CUPPING. 607 CUKARI. ively called 'dry' and 'wet cupping.' Cups are made of glass, with round mouths, from two inches to one ineli wide. The cup is held near the skin and the tiame of an alcohol lamp is thrust into it till part of the air is driven out liy expansion. Tlie Haiue is then witlulrawn and the cup is quickly inverted on the skin, to which it adheres on account of the partial vacuum formed on cooling. The 'French cup' is provided willi a rubber bulb connected with its interior. Tlie bulb is grasped as the cup is applied, driving out the air, and when the cup is in position the bulb is allowed to expand and fill, thus exhausting part of the air in the cup. Wet cupping should be done under antiseptic precautions. CTJPRES'SUS. See Ctpress. CU'PRITE (from Lat. cuprum, copper). A red cuprous oxide that crystallizes in the isomet- ric system and has an adamantine or submetallic lustre. It occurs in Thuringia and Tuscany, in Cornwall and elsewhei'e in England; also abundantly in Chile, Peru, and Bolivia; and in the United States with various copper ores in the Lake Superior region, Missouri, and Arizona. It is found occasionally as a furnace product. CU'PULE (Xeo-Lat. cupuhi, dim. of Lat. cupa, cask). A word with at least two distinct applications among plants. Among seed-plants it refers to a peculiar involucre of coalesced bracts, such as the acorn 'cup,' and the husk of beechnuts, hazelnuts, etc. Among liverworts (as Marchantia ) it refers to- a cup-like structure' that appears on the plant body and contains the peculiar reproductive bodies called 'gemmoe.' See Hepatic.e. CU'PULIF'ER.a! (Neo-Lat. nom. pi., from cupula, cupule, little cup, cupola + Lat. ferre, to bear). The oak family. This order of Ben- tham and Hooker is divided by other botanists into several, the principal species being placed in Fagacese by Engler and the remainder includ- ed in Betulaceae. This is one of the most impor- tant orders of dicotyledonous plants when their uses are considered. To it belong the oak, chestnut, and beech (q.v.), which are among our most valued deciduous forest trees. The order is composed of monoecious trees and shrubs with alternate simple, straight-veined leaves, deciduous stipules; fertile flowers borne singly or clustered, sterile ones in catkins. The fruit is a nut inclosed in a cupule of coalesced bracts. In the oaks the nuts are borne singly in the cupule and more or less inclosed by it. With the beeches two three-angled nuts are formed within the cupule, which opens by four valves. The chestnuts have three nuts within a spiny bur, which opens by two or four valves when ripe. As limited by. Engler, there are but four or five genera and about S.IO species in this order, the principal genera being Quercus, Castanea, and Fagus. The first two are found indigenous only in extra-tropical regions of the Korthern Hemi- sphere, while Fagus occurs in the same region and is represented by the sub-genus Nothofasus in South America, Xew Zealand, and Australia. CITRA, koo'ra, or CirD.^D de CfK.v. A city of Venezuela, formerly capital of the State of Miranda, situated near Lake Valencia, 1600 feet above sea -level (lIap: Venezuela, D 2K Owing to its position near the llanos of the Guarico, it has considerable trade as the centre of a cotton- growing, agricultural, and stock-raising region. yoL. v.— 43. Cura, founded in 1730, sufTercd considerably in the War of independence. In 1900 it was visited by a destructive earthquake. Population, in 1889, 12,1!I.S. CTIRAQAO, koo'ri-sa'd or koo'ril-s6'. One of the Dutch West India islands lying in the south- ern part of the Caribbean Sea (Map: West In- dies, X 8). It is situated about 41 miles nortli of Venezuela, in latitude 12° N. and longitude ii9° W., and covers an area of 210 square niiles. Its surface is generally flat, with the exception of the southwestern part, where some of the elevations reach about 1200 feet. The lowlands are mostly of coral fornmlion, and the coasts are bordered with a numlK'r of lagoons. Streams are few, anil the rainfall light. Sugar, tobacco, coi-n, and fruits are raised, but a considerable part of the island is uneul- tivable on account of the lack of water. The principal minerals worlced are salt and phos- phate. The commerce of Curacao is chielly with the adjacent islands and the United States, which sends the larger i)art of the imjjorts. No figures for the exports of the island are ol)ta in- able, as there arc no export duties in Curacao, but the imports for 1899 were valued at over .$770,- 000. The island of Curacao, together with the adjacent Dutch islands of Buen Ayre, Oruba, a part of Saint JIartin, Saint Eustache. and Saba, form a separate colony ollicially called Curacao, administered by a governor, assisted by a council of four members and a colonial council of eight members. The smaller islands are administered by subordinate officials. The members of botli councils, as well as the minor oflicials, are nomi- nated by the sovereign. The population of Cura- cao in 1899 was 30,119 and that of the colony, 51.693. The capital of the colony of Curacao is Willemstad, on Curacao, a well-built town with a good harbor. Curacao was occupied by the Spanish in 1527 and fell into the hands of the Dutch in 1634. After a period of eight years under English rule the island was returned to the Dutch in 1815. There is a United States Con- sul on the island. Consult Dissel, Ciirasao (Lev- den, 18.57). CXTRAQAO, kiTo'ra-so' (so called from the jjeel of the Curacao orange). A well-known and palatable liqueur, made from orange-peel by digesting in sweetened spirits, with certain spices, as cinnamon, mace, or cloves. See Li- queurs. CTJRANA (koo-rii'na) WOOD. .'^ce Pko- Tiuir. CURARI, koo-rli're (South American), Cu- rare, OlRARI, UraRI, WoORALI, or WOOHARA. . celebrated poison used by some tribes of South American Indians for poisoning their arrows. It is by means of this poison that the small ar- rows shot from the blow-pipe Ijecomc so deadly. The nature and source of this poison remained long unknown, the Indians being very unwilling to reveal the secret, which seems, however, to have been at last obtained from them by Sir Robert Schomburgk, and it is now regarded as pretty certain that the princijial ingredient is the juice of the Strychnos toxifera, a tree or shrub of the same genus with that which yields nux vomica. 'See Strychnos.) It has a climb- ing stem, thickly covered with long, spreading, reddish hairs; rough, ovate, pointed leaves: and large, round fruit. The poison, when introduced
