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consequentialism ► conspiracy I 453

sory military service by all able-bodied men between certain ages, though a few countries—notably Israel—have also drafted women.) In the 19th century Prussia’s system of building up a large standing army through conscription became the model for competing European powers. During the American Civil War both the federal government and the Confederacy instituted a draft, but the U.S. did not use it again until entering World War I in 1917. Like the U.S., Britain abandoned conscription at the end of World War I but reverted to it when World War II threatened. During the ensuing Cold War, Britain retained the draft until 1960 and the U.S. until 1973. See also U.S. Army.

consequentialism In ethics, the doctrine that actions should be judged right or wrong on the basis of their consequences. The simplest form of consequentialism is classical (or hedonistic) utilitarianism, which asserts that an action is right or wrong according to whether it maximizes the net balance of pleasure over pain in the universe. The consequentialism of G.E. Moore, known as “ideal utilitarianism,” recognizes beauty and friendship, as well as pleasure, as intrinsic goods that one’s actions should aim to maximize. According to the “preference utilitarianism” of R.M. Hare (1919-2002), actions are right if they maximize the satisfaction of preferences or desires, no matter what the preferences may be for. Con- sequentialists also differ over whether each individual action should be judged on the basis of its consequences or whether instead general rules of conduct should be judged in this way and individual actions judged only by whether they accord with a general rule. The former group are known as “act-utilitarians” and the latter as “rule-utilitarians.” See also DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS.

conservation Planned management of a natural resource or of a par¬ ticular ecosystem to prevent exploitation, pollution, destruction, or neglect and to ensure the future usability of the resource. Living resources are renewable, minerals and fossil fuels are nonrenewable. In the West, con¬ servation efforts date to 17th-century efforts to protect European forests in the face of increasing demands for fuel and building materials. National parks, first established in the 19th century, were dedicated to the preser¬ vation of uncultivated land not only to provide a safe haven to wildlife but to protect watershed areas and help ensure a clean water supply. National legislation and international treaties and regulations aim to strike a balance between the need for development and the need to conserve the environment for the future.

conservation law or law of conservation In physics, the prin¬ ciple that certain quantities within an isolated system do not change over time. When a substance in an isolated system changes phase, the total amount of mass does not change. When energy is changed from one form to another in an isolated system, there is no change in the total amount of energy. When a transfer of momentum occurs in an isolated system, the total amount of momentum is conserved. The same is true for electric charge in a system: charge lost by one particle is gained by another. Con¬ servation laws make it possible to predict the macroscopic behaviour of a system without having to consider the microscopic details of a physical process or chemical reaction.

conservation of energy See conservation of energy

conservatism Political attitude or ideology denoting a preference for institutions and practices that have evolved historically and are thus mani¬ festations of continuity and stability. It was first expressed in the modern era through the works of Edmund Burke in reaction to the French Revolu¬ tion, which Burke believed tarnished its ideals through its excesses. Con¬ servatives believe that the implementation of change should be minimal and gradual; they appreciate history and are more realistic than idealis¬ tic. Well-known conservative parties include the British Conservative Party, the German Christian Democratic Union, the U.S. Republican Party, and the Japanese Liberal-Democratic Party. See also Christian Democracy;

LIBERALISM.

Conservative Judaism Form of Judaism that mediates between Reform Judaism and Orthodox Judaism. Founded in 19th-century Germany as the Historical School, it arose among German-Jewish theologians who advocated change but found Reform positions extreme. They accepted the Reform emphasis on critical scholarship, but wished to maintain a stricter observance of Jewish law (e.g., dietary laws) and continued belief in the coming of the Messiah. In 1886, rabbis of this centrist persuasion founded the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (New York), leading to the development of Conservative Judaism as a religious movement.

Conservative Party (Canada) See Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

Conservative Party officially National Union of Conserva¬ tive and Unionist Associations. British political party whose guid¬ ing principles include promotion of private property and enterprise, maintenance of a strong military and foreign policy, and preservation of traditional cultural values and institutions. It is the heir of the old Tory Party, whose members began forming “conservative associations” after electoral rights were extended to the middle class in 1832. The modem party (whose members are often known as Tories) is essentially a coali¬ tion of two groups, and must balance its traditionalist and communitar¬ ian wing against its libertarian and individualist wing. It also experiences internal conflict over Britain’s relationship with the European Union. Its membership is heavily dependent on the landowning and middle classes, but its electoral base has extended at times to incorporate about one-third of the working class. Since World War I, it and the Labour Party have dominated British politics.

Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers \kou-ser-va-'twar-da-'zar-za- ma-'tya\ (French: “Conservatory of Arts and Trades”) Public institution of higher learning in Paris, dedicated to applied science and technology, that grants degrees primarily in engineering. It is also a laboratory that specializes in testing, measuring, and standardization. Its third component is a national museum of technology. It was founded by Jacques de Vau- canson in 1794, in the former priory of St.-Martin-des-Champs, to house his own and others’ inventions; his automated loom, found there after his death by J.-M. Jacquard, became the basis for Jacquard’s revolutionary design. It contains numerous elaborate automatons and other mechanical devices popular in the 18th century.

conservatory In architecture, a heavily glazed structure, frequently attached to and directly entered from a dwelling, in which plants are pro¬ tected and displayed. Unlike the greenhouse, an informal structure situ¬ ated in the working area of a garden, the conservatory became a popular 19th-century decorative architectural feature proclaiming the status of its owner. The most outstanding example is Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace.

conservatory In music, institution for education in musical perfor¬ mance and composition. The term and institution derives from the Italian conservatorio, which in the Renaissance period and earlier denoted an orphanage often attached to a hospital. The children there were given musical training; the term gradually came to apply to music schools. The first secular school of music for students at large was established in Paris in 1784. Throughout the 19th century the French model was copied, with modifications, in Europe and in the U.S., later in Canada and Australia. Conservatories typically offer instruction to people of all ages, but the primary focus is on students age 10-25. Important U.S. conservatories include the Curtis Institute of Music, the Eastman School, and the Juilliard School.

consonance and dissonance Perceived qualities of musical chords and intervals. Consonance is often described as relative “stability,” and dissonance as “instability.” In musical contexts, certain intervals seem to call for motion by one of the tones to “resolve” perceived dissonance. The most consonant intervals are generally recognized as the unison and octave, and the next most consonant interval as the perfect fifth. Conso¬ nance tends to reflect the early intervals of the overtone series (which include, in addition to the octave and perfect fifth, the major and minor thirds and the perfect fourth), but many musical factors can affect the per¬ ception of consonance and dissonance.

consonant Any speech sound characterized by an articulation in which a closure or narrowing of the vocal tract completely or partially blocks the flow of air; also, any letter or symbol representing such a sound. Con¬ sonants are usually classified according to the place of articulation (e.g., palate, teeth, lips); the manner of articulation, as in stops (complete clo¬ sure of the oral passage, released with a burst of air), fricatives (forcing of breath through a constricted passage), and trills (vibration of the tip of the tongue or the uvula); and the presence or absence of voicing, nasal¬ ization, aspiration, and other features.

conspiracy Agreement between two or more persons to commit an unlawful act or to accomplish a lawful end by unlawful means. Some U.S. states require an overt act in addition to the agreement to constitute con¬ spiracy. Individual conspirators need not even know of the existence or the identity of all other conspirators. In a chain conspiracy the parties act

454 I Constable ► Constantine I

separately and successively (as in distributing narcotics). A civil con¬ spiracy is not prosecuted as a crime but forms the grounds for a lawsuit. In antitrust law, conspiracies in restraint of trade (e.g., price fixing) are rigorously prosecuted. In the U.S. it is common to punish a conspiracy to commit an offense more harshly than the offense itself, but there has been a growing trend to follow the European example and make the pun¬ ishment for conspiracy the same as or less than that for the offense itself.

Constable, John (b. June 11, 1776, East Bergholt, Suffolk, Eng.—d. March 31, 1837, London) British painter. The artist’s father was a wealthy man who owned mills at Flatford and Dedham, on the Suffolk and Essex banks of the Stour, respectively. Constable began his career in 1799 after entering the Royal Academy Schools in London. In the years 1809 to 1816 he established his mastery and evolved his individual manner, concen¬ trating on the scenes that had delighted him as a boy: the village lanes, the fields and meadows running down to the Stour, barges drawn by tow horses, and the vessels passing the locks at Flatford or Dedham. In 1813-14 he filled two sketchbooks, which survive intact, with over 200 landscape drawings. After about 1816 Constable began to embody his concept of the Suffolk countryside in a series of canvases monumental enough to make an impression in exhibitions of the Royal Academy; his best-known work from this period is The Hay-Wain (1821). These works reveal Constable’s detailed study of the formation of clouds, the colour of meadows and trees, and the effect of light glistening on leaves and water. Especially later in his career, he was considered a master of water¬ colour as well as oil painting on canvas. He is ranked with J.M.W. Turner as one of the greatest 19th-century British landscape painters.

Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds, oil on canvas by John Constable, 1823; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

THE BRIDGEMAN ART UBRARY/GETTY IMAGES

Constance (b. 1154—d. Nov. 27, 1198, Palermo) Queen of Sicily (1194-98) and Holy Roman empress-consort (1191-97). The daughter of King Roger II of Sicily, she married the future emperor Henry VI in 1186 and was later crowned with him in Rome. Her marriage gave the Hohen- staufen dynasty a claim to the Sicilian throne, which she asserted against the opposition of her nephew Tancred. When Henry died (1197), she secured the protection of Pope Innocent III and had her son Frederick II crowned king in 1198.

Constance, Council of (1414-18) 16th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic church. It was convened at the request of Emperor Sigismund to deal with three competing popes, examine the writings of Jan Hus and John Wycuffe, and reform the Church. National political rivalries divided the Council of Constance. Two of the three contending popes were deposed; the third abdicated, and in 1417 the council selected a new pope, Martin V. The Council condemned propositions of Hus and Wycliffe, and Hus was burned at the stake by secular authorities.

Constance, Lake German Bodensee Vbod- 3 n-,za\ ancient Lacus Brigantinus Lake, bordering Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. Occupying an old glacier basin at an elevation of 1,299 ft (396 m), it has an area of 209 sq mi (541 sq km) and an average depth of 295 ft (90 m).

It forms part of the course of the Rhine River, and by the Middle Ages it was a major traffic hub. Spectacular Alpine scenery makes the lakeshore a popular resort area. The remains of Neolithic lake dwellings are found in the area.

Constans II Pogonatus Vkan- l stanz... l p6-g3- , nat-3s\ (b. Nov. 7, 639, Constantinople—d. Sept. 15, 668, Syracuse, Sicily) Byzantine emperor (641-68). His reign saw the loss of Byzantium’s southern and eastern provinces to the Arabs. Muslim Arabs took Egypt (642), invaded Arme¬ nia (647), and defeated Constans at sea in 655. A civil war among Arabs prevented them from attacking Constantinople, and he secured a nonag¬ gression treaty with Syria (659). Within the empire he tried to force unity on the church, forbidding debate on divisive theological questions and exiling the pope when he objected (653). He made his son coemperor (654) and then aroused public outrage by ordering the murder of his own brother (660). He left Constantinople (663) and settled in Sicily, where he was assassinated.

Constant \ko n -'sta n \ (de Rebecque), (Henri-) Benjamin (b. Oct. 25, 1767, Lausanne, Switz.—d. Dec. 8, 1830, Paris, France) French-Swiss novelist and political writer. He had a tumultuous 12-year relationship with Germaine de Stael, whose views influenced him to support the French Revolution and subsequently to oppose Napoleon, for which he was exiled (1803-14). He later served in the Chamber of Deputies (1819-30). Ado¬ lphe (1816) was a forerunner of the modem psychological novel. Among his other works are the long historical analysis of religious feeling De la Religion, 5 vol. (1824-31) and his revealing journals (first complete pub¬ lication, 1952).

Consfanta \kon-'stant-s9\ Turkish Kostendje ancient Constanti-

ana or Tomis City (pop., 2002: 715,151), chief seaport of Romania. The first known settlement in the area was at the ancient city of Tomis, founded in the 7th century bc by the Greeks. Romans annexed the region in the 1st century bc; Ovid was exiled there in ad 9-17. In the 4th cen¬ tury Tomis was reconstructed by Constantine the Great and renamed Con- stantiana. It was subject to numerous invasions from the 6th century on, and it declined following the Turkish conquest in the early 15th century. Its modem development as an industrial, trading, and cultural centre dates from its return to Romania in 1878.

Constantine Vkan-st3n-,ten\ ancient Cirta City (pop., 1998: 807,371), northeastern Algeria. A natural fortress, it is situated on a rocky height some 800 ft (250 m) above the Rhumel River valley. By the 3rd century bc it was one of Numidia’s most important towns, and it reached its apex of prosperity under Micipsa in the 2nd century bc. Ruined in subsequent wars, it was restored in ad 313 and renamed for its patron, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. Overrun by the Arabs in the 7th century, it was ruled by a series of Arab and Berber dynasties and, intermittently, by the Ottoman Empire until it was captured by the French in 1837. Occupied in 1942 by U.S. troops, it was an important Allied staging area in World War II (1939-45). The city retains its medieval walls, and there are Roman ruins nearby. It is an agricultural market for the surrounding area.

Constantine I known as Constantine the Great officially Flavius Valerius Constantinus (b. Feb. 27, after ad 280?, Naissus, Moesia—d. May 22, 337, Ancyrona, near Nicomedia, Bithynia) First Roman emperor to profess Christianity. The eldest son of Constantius I Chlorus, he spent his youth at the court of Diocletian. Passed over as suc¬ cessor to the throne, he fought to make himself emperor. Victory at the Milvian Bridge outside Rome (312) made him emperor in the West; according to legend, a cross and the words in hoc signo vinces (“In this sign, conquer”) appeared to him there and he forthwith adopted Chris¬ tianity. In 313 he issued, with Licinius, the Edict of Milan, granting toler¬ ance to Christians; he also gave land for churches and granted the church special privileges. He opposed heresies, notably Donatism and Arianism, and he convoked the important Council of Nicaea. After defeating and executing Licinius, he gained control of the East and became sole emperor. He moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople (324). In 326 he had his wife and eldest son killed for reasons that remain obscure. He angered the Romans by refusing to participate in a pagan rite and never entered Rome again. Under his patronage, Christianity began its growth into a world religion. Constan¬ tine is revered as a saint in the Orthodox church.

Constantine I Greek Constantinos (b. Aug. 2, 1868, Athens, Greece—d. Jan. 11, 1923, Palermo, Italy) King of Greece (1913-17,

Constantine II ► Constitution of 1791 I 455

1920-22). Son of King George I of the Hellenes (1845-1913), he was educated in Germany and was commander in chief of Greek forces in the Balkan Wars. He succeeded his father in 1913, but his neutralist, yet essentially pro-German, attitude during World War I caused the Allies and his Greek opponents to depose him in 1917. He was restored to the throne in 1920, but, after a catastrophic war in Anatolia, he abdicated in favor of his son, George II, in 1922.

Constantine II Greek Constantinos (b. June 2, 1940, Psikhiko, near Athens, Greece) King of Greece (1964-74). Son of Paul I (1901-64), he succeeded his father in 1964. After a military coup in 1967, he and his family fled to Rome. The military regime appointed a regent in his place and granted him a free return if he wished. In 1973 the military regime proclaimed a republic and abolished the monarchy. In 1974 a civilian ref¬ erendum officially ended the monarchy.

Constantine V Copronymus \k3-'pran-o-m9s\ (b. 718,

Constantinople—d. Sept. 14, 775) Byzantine emperor (741-75). The son of Leo III. he ruled with his father from 720. He spent his life defeating Arab and Bulgar threats to the empire and was unable to prevent the Lombards from taking Ravenna (751), thus ending Byzantine influence in northern and central Italy. A strong iconoclast (see iconoclasm), he per¬ secuted monks who disagreed with his position. He died in the Balkans on a military campaign against the Bulgarian kingdom.

Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus X.por-fo-ro-'jen-ot-osV (b. Sept. 905, Constantinople—d. Nov. 9, 959) Byzantine emperor (913-59). Coemperor with his father, Leo VI, from 911, he became sole ruler in 913. His father-in-law, Romanus I Lecapenus, was crowned coemperor with him in 920 and soon became the primary ruler. Shut out of government, Constantine devoted himself to scholarship; his writings include works on the Slavic and Turkic peoples and on Byzantine ceremonies. In 944 the sons of Romanus, impatient for power, had their father deported, and the ensuing public outcry emboldened Constantine to banish them in 945; he then ruled alone until his death.

Constantine IX Monomachus Xmo-'na-mo-kosX (b. c. 980—d. Jan. 11, 1055) Byzantine emperor (1042-55). He gained the imperial throne by marrying Zoe, empress of the Macedonian dynasty. An opponent of the great military leaders, he neglected imperial defenses, instead spend¬ ing extravagantly on luxuries and magnificent buildings. Rebellions broke out at home and abroad, and Byzantine lands were threatened by invad¬ ers in southern Italy, Thrace, Macedonia, and Armenia. Constantine tried to ally with the papacy to save southern Italy from the Normans, but growing differences between Rome and Constantinople resulted in the Schism of 1054.

Constantine XI Palaeologus \,pa-le-'a-l3-g9s\ (b. Feb. 9, 1404, Constantinople—d. May 29, 1453, Constantinople) Last Byzantine emperor (1449-53), sometimes called Constantine XII because of the erroneous notion that Constantine Lascaris was crowned in 1204. He became emperor when his brother John VIII Palaeologus died childless, but he faced a losing battle against the Ottoman Turks, who were direct¬ ing all their resources toward the capture of Constantinople. He acknowl¬ edged the obedience of the Greek church to Rome in order to secure help from the West, but in vain. He was killed fighting at the walls of Con¬ stantinople as the Turks broke through.

Constantine, Donation of See Donation of Constantine

Constantine the African Latin Constantinus Africanus (b. c.

1020, Carthage or Sicily—d. 1087, monastery of Monte Cassino, near Cassino, Principality of Benevento) Medieval medical scholar. He was the first to translate Arabic medical works into Latin. His 37 translated books included The Total Art, a short version of the The Royal Book by the 10th-century Persian physician 'All ibn al-'Abbas, introducing Islam’s extensive knowledge of Greek medicine to the West. His translations of Hippocrates and Galen first gave the West a view of Greek medicine as a whole.

Constantinople See Istanbul

Constantinople, Council of Any of several church councils, some of which are recognized as ecumenical, held in the city of Constantino¬ ple. The First Council of Constantinople, the second ecumenical council of the Christian church, was summoned by Emperor Theodosius I in 381. It promulgated the Nicene Creed and declared finally the Trinitarian doc¬ trine of the equality of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It gave the bishop of

Constantinople honour second only to that of the pope. Only Eastern bish¬ ops were summoned to the council, but the Greeks claimed that it was ecumenical. It did come to be so regarded, though the Western church did not accept the ranking of Constantinople as second to Rome until the 13th century. The Second Council of Constantinople, held in 553, was called by Justinian I; by endorsing an edict of Justinian’s, it lent support to Mono- physitism and diminished the earlier Council of Chalcedon. The Third Council of Constantinople, held in 680, condemned the Monothelites, who claimed that Christ had a single will despite his two natures. The Fourth Council of Constantinople, held in 869-870 at the suggestion of Basil I, resulted in the excommunication of St. Photius and increased the animosity between the Eastern and Western churches.

Constantius I Chlorus Vkon-'stan-che-os-'klor-osV orig. Flavius Valerius Constantius Latin "the Pale" (b. c. 250, Dacia Ripensis—d. summer 306, Ebo- racum, Britain) Roman emperor and father of Constantine I. A member of the tetrarchy (four-person ruling body) with his adoptive father Max- imian, Diocletian, and Galerius, he was made caesar (subemperor) in the West (293-305) and later caesar augustus (senior emperor) (305- 306). As ruler of Gaul, he subdued rebellion in Britain (296), ended piracy, restored the frontier, and largely ignored edicts against Chris¬ tians.

constellation Any of certain groupings of stars that were imag¬ ined by those who named them to form images of objects, mythologi¬ cal figures, or creatures in the sky.

They are useful in helping sky gaz¬ ers and navigators locate certain stars. A constellation’s stars are often designated by its name and letters of the Greek alphabet in order of brightness. Of 88 named constellations in Western astronomy, about half retain the names Ptolemy gave the 48 he identified in his Almagest. See also ZODIAC.

constitution Set of doctrines and practices that form the fundamental organizing principle of a political state. It may be written (e.g., the Con¬ stitution of the United States) or partly written and uncodified (e.g., Brit¬ ain’s constitution). Its provisions usually specify how the government is to be organized, what rights it shall have, and what rights shall be retained by the people. Modem constitutional ideas developed during the Enlight¬ enment, when philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Locke proposed that constitutional governments should be stable, adaptable, accountable, and open, should represent the governed, and should divide power according to its purpose. The oldest constitution still in force is that of the state of Massachusetts (1780). See also social con¬ tract.

Constitution, USS known as Old Ironsides One of the first frigates built for the U.S. Navy. Launched in 1797, it was 204 ft (62 m) long and usually carried more than 50 guns and a crew of over 450. It was the successful flagship of the Tripolitan War (1801-05), and in the War of 1812 it vanquished the British frigate Guerriere\ tradition holds that it was nicknamed by sailors who saw the British shot failing to penetrate its oak sides. It was condemned as unseaworthy in 1828, but Oliver Wen¬ dell Holmes’s poem “Old Ironsides” sparked a public preservation cam¬ paign. Restored in 1927-31, it is now berthed in Boston and open to the public.

Constitution Act See Canada Act (1982)

Constitution of 1791 French constitution created by the National Assembly during the French Revolution. It retained the monarchy, but sov¬ ereignty effectively resided in the Legislative Assembly, which was elected by a system of indirect voting. The franchise was restricted to “active” citizens who paid a minimal sum in taxes; about two-thirds of adult men had the right to vote for electors and to choose certain local officials directly. The constitution lasted less than a year.

Constantius I Chlorus, marble bust; in the Capitoline Museum, Rome.

AUNARI—ART RESOURCE

456 I Constitution of 1795 ► consumer credit

Constitution of 1795 (Year III) French constitution established dur¬ ing the Thermidorian Reaction in the French Revolution. Known as the Con¬ stitution of Year III in the French republican calendar, it was prepared by the Thermidorian Convention. It was more conservative than the abortive democratic Constitution of 1793. The Constitution of 1795 established a liberal republic with a franchise based on the payment of taxes, similar to that of the Constitution of 1791 ; a bicameral legislature to slow down the legislative process; and a five-man Directory. The central government retained great power, including emergency powers to curb freedom of the press and freedom of association.

Constitution of the Third Republic See Constitutional Laws of

1875

Constitution of the United States Fundamental law of the U.S. federal system of government and a landmark document of the Western world. It is the oldest written national constitution in operation, completed in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention of 55 delegates who met in Philadelphia, ostensibly to amend the Articles of Confederation. The Con¬ stitution was ratified in June 1788, but because ratification in many states was contingent on the promised addition of a Bill of Rights, Congress pro¬ posed 12 amendments in September 1789; 10 were ratified by the states, and their adoption was certified on Dec. 15, 1791. The framers were espe¬ cially concerned with limiting the power of the government and securing the liberty of citizens. The Constitution’s separation of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government, the checks and baances of each branch against the other, and the explicit guarantees of individual liberty were all designed to strike a balance between authority and liberty. Article I vests all legislative powers in the Congress —the House of Rep¬ resentatives and the Senate. Article II vests executive power in the presi¬ dent. Article III places judicial power in the hands of the courts. Article IV deals, in part, with relations among the states and with the privileges of the citizens. Article V with amendment procedure, and Article VI with public debts and the supremacy of the Constitution. Article VII stipulates that the Constitution would become operational after being ratified by nine states. The 10th Amendment limits the national government’s powers to those expressly listed in the Constitution; the states, unless otherwise restricted, possess all the remaining (or “residual”) powers of government. Amendments to the Constitution may be proposed by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress or by a convention called by Congress on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the states. (All subsequent amendments have been initiated by Congress.) Amendments proposed by Congress must be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures or by conventions in as many states. Twenty-seven amendments have been added to the Constitution since 1789. In addition to the Bill of Rights, these include the 13th (1865), abolishing slavery; the 14th (1868), requir¬ ing due process and equal protection under the law; the 15th (1870), guar¬ anteeing the right to vote regardless of race; the 17th (1913), providing for the direct election of U.S. senators; the 19th (1920), instituting wom¬ en’s suffrage, and the 22nd (1951), limiting the presidency to two terms. See also civil liberty; commerce cause; Equal Rights Amendment; establishment cause; freedom of speech; judiciary; states' rights.

Constitution of the Year VIII (1799) French constitution established after the Coup of 18-19 Brumaire during the French Revolution. Drafted by Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes, it disguised the true character of the military dic¬ tatorship created by Napoleon, reassuring the partisans of the Revolution by proclaiming the irrevocability of the sale of national property and by upholding the legislation against the emigre nobility. It created the regime known as the Consuate, which concentrated all real power in the hands of Napoleon. Submitted to a plebiscite, it won overwhelmingly in 1800.

Constitutional Act or Canada Bill (1791) British law repealing certain portions of the Quebec Act of 1774. The new act provided a more democratic constitution for the area, establishing an elected legislature for each province, the first in that part of Canada, and a governor and an executive council appointed by the crown. Bills could originate in the legislature, but they could be disallowed by the crown.

Constitutional Convention (May-September 1787) Assembly that drafted the Constitution of the United States. All states but Rhode Island sent delegates in response to a call by the Annapolis Convention for a meeting in Philadelphia to amend the Articles of Confederation. The delegates decided to replace the Articles with a document that strengthened the federal gov¬ ernment. An important issue was the apportioning of legislative represen¬ tation. Two plans were presented: the Virginia plan, favoured by the large

states, apportioned representatives by population or wealth; the New Jersey plan, favoured by the small states, provided for equal representation for each state. A compromise established the bicameral Congress to ensure both equal and proportional representation. The document was approved on September 17 and sent to the states for ratification.

Constitutional Democratic Party or Kadet Russian political party advocating a radical change in Russian government toward a con¬ stitutional monarchy like Britain’s. It was founded in October 1905 by the Union of Liberation and other liberals associated with the zemstvos. Its members, called Kadets, dominated the first Duma in 1906 but were less successful thereafter. After the Bolsheviks seized power in 1917, the party was outlawed and ceased to function.

Constitutional Laws of 1875 In France, a series of fundamental laws that, taken collectively, came to be known as the constitution of the Third Republic. It established a two-house legislature (with an indirectly elected Senate as a conservative check on the popularly elected Chamber of Deputies); a Council of Ministers responsible to the Chamber; and a president with powers resembling those of a constitutional monarch. It left untouched many aspects of the French governmental structure.

constitutional monarchy System of government in which a monarch (see monarchy) shares power with a constitutionally organized govern¬ ment. The monarch may be the de facto head of state or a purely ceremonial leader. The constitution allocates the rest of the government’s power to the legislature and judiciary. Britain became a constitutional monarchy under the Whigs; other constitutional monarchies include Belgium, Cambodia, Jordan, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Thailand.

Constitutions of Clarendon See Constitutions of Carendon

constructivism Theory that interprets mathematical statements as true if and only if there is a proof of them and as false just in case there is a disproof of them. Constructivism opposes the Platonist interpretation, which construes mathematical statements as referring to a domain of time¬ less mathematical objects existing independently of our knowledge of them (see form, Patonism). For the constructivist, certain classically valid forms of logical inference (e.g., the law of excluded middle, the law of double negation, the postulation of infinite sets) may no longer be employed unrestrictedly in constructing mathematical proofs (see logic). The constructivist therefore recognizes fewer mathematical proofs and theorems than does the Platonist. See also intuitionism.

Constructivism Russian movement in art and architecture, initiated in 1914 by the abstract geometric constructions of Vadimir Tatlin. In 1920 Tatlin was joined by Antoine Pevsner and Naum Gabo. Their “Realist Manifesto,” which directed their followers to “construct art,” gave the movement its name. The group, soon joined by Aleksandr Rodchenko and El Lissitzky, produced abstract works reflecting modern machinery and technology, using plastic, glass, and other industrial materials. Applying the same principles to architecture, they spread the movement’s ideals throughout Europe and to the U.S. after Soviet opposition dispersed the group. See also Bauhaus; De Stijl.

consul In the Roman republic, either of two annually elected chief mag¬ istrates. The consuls had sacred rights and near-absolute authority. They were nominated by the Senate and elected by the popular assembly; each could veto the other’s decisions. As heads of state, they commanded the army, presided over the Senate and assemblies and acted on their decrees, and handled foreign affairs. At the end of his one-year term, a consul was generally appointed to serve as governor of a province. The office con¬ tinued in weaker form under the empire.

Consulate (1799- 1804) French government established after the Coup of 18-19 Brumaire. The Constitution of the Year VIII created an executive consisting of three consuls, but the First Consul, Napoleon, wielded all real power, while the other two, Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes and Pierre-Roger Ducos (1747-1816), were figureheads. The principles of representation and legislative supremacy were discarded. The executive branch was given the power to draft new laws, and the legislative branch became little more than a rubber stamp. Elections became an elaborate charade, with voters stripped of real power. Napoleon abolished the Consulate when he declared himself emperor.

consumer credit Short- and intermediate-term loans used to finance the purchase of commodities or services for personal consumption. The loans may be supplied by lenders in the form of cash loans or by sellers

consumer goods ► Continental Congress I 457

in the form of sales credit. Installment loans, such as automobile loans and credit-card purchases, are paid back in two or more payments; non¬ installment loans, such as the service credit extended by utility compa¬ nies, are paid back in a lump sum. Consumer loans usually carry a higher rate of interest than business loans. See also credit.

consumer goods Any tangible commodity purchased by households to satisfy their wants and needs. Consumer goods may be durable or non¬ durable. Durable goods (e.g., autos, furniture, and appliances) have a sig¬ nificant life span, often defined as three years or more, and consumption is spread over this span. Nondurable goods (e.g., food, clothing, and gasoline) are purchased for immediate or almost immediate consumption and have a life span ranging from minutes to three years. See also pro¬ ducer goods.

consumer price index (CPI) Measure of living costs based on changes in retail prices. Consumer price iNDEXes are widely used to mea¬ sure changes in the cost of maintaining a given standard of living. The goods and services commonly purchased by the population covered are priced periodically, and their prices are combined in proportion to their relative importance. This set of prices is compared with the initial set of prices collected in the base year to determine the percentage increase or decrease. The population covered may be restricted to wage and salary earners or to city dwellers, and special indexes may be used for special population groups (e.g., retirees). Such indexes do not take into account shifts over time in what the population buys; when modified to take sub¬ jective preferences into account, they are called constant-utility indexes. Consumer price indexes are available for more than 100 countries.

consumer protection Legal framework promoting customer safety and education and providing protection from hazardous or substandard products and from fraud. In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission (established 1914) and the Food and Drug Administration (established 1927) help ensure consumer protection. Regulations address manufacture and design, advertising, labeling, and sales methods. In 1985 the UN pro¬ duced its Guidelines for Consumer Protection (updated 1995); they cover consumer safety and product standards and education, providing a frame¬ work and a benchmark for governments (particularly of less developed countries) to establish a legal basis for consumer protection. See also CONSUMERISM, RALPH NADER.

consumer psychology Branch of social psychology concerned with the market behaviour of consumers. Consumer psychologists examine the preferences, customs, and habits of various consumer groups; their research on consumer attitudes is often used to help design advertising campaigns and to formulate new products.

consumerism Movement or policies aimed at regulating the products, services, methods, and standards of manufacturers, sellers, and advertisers in the interests of the buyer. Such regulation may be institutional, statutory, or embodied in a voluntary code accepted by a particular industry, or it may result more indirectly from the influence of consumer organizations. Gov¬ ernments often establish formal regulatory agencies to ensure consumer protection (in the U.S., e.g., the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration). Some of the earliest consumer-protection laws were created to prevent the sale of tainted food and harmful drugs. The U.S. consumer protection movement gained strength in the 1960s and ’70s as consumer activists led by Ralph Nader lobbied for laws setting safety stan¬ dards for automobiles, toys, and numerous household products. Consumer advocates have also won passage of laws obliging advertisers to represent their goods truthfully and preventing sales representatives from using deceptive sales tactics. Consumer advocacy is carried on worldwide by the International Organization of Consumers Unions (IOCU).

consumer's surplus In economics, the difference between the total amount consumers would be willing to pay to consume the quantity of goods transacted on the market and the amount they actually have to pay for those goods. The former is generally interpreted as the monetary value of consumer satisfaction. The concept was developed in 1844 by the French civil engineer Arsene-Jules-Etienne-Juvenal Dupuit (1804-1866) and popularized by Alfred Marshall. Though economists adopted a non- quantifiable approach to consumer satisfaction in the 20th century, the concept is used extensively in the fields of welfare economics and taxation.

consumption In economics, the final using up of goods and services. The term excludes the use of intermediate products in the production of other goods (e.g., the purchase of buildings and machinery by a business).

Economists use statistical information on income and purchases to trace trends in consumption, seeking to map consumer demand for goods and services. In classical economics, consumers are assumed to be rational and to allocate expenditures in such a way as to maximize total satisfaction from all purchases. Incomes and prices are seen as consumption’s two major determinants. Critics of the model point out that there are many exceptions to rational consumer behaviour—for example, the phenom¬ enon of conspicuous consumption, in which the high price of a product increases its prestige and adds to demand.

consumption See tuberculosis

consumption tax Levy such as an excise tax, a sales tax, or a tariff paid directly or indirectly by the consumer. Consumption taxes fall more heavily on lower-income than on upper-income groups because people with less money consume a larger proportion of their income than those with more money. See also progressive tax, regressive tax.

contact lens Thin artificial lens worn on the surface of the eye to correct refractive defects of vision. Early glass contact lenses, invented in 1887, were uncomfortable and could not be worn long. Plastic-based lenses, made to measurements of corneal curvature taken by optical instruments, were first developed in the mid 20th century. Gas-permeable lenses allow more oxygen to reach the eye, thus increasing comfort and wear time. Contact lenses have advantages over eyeglasses for certain visual defects and may be preferred for the sake of appearance and other reasons.

containership Oceangoing vessel designed to transport large, standard-sized containers of freight. Rail-and-road containers were used early in the 20th century; in the 1960s containerization became a major element in ocean shipping as well. Containerships, which are large and fast, carry containers above deck as well as below, and their cargoes can be loaded and unloaded rapidly.

containment Strategic U.S. foreign policy of the late 1940s and early 1950s intended to check the expansionist designs of the Soviet Union through economic, military, diplomatic, and political means. It was con¬ ceived by George Kennan soon after World War II. An early application of containment was the Truman Doctrine (1947), which guaranteed U.S. aid to “free peoples” resisting “armed subjugation” by communist forces. See also Marshall Plan.

contempt In law, willful disobedience to or open disrespect of a court, judge, or legislative body. An act of disobedience to a court order may be treated as either criminal or civil contempt; sanctions for the latter end upon compliance with the order. An act or language that consists solely of an affront to a court or interferes with the conduct of its business con¬ stitutes criminal contempt; such contempt carries sanctions designed to punish as well as to coerce compliance. In the U.S., a congressional com¬ mittee can compel the attendance of witnesses. Any witness failing to appear or otherwise obstructing the committee in the course of exercis¬ ing its powers may be in contempt. Witnesses are, however, protected by the 5th Amendment against forced self-incrimination. See also perjury.

Conti family French branch of the House of Bourbon. The title of prince of Conti, created in the 16th century, was revived in favor of Armand de Bourbon, prince de Conti (1629-1666), who was a leader in the Fronde. He was the younger brother and rival of the prince de Conde (“the Great Conde”). Notable members of the Conti family include Frangois-Louis de Bourbon, prince de Conti (1664-1709), who was a candidate for the Pol¬ ish throne; and Louis-Frangois de Bourbon, prince de Conti (1717-1776), who served in the War of the Austrian Succession. The House of Conti became extinct with the death of Louis-Frangois-Joseph de Bourbon, prince de Conti (1734-1814), who had distinguished himself in the Seven Years’ War.

continent One of seven large continuous masses of land: Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia (listed in order of size). Europe and Asia are sometimes considered a single con¬ tinent, Eurasia. The continents vary greatly in size and in ratio of coastline to total area. More than two-thirds of the world’s continental land area lies north of the equator, and all the continents except Antarctica are wedge- shaped, wider in the north than in the south. See also continental drift.

Continental Congress Body of delegates that acted for the Ameri¬ can colonies and states during and after the American Revolution. The First Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia in September 1774, was called by the colonial Committees of Correspondence. The delegates

458 I Continental Divide ► continuity principle

adopted a declaration of personal rights, denounced taxation without rep¬ resentation, petitioned the British crown for a redress of grievances, and called for a boycott of British goods. The Second Continental Congress, meeting in May 1775, appointed George Washington commander in chief of the army. It later approved the Declaration of Independence (1776) and prepared the Articles of Confederation (1781), which granted certain pow¬ ers to the Congress.

Continental Divide Most notable watershed of the North American continent. The mountains comprising it extend generally north-south, thus dividing the continent’s principal drainage into waters flowing eastward (e.g., into Hudson Bay in Canada or the Mississippi River in the U.S.) and waters flowing westward (into the Pacific Ocean). Most of the divide runs along the crest of the Rocky Mountains, through British Columbia in Canada and through the states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico in the U.S. Its central point is Colorado, where it has many peaks above 13,000 ft (3,962 m). It continues southward into Mexico, roughly paralleling the Sierra Madre, and into Central America.

continental drift Large-scale movements of continents over the course of geologic time. The first complete theory of continental drift was pro¬ posed in 1912 by Alfred Wegener, who postulated that a single supercon¬ tinent, which he called Pangea, fragmented late in the Triassic Period (248- 206 million years ago) and that the parts began to move away from one another. He pointed to the similarity of rock strata in the Americas and Africa as evidence to support his hypothesis. Wegener’s ideas received support from the concepts of seafloor spreading and plate tectonics begin¬ ning in the 1960s. The modern theory states that the Americas were joined with Europe and Africa until c. 190 million years ago, when they split apart along what is now the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Subsequent tectonic plate movements brought the continents to their present positions.

The theory of continental drift is based on the concept that the continental and oce¬ anic crusts are embedded in the uppermost layer of the rocky lithosphere. The lithos¬ phere is divided into sections called tectonic plates, which slide over an underlying partly molten layer of rock called the asthenosphere. New lithosphere is created at diverging plate margins (e.g., midocean ridges), and old lithosphere is consumed at converging margins (e.g., subduction zones). The continents passively "drift" along with the moving plates, and over hundreds of millions of years this movement alters the entire geography of the Earth.

Continental philosophy Collective term for the many distinct philospohical traditions, methods, and styles that predominated on the European continent (particularly in France and Germany) from the time of Immanuel Kant. It is usually understood in contrast with analytic philoso¬ phy, also called Anglo-American philosophy. In the 20th century it encom¬ passed schools such as phenomenology, existentialism, structuralism, and deconstruction and thinkers such as Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Derrida. See also structuralism; poststructuralism.

continental shelf Broad, relatively shallow submarine platform that forms a border to a continent, typically extending from the coast to depths of 330-660 ft (100-200 m). Continental shelves average about 40 mi (65 km) in width. Almost everywhere they are simply a continuation of the continental landmass: narrow, rough, and steep off mountainous coasts but broad and comparatively level offshore from plains. Continental shelves are usually covered with a layer of sand, silts, and silty muds. Their surfaces feature small hills and ridges that alternate with shallow depressions and valley-like troughs. In a few cases, steep-walled V-shaped submarine canyons cut deeply into both the shelf and the slope below. See illustration above.

coastal shoreline plain

submarine

canyon

continental

slope

continental

shelf

abyssal

plain

The broad, gentle pitch of the continental shelf gives way to the relatively steep con¬ tinental slope. The more gradual transition to the abyssal plain is a sediment-filled region called the continental rise. The continental shelf, slope, and rise are collec¬ tively called the continental margin. Depth is exaggerated here for effect.

continental shield Any of the large stable areas of low relief (little variation in elevations) in the Earth’s crust that are composed of Precam- brian crystalline rocks. These rocks are always more than 570 million years old, and some are as old as 2-3 billion years. Continental shields occur on each of the continents.

continental slope Seaward border of a continental shelf. The world’s combined continental slope is about 200,000 mi (300,000 km) long and descends at an average angle of about 4° from the edge of the continen¬ tal shelf to the beginning of the ocean basins at depths of 330-10,500 ft (100-3,200 m). The slope is most gradual off stable coasts without major rivers and is steepest off coasts with young mountain ranges and narrow continental shelves. Slopes off mountainous coastlines and narrow shelves commonly have outcrops of rock. The dominant sediments of continen¬ tal slopes are muds; there are smaller amounts of sediments of sand or gravel.

Continental System In the Napoleonic Wars, the blockade designed by Napoleon to paralyze Britain through the destruction of British com¬ merce. In the Decrees of Berlin (1806) and Milan (1807), France pro¬ claimed that neutrals and French allies were not to trade with the British. The United Kingdom responded with a counterblockade, which led indi¬ rectly to the War of 1812. Because of Britain’s naval superiority, the effort to enforce the system proved disastrous for Napoleon.

continuing education or adult education Any form of learning provided for adults. In the U.S. the University of Wisconsin was the first academic institution to offer such programs (1904). Empire College of the State University of New York was the first to be devoted exclusively to adult learning (1969). Continuing education includes such diverse meth¬ ods as independent study; broadcast, videotape, online, and other forms of distance learning; group discussion and study circles; conferences, seminars, and workshops; and full- or part-time classroom study. Reme¬ dial programs, such as high-school equivalency and basic literacy pro¬ grams, are common. In recent years the variety of subject matter has expanded greatly to include such topics as auto repair, retirement plan¬ ning, and computer skills. See also Chautauqua movement.

continuity In mathematics, a property of functions and their graphs. A continuous function is one whose graph has no breaks, gaps, or jumps. It is defined using the concept of a limit. Specifically, a function is said to be continuous at a value x if the limit of the function exists there and is equal to the function’s value at that point. When this condition holds true for all real number values of x in an interval, the result is a graph that can be drawn over that interval without lifting the pencil. Such functions are crucial to the theory of calculus, not just because they model most physi¬ cal systems but because the theorems that lead to the derivative and the integral assume the continuity of the functions involved.

continuity principle or continuity equation Principle of fluid mechanics. Stated simply, what flows into a defined volume in a defined time, minus what flows out of that volume in that time, must accumulate in that volume. If the sign of the accumulation is negative, then the mate-

continuo ► conversion disorder I 459

rial in that volume is being depleted. The principle is a consequence of the law of conservation of mass. The behaviour of fluids in motion is fully described by this equation, plus a second equation, based on the second of Newton's laws of motion, and a third equation, based on the conser¬ vation of ENERGY.

continuo or basso continuo In Baroque music, a special subgroup of an instrumental ensemble. It consists of two instruments reading the same part: a bass instrument, such as a cello or bassoon, and a chordal instrument, most often a harpsichord but sometimes an organ or lute. Its appearance in the early 17th century reflected the radically new musical texture of accompanied melody that was especially typical of the new vocal genre of opera. The continuo (which has a counterpart in the bass and rhythm guitar of a rock band) came to be employed in virtually all ensemble music of the Baroque era.

contra Member of a counterrevolutionary force that sought to overthrow Nicaragua’s left-wing Sandinista government. The original contras had been National Guardsmen during the regime of Anastasio Somoza (see Somoza family). The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency played a key role in training and funding the group, whose tactics were decried by the inter¬ national human-rights community. In 1984 the U.S. Congress banned military aid to the contras; the efforts of the administration of U.S. presi¬ dent Ronald Reagan to circumvent the ban led to the Iran-Contra Affair. A general peace in the region was negotiated by Costa Rican president Oscar Arias SAnchez, and in 1990 Nicaraquan president Violeta Chamorro negotiated the contras’ demobilization. See also Daniel Ortega.

contraception Birth control by prevention of conception or impreg¬ nation. The most common method is sterilization. The most effective tem¬ porary methods are nearly 99% effective if used consistently and correctly. Many methods carry health risks; barrier devices and avoidance of inter¬ course during the most fertile period are safest. Hormonal contraceptives use estrogen and/or progesterone to inhibit ovulation. The “morning-after pill” (high-dose hormones) is effective even after intercourse. The most serious side effect of oral contraceptives is the risk of blood-clotting dis¬ orders. Intrauterine devices (IUDs) are placed inside the uterus and appear to cause a mild endometrial inflammation that either inhibits fertilization or prevents a fertilized egg from implanting. Certain types were taken off the market in the 1970s and ’80s when it was found that their side effects included a high incidence of pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, and spontaneous septic abortion. Barrier devices, such as condoms, dia¬ phragms, cervical caps, female condoms (vaginal pouches), and vaginal sponges, prevent sperm from entering the uterus. Condoms also prevent sexually transmitted disease. Used with spermicides, condoms are nearly 100% effective. Fertility awareness techniques have evolved from keep¬ ing track of the menstrual cycle (the so-called “rhythm method”; see men¬ struation) to avoid intercourse around the time of ovulation; tracking body temperature and cervical mucus consistency can raise effectiveness to more than 80%. Experimental forms of birth control include an oral con¬ traceptive for men.

contract Agreement between two or more parties that creates for each party a duty to do something (e.g., to provide goods at a certain price according to a specified schedule) or a duty not to do something (e.g., to divulge an employer’s trade secrets or financial status to third parties). A party’s failure to honour a contract allows the other party or parties to bring an action for damages in a court of law, though arbitration may also be pursued in an effort to keep the matter confidential. In order to be valid, a contract must be entered into both willingly and freely. A contract that violates this principle, including one made with a legal minor or a per¬ son deemed mentally incompetent, may be declared unenforceable. A contract also must have a lawful objective.

contralto See alto

contrast medium Substance comparatively opaque to X-rays, which appears lighter on X-ray film and allows a body structure that does not normally contrast with its background to be seen clearly on the film. Common contrast media include barium sulfate and iodized organic com¬ pounds. They are given by the route that introduces them into the struc¬ ture to be examined—swallowed or as an enema for the digestive tract, inhaled for the respiratory tract, or injected for blood vessels and for organs and tissues they supply. Serious reactions to contrast media are not infrequent. See also diagnostic imaging.

contredanse See country dance

Contreras \kon-'tra-ras\, Battle of (Aug. 19-20, 1847) Decisive engagement between U.S. and Mexican troops in the Mexican War. On its march to Mexico City, the U.S. force under Winfield Scott was blocked by a Mexican force and detoured via a difficult road across lava beds held by another Mexican force. After an engagement that lasted less than 20 minutes, Scott’s troops gained control of several roads to Mexico City. They then captured the main Mexican army of Antonio Santa Anna at Churubusco.

contributory negligence In law, behaviour that contributes to one’s own injury or loss and fails to meet the standard of prudence that one should observe for one’s own good. Contributory negligence of the plain¬ tiff is frequently pleaded in defense to a charge of negligence. In Engish law and in the law of many U.S. states, if the plaintiff is shown to have contributed through negligence to his own injury, recovery may still be allowed, but provision is made for an equitable reduction of damages. Contributory negligence has been criticized by some authorities because it effectively excuses one party (the defendant) even though both were negligent.

control system Means by which a set of variable quantities is held constant or caused to vary in a prescribed way. Control systems are inti¬ mately related to the concept of automation but have an ancient history. Roman engineers maintained water levels in aqueducts by means of float¬ ing valves that opened and closed at appropriate levels. James Watt’s fly- ball governor (1769) regulated steam flow to a steam engine to maintain constant engine speed despite a changing load. In World War II, control- system theory was applied to anti-aircraft batteries and fire-control sys¬ tems. The introduction of analog and digital computers opened the way for much greater complexity in automatic control theory. See also Jac¬ quard LOOM, PNEUMATIC DEVICE, SERVOMECHANISM.

control theory Field of applied mathematics relevant to the control of certain physical processes and systems. It became a field in its own right in the late 1950s and early ’60s. After World War II, problems arising in engineering and economics were recognized as variants of problems in dif¬ ferential equations and in the calculus of variations, though they were not covered by existing theories. Special modifications of classical techniques and theories were devised to solve individual problems, until it was rec¬ ognized that these seemingly diverse problems all had the same math¬ ematical structure, and control theory emerged. See also control system.

convection Process by which heat is transferred by movement of a heated fluid such as air or water. Most fluids expand when heated. They become less dense and more buoyant, and so rise. The heated molecules eventually cool, become more dense, and sink. This repeated process sets up convection currents that account for the uniform heating of the air in a room or water in a kettle. Air convection can be forced by a fan, and water convection by a pump. Atmospheric convection currents can be set up by local heating effects such as solar radiation or contact with cold surfaces. Such currents are usually vertical and account for atmospheric phenomena such as clouds and thunderstorms.

convection See mass flow

Convention, National See National Convention

convention, political See political convention

convergence Mathematical property of infinite series, integrals on unbounded regions, and certain sequences of numbers. An infinite series is convergent if the sum of its terms is finite. The series Vi + l A + Vs + Vi6 + Via. + ... sums to 1 and thus is convergent. The harmonic series 1 + Vi + l A + l A + Vs + ... does not converge. An integral calculated over an inter¬ val of infinite width, called an improper integral, describes a region that is unbounded in at least one direction. If such an integral converges, the unbounded region it describes has finite area. A sequence of numbers converges to a particular number when the difference between successive terms becomes arbitrarily small. The sequence 0.9, 0.99, 0.999, etc., con¬ verges to 1.

conversion disorder formerly hysteria In psychology, a neurosis marked by extreme emotional excitability and disturbances of psychic, sensory, vasomotor, and visceral functions. The earlier concept of hyste¬ ria was used frequently in the first half of the 20th century to explain a wide variety of symptoms and behaviours observed particularly in women. (The term hysteria derives from the Greek word for womb, reflecting the Greeks’ belief that the condition resulted from disturbances

460 I conveyor belt ► Coolidge

of the uterus.) Disorders with symptoms similar to those of conversion disorder include factitious disorder, dissociative identity disorder, and per¬ sonality disorder (histrionic type).

conveyor belt One of various devices that provide mechanized move¬ ment of material, as in a factory. Conveyor belts are used in industrial applications and also on large farms, in warehousing and freight-handling, and in movement of raw materials. Belt conveyors of fabric, rubber, plas¬ tic, leather, or metal are driven by a power-operated roll mounted under¬ neath or at one end of the conveyor. The belt forms a continuous loop and is supported either on rollers (for heavy loads) or on a metal slider pan (if loads are light enough to prevent frictional drag on the belt). Motors operating through constant- or variable-speed reduction gears usually pro¬ vide the power.

convolvulus See bindweed

convoy Vessels sailing under the protection of an armed escort. Since the 17th century, neutral powers have claimed the right of convoy in war¬ time, providing warships to escort their merchantmen and keep them secure from search or seizure. In World War I the British organized trans¬ atlantic convoys protected by a cordon of warships; the same system pro¬ tected Allied shipping from German submarines during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II. During the Iran-Iraq War (1980-90), oil tank¬ ers transiting the Strait of Hormuz into and out of the Persian Gulf were escorted by warships of the U.S. and other Western navies.

Conway, Thomas (b. Feb. 27, 1735, Ireland—d. c. 1800) General of the U.S. army during the American Revolution. Sent by France to aid the Revolutionary army, he fought in the Battles of Brandywine and German¬ town, then was promoted to major general by Congress, against the advice of George Washington. Conway advocated Washington’s replacement as commander in chief by Horatio Gates; his “plot,” called the Conway Cabal, was exposed, and he was forced to resign.

cony or coney Any of certain unrelated animals, including two mam¬ mals and two fishes. One mammalian cony is more commonly called a pika. The name cony was once applied to the rabbit and is still sometimes used in the fur business to indicate rabbit fur. The cony of the Old World and the Bible is an unrelated mammal, the hyrax. A variety of whitefish is also called cony, as are certain varieties of sea bass.

Cook, James known as Captain Cook (b. Oct. 27, 1728, Marton- in-Cleveland, Yorkshire, Eng.—d. Feb. 14, 1779, Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii) British sailor and explorer. He joined the Royal Navy (1755) and in 1763-67 surveyed the St. Lawrence River and the coast of Newfound¬ land. In 1768 he was appointed commander of the first scientific expe¬ dition to the Pacific. Sailing on the HMS Endeavour , he found and charted all of New Zealand and explored the eastern coast of Australia. That voy¬ age (1768-71) produced a wealth of scientifically collected material and was also notable for Cook’s successful prevention of scurvy among crew members. Promoted to commander, he was sent with two ships to make the first circumnavigation and penetration into the Antarctic. On that expe¬ dition (1772-75), which ranks as one of the greatest of all sailing-ship voyages, he successfully completed the first west-east circumnavigation in high latitudes. On a third voyage (1776-79) in search of a Northwest Passage around Canada and Alaska, he was killed by Polynesian natives on Hawaii.

Cook, Mt. See Mount Cook National Park

Cook, Thomas (b. Nov. 22, 1808, Melbourne, Derbyshire, Eng.—d. July 18, 1892, Leicester, Leicestershire) British innovator of the con¬ ducted tour. A Baptist missionary, in 1841 he arranged for a special train to be run to a temperance meeting; this was probably the first publicly advertised excursion train in England. He began to arrange excursions on a regular basis, and in 1856 he led his first grand tour of Europe. In the early 1860s he became an agent for the sale of travel tickets; with his son, John Mason Cook (1834-99), he founded the Thomas Cook & Son travel agency. In the 1880s the firm also organized military transport and postal services.

Cook Inlet Inlet, Gulf of Alaska in the northern Pacific Ocean. Bounded by the Kenai Peninsula on the east, it extends northeast for 220 mi (350 km), narrowing from 80 to 9 mi (129 to 14 km). Anchorage is situated near its head. It is a salmon and herring fishing ground and an oil field.

Cook Islands Island group (pop., 2005 est.: 13,900), southern Pacific Ocean. Located roughly 2,000 mi (3,000 km) northeast of New Zealand,

the 15 islands, scattered from north to south over some 900 mi (1,450 km) of ocean, are divided into a southern group of nine islands, includ¬ ing Raratonga (the seat of government), and a northern group of six. All in the northern group are true atolls; most in the southern group have vol¬ canic interiors. They were probably settled by Polynesians from Tonga and Samoa; there is evidence of a highly organized society c. ad 1100. Capt. James Cook explored many of them during the 1770s. Established as a British protectorate in 1888, they were annexed by New Zealand in 1901. Self-government in free association with New Zealand was achieved in 1965.

Cook Strait Strait, separating North and South islands of New Zealand. Extending from the Tasman Sea to the Pacific Ocean, it is about 14 mi (23 km) wide at its narrowest point and averages 420 ft (128 m) in depth. Both shores are lined with steep cliffs, and that of South Island is deeply embayed. Treacherous currents and fierce storms present serious hazards to navigation. Capt. James Cook explored the strait in 1770.

Cooke, (Alfred) Alistair (b. Nov. 20, 1908, Salford, Lancashire [now in Greater Manchester], Eng.—d. March 30, 2004, New York, N.Y., U.S.) British-U.S. journalist and commentator. Cooke settled in New York City after studies at the University of Cambridge and at Yale and Harvard uni¬ versities. From the late 1930s he provided lively and insightful interpre¬ tations of American culture and history to British audiences in newspapers and radio broadcasts. His weekly radio program Letter from America (1946-2004) was one of the longest-running series on radio; One Man’s America (1952) and Talk About America (1968) collect many of its texts. His television programs include Omnibus (1956-61) and the BBC- produced series America (1972-73). He hosted television’s Masterpiece Theatre from the 1970s to the early ’90s.

Cooke, Jay (b. Aug. 10, 1821, Sandusky, Ohio, U.S.—d. Feb. 18, 1905, Ogontz, Pa.) U.S. financier and fund-raiser for the federal government during the American Civil War. He entered a Philadelphia banking house at age 18 and opened his own in 1861. That same year, he floated a $3 million war loan for the state of Pennsylvania. During the next four years he organized the sale of hundreds of millions in bonds for the federal gov¬ ernment. Cooke’s effort to finance construction of the Northern Pacific Railway in 1870 led to his firm’s failure, but he rebuilt his fortune within a decade.

Cooke, Sam(uel) (b. Jan. 22, 1931, Clarksdale, Miss., U.S.—d. Dec. 11, 1964, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. singer and songwriter. The son of a Baptist minister, Cooke started his career singing gospel music. Switching to rhythm and blues and soul music, he had a series of hits, including “You Send Me,” “Wonderful World,” “Cupid,” “Twistin’ the Night Away,” and “Bring It on Home to Me.” Cooke was shot to death in a Los Angeles motel room.

cookie File or part of a file put on a Web user’s hard disk by a Web site. Cookies are used to store registration data, to make it possible to cus¬ tomize information for visitors to a Web site, to target Web advertising, and to keep track of the products a user wishes to order online. Early browsers often enabled cookies to track which Web sites a user has vis¬ ited and to retrieve data from other parts of the user’s hard disk; current browsers prevent this and permit a site to have access only to cookies written by that site.

Cookstown District (pop., 2001: 32,581), Northern Ireland. In an agri¬ cultural region, it has extensive dairy farming and cattle, poultry, and sheep raising. The town of Cookstown (pop., 1991: 9,842) is the admin¬ istrative centre; it was originally a 17th-century English colonial settle¬ ment named for its founder, Alan Cooke.

Cooley, Charles Horton (b. Aug. 17, 1864, Ann Arbor, Mich., U.S.—d. May 8, 1929, Ann Arbor) U.S. sociologist. The son of an emi¬ nent Michigan jurist, Cooley taught sociology at the University of Michi¬ gan from 1894. He believed that the mind is social, that society is a mental construct, and that the moral unity of society derives from face-to-face relationships in primary groups such as the family and neighbourhood. In Human Nature and the Social Order (1902), he referred to this form of social reference as “the looking glass self.” Cooley’s other works include Social Organization (1909) and Social Process (1918).

Coolidge, (John) Calvin (b. July 4, 1872, Plymouth, Vt., U.S.—d. Jan. 5, 1933, Northampton, Mass.) 30th president of the U.S. (1923-29). He practiced law in Massachusetts from 1897 and served as lieutenant governor before being elected governor in 1918. He gained national atten-

Coolidge ► coordinate system I 461

tion by calling out the state guard during the Boston Police Strike in 1919. At the 1920 Republican con¬ vention, “Silent Cal” was nominated for vice president and elected on a ticket with Warren G. Harding.

When Harding died in office in 1923,

Coolidge became president. He restored confidence in an administra¬ tion discredited by scandals and won the presidential election in 1924, eas¬ ily defeating Democrat John W.

Davis and Progressive Robert La Fol- lette. He vetoed measures to provide farm relief and bonuses to World War I veterans. His presidency was marked by apparent prosperity. Con¬ gress maintained a high protective tariff and instituted tax reductions that favoured capital. Coolidge declined to run for a second term.

His conservative policies of domestic and international inaction have come to symbolize the era between World War I and the Great Depression.

Coolidge, William D(avid) (b. Oct. 23, 1873, Hudson, Mass., U.S.—d. Feb. 3, 1975, Schenectady, N.Y.) U.S. engineer and physical chemist. He taught at MIT (1897, 1901-05) before joining the General Electric Research Laboratory, where in 1908 he perfected a process to render tungsten ductile and therefore more suitable for incandescent light- bulbs. In 1916 he patented a revolutionary X-ray tube capable of produc¬ ing highly predictable amounts of radiation; it was the prototype of the modern X-ray tube. With Irving Langmuir, he also developed the first suc¬ cessful submarine-detection system.

cooling system Apparatus used to keep the temperature of a structure or device from exceeding limits imposed by needs of safety and efficiency. In a mechanical transmission, the oil loses its lubricating capacity if over¬ heated; in a hydraulic coupling or converter, the fluid leaks under the pressure created. In an electric motor, overheating causes deterioration of the insulation. In an overheated internal-combustion engine, the pistons may seize in the cylinders. The cooling agents customarily employed are air and a liquid (usually water), either alone or in combination. In some cases, direct contact with ambient air (free convection) may be sufficient, as in cooling towers; in other cases, it may be necessary to employ forced convection, created either by a fan or by the natural motion of the hot body. Cooling systems are used in automobiles, industrial plant machin¬ ery, nuclear reactors, and many other types of machinery. See also air CONDITIONING, HEAT EXCHANGER.

Coomassie See Kumasi coon cat See Maine coon cat

Cooper, Alfred Duff, 1 st Viscount Norwich of Aldwick (b.

Feb. 22, 1890—d. Jan. 1, 1954) British politician. He served as a Con¬ servative in Parliament (1924-29 and 1931—45). After a stint as secretary of state for war (1935-37), he became first lord of the Admiralty (1937) but resigned to protest the Munich agreement. Later he served as minister of information under Winston Churchill (1940^11) and as ambassador to France (1944-47). His books include Talleyrand, Haig , and his autobi¬ ography, Old Men Forget.

Cooper, Gary orig. Frank James Cooper (b. May 7, 1901, Hel¬ ena, Mont., U.S.—d. May 13, 1961, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. film actor. He moved to Hollywood in 1924 and played minor roles in low-budget westerns before becoming a star with The Virginian (1929). Lanky and handsome, he played the strong, soft-spoken man of action in films such as A Farewell to Arms (1932), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Beau Geste (1939), Meet John Doe (1941), Sergeant York (1941, Academy Award), and The Fountainhead (1949). His performance in High Noon (1952, Academy Award) is considered his finest. His later films include Friendly Persuasion (1956) and Love in the Afternoon (1957).

Cooper, Dame Gladys (b. Dec. 18, 1888, Lewisham, London, Eng.—d. Nov. 17, 1971, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire) British actress. After her London debut in 1906, she performed in musicals and dramas, including The Importance of Being Earnest (1911). She was comanager

of London’s Playhouse Theatre (1917-27) and then its sole manager (1927-33). Her appearance in The Second Mrs. Tanqueray (1922) made her a star. She made her U.S. stage debut in The Shining Hour (1934) and later acted in Relative Values (1951) and The Chalk Garden (1955). She personified British poise in U.S. films such as Now, Voyager (1942) and Separate Tables (1958).

Cooper, James Fenimore (b. Sept. 15, 1789, Burlington, N.J., U.S.—d. Sept. 14, 1851, Cooperstown, N.Y.) The first major U.S. nov¬ elist. Cooper grew up in a prosperous family in the settlement of Coo¬ perstown, founded by his father. The Spy (1821), set during the American Revolution, brought him fame. His best-known novels, the series The Leatherstocking Tales, feature the frontier adventures of the wilderness scout Natty Bumppo and include The Pioneers (1823), The Last of the Mohicans (1826), The Prairie (1827), The Pathfinder (1840), and The Deerslayer (1841). He also wrote popular sea novels, notably The Pilot (1823), and a history of the U.S. Navy (1839). Though internationally celebrated, he was troubled by lawsuits and political conflicts in his later years, and his popularity and income declined.

Cooper, Leon N(eil) (b. Feb. 28, 1930, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. physicist. He taught at Ohio State University (1954-58) and Brown Uni¬ versity (from 1958). For his role in developing the BCS theory of super¬ conductivity, he shared the 1972 Nobel Prize for Physics with John Bardeen and J. Robert Schrieffer (b. 1931). His principal contribution to the theory was his discovery of Cooper electron pairs (1956), electrons that repel each other under normal conditions but are attracted to each other in superconductors.

Cooper, Peter (b. Feb. 12, 1791, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. April 4, 1883, New York City) U.S. inventor. Cooper became involved with the Canton Iron Works, built to supply the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co., for which he devised and built the diminutive but powerful Tom Thumb locomotive. His factory at Trenton, N.J., produced the first structural-iron beams for buildings. He supported the Atlantic-cable project of Cyrus Field (1819-92) and became president of the North American Telegraph Co. His inventions include a washing machine, a compressed-air engine for ferry boats, and a waterpower device for moving canal barges. A social idealist and reformer, he founded the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 1859.

Cooper Creek or Barcoo River Intermittent stream, east-central Australia. Rising as the Barcoo on the northern slopes of the Warrego Range in Queensland, it is joined by the Alice River, turns southwest, and receives its principal tributary, the Thomson, from which point it is known as Cooper Creek. Crossing the South Australia border, it carries water to Lake Eyre. Its total length is 880 mi (1,420 km).

cooperative Organization owned by and operated for the benefit of those using its services. Cooperatives have been successful in such fields as the processing and marketing of farm products and the purchasing of other kinds of equipment and raw materials, and in the wholesaling, retail¬ ing, electric power, credit and banking, and housing industries. The mod¬ em consumer cooperative traces its roots to Britain’s Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers (1844); the movement spread quickly in northern Europe. In the U.S., agricultural marketing cooperatives developed in rural areas in the 19th century; other contemporary examples include consumer and housing cooperatives. See also credit union.

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Political party prominent in western Canada in the 1930s and ’40s. It was founded in Calgary, Alta., in 1932 by a federation of farm, labour, and socialist par¬ ties to transform the capitalist system into a “cooperative commonwealth” by democratic means. It called for the socialization of banks and public ownership of transportation, communication, and natural resources. It won the general election in Saskatchewan in 1944 and took over the pro¬ vincial government. It won further Saskatchewan elections but declined elsewhere. In 1961 it merged with the New Democratic Party.

coordinate geometry See analytic geometry

coordinate system Arrangement of reference lines or curves used to identify the location of points in space. In two dimensions, the most com¬ mon system is the Cartesian (after Rene Descartes) system. Points are des¬ ignated by their distance along a horizontal (x) and vertical (y) axis from a reference point, the origin, designated (0, 0). Cartesian coordinates also can be used for three (or more) dimensions. A polar coordinate system locates a point by its direction relative to a reference direction and its

Calvin Coolidge.

ENCYCLOPAlDIA BRITANNICA, INC.

462 i coordinate system ► Copernicus

distance from a given point, also the origin. Such a system is used in radar or sonar tracking and is the basis of bearing-and-range navigation sys¬ tems. In three dimensions, it leads to cylindrical and spherical coordinates.

coordinate system, spherical See spherical coordinate system

Coos \'kiis\ Bay formerly Marshfield Bay Town (pop., 2000: 15,374), southwestern Oregon, U.S. Located on Coos Bay, an inlet of the Pacific, it was settled as Marshfield in 1854 and developed early ship¬ building industries. In the early 1900s it became a major lumber-shipping port. A port of entry, it also processes seafood products and is the heart of a seaside resort area. Incorporated in 1874, it was renamed Coos Bay (after an Indian tribal name) in 1944.

Coosa River River, in Georgia and Alabama, U.S. Formed by the con¬ fluence of the Etowah and Oostanaula rivers at Rome, Ga., it flows south for 286 mi (460 km) through the Appalachian Ridge and Valley region into the Gulf coastal plain. It joins the Tallapoosa River north of Mont¬ gomery to form the Alabama River. Locks and dams make navigation pos¬ sible to Rome.

coot Any of 10 species of ducklike waterbirds (genus Fulica) in the rail family. Coots are found worldwide in larger inland waters and streams, where they swim and bob for food, mostly plants, seeds, mollusks, and worms. They have greenish or blu¬ ish gray feet, with toes fringed by a lobed membrane that helps them swim and walk over marshes. The short conical beak is topped by a flat¬ tened, fleshy shield that extends onto the forehead. The European coot is about 18 in. (45 cm) long and weighs 2 lbs (900 g). The coot of North America resembles the European species.

cootie See human louse

Copacabana \ l ko-p3-ko- , ba-n3\

Southeastern district of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Occupying a narrow strip of land between the mountains and the sea, it is a popular resort area, famous for its magnificent 2.5-mi (4-km) curved beach along the entrance to Guanabara Bay. Hotels, nightclubs, and restaurants line the waterfront.

Copan \ko-'pan\ Ruined ancient Mayan city, Honduras. It lies near the Guatemalan border on the bank of the Copan River, about 35 mi (56 km) from modem Santa Rosa de Copan. An important centre of Mayan art and astronomy during the Classic Period (c. ad 250-c. 900), it was at its peak early in the 9th cen¬ tury and may have been home to as many as 20,000 people. The site con¬ sists of stone temples, two large pyramids, several stairways and pla¬ zas, and a ball court. It is particularly noted for the friezes on its buildings.

The Maya had completely aban¬ doned the site by c. 1200. It was des¬ ignated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.

Cope, Edward Drinker (b. July 28, 1840, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—d.

April 12, 1897, Philadelphia) U.S. paleontologist. He devoted 22 years to exploration and research, espe¬ cially in the description of extinct fishes, reptiles, and mammals of the western U.S. He discovered about 1,000 species of extinct vertebrates and developed the evolutionary his¬ tories of the horse and of mammalian teeth. His theory of kinetogenesis, stating that the natural movements of animals aided in the alteration and development of moving parts, led him to support Lamarck’s theory of evo¬

lution. He engaged in a bitter, long-running feud with O.C. Marsh. Among his 1,200 books and papers are Reptilia and Aves of North America (1869- 70) and Relation of Man to Tertiary Mammalia (1875).

Copenhagen V.ko-psn-'ha-gan, 'ko-pgn-.ha-gsnV Danish Keben- havn \,kce-b3n-'haun\ Capital and largest city (pop., 2001: city, 499,148; metro, area, 1,081,673) of Denmark. It is located on the islands of Zealand (Sjaelland) and Amager. A small village existed on the site by the early 10th century. In 1167 Bishop Absalon built a castle there and fortified the town. In 1445 Copenhagen was made the capital and the residence of the royal family. Its palaces include Amalienborg, home to the Danish mon- archs, and Christiansborg, now housing Parliament. Tivoli amusement park is a popular attraction. Copenhagen is one of Europe’s leading cul¬ tural and educational centres; its oldest university was founded in 1479. Historically a trade and shipping hub, it has also become an industrial city. Shipbuilding, machinery production, and canning and brewing are among the chief manufacturing activities.

Copenhagen, Battle of (April 2, 1801) British naval victory over Denmark in the Napoleonic Wars. The armed-neutrality treaty of 1794 between Denmark and Sweden, to which Russia and Prussia adhered in 1800, was considered a hostile act by England. In 1801 a detachment of the British navy was sent to Copenhagen. After a fierce battle in the har¬ bor, Adm. Horatio Nelson, ignoring orders to withdraw from the fleet commander, Sir Hyde Parker, instead continued to destroy most of the Danish fleet. Danish losses amounted to some 6,000 dead and wounded, six times those of the British. Denmark subsequently withdrew from the neutrality treaty.

copepod Vk6-p3-,pad\ Any of the 10,000 known species of crustaceans in the subclass Copepoda. Copepods are widely distributed and ecologi¬ cally important, serving as food for many species of fish. Most species are free-living marine forms, found from the sea’s surface to great depths. Some live in freshwater or in damp vegetation; others are para¬ sites. Most species are 0.02-0.08 in.

(0.5-2 mm) long. The largest spe¬ cies, a parasite of the fin whale, grows to a length of about 13 in. (32 cm). Unlike most crustaceans, cope- pods have no carapace. Nonparasitic forms feed on microscopic plants or animals or even on animals as large as themselves. Members of the genus Cyclops (order Cyclopoida) are called water fleas. See also guinea worm.

Copernican Vka-'psr-ni-ksnV system or Copernican principle

Model of the solar system centred on the Sun, with Earth and other plan¬ ets revolving around it, formulated by Nicolaus Copernicus in the mid 16th century. Having the Sun in this central position explained the apparent motion of planets relative to the fixed stars and was truer than the Earth- centred Ptolemaic system (see Ptolemy). Scientifically, the Copernican sys¬ tem led to belief in a much larger universe than before (because, if the Earth revolved around the Sun, the stars would have to be very distant not to appeal - to alter their position); more broadly, the Copernican prin¬ ciple is invoked to argue against any theory that would give the solar sys¬ tem a special place in the universe. Dethronement of Earth from the centre of the universe caused profound shock: the Copernican system challenged the entire system of ancient authority and required a complete change in the philosophical conception of the universe.

Copernicus Vka-'psr-ni-kssV Nicolaus Polish Mikotaj Kopernik

(b. Feb. 19, 1473, Torun, Pol.—d. May 24, 1543, Frauenburg, East Prus¬ sia) Polish astronomer. He was educated at Krakow, Bologna, and Padua, where he mastered all the knowledge of the day in mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and theology. Elected a canon of the cathedral of Frauenburg in 1497, he took advantage of his financial security to begin his astronomical observations. His publication in 1543 of Six Books Con¬ cerning the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbs marked a landmark of Western thought (see Copernican system). Copernicus had first conceived of his revolutionary model decades earlier but delayed publication because, while it explained the retrograde motion of the planets (and resolved their order), it raised new problems that had to be explained, required verification of old observations, and had to be presented in a way that would not provoke the religious authorities. The book did not see

Mud hen (Fulica americana)

BENJAMIN GOLDSTEIN FROM ROOT RESOURCES-EB INC.

Stela with portrait sculpture, Copan, Honduras.

WALTER AGUIAR/EB INC.

Copepods (Temora)

DOUGLAS P. WILSON

copier ► copyright I 463

print until he was on his deathbed. By attributing to Earth a daily rota¬ tion around its own axis and a yearly revolution around a stationary Sun, he developed an idea that had far-reaching implications for the rise of modern science. He asserted, in contrast to Platonic instrumentalism, that astronomy must describe the real, physical system of the world. Only with Johannes Kepler was Copernicus’s model fully transformed into a new philosophy about the fundamental structure of the universe.

copier See photocopier

Copland Vko-pbndX, Aaron (b. Nov. 14, 1900, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—d. Dec. 2, 1990, North Tarrytown, N.Y.) U.S. composer. Bom to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, he studied composition in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. In his early works he experimented with jazz rhythms and then with an abstract style influenced by Neoclassicism. After the mid-1930s he was concerned with making music accessible to a wider audience and adopted notably American traits in his compositions. Famously public-spirited and generous, he came to be unofficially regarded as the U.S.’s national composer. He is best known for his three ballets based on American folk material: Billy the Kid (1938), Rodeo (1942), and Appalachian Spring (1944, Pulitzer Prize). He also wrote film scores, orchestral works, and operas. In his later years Copland refined his treatment of Americana, making his references less overt, and he pro¬ duced a number of works using the experimental technique of SERIALISM. He continued to lecture and to conduct through the mid-1980s.

Copley, John Singleton (b. July 3, 1738, Boston, Mass.—d. Sept. 9, 1815, London, Eng.) U.S. painter of portraits and historical subjects. The stepson of an engraver, he was an accomplished draftsman before age 20 and flourished as a portrait artist in his native Boston. He was famous for his portraits d’apparat, portrayals of his subjects with the objects asso¬ ciated with them in their daily lives or professions. In 1775 he settled in London and turned to the more fashionable history painting; he was elected to the Royal Academy in 1779. He revealed a gift for portraying heroic action in multifigure compositions. He is considered the greatest U.S. painter of the 18th century and the finest artist of the colonial era.

copper Metallic chemical element, one of the transition elements, chemi¬ cal symbol Cu, atomic number 29.

Sometimes found in the free state in nature, it is a reddish metal, very duc¬ tile and an unusually good conduc¬ tor of electricity and heat. Most of the world’s copper production is used by the electrical industries; the remainder is combined with other metals (e.g., zinc, tin, nickel) to form alloys such as brass, bronze, nickel silver, and Monel. Copper is part of nearly all coinage metals. In com¬ pounds copper usually has valence 1 (cuprous) or 2 (cupric). Cuprous compounds include cuprous oxide, a red pigment and a fungicide; cuprous chloride, a catalyst for certain organic reactions; and cuprous sulfide, with a variety of uses. Cupric compounds include cupric oxide, a pigment, decolorizing agent, and cata¬ lyst; cupric chloride, a catalyst, wood preservative, mordant, disinfectant, feed additive, and pigment; and cupric sulfate, a pesticide, germicide, feed additive, and soil additive. Copper is a necessary trace element in the human diet and essential to plant growth; in blue-blooded mollusks and crustaceans it plays the same role in hemocyanin as iron does in hemo¬ globin.

copper (butterfly) Any member of the butterfly subfamily Lycaeninae (family Lycaenidae). Coppers are common and widely distributed. Adults, sometimes known as gossamer-winged butterflies, are delicate, with a wingspan of 0.75-1.5 in. (18-38 mm). They are rapid fliers, usually with iridescent wings. Coppers typically range from orange-red to brown, usu¬ ally with a copper tinge and dark markings. Copper larvae feed on clo¬ ver, dock, or sorrel.

Copper Age First part of the Bronze Age. The beginning of the period is sometimes called the Chalcolithic (Copper-Stone) Age (c. 8000 bc), referring to the initial use of copper ore. Sometime after 6000 bc, smelt¬ ing ore to produce pure copper was discovered in Anatolia (Turkey). From 5000 bc copper metallurgy, with cast tools and weapons, was a factor

leading to urbanization in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Copper metallurgy spread to India by 3500 bc and to Europe and China by 3000 bc. Copper ore occasionally contains tin, which makes dating bronze metallurgy dif¬ ficult. The Bronze Age began c. 3500 bc in the Middle East and spread throughout the Old World between 3000 and 1800 bc. The Copper Age began in the New World c. ad 100 and the Bronze Age c. 1000.

Copperhead Term used during the American Civil War to describe a Northerner who opposed the war policy and favoured a negotiated settle¬ ment with the South. The term was first used in 1861 by the New York Tribune, referring to the copperhead snake that strikes without warning. Most Copperheads (also called Peace Democrats) were from the Midwest, where agrarian interests distrusted the growing federal power. The move¬ ment’s leaders included Clement Vallandigham. Though the movement was unable to influence the conduct of the war, Republicans used the Cop¬ perhead label to discredit the Democratic Party.

copperhead Any of several unrelated species of snake named for their reddish head. The North American copperhead ( Agkistrodon contortrix), also called the highland moccasin, is a pit viper of swampy, rocky, and wooded regions of the central and eastern U.S. It is usually less than 3 ft (1 m) long and is pinkish or reddish with a copper-coloured head and reddish brown, often hourglass-shaped crossbands on its back. Its venom is relatively weak, and a bite is rarely fatal to humans. The Australian copperhead is an eiapid, and the Indian copperhead is a rat snake.

Coppermine River Stream, Northwest Territories and Nunavut terri¬ tory, Canada. Rising in the Barren Grounds, a subarctic prairie region, it flows north for 525 mi (845 km) into Coronation Gulf, an arm of the Arc¬ tic Ocean, near the Inuit settlement of Kugluktuk (formerly Coppermine). Unnavigable because of numerous rapids and a short ice-free season, it is a noted Arctic char fishing stream.

Coppola Vko-po-lsV, Francis Ford (b. April 7, 1939, Detroit, Mich., U.S.) U.S. film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked under Roger Corman before achieving his first success with the low-budget but stylish You’re a Big Boy Now (1967). He wrote or cowrote screenplays for several films, including Patton (1970, Academy Award). He won acclaim for writing and directing the Mafia epic The Godfather (1972, Academy Awards for best picture and screenplay). His other films include The Conversation (1974), The Godfather, Part II (1974, Academy Awards for best director, picture, and screenplay). Apocalypse Now (1979), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), The Godfather, Part III (1990), and The Rain¬ maker (1997).

coprocessor Additional processor used in some personal computers to perform specialized tasks such as extensive arithmetic calculations or processing of graphical displays. The coprocessor is often designed to do such tasks more efficiently than the main processor, resulting in far greater speeds for the computer as a whole.

Coptic Orthodox Church Principal Christian church in Egypt. Until the 19th century it was called simply the Egyptian Church. It agrees doc- trinally with Eastern Orthodoxy except that it holds that Jesus has a purely divine nature and never became human, a belief the Council of Chalce- don rejected (see Monophysite heresy) in ad 451. After the Arab conquest (7th century), service books were written with Coptic and Arabic in par¬ allel texts. Church government is democratic, and the patriarch, who resides in Cairo, is elected. There are congregations outside Egypt, espe¬ cially in Australia and the U.S., and the church is in communion with the Ethiopian, Armenian, and Syrian Jacobite churches.

copulation See sexual intercourse

copyhold In English law, a form of landholding defined as a “holding at the will of the lord according to the custom of the manor.” Its origin is found in the occupation by villeins, or nonfreemen, of portions of land belonging to the manor of the feudal lord. It was occupation at the plea¬ sure of the lord, but in time it grew into an occupation by right, called villenagium, which was recognized first by custom and then by law. In 1926 all copyhold land became freehold land, though lords of manors retained mineral and sporting rights.

copyright Exclusive right to reproduce, publish, or sell an original work of authorship. It protects from unauthorized copying any published or unpublished work that is fixed in a tangible medium (including a book or manuscript, musical score or recording, script or dramatic production, painting or sculpture, or blueprint or building). It does not protect mat-

Crystalline copper from Michigan

COURTESY OF TED BOENTE COLLECTION; PHOTOGRAPH, JOHN H. GERARD

464 I coquina ► Cordoba

ters such as an idea, process, or system. Protection in the U.S. now extends for the life of the creator plus 70 years after his or her death. Works made for hire are now protected for a maximum of 95 years from the date of publication or 120 years from the date of the creation of the work. In 1988 the U.S. joined the Bern Convention, an agreement that governs international copyright. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, adopted in the U.S. in 1998, expanded owners’ control over digital forms of their creations and penalized persons who sought to evade technological shields (such as encryption) for copyrighted material. See also intellectual prop¬ erty; patent; trademark.

coquina \ko-'ke-n3\ Limestone formed almost entirely of sorted and cemented fossil debris, most commonly coarse shells and shell fragments. Microcoquinas are similar sedimentary rocks composed of finer material. Common among microcoquinas are those formed from the remains of crinoids (marine invertebrates, such as sea lilies, that have limy disks and a limy internal skeleton). A distinction is made between a coquina, which is a rock formed from debris, and coquinoid limestone, which is com¬ posed of coarse shelly materials with a fine-grained matrix.

coquina (clam) \ko-'ke-no\ Any clam of the genus Donax, inhabiting sandy beaches worldwide. Coquinas are very active; they migrate up and down beaches with the tide and can reburrow between waves. They have short siphons and feed on suspended plant material and detritus. A typi¬ cal species, D. variabilis, measures about 0.4-1 in. (10-25 mm) in length. Its shell is wedge-shaped and varies from white, yellow, and pink to blue and mauve.

coral Any of about 2,300 species of marine cnidarians in the class Antho- zoa that are characterized by stone¬ like, horny, or leathery skeletons (external or internal). The skeletons of these animals are also called coral.

Corals are found in warm seas worldwide. The body is of the polyp type. Soft, homy, and blue corals are colonial in habit (i.e., they live in large groups). Stony corals, the most familiar and widely distributed forms, are both colonial and solitary.

Atolls and coral reefs, which are composed of stony coral, grow at an average rate of 0.2-1.1 in. (0.5-2.8 cm) per year. See also sea fan.

coral reef Ridge or hummock formed in shallow ocean areas from the external skeletons of corals. The skeleton consists of calcium carbon¬ ate (CaC0 3 ), or limestone. A coral reef may grow into a permanent coral island, or it may take one of four principal forms. Fringing reefs consist of a flat reef area around a nonreef island. Barrier reefs may lie a mile or more offshore, separated from the landmass by a lagoon or channel. Atolls are circular reefs without a central landmass. Patch reefs have irregular tablelike or pinnacle features. Smaller patches occur inside atoll lagoons; larger patches occur as isolated parts of any of the other three reef cat¬ egories, and they sometimes occur completely separate from other kinds of reefs.

Coral Sea Part of the South Pacific Ocean. It is located between Queens¬ land, Australia, on the west and Vanuatu and New Caledonia on the east, and bordered on the north by Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Occupying an area of 1,849,800 sq mi (4,791,000 sq km), it merges with the Tasman Sea and Solomon Sea and is connected to the Arafura Sea via the Torres Strait. It was named for its many coral formations, including the Great Barrier Reef. During World War II it was the scene of a strategic U.S. naval and air victory over the Japanese (1942).

coral snake Any of about 90 species of strongly patterned burrowing elapids. “True” forms are limited to the New World, chiefly the tropics, but similar species live in Asia and Africa. Secretive and docile, coral snakes rarely bite when handled, but the venom of some can kill a person. Most prey on other snakes. More than 50 species in the largest genus, Micru- rus, range from the southern U.S. to Argentina. They are ringed with red, black, and yellow or white. The eastern coral snake, or harlequin snake {Micrurus fulvius), ranges from North Carolina and Missouri in the U.S. to northeastern Mexico and is about 30 in. (76 cm) long, with wide bands

of red and black separated by yellow. The rhyme “Red on yellow, dan¬ gerous fellow” distinguishes it from similarly coloured but harmless spe¬ cies.

Coralli, Jean orig. Giovanni Coralli Peracini (b. Jan. 15, 1779, Paris, France—d. May 1, 1854, Paris) French dancer and choreographer. He made his debut at the Paris Opera in 1802. His appointment as ballet master at the Opera (1831-50) coincided with the most brilliant phase of the Romantic ballet. In 1841 Coralli began to work with the ballerina Car- lotta Grisi in Giselle, now regarded as a classic. Although attributed solely to Coralli, most of its principal action was arranged by Jules Perrot. The choreography of La Peri (1843), however, was entirely Coralli’s.

corbel Vkor-boA Block or brick partially embedded in a wall, with one end projecting out from the face. The weight of added masonry above counterbalances the cantilever and keeps the block from falling out of the wall. Corbeling often occurs over several courses, with each block or brick overhanging the one below so as to resemble a set of inverted steps. The form may be continuous, as in a corbeled arch, or a series of separate brackets, as on a medieval battlement. Corbeling was used extensively before the development of true arches and vaults.

Corbusier, Le See Le Corbusier

Corday (d'Armont) \kor-'de\, (Marie-Anne-) Charlotte (b. July 27, 1768, Saint-Satumin, near Seez,

Normandy, France—d. July 17,

1793, Paris) French political activist.

A noblewoman from Caen, she moved to Paris to work for the Girondin cause in the French Revolu¬ tion. Horrified at the excesses of the Reign of Terror, she sought an inter¬ view with Jean-Paul Marat, one of its leaders. On July 13, 1793, she stabbed him through the heart while he was in his bath. Arrested on the spot, she was convicted by the Revo¬ lutionary Tribunal and guillotined.

Cordeliers \kor-d3l-'ya,\ English \,k6r-do-Terz\ Club officially Soci¬ ety of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citi¬ zen Club founded in 1790 during the French Revolution to prevent the abuse of power and “infractions of the rights of man.” Popularly named for its original meeting place at the nationalized monastery of the Cord¬ eliers (Franciscans), the club became a political force under Jean-Paul Marat and Georges Danton. Leadership later fell to Jacques-Rene Hebert and others, who helped overthrow the Girondins and gave the club a more radical tone. It fell into oblivion after Hebert’s execution in 1794.

Cordilleran \ 1 kor-d 3 l- , yer-3n\ Geosyncline Linear trough in the Earth’s crust in which rocks of Late Precambrian to Mesozoic Age (roughly 600-65 million years ago) were deposited along the western coast of North America. The principal mountain-building phases of the geosyncline took place during Mesozoic time, but many earlier events have also been recorded. Deformation of the Cordilleran Geosyncline and the formation of the Cordilleran fold belt appear to have been related to the development of oceanic trenches along the western margins of the North American continent.

Cordoba Vkor-th6-ba\ City (pop., 1999 est.: 1,275,585), the second largest in Argentina. It lies on the Primero River along the foothills of the Sierra de Cordoba. Founded in 1573, its location between the coast and the interior settlements favoured its early development. In 1599 Jesuits settled in the city and founded the country’s first university (1613). Cor¬ doba’s growth was stimulated by the completion of rail connections with the east in 1869 and the San Roque Dam in 1866, which provides irri¬ gation water for orchards and grain fields and hydroelectric power for the city’s many factories.

Cordoba or Cordova Vkor-d3-v9\ ancient Corduba City (pop., 2001: 308,072), capital of Cordoba province, southern Spain. On the banks of the Guadalquivir River, it probably had Carthaginian origins.

Soft coral (Sarcophyton)

VALERIE TAYLOR-ARDEA

Charlotte Corday, engraving by E.-L. Baudran after a portrait by J.-J. Hauer.

COURTESY OF THE BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE, PARIS

Cordobes ► cork I 465

Occupied by the Romans in 152 bc, it became, under Augustus, the capital of the Roman province of Baetica. It declined under the Visigoths (6th-8th centuries ad), and it was captured by the Muslims in 711. Abd al-Rahman I, of the Umayyad family, made it his capital in 756 and founded the Great Mosque of Cordoba, which still stands. By the 10th century it was the larg¬ est city in Europe, filled with palaces and mosques. It fell to the Castilian king Ferdinand III in 1236 and became part of Christian Spain. Modem Cordoba’s streets and buildings evoke its Moorish heritage.

Cordobes V.kor-tho-'basV, El orig. Manuel Benitez Perez (b. May

4, 1936?, Palma del Rio, Cordoba,

Spain) Spanish bullfighter. He grew up an illiterate orphan in Cordoba (his nickname means “the Cordo¬ van”) and was once imprisoned for unauthorized entry into bullrings. He began his career in 1959 and became a full matador in 1963. In the month of August 1965 alone, he killed a record 64 bulls and is believed to have been paid 35 million pesetas.

The crudity of his technique was off¬ set by his exceptional reflexes and courage; handsome, dashing, and flamboyant, he became the most highly paid torero in history.

core In earth science, the part of the Earth that starts about 1,800 mi (2,900 km) beneath the surface and extends downward. It consists largely of an iron-rich metallic alloy and is thought to have a two-part structure: an outer fluid region and a solid, extremely dense inner region that measures only about 1,500 mi (2,400 km) across. The alloy compo¬ sition is mainly iron with small amounts of nickel. This composition is deduced from the chemistry of iron meteorites that presumably came from the breakup of a planetary body that also had an iron core. See also crust; MANTLE.

Corelli, Arcangelo (b. Feb. 17, 1653, Fusignano, near Imola, Papal States—d. Jan. 8, 1713, Rome) Italian composer and violinist. He stud¬ ied in Bologna before settling in Rome. He became widely known as a violinist, director, and teacher, and he lived with his family at the palaces of Cardinals Pamphili and Ottoboni. His many students included Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762) and Pietro Locatelli (1695-1764). As a violinist, he had considerable influence on the development of violin style. As the first composer whose fame was based exclusively on his nonvocal music, his reputation rests mainly on his sonatas and his 12 Concerti Grossi, which established the concerto grosso form. He wrote four sets of 12 trio sonatas each (1681-95), a set of 12 solo sonatas (1700), and the concerti grossi (1714). Long after his death, his works were widely studied and imitated for their classic poise and serenity. With his music the ideal of full-blown tonality first became securely established.

coreopsis \,kor-e-'ap-s3s\ Any ornamental summer-blooming plant of the genus Coreopsis, commonly known as tickseed, in the composite fam¬ ily, consisting of about 100 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants native to North America. Members have flower heads with yellow disk flowers and yellow, pink, white, or variegated ray flowers. The heads are solitary or in branched clusters, and some varieties have double flow¬ ers. Golden coreopsis (C. tinctoria) is a popular garden plant; swamp tickseed (C. rosea ) is grown in wildflower gardens.

Corfu \k6r-'fii\ Greek Kerkira Vker-ke-ra\ One of the Ionian Islands, northwestern Greece. With adjacent small islands, it forms the Corfu department (pop., 1995 est.: 108,000) of Greece; the town of Corfu (pop., 1995 est.: 36,000) is the departmental capital. Corfu occupies 229 sq mi (593 sq km). It was settled by the Corinthians c. 734 bc. Off its coast the first naval battle in Greek history was fought, between Corfu and Corinth c. 664 bc. About 435 bc it sought the aid of Athens against Corinth, pre¬ cipitating the Peloponnesian War. A Roman possession in 229 bc, it later passed to the Byzantines, then to the Normans. It was ruled by Venice from 1386 to 1797 and was under British administration from 1815 until it was ceded to Greece in 1864. Germans and Italians occupied it during

World War II. It is now a popular tourist destination and produces olive oil, figs, oranges, lemons, and wine.

Corfu incident (1923) Brief occupation of the Greek island of Corfu by Italian forces. In August 1923 Italians forming part of an international boundary delegation were murdered on Greek soil, leading Benito Mus¬ solini to order a naval bombardment of Corfu. After the Greeks appealed to the League of Nations, the Italians were ordered to evacuate but Greece was forced to pay Italy an indemnity.

coriander or cilantro Feathery annual herb ( Coriandrum sativum ) of the parsley family, and its dried fruit, native to the Mediterranean and Middle East. The seeds go by the name coriander; they have a mild, fra¬ grant aroma and aromatic taste and are used to flavour many foods. The delicate young leaves—known in the U.S. by their Spanish name, cilantro—are widely used in Latin American, Indian, and Chinese dishes.

Corinth Vk6r-anth\ Greek Korinthos Vk6r-en-th6s\ Ancient city of the Peloponnese, Greece. Located on the Gulf of Corinth, the site was occu¬ pied before 3000 bc but developed as a commercial centre only in the 8th century bc. In the late 6th century bc, it was outstripped by Athens. Occu¬ pied in 338 bc by Philip II, it was destroyed in 146 bc by Rome. In 44 bc Julius Caesar reestablished Corinth as a Roman colony; the New Testa¬ ment includes the letters addressed to its Christian community by St. Paul. It declined in the later Middle Ages; its ruins are near the modem city of Corinth.

Corinth, League of Alliance established at Corinth in 337 bc. It com¬ prised the ancient Greek states except Sparta, and was led by Philip II of Macedonia. Delegates, elected in proportion to their state’s military power, decided federal policies. The league declared war on Persia, but under Alexander the Great it contributed little to the war effort. Its major act was to condemn the Thebans to slavery and distribute their lands among other states following revolts in 336 and 335. It was disbanded after Alexander’s death (323).

Corinth \ko-'rint\, Lovis (b. July 21, 1858, Tapiau, East Prussia—d. July 12, 1925, Zandvoort, Neth.) German painter and graphic artist. He trained in Paris with the painter William Bouguereau. In 1902 he settled in Berlin and, with Max Liebermann, became a leading exponent of Impres¬ sionism in Germany. After recovering from a stroke in 1911, his style became much looser and more powerfully Expressionist. He was best known for his landscapes and portraits, including numerous powerfully expressive self-portraits, and he produced many etchings and lithographs (e.g., Apocalypse, 1921).

Coriolanus \,k6r-e-9-'la-n3s\, Gnaeus Marcius Legendary Roman hero. He is said to have lived in the late 6th and early 5th century bc and to have owed his surname to his courage at the siege of Corioli (493 bc) in the war against the Volsci. For trying to have the office of tribune abol¬ ished during a famine in Rome, he was sent into exile. Taking refuge with the king of the Volsci, he led the Volscian army against Rome but turned back in response to pleas from his family. He is the subject of William Shakespeare’s play Coriolanus.

Coriolis \,kor-e-'o-bs\ force Apparent force that must be included if Newton's laws of motion are to be used in a rotating system. First described by Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) in 1835, the force acts to the right of the direction of body motion for counterclockwise rotation and to the left for clockwise rotation. On Earth an object that moves along a north-south path, or longitudinal line, will be apparently deflected to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. The deflection is related to the motion of the object, the motion of the Earth, and latitude. The Coriolis effect is important in meteorology and oceanography as well as ballistics; it also has great sig¬ nificance in ASTROPHYSICS.

Cork Seaport city (pop., 2002 prelim.: 123,338), southwestern Ireland. The seat of County Cork, it is situated on Cork Harbour at the mouth of the River Lee. Founded as a monastery in the 7th century, it was often raided and was eventually settled by the Danes. It passed to Henry II of England in 1172. The city was taken by Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell (1649) and by the duke of Marlborough (1690). It was heavily damaged in 1920 during the Irish uprising against England. Its industries include leatherworking, brewing, and distilling.

cork Outer bark of the evergreen cork oak ( Quercus suber ), native to the Mediterranean. In its broad sense, cork consists of the irregularly shaped,

El Cordobes

MICHAEL KUH/BLACK STAR

466 I corm ► Cornell University

thin-walled, wax-coated cells that make up the peeling bark of many trees, but commercially only cork- oak bark is called cork. Cork is obtained from the new outer sheath of bark that forms after the original rough outer bark has been removed.

This outer sheath can be stripped repeatedly without hurting the tree.

Cork is unique because it is made of air-filled, watertight cells that are a remarkably effective insulating medium. The air pockets make cork very light in weight. Though special¬ ized plastics and other artificial sub¬ stances have replaced cork in some of its former uses, it has retained its traditional importance as a stopper for bottles of wine and other alcoholic beverages.

corm Vertical, fleshy, underground stem that acts as a vegetative repro¬ ductive structure in certain seed plants. It bears membranous or scaly leaves and buds. Typical corms are those of the crocus and gladiolus. Corms are sometimes called solid bulbs, or bulbo-tubers, but they are dis¬ tinguished from true bulbs and tubers.

Corman, Roger (William) (b. April 5, 1926, Detroit, Mich., U.S.) U.S. film director and producer. He directed his first films. Five Guns West and Apache Woman, in 1955, and by 1960 he was one of the most prolific makers of low-budget “exploitation” films. His film versions of stories by Edgar Allan Poe, including The House of Usher (1960) and The Masque of the Red Death (1964), won him a cult following as a master of the macabre. In 1970 he formed New World Pictures, an independent distri¬ bution company that produced the work of such struggling young direc¬ tors as Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorsese.

cormorant Vkor-mo-ronA Any of the 26-30 species of water birds, constituting the family Phalacrocoracidae, that dive for and feed on fish, mainly those of little value to humans. In the Orient and elsewhere, these glossy black underwater swimmers have been tamed for fishing. Their guano is valued as a fertilizer. Cormorants live on seacoasts, lakes, and some rivers, nesting on cliffs or in bushes or trees. They have a long, hook-tipped bill, patches of bare skin on the face, and a small throat pouch (gular sac). The most widespread species is the common, or great, cor¬ morant (Phalacrocorax carbo), which grows up to 40 in. (100 cm) long and breeds from eastern Canada to Iceland, across Eurasia to Australia and New Zealand, and in parts of Africa.

corn or maize Cereal plant {Zea mays) of the family Poaceae (or Gramineae). It originated in the New World and has been introduced glo¬ bally. American Indians taught colonists to grow corn, including some varieties of yellow com that are still popular as food, as well as varieties with red, blue, pink, and black kernels, often banded, spotted, or striped, that today are regarded as ornamental and in the U.S. are called Indian com. The tall, annual grass has a stout, erect, solid stem and large nar¬ row leaves with wavy margins. Corn is used as livestock feed, as human food, and as raw material in industry. Though it is a major food in many parts of the world, it is inferior to other cereals in nutritional value. Ined¬ ible parts of the plant are used in industry—stalks for paper and wall- board; husks for filling material; cobs for fuel, to make charcoal, and in the preparation of industrial solvents. Corn husks also have a long his¬ tory of use in the folk arts for objects such as woven amulets and corn- husk dolls. Corn is one of the most widely distributed of the world’s food plants. In the U.S. com is the most important crop, but slightly more acres of soybeans are planted.

Corn Belt Traditional area, midwestern U.S. Roughly covering western Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, southern Minnesota, eastern South Dakota, Missouri, eastern Nebraska, and eastern Kansas, it is a region in which com and soybeans are the dominant crops. Many farms are family- operated and average more than 300 acres (120 hectares). Despite the name, the region is agriculturally diverse, raising various feed-grains and livestock.

corn earworm or cotton bollworm or tomato fruitworm

Moth larva {Heliothis zea, family Noctuidae) that damages com, tomato, cotton, and other seasonal crops. The smooth, fleshy, green or brown CAT-

Cork oak (Quercus suber) with sections of cork removed.

ERIC G. CARLE-SHOSTAL/EB INC.

erpiliars feed on com kernels near the tip of the ear and burrow into toma¬ toes and cotton bolls. Four or five generations of the pale brown adult moths, with wingspans of 1.3 in. (3.5 cm), are produced annually.

Corn Islands Spanish Islas del Maiz \'es-la-thel-'mls\ Two small islands, Caribbean Sea. Known as Great Corn and Little Corn, they lie about 40 mi (64 km) off the coast of Nicaragua and were leased to the U.S. by Nicaragua for use as a naval base (1916-71). The islands produce copra, coconut oil, lobsters, and frozen shrimp. Tourism is important on Great Corn Island.

Corn Laws Any of the regulations governing the import and export of grain (called corn by the English) in Britain. Records mention the impo¬ sition of Com Laws as early as the 12th century. They became politically important in the late 18th and early 19th century, during the grain shortage caused by Britain’s growing population, bad harvests, and the blockades imposed in the Napoleonic Wars. When Sir Robert Peel became prime min¬ ister the laws were finally repealed (1846). See also Anti-Corn Law League.

corn sugar See glucose

corn syrup Sweet syrup produced by breaking down (hydrolyzing) cornstarch (a product of corn). Com syrup contains dextrins, maltose, and dextrose and is used in baked goods, jelly and jam, and candy. High- fructose corn syrup is widely used in the manufacture of soft drinks and other foods because it is considerably cheaper than sucrose.

Corneille \kor-'na\, Pierre (b. June 6, 1606, Rouen, France—d. Oct. 1,

1684, Paris) French poet and play¬ wright. He studied law and was a king’s counselor in Rouen (1628— 50). He wrote his first comedy, Melite (performed 1629), before he was 20; other comedies followed. He responded to the call for a new approach to classical tragedy by writ¬ ing Medee (1635) and then Le Cid (1637), an instant success that estab¬ lished him as the creator of French classical tragedy; the play has come to be regarded as the most significant in the history of French drama. His next tragedies, Horace (1641), Cinna (1643), and Polyeucte (1643), have joined Le Cid as Corneille’s “classi¬ cal tetralogy.” He returned to comedy with The Liar (1644), which occupies a central place in French classical comedy. From 1660 he wrote one play a year, ending with the tragedy Surena (1674).

cornelian See carnelian

Pierre Corneille, detail of an oil paint¬ ing attributed to Charles Le Brun,

1647; in the Musee National de Ver¬ sailles et des Trianons.

CLICHE MUSEES NATIONAUX, PARIS

Cornell, Joseph (b. Dec. 24, 1903, Nyack, N.Y., U.S.—d. Dec. 29, 1972, New York, N.Y.) U.S. assemblage artist. He had no formal artistic training. In the 1930s and ’40s he was associated with the Surrealists in New York City (see Surrealism). He was an originator of the assemblage; his most distinctive works were “boxes,” usually with glass fronts, con¬ taining objects and pieces of collage arranged in elegant but enigmatic compositions. Recurrent motifs include astronomy, music, birds, sea- shells, glamour photographs, and souvenirs of travel. His appeal rested on the Surrealist technique of irrational juxtaposition and on nostalgia.

Cornell, Katharine (b. Feb. 16, 1893, Berlin, Ger.—d. June 9, 1974, Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., U.S.) U.S. actress. Born to American parents in Germany, she toured with a stock company before winning acclaim in Little Women in London (1919). She made her Broadway debut in 1921 and became a star in A Bill of Divorcement that year. She managed her own productions after 1931 and toured widely; most of her plays were directed by her husband, Guthrie McClintic (1893-1961). She starred in plays such as Candida (1924), The Letter (1925), The Barretts ofWim- pole Street (1931, 1945)—in which she played the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, her best-remembered role—and Dear Liar (1960). She was often called the first lady of the American theatre.

Cornell University Comprehensive research university in Ithaca, New York, U.S., a traditional member of the Ivy League. It is both publicly and

cornerstone ► corporal punishment I 467

privately supported. Founded as a land-grant university under the Morrill Act, it was privately endowed by Ezra Cornell (1807-74), a founder of Western Union. Nonsectarian from the beginning, it offered an exception¬ ally broad curriculum when it opened in 1868. It was the first U.S. univer¬ sity to admit women and the first to be divided into colleges offering different degrees. Agricultural science has long been important at Cornell; other strong programs include the life sciences, business management, engineering, the social sciences, and the humanities. Professional and graduate schools offer programs in law, medicine, and the arts and sciences.

cornerstone Ceremonial building block, dated or otherwise inscribed, usually placed in an outer wall of a building to commemorate its dedi¬ cation. Often the stone is hollowed out to contain newspapers, photo¬ graphs, or other documents reflecting current customs, with a view to their historical use when the building is remodeled or demolished. Originally placed at a comer, the stone may today be placed elsewhere on the facade.

cornet Valved brass instrument. It evolved in the 1820s from the posthorn. Like the trumpet, it has three valves, but its bore is somewhat more coni¬ cal. It is a transposing instrument (its music written a tone above the actual sound), usually built in the key of B-flat, though a higher-pitched E-flat instrument is used as well. Its range parallels that of the trumpet. Its agil¬ ity made it a very popular solo instrument; it often displaced the trumpet in 19th-century orchestras, and it preceded the trumpet in modern dance and jazz bands. Recent developments have made the two instruments very similar, and the comet’s popularity has waned considerably as a result.

cornflower See bachelor's button

Cornplanter or John O'Bail (b. c. 1732, New York?—d. Feb. 18, 1836, Warren county. Pa., U.S.) American Indian leader. Bom to a white trader and a Seneca mother, he fought alongside the British in the Ameri¬ can Revolution, leading attacks on white settlements in western New York and Pennsylvania. He later helped negotiate treaties that ceded large tracts of Indian land to the U.S. He earned the enmity of his tribe after advo¬ cating Indian nonresistance to white expansion and accepting a land grant from Pennsylvania.

Cornwall Administrative (pop., 2001: 501,267, including the Isles of Scilly) and historic county, southwestern England. Located on a peninsula jutting into the Atlantic Ocean and terminating in Land's End, it is the most remote of English counties; its county seat is Truro. Southern Cornwall is a popular tourist area; much of the coast is now protected by the National Trust. Tin, mined in Cornwall for at least 3,000 years, attracted prehistoric settlers, and there are stone relics in the area. Since 1337 the manors of Cornwall have belonged to the English sovereign’s eldest son, who acts as duke of Cornwall.

Cornwallis, Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess and 2nd Earl (b. Dec. 31, 1738, London,

Eng.—d. Oct. 5, 1805, Ghazipur,

India) British soldier and statesman.

In 1780, during the American Revolu¬ tion, he was appointed British com¬ mander in the American South. He defeated Horatio Gates at Camden,

S.C., then marched into Virginia and encamped at Yorktown (see Siege of Yorktown). Trapped and besieged there, he was forced to surrender his army (1781), a defeat that effectively ended military operations in the war.

Despite his defeat, he retained esteem in England. As governor- general of India (1786-93, 1805), he introduced legal and administrative reforms; the Cornwallis Code (1793) established a tradition of incorrupt¬ ible British civil servants. In the third Mysore War he defeated Tippu Sul¬ tan in 1792. As viceroy of Ireland (1798-1801), he supported the parliamentary union of Britain and Ireland. He negotiated the Anglo-French Treaty of Amiens in 1802. Reappointed governor-general of India in 1805, he died shortly after his arrival there.

Lord Cornwallis, detail of pencil draw¬ ing by John Smart, 1792; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

corona \k3-'ro-no\ Outermost region of the Sun’s (or any star’s) atmo¬ sphere, consisting of plasma. The Sun’s corona has a temperature of about

3.6 million °F (2 million °C) and a very low density. Extending more than 8 million mi (13 million km) from the photosphere, it has no definite boundaries, continually varying in size and shape as it is affected by the Sun’s magnetic field. The solar wind is formed by expansion of coronal gases. Only about half as bright as the full moon, the corona is over¬ whelmed by the brilliance of the solar surface and normally not visible to the unaided eye, but a total eclipse permits naked-eye observations.

Coronado, Francisco Vazquez de (b. c. 1510, Salamanca, Spain—d. Sept. 22, 1554, Mex.) Spanish explorer of the North American Southwest. Appointed governor of Nueva Galicia in west-central Mexico, Coronado was sent north with a large force to locate and capture the leg¬ endary Seven Cities of Cibola, reported to be fabulously wealthy. He was disillusioned to discover instead the Zuni pueblos of New Mexico and a seminomadic Indian tribe in Kansas. Though the treasure he sought eluded him, his explorers were the first Europeans to view the Grand Canyon, and he extended Spanish territory over huge areas of North America. His expedition’s failure led to his indictment on his return to Mexico, but he was acquitted.

coronary bypass Surgical treatment for coronary heart disease to relieve angina pectoris and prevent heart attacks. It became widely used in the 1960s. One or more blood vessels—usually an artery in the chest or a vein from the leg—are transplanted to create new paths for blood to flow from the aorta to the heart muscle, bypassing obstructed sections of the coronary arteries.

coronary heart disease or ischemic \is-'ke-mik\ heart dis¬ ease Progressive reduction of blood supply to the heart muscle due to narrowing or blocking of a coronary artery (see atherosclerosis). Short¬ term oxygen deprivation can cause angina pectoris. Long-term, severe oxygen depletion causes a heart attack. Coronary bypass or angioplasty is needed if medication and diet do not control the disease.

coroner Public official whose principal duty is to inquire into any death that appears to be unnatural. The name of the office as it emerged in England in the late 12th century was originally “crowner” (also called “coronator”), a reference to the coroner’s principal duty of protecting the crown’s property. By the late 19th century, the coroner’s role had shifted to that of conducting inquests into unnatural deaths. In Canada, all coro¬ ners are appointed. In the U.S., the office is elective or appointive, depend¬ ing on the jurisdiction. Coroners often possess both legal and medical qualifications, but the office is sometimes filled by laypersons, including undertakers, sheriffs, and justices of the peace. In many states the office has been replaced by that of the medical examiner, who is usually a licensed pathologist.

Corot \k6-'r6\, (Jean-Baptiste-) Camille (b. July 16, 1796, Paris, Fr.—d. Feb. 22, 1875, Paris) French landscape painter. Born to prosper¬ ous parents, he proved unsuited to the family business and at age 25 was given a small allowance to pursue art training. He traveled frequently and painted topographical landscapes throughout his career, but he preferred making small oil sketches and drawings from nature; from these he pro¬ duced large finished paintings for exhibition. By the 1850s he had achieved critical success and a large income, and he was generous to less successful artists. His naturalistic oil sketches are now more highly regarded than his more self-consciously poetic finished paintings. He is often associated with the Barbizon school. A master of tonal gradation and soft edges, he prepared the way for the Impressionist landscape painters and had an important influence on Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Berthe Morisot.

corporal punishment Infliction of physical pain upon a person’s body as punishment for a crime or infraction. Such penalties include beat¬ ing, branding, mutilation, blinding, and the use of the stock and pillory. The term also denotes the physical disciplining of children in the schools and at home. From ancient times through the 18th century, corporal pun¬ ishment was commonly used in instances that did not call for capital pun¬ ishment, ostracism, or exile. But the growth of humanitarian ideals during the Enlightenment and afterward led to its gradual abandonment, and today it has been almost entirely replaced in the West by imprisonment or other nonviolent penalties. Several international conventions on human rights prohibit it. Beatings and other corporeal punishments continue to be administered in the prison systems of many countries. Whipping and even amputation remain prescribed punishments in some Middle Eastern and Asian societies. Corporal punishment of schoolchildren is still sanc¬ tioned in many states.

468 i corporate finance ► corruption

corporate finance Acquisition and allocation of a corporation’s funds or resources, with the goal of maximizing shareholder wealth (i.e., stock value). Funds are acquired from both internal and external sources at the lowest possible cost and may be obtained through equity (e.g., sale of stock) or debt (e.g., bonds, bank loans). Resource allocation is the invest¬ ment of funds; these investments fall into the categories of current assets (such as cash and inventory) and fixed assets (such as real estate and machinery). Corporate finance must balance the needs of employees, cus¬ tomers, and suppliers against the interests of the shareholders. See also BUSINESS FINANCE.

corporate income tax Tax imposed by public authorities on the incomes of corporations. Virtually all countries assess taxes on the net profits of corporations; most are flat-rate levies rather than extensively graduated taxes. A corporate income tax was adopted by the U.S. gov¬ ernment in 1909; three-fourths of the states also levy corporate income taxes. See also capital gains tax; income tax.

corporation Specific legal form of organization of persons and mate¬ rial resources, chartered by the state, for the purpose of conducting busi¬ ness. As contrasted with the other two major forms of business ownership, the sole proprietorship and the partnership, the corporation has several characteristics that make it a more flexible instrument for large-scale eco¬ nomic activity. Chief among these are limited liability, transferability of shares (rights in the enterprise may be transferred readily from one inves¬ tor to another without constituting legal reorganization), juridical person¬ ality (the corporation itself as a Active “person” has legal standing and may thus sue and be sued, make contracts, and hold property), and indefi¬ nite duration (the life of the corporation may extend beyond the partici¬ pation of any of its founders). Its owners are the shareholders, who purchase with their investment a share in the proceeds of the enterprise and who are nominally entitled to a measure of control over its financial management. Direct shareholder control became increasingly impossible in the 20th century, however, as the largest corporations came to have tens of thousands of shareholders. The practice of proxy voting by man¬ agement was legalized and adopted as a remedy, and today salaried man¬ agers exercise strong control over the corporation and its assets. See also MULTINATIONAL corporation.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting See PBS

corporatism Theory and practice of organizing the whole of society into corporate entities subordinate to the state. According to the theory, employers and employees would be organized into industrial and profes¬ sional corporations serving as organs of political representation and largely controlling the people and activities within their jurisdiction. Its chief spokesman was Adam Muller (b. 1779—d. 1829), court philosopher to the FOrst (prince) von Metternich, who conceived of a “class state” in which the classes operated as guilds, or corporations, each controlling a specific function of social life. This idea found favour in central Europe after the French Revolution, but it was not put into practice until Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy; its implementation there had barely begun by the start of World War II, which resulted in his fall. After World War II, the governments of many democratic western European countries (e.g., Austria, Norway, and Sweden) developed strong corporatist ele¬ ments in an attempt to mediate and reduce conflict between businesses and trade unions and to enhance economic growth.

Corpus Christi City (pop., 2000: 277,454) and port on Corpus Christi Bay, southern Texas, U.S. Founded in 1839 as a trading post, it was the scene of Mexican War operations and American Civil War skirmishes. The arrival of the railroad in 1881 stimulated a land boom. The exploitation of gas (1923), development of a deepwater port (1926), and discovery of the Saxtet oil field (1939) laid the city’s economic foundation. Resort facilities are based on the bay and the coastal barrier islands, including Padre Island. It is also the site of the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station.

Corpus Christi Bay Inlet, Gulf of Mexico, southern Texas, U.S. Form¬ ing a deepwater harbour for the port of Corpus Christi, it is 25 mi (40 km) long and 3-10 mi (5-16 km) wide and is sheltered on the east by Mus¬ tang Island. Its shipping serves the petroleum, chemical, and agricultural industries. The area is popular for sportfishing, waterfowl hunting, and boating. The bay was entered on the feast of Corpus Christi in 1519 by Alonso de Pineda, who claimed the region for Spain.

Correggio \ko-'re-jo\ orig. Antonio Allegri (b. August 1494, Cor¬ reggio, Modena—d. March 5, 1534, Correggio) Italian painter. He stud¬

ied the work of Andrea Mantegna in Mantua and was influenced by Leonardo da Vinci. On a visit to Rome he was inspired by the Vatican fres¬ coes of Michelangelo and Raphael. By 1518 he was in Parma, the scene of his greatest activity. His first large- scale commission there was the ceil¬ ing decoration of the Camera di San Paolo, in the convent of St. Paul (c.

1518-19). His fresco in the dome of Parma Cathedral (c. 1525-30) fea¬ tures the dramatic illusionistic style that influenced dome painting in the Baroque period. His use of bold fore¬ shortening, his brilliant, highly origi¬ nal approach to colour and light, and the exquisite grace of his figures established him as one of the most inventive artists of the High Renais¬ sance.

correlation In statistics, the degree of association between two random variables. The correlation between the graphs of two data sets is the degree to which they resemble each other. However, correlation is not the same as causation, and even a very close correlation may be no more than a coincidence. Mathemati¬ cally, a correlation is expressed by a correlation coefficient that ranges from -1 (never occur together), through 0 (absolutely independent), to 1 (always occur together).

Correll, Charles See Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll

Correns \'kor-ens\, Carl Erich (b. Sept. 19, 1864, Munich, Ger.—d. Feb. 14, 1933, Berlin) German botanist and geneticist. In the same year as Erich Tschermak von Seysenegg and Hugo de Vries (1900), he indepen¬ dently rediscovered Gregor Mendel’s paper outlining the principles of heredity. He conducted research with garden peas, from which he drew the same conclusions Mendel had. He helped provide the overwhelming body of evidence in support of Mendel’s thesis, anticipating Thomas Hunt Morgan’s development of the concept of linkage when he developed a theory of a physical coupling of genetic factors to account for the con¬ sistent inheritance of certain traits together. See also William Bateson.

Correspondence, Committees of See Committees of Correspon¬ dence

Corrigan, Sir Dominic John (b. Dec. 1, 1802, Dublin, Ire.—d. Feb. 1, 1880, Dublin) Irish physician. He wrote several reports on heart dis¬ eases; his paper on aortic insufficiency (1832) is the classic description. He also produced well-known studies on cirrhosis of the lung (1838), aor¬ titis as a cause of angina pectoris (1837), and mitral stenosis (1838). Eponyms such as Corrigan’s respiration (shallow breathing in fever) and Corrigan’s pulse (a jerking pulse beat) came into general use as a result of his investigations.

corrosion Wearing away due to chemical reactions, mainly oxidation (see oxidation-reduction, oxide). It occurs whenever a gas or liquid chemi¬ cally attacks an exposed surface, often a metal, and is accelerated by warm temperatures and by acids and salts. Normally, corrosion products (e.g., rust, patina) stay on the surface and protect it. Removing these deposits reexposes the surface, and corrosion continues. Some materials resist cor¬ rosion naturally; others can be treated to protect them (e.g., by coating, painting, galvanizing, or anodizing).

corruption Improper and usually unlawful conduct intended to secure a benefit for oneself or another. Its forms include bribery, extortion, and the misuse of inside information. It exists where there is community indif¬ ference or a lack of enforcement policies. In societies with a culture of ritualized gift giving, the line between acceptable and unacceptable gifts is often hard to draw. See also organized crime.

Jupiter and lo, oil on canvas by Cor¬ reggio, c. 1530; in the Kunsthis- torisches Museum, Vienna.

COURTESY OF THE KUNSTHISTORISCHES MUSEUM, VIENNA

corset ► Cosgrove i 469

corset Article of clothing worn to shape or constrict the torso. It dates to at least c. 2000 bc, when it was worn as an outer garment by men as well as women in Minoan Crete. In the 16th-17th century it was worn to flatten the chest and was reinforced with wood. Some outer corsets were jeweled and elaborately embroidered. After 1660 they were shaped to accentuate the breasts. In the 19th century the corset, now reinforced with whalebone or metal, changed with the style of dresses; over-tight lacing of corsets was blamed for numerous health problems. The corset was abandoned in the 1920s, when looser-fitting, straight clothes came into fashion, and in the 1930s it was replaced by the brassiere and girdle, made of elastic materials, and by the one-piece corselette.

Corsica Vkor-si-k9\ French Corse Island (pop., 1999: 260,196) in the Mediterranean Sea and an administrative region of France. The fourth largest island in the Mediterranean, it has an area of 3,352 sq mi (8,681 sq km). While remains of human occupation date from at least the 3rd millennium bc, recorded history begins c. 560 bc, when Greeks from Asia Minor founded a town there. Taken by the Romans in the 3rd-2nd cen¬ turies bc, it, together with Sardinia, became a prosperous Roman prov¬ ince. Conquered later by several peoples, including Byzantines and Arabs, it was granted to Pisa in the 11th century ad. Later ruled mainly by Genoa through the mid-18th century, in 1768 it became a province of France. It was the birthplace of Napoleon. The island’s economic life is based on tourism and agriculture.

Corso, Gregory (b. March 26, 1930, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Jan. 17, 2001, Robbinsdale, Minn.) American poet. A troubled adolescent, Corso spent time in prison. In New York City he became acquainted with Allen Ginsberg, who became his mentor. Corso became a leading mem¬ ber of the Beat movement. His poetry is notable for its directness and its startling imagery. Among his poetry collections are The Vestal Lady on Brattle (1955), The Mutation of the Spirit (1964), Herald of the Autoch- thonic Spirit (1981), and Mindfeld (1989).

Cort, Henry (b. 1740, Lancaster, Lancashire, Eng.—d. 1800, London) British inventor and industrialist. In 1783 he obtained a patent for pro¬ ducing iron bars quickly and economically in a rolling mill with grooved rolls. The following year he patented his puddling process for converting pig iron into wrought iron in a reverberatory furnace. His two inventions had a significant effect on Britain’s iron-making industry, and iron pro¬ duction quadrupled in the next 20 years.

Cortazar \kor-'ta-sar\, Julio (b. Aug. 26, 1914, Brussels, Belg.—d. Feb. 12, 1984, Paris, France) Argentine-French novelist and short-story writer. Bom to Argentine parents, he was educated in Argentina. His first story collection, Bestiario (1951; “Bestiary”), was published the year he moved to Paris, where he spent much of the rest of his life. His master¬ piece, Hopscotch (1963), is an open-ended novel, or antinovel, in which the reader is invited to rearrange the chapters. One of his stories became the basis for Michelangelo Antonioni’s film Blow-up (1966).

Cortes Vkor-tas\ Representative assembly of the medieval Iberian king¬ doms. The Cortes developed in the Middle Ages when elected represen¬ tatives of the free municipalities acquired the right to take part in the affairs of the Curia Regis (“King’s Court”). They were admitted because the crown was short of funds and lacked the right to raise taxes without the consent of the municipalities. Cortes were established in Leon and Castile by the early 13th century and soon appeared in Catalonia (1218), Aragon (1274), Valencia (1283), and Navarra (1300). Today the term refers to the national legislatures of Spain and Portugal.

Cortes \kor-'tez\, Hernan later marques del Valle de Oaxaca

(b. 1485, Medellin, near Merida, Extremadura, Castile—d. Dec. 2, 1547, Castilleja de la Cuesta, near Sevilla) Spanish conquistador who won Mexico for Spain. Cortes left Spain for the New World at age 19, joining Diego Velazquez de Cuellar (b. 1465—d. 1524) in the conquest of Cuba (1511). In 1519, with 508 men and 16 horses, he burned his ships on Mexico’s southeastern coast, thus committing himself to conquest. After accumulating thousands of Indian allies who resented Aztec domination, he forged ahead to Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital (today Mexico City). The emperor Montezuma II, believing Cortes to be the god Quetzalcoatl, welcomed him but was taken prisoner. Hearing that a Spanish force from Cuba was coming to relieve him of command, Cortes left Tenochtitlan under the command of a captain and set out to defeat his Spanish oppo¬ nents. Returning with the opposition forces now under his command, he discovered that the city had revolted; he led his troops away by night in a costly retreat, but he returned in 1521 to conquer the city and with it

the empire. The absolute ruler of a huge territory, he was forced to retire after a disastrous expedition in 1524 to the Honduran jungles. His final years were beset by misfortune.

Cortes, Sea of See Gulf of California

cortex In plants, the tissue of unspecialized cells lying between the epi¬ dermis (surface cells) and the vascular, or conducting, tissues (see phloem and xylem) of stems and roots. Cortical cells may contain stored food or other substances, such as resins, latex, essential oils, and tannins. Cortical cells in herbaceous stems, young woody stems, and stems of succulents contain chloroplasts and can therefore make food by photosynthesis. Food, usually in the form of starch, in edible roots, bulbs, and tubers is stored mostly in the cortex.

cortisone Steroid hormone produced by the adrenal cortex (see adrenal gland). It participates in the regulation of the conversion of proteins to carbohydrates, and to some extent it regulates salt metabolism. Introduced medically in 1948 for its anti-inflammatory effect to treat arthritis, it has been largely replaced by related compounds that do not produce its undes¬ ired side effects, which include edema, increased stomach acidity, and imbalances in sodium, potassium, and nitrogen metabolism. See also Cushing syndrome.

Cortona, Luca da See Luca Signorelli Cortona, Pietro da See Pietro da Cortona

corundum ^o-'ron-dsmX Aluminum oxide mineral (A1 2 0 3 ) that is, after diamond, the hardest known natural substance. Gem varieties are sapphire and ruby; mixtures with iron oxides and other minerals are called emery. Corundum is widespread in nature, although large deposits are rare. Rich deposits occur in India, Russia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. In addition to being a precious gem, corundum is used as an abrasive for grinding optical glass and for polishing metals and has also been made into sand¬ papers and grinding wheels. For most industrial applications, however, it has been replaced by synthetic materials such as alumina; synthetic corun¬ dum is also manufactured.

corvee \kor-'va\ Unpaid labor that a European vassal owed a lord or that a citizen in later times owed the state, either in addition to or in lieu of taxes. The corvee was often used when money payment did not pro¬ vide sufficient labor for public projects, and in wartime it was sometimes used to augment regular troops in auxiliary capacities.

corvette Fast naval vessel smaller than a frigate. In the 18th—19th cen¬ tury corvettes were three-masted ships with square rigging and carried about 20 guns on the top deck. Often used to send dispatches within a battle fleet, they also escorted merchant ships. Early U.S. corvettes won distinction in the War of 1812. They disappeared as a class after the shift to steam power in the mid-19th century, but in World War II the term was applied to small armed vessels that served as escorts for convoys. Mod¬ em corvettes, usually displacing 500-1,000 tons (454-900 metric tons) and armed with missiles, torpedoes, and machine guns, perform antisub¬ marine, antiaircraft, and coastal-patrol duties in small navies.

Cory bant \'kor-3- l bant\ In Oriental and Greco-Roman mythology, any of the wild, half-demonic beings who were attendants of the Great Mother of the Gods. Often identified or confused with the Cretan Curetes (atten¬ dants of Zeus), they were distinctly Asian in origin and their rites were more orgiastic. Their wild dance was credited with the power of healing mental disorder.

Cosby, Bill in full William Henry Cosby, Jr. (b. July 12, 1937, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.) U.S. television actor and producer. He worked as a comedian in New York City nightclubs and on tour in the 1960s. In the series I Spy (1965-68) he became the first black actor to star in a dramatic role on network television. He later frequently appeared on the children’s programs Sesame Street and The Electric Company as well as in several films. He starred in several other television series, most notably The Cosby Show (1984-92), which became one of the most durable family comedies in the history of television.

Cosgrave, William Thomas (b. June 6, 1880, Dublin, Ire.—d. Nov. 16, 1965, Dublin) Irish statesman, first president (1922-32) of the Irish Free State. Early attracted to Sinn Fein, he took part in the 1916 Easter Rising and was interned briefly by the British. As president he restored settled government in Ireland. He continued in office despite various cri-

470 I Cosimo I ► cost of living

ses until Eamon de Valera’s victory in 1932. In 1944 he resigned as head of the United Ireland Party (Fine Gael). His son Liam (b. 1920) served as prime minister in 1973-77.

Cosimo I orig. Cosimo de' Medici (b. June 12, 1519—d. April 21, 1574, Castello, near Florence) Second duke of Florence (1537-74) and first grand duke of Tuscany (1569-74). The son of Giovanni de’ Medici, Cosimo became head of the Florentine republic in 1537 after the assas¬ sination of his distant cousin Alessandro de’ Medici. He continued Alessan¬ dro’s tyrannical rule and defeated attempts to oust him with aid from Emperor Charles V. Seeking to expand his power, he attacked Siena in 1554 and brought nearly all of Tuscany under his control. He used his despotic power to improve the government’s efficiency and to sponsor artistic projects. Far advanced for the time as an administrator, he united all public services into one building, the Uffizi (“Offices”), designed by Giorgio Vasari. He promoted the talents of such artists as II Bronzino and Bartolommeo Ammannati, sponsored archaeological excavations of Etrus¬ can sites, and established the Florentine Academy for linguistic studies. In 1569 he was given the title of grand duke of Tuscany.

Cosimo, Piero di See Piero di Cosimo Cosimo the Elder See Cosimo de’ Medici cosine See trigonometric function

Cosmati \'kaz-,ma-te\ work Type of decorative inlay or mosaic used by Roman decorators and architects in the 12th—13th centuries. Small pieces of coloured stone and glass were combined with strips and disks of white marble arranged in geometric patterns. Cosmati work was used for architectural decoration and church furnishings. The term derives from craftsmen of several families named Cosmatus.

cosmetics Any of several preparations (excluding soap) applied to the human body for beautifying, preserving, or altering the appearance or for cleansing, colouring, conditioning, or protecting the skin, hair, nails, lips, eyes, or teeth. The earliest known cosmetics were in use in Egypt in the 4th millennium bc. Cosmetics were in wide use in the Roman Empire, but they disappeared from much of Europe with the fall of the Roman Empire (5th century ad) and did not reappear until the Middle Ages, when Cru¬ saders returned from the Middle East with cosmetics and perfumes. By the 18th century they had come into use by nearly all social classes. Modem cosmetics include skin-care preparations; foundation, face powder and rouge (blusher); eye makeup; lipstick; shampoo; hair curling and straight¬ ening preparations; hair colours, dyes, and bleaches; and nail polish. Related products include antiperspirants, mouthwashes, depilatories, astringents, and bath crystals.

cosmic background radiation Electromagnetic radiation, mostly in the microwave range, believed to be the highly redshifted residual effect (see redshift) of the explosion billions of years ago from which, accord¬ ing to the big-bang model, the universe was created. It was discovered by accident in 1964 by Robert W. Wilson and Arno Penzias; its presence sup¬ ports the predictions of big-bang cosmology.

cosmic ray High-speed particle (atomic nucleus or electron) that trav¬ els through the Milky Way Galaxy. Some cosmic rays originate from the Sun, but most come from outside the solar system. Primary cosmic rays that reach Earth’s atmosphere collide with nuclei in it, creating secondar¬ ies. Because lower-energy primaries are strongly influenced by the inter¬ planetary magnetic field and Earth’s magnetic field (see geomagnetic field), most of those detected near Earth have very high energy, corresponding to speeds about 87% that of light or more. Observations from spacecraft indicate that most cosmic rays come from the Galaxy’s disk, but the highest-energy ones are probably extragalactic. Details of their produc¬ tion and acceleration remain unclear, but apparently expanding shock waves from supernovas can accelerate particles. From the early 1930s to the 1950s, cosmic rays were the only source of high-energy particles used in studying the atomic nucleus and its components. Short-lived subatomic particles were discovered through cosmic-ray collisions, leading to the rise of particle physics. Even powerful particle accelerators cannot impart energy anywhere near that of the highest-energy cosmic rays. See also Victor Francis Hess.

cosmogony See creation myth

cosmological argument Form of argument used in natural theology to prove the existence of God. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa theologiae, presented two versions of the cosmological argument: the first-cause argu¬

ment and the argument from contingency. The first-cause argument begins with the fact that there is change in the world, and a change is always the effect of some cause or causes. Each cause is itself the effect of a further cause or set of causes; this chain moves in a series that either never ends or is completed by a first cause, which must be of a radically different nature in that it is not itself caused. Such a first cause is an important aspect, though not the entirety, of what Christianity means by God. The argument from contingency follows by another route a similar basic movement of thought from the nature of the world to its ultimate ground.

cosmological constant Term reluctantly added by Albert Einstein to his equations of general relativity in order to obtain a solution to the equa¬ tions that described a static universe, as he believed it to be at the time. The constant has the effect of a repulsive force that acts against the gravi¬ tational attraction of matter in the universe. When Einstein heard of the evidence that the universe is expanding, he called the introduction of the cosmological constant the “biggest blunder” of his life. Recent develop¬ ments suggest that in the early universe there may well have been a cos¬ mological constant with a nonzero value.

cosmology Field of study that brings together the natural sciences, especially astronomy and physics, in an effort to understand the physical universe as a unified whole. The first great age of scientific cosmology began in Greece in the 6th century bc, when the Pythagoreans introduced the concept of a spherical Earth and, unlike the Babylonians and Egyp¬ tians, hypothesized that the heavenly bodies moved according to the har¬ monious relations of natural laws. Their thought culminated in the Ptolemaic model (see Ptolemy) of the universe (2nd century ad). The Copernican revolution (see Copernican system) of the 16th century ush¬ ered in the second great age. The third began in the early 20th century, with the formulation of special relativity and its development into general relativity by Albert Einstein. The basic assumptions of modern cosmology are that the universe is homogeneous in space (on the average, all places are alike at any time) and that the laws of physics are the same every¬ where.

cosmonaut See astronaut

cosmos Vkaz-m3s\ Any of the garden plants that make up the genus Cosmos (composite family), containing about 20 species native to the tropi¬ cal New World. Heads of flowers are borne along long flower stalks or together in an open cluster. The disk flowers are red or yellow; the ray flowers, sometimes notched, may be white, pink, red, purple, or other col¬ ors. Most annual ornamental varieties have been developed from the com¬ mon garden cosmos (C. bipinnatus).

Cossacks Peoples dwelling in the northern hinterlands of the Black and Caspian seas. The term (from the Turkic kazak, “free person”) originally referred to semi-independent Tatar groups, which formed in the Dnieper River region. Later it was also applied to peasants who had fled from serfdom in Poland, Lithuania, and Muscovy to the Dnieper and Don regions. The Cossacks had a tradition of independence and received privi¬ leges from the Russian government in return for military services. They were used as defenders of the Russian frontier and advance guards for imperial territorial expansion. Attempts in the 17th—18th century to reduce their privileges caused revolts, led by Stenka Razin and Yemelyan Pugachov, and the Cossacks gradually lost their autonomous status.

cost Monetary value of goods and services that producers and consum¬ ers purchase. In a basic economic sense, cost is the measure of the alter¬ native opportunities forgone in the choice of one good or activity over others (see opportunity cost). For consumers, cost describes the price paid for goods and services. For producers, cost has to do with the relation¬ ship between the value of production inputs and the level of output. Total cost refers to all the expenses incurred in reaching a particular level of output; if total cost is divided by the quantity produced, average or unit cost is obtained. A portion of the total cost known as fixed cost (e.g., the costs of building rental or of heavy machinery) does not vary with the quantity produced and, in the short run, cannot be altered by increasing or decreasing production. Variable costs, like the costs of labour or raw materials, change with the level of output. Economic decisions are based on marginal cost, the additional cost of an incremental unit of production or consumption.

cost of living Monetary cost of maintaining a particular standard of living, usually measured by calculating the average cost of a number of goods and services. Measurement of the cost of a minimum standard of

Costa Rica ► Cote d'Ivoire I 471

living is essential in determining relief payments, social-insurance ben¬ efits, and minimum wages. The cost of living is customarily measured by a price index such as the consumer price index. Measurements of change in the cost of living are important in wage negotiations. Cost-of-living measure¬ ments are also used to compare the cost of maintaining similar living standards in different areas. See also social insurance.

Costa Rica officially Republic of Costa Rica Country, Central America. Area: 19,730 sq mi (51,100 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 4,221,000. Capital: San Jose. Most of the people are of Spanish ancestry

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CHIRRIPO NATIONAL PARK

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D 2002 Encyclopaedia Britannica, I

or are mestizos. Language: Spanish (offi¬ cial). Religion: Christianity (predomi¬ nantly Roman Catholic [official]; also Protestant, other Christians). Currency: colon. Costa Rica’s Pacific coast rises abruptly into central highlands and a volcanic mountain chain that forms the backbone of the country and descends gradually to the Caribbean coastal plain. The climate ranges from temperate to tropical, and the wide variety of plants and animals include species found in both North America and South America. The developing market economy is largely based on coffee and banana exports. Sugar is another significant cash crop, and beef is also important. Costa Rica is a multiparty republic with one legislative house; the head of state and government is the president. Christopher Columbus landed in what is now Costa Rica in 1502, in an area inhabited by a number of small independent Indian tribes. These peoples were not easily dominated by European adventurers who followed, and it took almost 60 years for the Spaniards to establish a permanent settlement there. Ignored by the Spanish crown because of its lack of mineral wealth, the colony grew slowly. Coffee exports and the construction of a rail line improved its economy in the 19th century. It joined the short-lived Mexi¬ can Empire in 1821, was a member of the United Provinces of Central America (1823-38), and adopted a constitution in 1871. In 1890 Costa Ricans held what is considered the first free and honest election in Cen¬ tral America, beginning a tradition of democracy for which Costa Rica is renowned. In 1987 President Oscar Arias Sanchez was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for his Central American peace plan. In the early 21st century many Costa Ricans looked to increasingly free trade with the United States as a solution to the country’s economic woes.

Costa-Gavras \ 1 kos-t9- , gav-r9s\ / Constantine orig. Konstanti- nos Gavras (b. Feb. 12, 1933, Loutra-Iraias, Greece) Greek-French film director. He left Greece to study in Paris, where he became an assis¬ tant to filmmakers such as Rene Clair. He directed his first film, The Sleep¬ ing Car Murders, in 1966. His drama of political assassination, Z (1968, Academy Award), brought him international fame. He later directed politi¬ cal thrillers such as The Confession (1970), State of Siege (1972), Miss¬

ing (1982, Academy Award), and Mad City (1997). He became president of the Cinematheque Frangaise in 1982.

cost-benefit analysis In governmental planning and budgeting, the attempt to measure the social benefits of a proposed project in monetary terms and compare them with its costs. The procedure was first proposed in 1844 by Arsene-Jules-Etienne-Juvenal Dupuit (1804-66). It was not seriously applied until the 1936 U.S. Flood Control Act, which required that the benefits of flood-control projects exceed their costs. A cost-benefit ratio is determined by dividing the projected benefits of a program by the projected costs. A wide range of variables, including nonquantitative ones such as quality of life, are often considered because the value of the ben¬ efits may be indirect or projected far into the future.

Costello, Lou See Abbott and Costello Cotabato River See Mindanao River Cotan, Juan Sanchez See Juan Sanchez Cotan

Cote d'Azur \,k6t-da-'zfiir\ Region bordering the Mediterranean Sea, southeastern France. Encompassing the French Riviera between Menton and Cannes, it is a major tourist centre noted for its scenery. See also Nice; Monaco.

Cote d'Ivoire \,kot-de-'vwar\ or Ivory Coast officially Republic of Cote d'Ivoire Country, western Africa. Area: 123,863 sq mi (320,803 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 17,298,000. Capital: Yamoussou-

bara, Dan. Religions: Islam, Christianity,

traditional beliefs. Currency: CFA franc. Cote d’Ivoire can be divided into four major regions: a narrow coastal region, an equatorial rainforest in the west, a cultivated forest zone in the east, and a savanna region in the north. Agriculture employs about half of the workforce. The country is a major producer of cocoa and coffee; other exports include bananas, cotton, rub¬ ber, timber, and diamonds. It is a republic with one legislative house; its chief of state and government is the president, assisted by the prime min¬ ister. European powers came to the area to trade in ivory and slaves beginning in the 15th century, and local kingdoms gave way to French influence in the 19th century. The French colony of Cote d’Ivoire was founded in 1893, and full French occupation took place in 1908-18. In 1946 it became a territory in the French Union; in 1947 the northern part of the country separated and became part of Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso). Cote d’Ivoire peacefully achieved autonomy in 1958 and indepen¬ dence in 1960, when Felix Houphouet-Boigny was elected president. The

472 I Cotonou ► Coubertin

country’s first multiparty presidential elections were held in 1990. Politi¬ cal turmoil has persisted since Houphouet-Boigny died in 1993, and fac¬ tional warfare broke out in 2002.

Cotonou V.ko-to-'nuX Port city (pop., 1998: 649,580), de facto capital of Benin. Situated along the Gulf of Guinea, it is the starting point of the Benin-Niger Railway and the site of deepwater port facilities, completed in 1965, that serve both Benin and Togo. Cotonou is the economic hub of Benin and its largest urban centre. Its industries include brewing, tex¬ tile production, and palm-oil processing. It is home to the National Uni¬ versity of Benin (1970).

Cotopaxi \,ko-to-'pak-se\ Volcanic peak in the Andes Mountains, cen¬ tral Ecuador. Rising to 19,347 ft (5,897 m), it is the world’s highest con¬ tinuously active volcano. Its almost perfectly symmetrical cone is often hidden by clouds that are lit at night by the crater’s fires. Its base stands on open mountain grassland, and its upper part is covered with perma¬ nent snow. With a long record of violent eruption, it has seldom remained quiet for more than 15 years.

cotton Seed-hair fibre of various plants of the genus Gossypium, in the mallow family, native to most sub¬ tropical countries. The shrubby plants produce creamy white flow¬ ers, followed by small green seed- pods (cotton bolls), which contain the seeds. Fibres growing from the outer skin of the seeds become tightly packed within the boll, which bursts open at maturity to reveal soft masses of the white to yellowish white fibres. Cotton is harvested when the bolls open. One of the world’s leading agricultural crops, cotton is plentiful and economically produced, making cotton products relatively inexpensive. The fibres can be made into a diverse array of fabrics suitable for a great variety of apparel, home furnishings, and industrial uses. Cotton fabrics can be extremely durable and are comfortable to wear. Nonwoven cotton, made by fusing or bonding the fibres, is useful for making disposable products including towels, polishing cloths, tea bags, tablecloths, bandages, and disposable uniforms and sheets for hospital and other medical uses.

Cotton, John (b. Dec. 4, 1585, Derby, Derbyshire, Eng.—d. Dec. 23, 1652, Boston, Mass.) Anglo-American Puritan leader. He studied at the University of Cambridge, where he first encountered Puritanism. From 1612 to 1633 he served as a vicar in Lincolnshire. When English church authorities filed charges against him for his Nonconformism, he sailed for New England in 1633. As “teacher” of the First Church of Boston (1633— 52), he became an influential leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He wrote a widely used children’s catechism and defended Puritan orthodoxy in such books as The Way of the Churches of Christ in New England (1645). He opposed freedom of conscience, as preached by Roger Will¬ iams, favoring a national theocratic society.

Cotton, King See King Cotton