CASTLETOWN 376 CASTRO under Lord Liverpool, he became the soul of the coalition against Napoleon, which, during the momentous campaigns of 1813-1814, was kept together by him, and by him alone. He represented Eng- land at the congresses of Chatillon and Vienna in 1814-1815, at the Treaty of Paris in 1815, at the Congress of Aix-la- Chapelle in 1818; and he was preparing to start for a congress at Verona, when, on Aug. 12, 1822, in a fit of insanity, he committed suicide with a penknife at Foots Cray, his Kentish seat. CASTLETOWN (Manx Bailey Cashtal) , a seaport and former capital of the Isle of Man, on Castletown Bay, 11 miles S. W. of Douglas. Castle Rushen, now a prison, occupies the site of a Danish fortress of the 10th century, which was almost wholly demolished by Robert Bruce in 1313. The grounds of Rushen Abbey (11th century), near the station, are now market gardens. Near by is the small building where the House of Keys assembled for about 170 years. Brew- ing, tanning, and lime-burning are car- ried on. Near Castletown is King Wil- liam's College (1833), an Elizabethan pile, rebuilt after the fire of 1844, and enlarged in 1862. Pop. about 2,000. CASTOR AND POLLUX, two demi- gods known by the ancients under the joint name of Dioscuri, that is, sons of Zeus or Jupiter. Castor was celebrated as a horse tamer ; Pollux for his prowess as a boxer. Homer describes them as sons of Leda and Tyndareus, King of Lacedemon, and, therefore, brothers of Helen. Hence, too, their patronymic of Tyndaridae (sons of Tyndareus). An- other fable ascribes their birth to an amour of Jupiter with Leda; while a third account makes Pollux and Helen only the fruit of this intercourse, and Castor the lawful son of Tyndareus, whence it was supposed that the latter wa? mortal, and Pollux immortal. The brothers are described as having first distinguished themselves by the rescue of their sister Helen, who had been car- ried off by Theseus. They were engaged in the celebrated hunt of the Calydonian boar; were sharers in the renowned ex- pedition of the Argonauts; and, finally, in a war against Messene, undertaken for the purpose of chastising Idas and Lynceus, sons of the king of that coun- try. Castor was slain by Idas, who was immediately struck dead by a thunder- bolt from Jove, and Lynceus fell by the hand of Pollux. The latter, devotedly attached to his brother, besought Jupiter either to restore Castor to life or to de- prive him himself of his immortality. On this, according to one story, Jupiter granted them alternate life, so that each lived or died daily — a term extended by some writers to six months of alternate life and death of each. Another version makes Jupiter reward their affection by translating the two brothers into constel- lations, under the name of Gemini- stars which never appear together, but when one rises the other sets, and so on alternately. These demi-gods were chiefly worshipped as protectors of sea- men, though they were supposed to be helpers of the brave generally. They are usually represented on medals, bas- reliefs, and gems, as youthful horse- men, with egg-shaped helmets crowned with stars, and spear in hand. The an- cients very commonly swore "by Castor" (^castm-) and "by Pollux" (^depol), as the English did by St. George, and the French by St. Denis. CASTOR OIL, a fixed oil obtained from the seeds of the castor oil plant. In extracting the oil the seeds are first bruised between heavy rollers and then pressed in hempen bags under a hydrau- lic or screw press. The best variety of oil is thus obtained by pressure in the cold, and is known as cold-drawn castor oil, but if the bruised and pressed seeds be afterward steamed or heated and again pressed, a second quality of oil is obtained, which is apt to become partially solid or frozen in cold weather. In either case the crude oil is heated with water to 212°, which coagulates, and separates the albumen and other im- purities. Exposure to the sun's light bleaches the oil, and this process is resorted to on a large scale. When pure and cold-drawTi, castor oil is of a light-yellowish color; but when of in- ferior quality it has a greenish and oc- casionally a brownish tinge. It is some- what thick and viscid. Its sp. gr. is high for an oil, being about 960 (water being taken as 1,000). It is mixable with alcohol, or spirits of wine, and ether. It has a nauseous smell and an acrid, disagreeable taste, which may be overcome by the addition of a little mag- nesia. The principal acid in it is ricin- oleic acid. Castor oil is one of the most convenient and mildest of purgative medicines. The sickness often producepl by the disagreeable flavor of castor oil is by some obviated by floating the oil in hot coffee, which in a measure removes its nauseous qualities. CASTRO, CIPRIANO, ex-president of Venezuela. He was bom in 1860 in the province of Tachira, and was a member of the Venezuelan Senate at the fall of President Palacio (1892), when he left the capital. Leading a successful upris- ing against Andrade in 1899, he occupied Caracas, and the next year was elected A
