass, a portion of the air of which has been expelled by holding it for an instant over the flame of a spirit-lamp, is immediately applied to the spot which has been prepared. The usual amount of pressure on the part being diminished, the blood flows to the part, and produces distension of the vessel and elevation of the surface, as well as a purple or livid colour. If it be intended to take away blood, the cuppingglass is speedily removed, and then an instrument called a scarificator, containing a number of lancets, sometimes as many as twenty, is applied, and made to act so as to inflict a corresponding number of incisions on the skin and subjacent vessels. The air is once more exhausted from the glass, which is replaced over the part scarified, and the blood flows into the cup. Where dry cupping only is intended, the glasses may be permitted to remain on the skin for a few moments, and replaced five or six times with a little variation of their position, in order to prevent the skin from being hurt by their pressure.

Cupping, by which blood is abstracted, is used either where general bleeding is unnecessary, or as supplementary to it, for the removal of congestions or local affections. It is analogous to the use of leeches, over which, however, when the situation of the part admits of the application of the glasses, it has many advantages.

Another and most important application of cupping is the prevention by its means of the absorption by the general system of poisonous fluids from wounds. For this purpose anything by which a partial vacuum over the wounded part can be produced will answer, such as a wine-glass, tumbler, or tea-cup, with a smooth margin, from which the air has been partially expelled by holding it for a moment over a lighted candle:

CU'PRITE or RUBY COPPER is suboxide of copper, Cu2O. It is of brilliant ruby red colour (whence the name ruby copper). The crystals when fresh are transparent and claret red by transmitted light, but they soon tarnish when exposed to the light. The mineral has a specific gravity of about 6; hardness, 35 to 4; it crystallizes in the cubic system. Earthy varieties are sometimes called tile-ore, and a beautiful variety with acicular crystals, found in Cornwall, is called calchotrichite or haircopper. It is a useful ore of copper, and is found in tolerable abundance in Cornwall, at Chessy near Lyons, in the Ural Mountains, and at various places in Chili and Peru.

CU'PULE, in botany, a kind of cup or involucre surrounding certain kinds of fruit, and composed of bracts more or less grown together. In the oak the cup of the acorn is the cupule; in the hazel nut it is the husk; in the beech and chestnut, the prickly shell; and in the hornbeam, the lobed bract.

CUPULIF'ERÆ is an order of plants belonging to the MONOCHLAMYDEÆ (series Unisexuales). From other orders of the series it is distinguished briefly by the inflorescence of the male flowers, being generally a catkin; the perianth small or wanting; the ovary with two or three cells, each with two ovules; no perisperm; a superior radicle, and simple leaves.

Bentham and Hooker divide the Cupuliferæ into three tribes-viz. Betuleæ, Coryleæ, and Quercineæ. In the

Betuleæ the male catkin is pendulous, and its flowers have generally four segments in the perianth, and two or four stamens. The female flowers are arranged in a spike, with the scales overlapping; there are two or three flowers under each bract; the perianth is wanting; ovary twocelled, with one ovule in each cell; and two styles. The fruit is a small, compressed nut. This tribe contains two genera-Betula (birch) and Alnus (alder).

The Corylea have the male flowers in a pendulous catkin, with no perianth; and three or several stamens springing from a receptacle adnate to the bract. The inflorescence of the female flowers is spicate, except in Corylus. when it is a capitulum; the perianth is adnate to the ovary, which has two cells, with one ovule in each; there are two styles or style-branches. The Coryles contains four genera-Carpinus (hornbeam), Ostryopsis, Ostrya (hop hornbeam), and Corylus (hazel).

The Quercines have the male flowers arranged in catkins (Quercus), or in upright spikes (Castanopsis and Castanea), or (in Fagus) in a capitulum, or one to three together. The perianth of the male flower has from four to six lobes, and there are several stamens. Female flowers are arranged in a spike, or two or three together, and are surrounded by an involucre of overlapping bracts. The ovary is generally three-celled, with two ovules in each cell. The involucre in the fruit (e.g. of the acorn) forms a cup or altogether incloses it. This tribe includes Quercus (oak). Castanopsis, Castanea (sweet chestnut), and Fagus (beech).

CU'RARINE. This is an alkaloid forming the active principle of the Urari poison, obtained from a species of Strychnos, and used by the Indians of South America for poisoning their arrows. It is not dangerous when taken internally, but when injected into the blood it is rapidly fatal. The Indians eat with impunity the flesh of animals killed by these poisoned arrows in hunting. It is a yellowish powder, rather deliquescent and bitter. It is soluble in water and alcohol, but insoluble in ether. Curarine forms bitter salts with acids, but the formula is not definitely known. It paralyzes the nerves of motion, without affecting those of sensation, and has therefore been proposed as an antidote to strychnine.

CURAS'SOW is the general name given to certain of the game birds (GALLINE), forming the family Cracidæ. These birds are natives of Mexico and South America, and several of them rival the Turkey in magnitude. The hind toe, instead of being articulated high on the tarsus, as is usual in the Gallinæ, is on a level with the rest, and adapts the feet for arboreal habits. The legs are spurless. The tail is ample, and composed of stiff feathers. In several species the windpipe makes one, two, or even three deep folds between the skin and muscles of the breast before passing into the cavity of the chest. The Cracidae have a stout arched bill of moderate length, with the nostrils pierced near the base of the upper mandible, usually in a sort of cere somewhat resembling that occurring in the pigeons. Their wings are short and rounded. These birds reside in the luxuriant forests of tropical America. They live chiefly on the ground, as their power of flight is rather limited, which indeed is shown by the form of the wings. Their flesh in delicacy and whiteness surpasses that of the fowl or turkey. In many parts of South America these valuable birds have been long ago reclaimed. Temminck states that they were once at least thoroughly acclimatized in Holland, where they proved as prolific in their domestie state as common poultry. The establishment, however, in which this had been effected was broken up by the civil commotions which followed in the train of the French Revolution.

The Common Curassow, or Hocco (Crax alector), is nearly as large as a turkey, measuring about 3 feet in total length. It is of a shining black colour, exhibiting

Common Curassow (Craz alector).

native of Guiana and Brazil. They build their nests in the trees, forming them externally of branches interlaced with the stalks of herbaceous plants, and lining them internally with leaves. They generally lay but once a year. during the rainy season, the number of their eggs being from six to eight. They are nearly as large as those of a Turkey, and of a white colour. Another species of this genus, Crax globicera, extends as far north as Mexico.

The Galeated Curassow (Ourar pauxi) is distinguished by the shape of its bill, which is short, strong, compressed, vaulted, convex, and dilated at the base of the upper

Galeated Curassow (Ouraz pauzi).

mandible into a hard tubercle of a bluish colour and pyriform shape. This tubercle is larger in the male than in the female. The nostrils are basal and hidden. The head is covered with short and close-set feathers. The tarsi are long and smooth. This Curassow is about the size of a small hen-turkey. Its general colour is brilliant black, except the abdomen and under tail-coverts, which are white, as are also the tips of the tail feathers. The legs

are red; the head and neck are clothed with short velvety feathers. This species is a native of Mexico, and associates in large companies, perching upon the trees. The nest is generally made on the ground.

Crax and Ourax, the latter being also called Mitu and Pauxi, are the two principal genera of the Cracinæ, a subfamily of the Cracidæ. This family has two other subfamilies, Penelopinæ (guan) and Oreophasinæ. The latter subfamily contains only one genus and species, the Mountain Curassow (Oreophasis derbianus), which inhabits Guatemala, and is very rare and little known.

CU'RATE (from Lat. curo, I take care of), in the Church of England, a clergyman licensed by the bishop or ordinary, who is engaged to assist the incumbent, rector, or vicar in the performance of divine service. Having no fixed estate in the curacy, he may be removed at the pleasure of his superior. Formerly there were perpetual curates, not dependent on the rector, but supported by a part of the tithes or otherwise. This title is now disused, having been superseded by that of vicar.

CURATOR (from Lat. cura, care). Curators, in ancient Rome were public officers of various kinds, particularly after the time of Augustus, who established several officers with this title (Suet. Augustus," cap. 37). The title is also given to the keepers of collections in museums. Curator is also the name of the person, in the Roman system, who was appointed to protect persons in their dealings who were above the age of puberty and under that of twenty-five years. On attaining the age of puberty, which was fourteen, a youth could act without the intervention of a tutor; but though he had thus attained full legal capacity, it was considered that he still required protection, and this was given him by a Lex Prætoria, the date of which is uncertain. It is as old as the time of Plautus, who alludes to it in a comedy. The effect of this law was to divide all inales into two classes, those above twenty-five years of age and those below, the latter being sometimes called minores or minors. The chief object of the law was to protect minors against fraud.

In Scottish law the name curator is given to any person who is appointed by the Court of Session the guardian of a minor above the age of puberty, but who has not attained majority, and also to the appointed guardian of an idiot. The powers and duties of curators vary with the nature of their appointment. See also GUARDIAN. CUR CAS. See PURGING NUT. CURCULION'IDE. See WEEVILS. CUR'CUMA, a genus of plants belonging to the order SCITAMINEÆ and tribe Zingibereæ. The species are stemless plants with tuberous roots; the flowers are of a dull yellow or reddish colour, arranged in spikes, with concave bracts. The calyx is tubular with three teeth; the corolla has six lobes, of which one is expanded into a lip; the filament of the stamen is petal-like, it has three lobes, and the middle lobe bears a two-spurred anther.

Curcuma Zedoaria (broad-leaved turmeric) is the Zedoaria rotunda of the shops. The tubers of this plant are aromatic, and are used by the Hindus not only as a stimulating condiment and a medicine, but as a perfume. Its sensible properties are much like those of ginger, but not so powerful. It is employed in the East in cases of disease, as colic, cramp, torpor, &c., where stimulants are useful. It is a native of Bengal, China, and various other parts of Asia, and of the Asiatic Islands.

Curcuma Zerumbet (zedoary), the Zedoaria longa of the shops, is only a variety.

Curcuma rubescens is a native of Bengal. All the parts of the plant have a pleasant aromatic smell when the plant is bruised. The pendulous tubers of this and several other species of Curcuma yield starch, and are employed by the natives for preparing arrow-root. In Travancore it forms the principal diet of the natives.

Curcuma Amada (Mango ginger) is a native of Bengal. It is used for the same purpose as ginger.

Curcuma leucorhiza grows in the forests of Bahar. It has remarkably long tubers, often a foot in length, of a pale yellow inside, and they produce an excellent arrow-root.

Curcuma angustifolia is a native of the forests of India from the banks of the Lona to Nagpur. Its tubers yield an excellent arrow-root, and are found at the end of fleshy fibres which meet together, forming a crown.

Curcuma longa (the common turmeric) is cultivated all over India. It is occasionally wild, and it is also extensively cultivated in China, Java, Malacca, and in Bengal, prospering in a moist but not swampy soil. The Chinese sort is most esteemed, rather on account of its superior richness in colouring matter than from any other cause. Turmeric possesses an acrid volatile oil and a colouring matter. It is used on account of the latter principle as a dye. As a chemical test it is employed to detect alkalies, its yellow colour being turned reddish-brown. The volatile oil gives it aromatic qualities, which render it useful to persons of languid habit whose digestion is difficult and whose circulation is slow. It is of some importance as a dye; but it is as a condiment, both in the East and in this country, that it merits notice, as it is an ingredient in all curry powders and curry pastes.

CUR FEW (Fr. couvre-feu, cover fire) is the term applied to a signal, given generally by ringing a bell at eight o'clock, to the inhabitants of a town to cover up their fires and put out their lights. It is generally supposed that the curfew was introduced into England by William the Conqueror, who exacted severe penalties from any who failed to comply with this regulation. It was, however, a common practice throughout Europe long before this, and possibly existed in England, though not generally carried out. In times when most houses were of wood, and the fire was placed in the middle of the floor, it was a most necessary regulation as a precaution against fire. The curfew-bell is still rung in many places in England, though the regulation as to fire is of course no longer enforced.

CU'RIA was an ancient division of the citizens of Rome. Ten families to a gens (clan), ten gentes to a curia (ward), ten curiæ to the community; such was the general Latin plan, soon, of course, outgrown when Romo began to acquire numbers and power. The whole state of Rome was then divided into three tribes (so far as the burgesses were concerned-for the existence of a large body without the franchise, the plebs, must never be overlooked), and each tribe was made up of ten curia. The comitia, or general assembly, was at first by curiæ, called twice a year, unless for special purposes, and the vote was taken by heads. When the plebeians were, after long struggles, admitted to the curiæ, the comitia curiata were restricted to legislative formal acts, and matters affecting the gentes or clans. The real power now passed to the comitia centuriata. See COMITIA.

CURIA'TII, a noble family of Alba, selected to end by single combat the long contest with Rome. Three of the Curiatii met three of the Roman Horatii, and after a fierce struggle (described under HORATII) the Curiatii all perished, but one Roman remained alive. Alba, therefore, accepting the judgment as from the gods, loyally submitted to the younger city.

CUR'LEW (Numenius arquatus), a common British bird, is one of the largest of the snipe family (Scolopacida), the female measuring upwards of 2 feet in length, the male a few inches less. It is of a brown colour, with the edges of the feathers whitish and the rump white; the lower surface is white or nearly so, with the breast pale brown, and the neck and breast streaked with dark brown. The bill, which is long and considerably curved downwards, is brown, and the naked part of the long slender legs is pale blue.

During the late autumn and winter the curlew frequents

the sea-shore, where it finds an abundance of small crustacea, worms, and other marine animals; but at the approach of spring it migrates inland, and usually in a northerly direction, to breed upon the moors and hills. The nest consists of a few dry leaves and similar materials brought together in a tuft of herbage, and in this the eggs, four in number, are laid. They are of a pear-shape, and are generally placed with the smaller ends together. Our common curlew is generally distributed in all parts of the Old World. A nearly allied species is the Whimbrel (Numenius phaopus). The name Stone Curlew is often given to the common THICK-KNEE (Edicnemus crepitans.)

CURLING is a favourite and well-known Scotch game, played on the ice with round stones, weighing about 30 or 40 lbs., of which each player has a pair. The object of the game is to hurl these to an assigned point or mark, called a tee the player who gets his stone nearest this point securing so many marks, of which a certain number, usually 31, is called the game. On the skill displayed by the players in placing their own stones in favourable positions, or in driving those of their opponents out of them, depends nearly all the interest of the game, and yet the keenness with which the rival sides contend for victory is perhaps unparalleled in North Britain. The rules of the game are regulated by the Caledonian Curling Club.

CUR'RAGH, a large plain belonging to the government containing 5000 acres of fine pasture land. It is situated in the county of Kildare, Ireland, and contains an important military camp, and the finest race-course in the kingdom. It has been a place of assembly and probably a race-course from very ancient times. Popularly it is supposed to have been granted as common land by St. Bridget, who had received it from the King of Leinster, but there can be no doubt it had been used as a common long before this. The Curragh has been the scene of numerous battles. In 1234 Lord Geoffrey de Monte Marisco defeated the Earl of Pembroke, the former being viceroy of Ireland at the time, and in 1406 the Irish under the Prior of Connell were routed by the English. It was the place of gathering for the Irish volunteers in 1789. In 1804 about 30,000 United Irishmen assembled here, and at the time of the Crimean War the English government chose it as the site of an encampment.

CUR'RAN, JOHN PHIL'POT, a famous wit and orator, was born at Newmarket, near Cork, on 24th July, 1750. He was sent to Trinity College, Dublin, and after taking his M.A. degree he went to London and entered the Middle Temple (1773), and two years afterwards was called to the Irish bar. He speedily acquired considerable reputation by his able, witty, and sarcastic speeches, and rapidly advanced in his profession. In 1783 he was made king's counsellor, and obtained a seat in Parliament, where he became one of the warmest and ablest opponents of the policy of the government towards Ireland. He strongly advocated Catholic Emancipation, and was bitterly opposed to the Union. In 1806 he was made master of the rolls for Ireland, which post he filled until 1813, when he retired on a pension of £3000 and came to London, where he remained until his death on 14th October, 1817. His fame as an orator rests mainly on the speeches made by him in defence of the accused in the various state trials held between 1794 and 1803. His legal knowledge was not profound, and his most successful pleadings consisted in powerful appeals to the emotions. Curran is, however,

best remembered for his wit and gaiety. (See "Life of Curran," by his son, W. H. Curran, 1818, and "Curran's Speeches," 1805, 1808, 1845.)

a powerful and agreeable aromatic principle takes the place of acidity. The red currant is a native in north and temperate Europe, including Great Britain, Siberia, and British North America. It was unknown to the Greeks and Romans, and was but little cultivated in England in the time of Gerard, at the end of the sixteenth century. It soquired the name "currant " from its resemblance to the imported Corinthian grape (see below). The black currant is ingenous in Europe and Asia, extending further south than the red currant, even to north Italy, Armenia, and the western Himalayas. The red-flowered currant of our gardens (Ribes sanguineum) is a native of North America. Its berries are insipid, but not poisonous, as so commonly supposed.

CUR'RANTS, of the grocers' shops, are the dried berries of a small kind of grape, chiefly cultivated in the Morea and the Ionian Islands. They were originally called "corinths." as they were imported chiefly from Corinth, and this word was corrupted into currants. It is from six to seven yea after the plantation has been formed before it yields any produce, consequently the cultivation requires a great de of capital. The crop is liable to be injured by rain during the ingathering, and is thus of a precarious character. Currants are in extensive demand in the United Kingdom. for when mixed with flour and suet they form a very agree able food. The quantity imported in 1882, almost entirely from Greece and the Ionian Islands, was 1,066,755 cwt value £1,361,336. The customs duty is 78. per cwt. CURRENCY. See MONEY.

CURRENT is the term used to describe the ccatinuous motion of a portion of water through a larger mass of the same fluid, such as in the ocean or sea.

Currents are of two kinds-drift and stream. The first are those that may arise from any temporary or periodical cause, and having little depth or force are easily checked Streams, on the other hand, are generally constant and permanent, frequently following a course of thousands of miles, and flowing along with an immense volume at great depths. They depend on the fixed physical configuration of the globe, their direction, force, and rapidity benz controlled by the relationship held by land, water, ani temperature to each other. Thus there is a tendency= the case of ocean streams for an upper current of warm water to flow from the equator towards either pole, and for an under current of cold water to flow back from the arctic and antarctic poles to the equator. But in actua. fact this simple arrangement is modified by numeras causes, such as the configuration of the land and the influence of the continents in producing variations of temperature, while periodical winds, submarine hilis, at i alterations in the level of the ocean bottom are always affecting more or less the direction and rapidity of the cours of currents. Many are, however, sufficiently regular to be f great value in navigation, and to have a powerful permanent influence on climate. In inclosed seas evaporation ples a great part in setting up streams. This is illustrated a such a sea as the Mediterranean, where there is a steady inflow of salt water from the Atlantic into the Mediter ranean through the Straits of Gibraltar, while it is pretty certain that there is an equally strong under curr flowing outwards. This deep current is intensely salt.

The Red Sea is also a case in point. Notwithstanding that a strong current sets in from the Arabian Sea at the rate of about 20 miles a day, the water at the northern end is about 2 feet lower than at the southern end. There must, then, be an under current flowing outwards, er tze sea would become brine.