CORBY 162 CORSICANA 1883 Parliament passed what is prob- ably, even to-day, the most effective and sweeping Corrupt Practices Act. Its main provisions are that it inflicts se- vere penalties, imprisonment and fine, upon those who practice bribery or "un- due influence" upon voters. So broadly has this last phrase been interpreted that an English court has held an en- tertainment given with the intention of corrupting voters to be a violation of the law. The law further provides for the lestriction within very narrow limits of the number of persons paid by campaign committees for their work in the elec- tions; it prescribes a fixed scale of law- ful expenditures by candidates or com- mittees, and requires a full and correct account of all expenditures. The United States was slow in following Great Brit- ain in this respect. The opening of the 20th century saw a change for the bet- ter, and, by 1920, nearly every State had placed upon its statute book a Cor- rupt Practices Act. Hardly any of them are as sweeping in their provisions as the English act, but all require the pub- lication of campaign expenses and set penalties for false returns. See Elec- toral Reform, CORRY, a city in Pennsylvania, in Erie CO., on the Erie and the Pennsyl- vania railroads. It is an important in- ' dustrial center, and has steel works, machine shops, flour mills, and manu- factures of locomotives, gas engines, furniture, shovels, toys, etc. It has the State Fish Hatchery. There are a hand- some high school and other important public buildings. In the vicinity are mineral springs and petroleum wells. Pop. (1910) 5,991; (1920) 7,228. CORSET, an article of dress laced closely round the body; a bodice; stays. the corset is one of the most useful and necessary articles of female dress, though many of the worst diseases of the chest have been developed and are frec[uently greatly exaggerated by tight lacing. Corsets are as necessary to a woman, after a certain stage of life, as a bandage is for a sprain. Stays, or rather corsets, however, are quite un- called for with growing girls, unless, in- deed, there should be some natural de- formity or v/eakness to correct. The idea that such a rigid incasement is requisite to give contour to the bust, and impart a graceful carriage to the figure, is equally erroneous. Up to 17 or 18, or perhaps till her marriage, no young female, if she takes due care of her per- son, and does not acquire bad habits, has any occasion to wear a corset for the mere sake of support and strength. Whatever is worn up to that time around the chest requires neither whale- bone nor steel, nor any tension more rigid than that afforded by strings or straps. But to the mother who has domestic duties to perform, and children to nurse and suckle, the corset becomes an absolute necessity. It is against the universal employment of steel-ribbed stays and tightly-drawn corsets in young women under 20 years, that both authority and reason should be directed to urge the discontinuance of a system decidedly hurtful. CORSICA, an island in the Mediter- ranean, forming the French department of the same name. It is separated from the island of Sardinia, on the S., by the Strait of Bonifacio, about 10 miles wide; length, N. to S., 110 miles; breadth, near its center, 53 miles; area, 3,367 square miles. The E. coast is almost unbroken, but on the W. coast a number of deep bays, St. Fiorenzo, Calvi, Porto, Liscia, Ajaccio, and Valinco, follow in rapid succession. The interior is traversed by a mountain chain, the culminating point of which is Monte Cinto, 8,891 feet high, Monte Rotondo coming next with 8,775 feet. From the E. and W. side of the chain numerous streams flow to opposite sides of the coast, generally mere tor- rents. With the exception of some marshy districts on the E. coast, the climate is very fine. There are fine forests containing pines, oaks, beeches, chestnuts, and cork-trees, and the moun- tain scenery is splendid. In the plains and numerous valleys the soil is general- ly fertile; but agriculture is in a back- ward state. Mules, goats, horses, cattle, and sheep, and among wild animals, the boar, the fox, and the deer, are common. There are good fisheries. In minerals Corsica is not rich. The chief exports are wine, brandy, olive-oil, chestnuts, fruits, and fish. The chief towns, Aiac- cio(pop. 19,000) and Bastia (pop. 30,000), are connected by railway. The island was first colonized by the Phoenicians, from whom it got the name of Cyrnos. The Romans afterward gave it that of Corsica. From the Romans it passed to the Goths, and from them to the Sara- cens, and in the 15th century to the Genoese. France had the rights of the Genoese ceded to her, after Paoli had virtually made Corsica independent, and entered on forcible possession of it in 1768. An insurrection in 1794, headed by General Paoli and assisted by the British, for a time restored the island to independence; but in 1796 it again fell under the dominion of France. Pop, about 289,000. CORSICANA, a city and county-seat of Navarro co., Tex.; on the Houston
