bling a living corpse, and indeed he is liable to die very suddenly, in the act of getting up, speaking, or drinking. At the end of from 20 to 24 hours death closes the scene, or reaction begins to take place; in favorable cases the skin becomes warm and moist, the urine begins to flow, the secretions are reestablished; the ejected matters become tinged with bile, and are diminished in quantity; the cramps cease, the thirst diminishes, the circulation begins to move freely, and the struggle between life and death is decided in favor of the former by a refreshing sleep. The rice-water discharges, the icy coldness, the disturbance of the circulation, the cramps, and the facies cholerica, present an assemblage of symptoms quite characteristic of this disease. In the most malignant epidemics the patient seems to be struck down at once, living but a few hours; in other cases the disease may be prolonged to days. The rice-water discharges have been found on analysis to contain the elements in which the blood is deficient, viz., serum, alkali, and the saline constituents; this has given origin to one favorite plan of treatment. Changes occur in the blood, this fluid becoming like tar or molasses in color and consistency, in proportion to the intensity and duration of the collapse; it is so thick that it will not in many cases flow from an opened artery; the serum is in less quantity than in healthy blood, and of higher specific gravity; the clot is in greater proportion, and is not reddened by oxygen on account of the small amount of saline matters; the amount of albumen is lessened, as also is the fibrine, according to Thompson. The pathological appearances throw no light on the nature of the disease: the lividity of the skin disappears after death, and the temperature is said to rise a little; putrefaction takes place slowly, if the disease has run its usual duration; the stomach and intestinal tube have been found variously injected, and the follicles remarkably developed; foreign physicians have laid great stress upon granular isolated pimples along the intestinal canal, and especially toward the end of the ileum, which are probably only the abnormally developed follicles or glandulæ; in the venous system there is found an accumulation of thick black blood. The nature of cholera is as yet quite undetermined, though plausible speculations are numerous; it has been regarded as an inflammation and an irritation of the digestive tube, as an affection of the sympathetic and spinal systems of nerves, as a paralysis of the organs of circulation and of the intestines, as a disease of the blood itself from a miasmatic cause, as an affection of the intestinal absorbents, and as various combinations of the above disorders. In the great majority of cases the cause, whatever it be, acts on the vessels of the mucous membrane, causing them to part with the watery portions of the blood, which becomes in consequence too thick for proper circulation; this alone would explain the lividity, the coldness, the arrest of the secretions,

and the collapse; but in some epidemics the morbific cause is so violent as to produce a fatal collapse from the beginning, before any unnatural discharges have appeared; it would seem, therefore, that the nervous system is that which is primarily affected, and probably the sympathetic ganglia which preside over the vital actions of the minute vessels of the intestines. An equal mystery and variety of opinion prevail as to the causes of cholera; the air has been tortured in vain to reveal the secret; no sidereal, telluric, magnetic, electric, or appreciable atmospheric changes have been satisfactorily connected with its endemic or epidemic appearance; animalcular and fungous growths have been equally unable to account for it; of its primary cause we know no more than we do of that of small pox, yellow fever, or any epidemic disease. But there are certain predisposing causes which doubtless favor its propagation, such as personal and public uncleanliness, errors in diet, drunkenness, and misery; fear, which always exists during fatal epidemics, in this instance amounting to choleraphobia, impresses many with the idea of drugging, who thereby render themselves mentally and physically more liable to its attack. Unprofessional people are prone to believe in contagion, and accordingly most persons perhaps think that cholera is contagious; physicians even were once divided in their opinions on this point, but probably at the present time very few could be found who would maintain its contagiousness. When great numbers of persons are exposed to the same epidemic influence, the idea of contagion is the most natural one to account for the occurrence of many cases in a limited district; but the whole history of the progress of cholera for the last 40 years shows conclusively that, though endemic and epidemic, it is not a contagious disease. Some courageous physicians have gone so far as to inoculate themselves with the blood, bile, and discharges of patients in every stage of the disease, and without any ill consequences. The history of cholera has afforded some of the noblest instances of selfsacrifice and heroic devotion to duty on the part of physicians and clergymen; at times when fathers deserted their children, when dearest friends dared not approach the house of death, the physician and the clergyman fearlessly discharged their duty, carrying physical and spiritual relief to the suffering and the dying; when even the watchmen have fled the city, the noble men of these professions have remained. It will be seen that cholera morbus and the epidemic cholera resemble each other in certain symptoms; yet the former more properly belongs to diseases of the digestive tube, and the latter to diseases of innervation; when epidemic cholera is raging, it is very common to see the summer cholera morbus putting on some of the characters of the prevailing epidemic; the causes, fatality, and season of prevalence, among other things, will generally suffice to distinguish the two diseases.

-Endemic for centuries in the marshy region of the Ganges, it suddenly, in Aug. 1817, broke away from its usual confines, and made its appearance at Calcutta in the following month, where it raged for more than a year; it thence extended northward to Nepaul, southward to Madras and Ceylon, and to Malacca; in 1819 it extended to the Burmese empire and the countries to the east; in 1820 it arrived in Bombay, where it destroyed 150,000 persons; thence to Madagascar and the east coast of Africa, to Borneo, Celebes, China, and the Philippine islands. In 1821 it advanced to the northwest, pursuing the course of rivers and travelled roads to Persia, Arabia, and Asia Minor; here it seemed to stop for a time, but in 1823 it reappeared and devastated central Asia; in 1829 it appeared in southern Russia, and at Moscow in 1830; in 1831 it spread over most of central Europe, and appeared in Eng land, at Sunderland, in October; in Jan. 1832, it was in Edinburgh, and in February in London, where, however, its ravages were small; it broke out in Paris in March, and spread rapidly over France. On June 8, 1832, it first appeared on this side of the Atlantic, at Quebec, and on June 10 at Montreal; on June 21 it suddenly appeared in New York, the intermediate districts escaping its visitation; the disease spread in various directions, reaching Philadelphia, Albany, and Rochester in July, and Boston, Baltimore, and Washington in August; in October it spread from Cincinnati to New Orleans. In 1834 it revisited this country, and cannot be said to have reigned epidemically here since that time, though it reappeared in Europe during 1835, 1836, and 1837. A few years ago something of a panic was created in our northern cities by the appearance of a disease resembling, if not a mild type of, Asiatic cholera; hospitals were extensively organized in anticipation of a fearful epidemic, which the filth of the large cities fully justified; but the disease proved comparatively mild and soon disappeared, being confined chiefly to the dirtiest and most densely inhabited districts, and evidently endemic. From statistics made in England, about 38.5 per cent. of those attacked died; more than 20,000 perished in Great Britain, and 5,000 in London alone; in Paris 18,000 perished, about 49 per cent.; in Russia the mortality was dreadful, 58.6 per cent.; it raged in midwinter at St. Petersburg, and with great fatality, showing that the morbific cause is not destroyed by intense cold; in this country the deaths were from 40 to 50 per cent. The danger in cholera is less the longer a patient lives under it; one half the deaths happen within 24 hours of seizure. The treatment of the first stage of cholera consists in keeping up the natural state of the skin, by external heat if necessary; in clearing the stomach and bowels, if loaded. In the southern and western states mercurials were given in immense doses to excite a new action in the system, this practice being taken

from the physicians of India; opium is highly serviceable in all stages; the intense thirst may be relieved by iced drinks; for the diarrhoea sugar of lead and opium, ratanhy, and other astringents are employed; strychnine is highly spoken of for arresting vomiting and diarrhoea, and combating the nervous prostration, either internally administered or applied endermically. In the stage of collapse warm dry air, with frictions, with perhaps internal stimulants, have been as successful as any remedies; for the cramps friction, the tourniquet, and bandages are generally used. To supply the serum and salts to the blood, and thus to render it liquid and fit for circulation, solutions of salt and the alkaline carbonates have been tried internally, as enemata, and as injections into the bloodvessels; the relief was immediate but not permanent, as this medication relieved a symptom only, without modifying the morbific cause. Various specifics have been recommended, but none deserve the appellation. If the patient recovers from the collapse, the reaction of the system must be kept within proper bounds by revulsives to protect the vital organs. But no definite course of treatment can be laid down, as each epidemic, and almost each case, requires the pursuance of a plan which can be left only to the sagacity of the physician. When a choleraic tendency is observable, the avoidance of the exciting causes of diarrhoea will do much to preserve health; and public authorities then, if at no other time, should attend to the sanitary condition of the favorite haunts of disease. The general condition of New York city is very far from that which would be desirable during an invasion of cholera; indeed, the mortality from that or any other epidemic disease would there be frightful. III. Cholera infantum, a disease very fatal among ill-fed and neglected children in large cities, resembling cholera in many of its symptoms. It may begin with simple diarrhoea, or it may come on suddenly with vomiting and purging of a thin frothy fluid, sometimes of a greenish tinge, which soon degenerates into a watery discharge, which very quickly prostrates the strength; there are almost always signs of febrile irritation, abdominal pain and tenderness, great thirst, and sometimes coldness of the surface; as the disease progresses the face becomes palé and shrunken, with a choleraic expression, the infant looking cadaveric, though easily roused to consciousness; the pulse becomes feeble, the respiration oppressed, and a comatose state, like that of disease in the brain, supervenes. In extreme cases death may occur within 24 hours; but as generally seen, and in favorable cases, the disease is prolonged through several days. It has been estimated that of all the children who die under the age of 5 years, die of this disease; it is certainly the chief scourge of large cities during the summer months, and is evidently due to the combined action of excessive heat, improper food, and foul air; it is a disease of summer, rare in the

pure air of the country, and almost exclusively prevailing among the infants in confined and dirty streets; it is most fatal in children between the ages of 3 and 18 months, during the process of the first dentition, and in those brought up by hand; there can be no question that the milk of the swill-fed cows of New York city is a frightful cause of fatal cholera infantumn among the children of the poor and middling classes. The pathological characters, when any are found, consist of traces of inflammation and ulceration of the intestinal mucous membrane and its follicles. The disease is certainly not contagious, rarely epidemic, but almost always endemic or the result of local causes. The principles of the treatment are the same as in diarrhoeas generally, modified according to any evident exciting cause: the administration of opiates, astringents, and stimulants; the substitution of pure air and milk for their opposites; the lancing of swelled gums; fomentations and a flannel bandage to the abdomen; mercurial alteratives with alkalies after the acute stage has passed; warm baths and cooling drinks; but, above all, change of air from the city to the country or the sea-shore, and a well-regulated diet.

CHOLET, or CHOLLET, a canton and town of France, department of Maine-et-Loire, on the Maine, 25 m. S. of Angers; pop. of the former 25,441, and of the latter about 8,000. The town is largely engaged in manufactures, having establishments for the spinning of cotton and woollen goods, known as toiles de Cholet or Cholettes, paper mills, bleacheries, tanneries, and dye houses. There are altogether 40 industrial establishments in the canton. The annual value of the articles manufactured in the town and the neighboring district is estimated at $5,000,000, and there is also considerable trade in cattle. The town suffered greatly from civil war during the revolution, its manufactures being destroyed, and the workmen put to death or dispersed. Two battles were fought here in 1793 between the republicans and the Vendeans.

CHOLULA, a decayed town of La Puebla, Mexico, situated on the table-land of Anahuac, 6,912 feet above the sea, 15 m. W. N. W. of the city of La Puebla; pop. 10,000, wholly Indians. It was formerly the capital of an independent state of the same name, but is now little more than a village rapidly sinking into insig nificance. It has still some manufactures of coarse cotton goods, and is surrounded by well tilled gardens and plantations of corn and maguay. In its neighborhood stands the largest of the teocallis or pyramids of Mexico, consisting of an artificial, or as some travellers have supposed a natural hill, cased with layers of adobe, stone, and plaster, and forming a truncated pyramid of 4 equal sides, facing the cardinal points and divided into the same number of terraces. According to Humboldt's measurement it is about 160 feet in perpendicular height, 1,400 feet square at the base, and covers an

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area of 45 acres. Latrobe states its elevation to be 177 feet, and the length of its base 1,425 feet. It is accessible on all sides, though time has destroyed the regularity of its outline, and covered its sides with trees and shrubs to the very summit. The platform on its top is more than an acre in extent, and is surrounded by a parapet. In its centre stands a chapel to the Virgin, erected by the Spaniards, where masses are celebrated. A part of this pyramid was laid open some years ago by the construction of a road across it, when a cavity was disclosed containing a number of vases, idols in basalt, and 2 skeletons. It was built in honor of the deity Quetzalcoatl, but its precise age is unknown. The Aztecs found it here when they settled in Anahuac. Close by are 2 smaller pyramids.-When the ancient empire of Mexico was in its glory, Cholula was the commercial emporium of the plain, the seat of skilful manufactures, and a holy city where each race had its temples and sacrifices, and whither pilgrims resorted from the most distant quarters. Its streets were gay with the pomp of frequent festivals and processions, while on the summit of the great pyramid rose perpetual flames from the temple of Quetzalcoatl. This temple, a magnificent structure, and an object of profound national reverence, contained an image of the god, wearing about his neck a golden collar, in his ears pendants of turquoise, and on his head a mitre with plumes. He bore a shield covered with emblems, and held in one hand a jewelled sceptre. It is related that at this and the numer ous other shrines throughout the city 6,000 human beings were sacrificed every year. Cortes, who stopped at Cholula on his march to Mexico, described it as a beautiful and well fortified town, containing about 20,000 houses, beside which the suburbs were computed to embrace about as many more. He called it Churultecal. He was received by the inhabitants with apparent kindness, but learning that they were plotting against him he fell upon them unexpectedly, and gave the city up for several hours to massacre and pillage. In his letter to Charles V. he rates the loss of life at 3,000; most accounts say 6,000, and some estimate it still higher.

CHOMEL, AUGUSTE FRANÇOIS, a French physician, member of a family which has produced a succession of eminent physicians during the last 2 centuries, born about 1789, was at an early age attached to the medical service of the hospitals in Paris. Under the instruction of Boyer, Corvisart, and Pinel, he made rapid progress in his studies, and in 1813 he published an Essai sur les rheumatismes; in 1817, Élémens de pathologie générale; in 1821, Traité des fièvres et des maladies pestilentielles, which was attacked by Broussais, but which has outlived Broussais' theory, and made a reputation for the author. In 1827, Chomel was appointed professor of medicine at the faculty of Paris, as successor to the celebrated Laennec, whose views he held and taught in the

same chair. His practice is perhaps now more lucrative than that of any other physician in France. In 1836, Genest, Requin, and Sestier published their notes of his clinical lessons, in 3 vols. 8vo., on typhoid fevers, rheumatisms, and pneumonia, which are still deemed standard works in France.

CHOMIAKOFF, ALEXEI STEFANOVITCH, a Russian poet, born in 1804. He served for a time in the army, but after the peace of Adrianople devoted himself to literature. His most remarkable productions are Yermak, a tragedy, whose hero is the adventurer who gave Siberia to Russia; Dmitri Samozvanietz, or Pseudo-Demetrius, also a historical tragedy; and a collection of lyrical poems. He is esteemed for the harmony of his versification, and the national character of his songs.

CHONTALES, a district of Nicaragua, N. E. of the lakes Nicaragua and Managua, separated from Honduras by the district of Segovia. The chain of the Cordilleras called the Alto Grande mountains traverses the district in a N. W. and S. E. direction, making up the greater part of it. The mining region, which gives the principal importance to this portion of Nicaragua, lies along the slopes of the mountains, and in this are several towns, mostly occupied by the native Indians. One of the most important of these is Libertad, 35 m. N. E. from Lake Nicaragua. The gold mines in its vicinity, on the rivers Mica and Bola, branches of the Bluefields, were worked by the early Spanish settlers, and are still worked by the Indians. The gold appears to be obtained from decomposed auriferous slates, which are ground by arrastres. In the same region are found veins of silver ores, the specimens from which recently brought to New York indicate the existence of mines of great richness. The favorable position of this district, so easily accessible from the lakes, and enjoying the salubrious and delightful climate of the mountains, must encourage a thorough investigation of its resources whenever the political condition of the country is settled. Near Lake Nicaragua a bed of coal has been opened in the district, which is probably of the nature of the tertiary coals of South America. Among the mountains are vast plains covered with grass, which give support to immense herds of cattle and horses. It is stated that 5,000 hides might annually be exported from the district. Much good timber is found in the vicinity of the mines, among which are species of oak and pine. Fruits of the tropics grow abundantly in close proximity to those of the temperate zones, and the articles necessary for subsistence are easily obtained in the greatest abundance.

CHOPIN, FREDERIC, a Polish pianist and composer, born in 1810, at Żelazowa Wola, near Warsaw, died in Paris, Oct. 14, 1849. He early developed a remarkable talent for music; performed in public at the age of 9, and also studied the science of harmony. He left Poland shortly before the outbreak of the revolu

tion of 1830, and began to attract the attention of the musical world during his travels in Germany, winning a few years later a high reputation by his triumphs in France and England. Thoroughly acquainted with the science of musical composition, he possessed beside a true originality of ideas and a natural genius, which excelled in expressing delicate, fanciful, or passionate inspirations. He was as much a poet as an artist at the piano, and exercised a sort of fascination over his hearers by overflowing feeling, unexpected effects, and a sort of nervousness which made his own emotion contagious. This is the reason why those who never heard him can scarcely have an exact idea of the peculiarities of his execution, although he formed very distinguished pupils, and has left 2 concertos and a great number of studies, mazurkas, waltzes, &c., on which his style is clearly impressed. To read his music is not enough; one should have heard it rendered by himself. Of course Chopin was a great favorite with the Parisian world, a medium most congenial to all artistic celebrities. After the revolution of 1848, Chopin went to England, whence he came back to Paris in the following year, but to die. He was surrounded by friends in his death as he had been in his life, and he expired in the fulness of his fame, without having experienced the inconstancy of popularity, suffered from the wane of life, or even suspected the decline of his renown.

CHOPTANK RIVER rises in Kent co., Del., flows S. W. into Maryland, and near the S. extremity of Talbot co. spreads into an estuary several miles wide and nearly 20 m. long, through which it empties into Chesapeake bay; total course, 100 m. It is navigable for sloops to the mouth of Tuckahoe river, a distance of about 50 m.

CHORAGIC, partaining to the choragus. Thus, choragic monuments, among the ancient Greeks, were erected in honor of those choragi who gained the prize for producing the best theatrical or musical entertainments. The remains of 2 of these monuments are still seen at Athens.

CHORAGUS (Gr. xopos, dance, chorus, and ayw, to lead), a functionary among the ancient Athenians who paid the expenses attendant on the equipment and instruction of a chorus. Originally, the chorus in dramatic representations was selected from the citizens of the state; but, as music and dancing became more artistic, there arose the distinction between spectators and performers. Salaried artists were employed, and at length the entire superintendence of all the details of a theatrical representation was intrusted to a single individual, called the choragus, who was selected by the state, and upon whom rested all the expenses incurred in bringing out the show. Each of the 10 tribes furnished a chorus of dancers and musicians, and chose a citizen to fulfil the duties of choragus. The person thus elected immediately assembled the performers,

gave them an instructor, furnished them with Costumes, and, during the time of their training, supported them at his own expense, providing them only with such food and drink as would strengthen or improve the voice. The choragi drew lots for the choice of teachers; for, as their credit depended upon the success of their chorus in the dramatic or lyrical contests, the selection of the instructor became a matter of great importance. The office of choragus was one of high dignity; for religion and art, and the rivalry between tribes and states, exalted the Athenian imagination; and the choragus who was adjudged to have exhibited the best entertainment received as a prize a tripod, which was ceremoniously consecrated in the temples, and on which was inscribed the name of the victorious choragus and of his tribe. There was a whole street at Athens formed by the line of these tripod temples.

CHORAL, a sacred melody of a peculiarly simple and uniform character, corresponding to the ordinary psalm tune, and very generally used in the religious worship of Germany. As an adjective, it means that which relates to a choir or a chorus.

CHORD, in modern music, a combination of sounds, the frequency of whose vibrations has a simple arithmetical ratio; that is, of sounds whose combination is in accordance with the laws of harmony.-CHORD, in mathematics, is a name applied to a straight line connecting 2 points of a curve line.

CHOREA. See ST. VITUS'S DANCE. CHORIAMBUS (Gr. xopiaußos), in prosody, a foot consisting of a trochee or a choree and an iambus, of which the first and fourth are long, and the second and third short. It is employed only in lyric poetry, in which it is a favorite measure, as in the choruses of the Greek tragedians, and the odes of Horace. The verses in which it predominates are named choriambics, of which there are several varieties.

CHORIS, LOUIS, a Russian painter and traveller, born of German parents at Ekaterinoslav, March 22, 1795, died at Jalapa, in Mexico, March 22, 1828. He accompanied Biberstein to the Caucasus in 1813, and sketched the most beautiful plants of that region. In 1814 he joined Kotzebue in his voyage of circumnavigation. In 1819 he went to Paris, and engaged in the publication of the Voyage pittoresque autour du monde (Paris, 1821-'23), of which his drawings formed the most valuable part, the text being by Cuvier and Chamisso, with phrenological dissertations by Gall. His Vues et paysages des régions équinoxiales (Paris, 1826) was the complement of this work. He found time to study historical painting in the studios of Gérard and Regnault, and assist ed the former of these masters upon his "Consecration of Charles X." Having undertaken a new exploration of Mexico and Central America with an Englishman named Henderson, he was murdered by highwaymen near Jalapa.

CHORON, ALEXANDRE ÉTIENNE, a French musical composer, born at Caen, Oct. 21, 1771, died in Paris, June 29, 1884. His own teacher, he invented a system of notation which enabled him to preserve the songs that he heard or composed. He afterward studied music under the best masters, but was equally interested in the physical sciences and mathematics. In 1794 he was appointed chief of brigade to the polytechnic school, where he passed several years. In 1815 he became director of the royal academy of music, which office he held for 17 months. He founded in 1817 a musical school for children, which afterward took the name of Institution royale de musique religieuse. His most important work is his Principes de composition des écoles d'Italie. He left many others unfinished, among them a Dictionnaire historique des musiciens.

CHORUS (xopos), in Greek, a dance, and a dancing circle or group. Choruses were integral parts of the Grecian drama, both tragic and comic, and were developed with it from its first rudiments in the public religious processions in honor of Dionysus (Bacchus), with dithyrambic songs, dances, jokes, the wagon and sacred goat, through the improvements of Thespis, a contemporary of Solon (about 590 B. C.), who created a kind of stage, and introduced an actor reciting in monologues the deeds of the gods and heroes, and through those of Eschylus, who added another actor, shortened the songs and dances, and introduced the 'dialogue, down to the sublime creations of Sophocles and Euripides. The chorus being of Doric origin maintained its solemnity in form, and even in dialect. In its final state it was, in the tragedy, a group of persons of both sexes, the elders of the people, priests, counsellors of the king, matrons, captive virgins present as spectators at the scene of the action, representing to some extent in their lyrical utterance the emotions and thoughts of the audience. When the actors paused, the chorus sung or spoke, accompanied by solemn music, sometimes only, through their leader, called the coryphæus, sometimes through different parts addressing each other and replying, while moving from one side of the stage to the other, in so-called strophes (turns), antistrophes (counter-turns), and epodes (after-songs), enhancing the impression of the action by their remarks, by expressions of joy, sorrow, admiration, or horror, as caused by the things seen; by hymns of thanks, or supplications to the gods; or addressing the heroes of the scene, advising or consoling, warning or reproving in moralizing strains. It is thus that the chorus, standing between the heroes and the people, reflected as a mirror the conscience of the former and the consciousness of the later, both affected by mighty events and tragic developments. The chorus thus forms the distinctive feature of the ancient drama, whose imitation has often, and almost always unsuccessfully, been attempted by modern poets, as for instance Schiller in his Braut