CRETE. 569 CRETONNE. lay down their arms, in expectation of assistance from Greece, where their ell'orts for independence were watched with great sympatliy. In Febru- ary, 1897, a Greek force landed in Crete and at- tacked the Turkisli troops. But Greece, w-hich had counted on European sympathy, if not active aid, in its struggle with Turkey, found itself alone. The concert of Powers, cinnprising Aus- tria, England, France, Germany, Italy, and Rus- sia, declared that Crete shoukl be granted com- plete autonomy, but that annexation to Greece was imiJOssible; the}' established a peaceful blockade of the island, and demanded that Greece recall its troops. The refusal of Greece to com- ply plunged it into war with Turkey, the out- come of which destroyed all hopes of annexation. From 1897 to near the end of 1S98 Crete was the scene of continuous violence, while the Powers quarreled over the appointment of a Governor. At length, the Ottoman forces were withdrawii from the island, and in December, 1898; Prince George of Greece, son of King George, was created High Commissioner of Crete for the Powers, for a term of three years. A national assembly met and formed a constitution provid- ing for the creation of a legislature, and gxiaran- teeing freedom of religion to all inhabitants. With life and property thus secured, the people returned to their wonted occupations and order was quicklv restored. Consult: Hoeck, Kreta (Gottingen" 182.3-29), the Opus JIagnum of Cre- tan topography, mythology, and archasology; Raulin, Deficription phiisicjiie de I'tle Crete (Paris, 1869) ; Bursian, (leo<iraphie von GriechenJ-and, vol. ii. (Leipzig, 18(59-72) ; Pashley, Travels in Crete (Cambridge, 1837) : Spratt, Trarcis and Researches in Crete (London, 1805) ; Stillman, The Cretan Insurrection of 1S66-GS (Mew York, 1874) ; Mitchell, The Greek, the Cretan, and the Turk (London, 1897); Antival of the British Hchool at Athens, vol. vi., vii. (Athens, 1899- IPOl). For further information about discov- eries, see ArcH-5:ology : Gnosis. CRETE. A city in Saline County, Neb., 20 miles southwest of Lincoln : on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy and the Jlissouri Pacific railroads (Map: Nebraska, H 3). The princi- pal industries comprise dour-mills, .a creamery, and nurseries. The city contains a public library and is the seat of Doane College (Congregation- al), established in 1872, which has a well- equipped observatory. Settled in 1867, Crete was incorporated as a village in 1871, and is at pres- ent governed under a revised charter of 1886. The council is made up of the mayor, elected annually, and representatives from the city wards. The city owns and operates its water- works and electric-light plant. Popul.ation, in 1890, 2310; in 1900, 2199. CRETIN, krataN', .Joseph (1800-57). An American ecclesiastic, first Roman Catholic Bishop of Saint Paul, Minn. He was born in Lyons. France, pursued ecclesiastical studies in that diocese, was ordained priest, and in 1838 volunteered to assist Bishop Loras, of Dubuque, Towa. as a worker in the American missions, Vicar-Genernl of Dulnique until 1851, and pastor of the cathedral church of Saint Raphael for much of the time, he in that year received episco- pal consecration as pioneer bishop of Saint Paul, and entered upon his work with a clergy of nine. He soon established a school, a seminary, a hos]utal, and an asylum; restored the mission among the Winnebagocs at Long Prairie, and founded new missions among the Ojibways. In three years he had increased the number of churches from one to twenty-nine, and to these had added thirty-five stations. He also began tlie building of the Cathedral of Saint Paul. Consult Clarke, Lives of the Deceased liisliops, vol. ii., i>p. tlo-.-iOO (New York, 1872). CRETINEAU-JOLY, kril'tfi'nd' zhfi'lf', Jac- QLES (18Uo-7o). A French author. He was born at Fontenay-le-Comte, Vendee. His first publications were verses, of which Les chants roniains (1820) are the best known. He then wrote for the newspapers, and made special historical studies, particularly of the war of the Vendee. His principal work is I'Histoirc reli- qieuse, politique et littiraire de la Compaqnie 'de J<^sus (1844-46). This may be called ' the official history of the Order, and is written from unedited and authentic documents. CRE'TINISM (Fr. cretinisme, from cretin, idiot ; possibly from OF. christien, chrestien, Fr. Chretien, Christian, as being one of simple mind). A term applied, in a general sense, to idiocy, or defective mental development, depend- ing upon local causes .and associated with bodily deformity or arrested growth. Cretinism is very often found in connection with goitre (q.v. ), in the lower Alpine valleys, not only of Switzer- land and Italy, but of the Pyrenees, Syria, India, and China. In Europe it is rarely met with at a higher elevation than 3000 feet, and haunts chiefly the valleys surrounded by high and steep walls of rock, which exchide the light and limit the free circulation of air. Cretins are either imbeciles with intelligence or idiots; their bodies are dwarfed, with curvature of the spine for- ward, pendulous belly, distorted legs, small, deep- set eyes, large mouth, with protruding lower lip, sparse harsh hair, dry skin, and irregularly large or small skull. Cretinism was thought to be due to lime in the drinking - water of the districts in which these people live, but has lieen proved to be de- pendent upon disease of the thyroid gland. Treat- ment of adult cretins with thyroid gland, ad- ministered by the mouth, or by implanting thy- roid glands from animals in the patients' bodies, has resulted in great improvement. Treatment of infant cretins with doses of the gland has resulted in a cure : but the thyroid nuist be taken as food for life, otherwise the patient re- lapses into an imbecile and the physical changes return. See Goitre; Tiitroid. CRETONNE, kre-ton' (so named after its manufacturer). Originally a whit<? cloth of French manufacture. The name is now apjilied to a printed cotton fabric introduced about 1800 and used for curtains or for covering furniture. Chintz (q.v.), so much employed for the same purpose in former years, is a comparatively thin printed cloth highly glazed. Cretonne, however, is generally thick and strong, and with a twilled, crape, basket, wave, or other figure produced on the loom. When a pattern is printed on this un- even surface, it has a rich, soft appearance. A cretonne is rarely calendered or glazed. The thick weft threads of inferior qualities are com- monly formed of waste cotton, and the patterns upon these, though often bright and showy, are as a rule printed in more or less fugitive colors.
