pungent, are less used in salads in this country than on the Continent and in America. Water Cress (Nasturtium officinale) is an aquatic perennial species of the same natural order, largely cultivated in England and on the Continent in slowly running brooks and ditches, where the water is pure and the bottom gravelly. In stagnant water and a muddy bottom the plant soon perishes. For Indian Cress, see TROPÆOLUM.

Cresset, a name given to a great light on a beacon or watch-tower, to a lamp or torch, or a light fixed on a pole.

Cressy. See CRECY.

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Crest (Lat. crista, a comb or tuft'), a heraldic figure or ornament, which in its original use surmounted the helmet. Though often popularly regarded as the most important part of the heraldic insignia of a family, it is, in the eyes of heralds, an accessory without which the bearing is complete. The practice of ornamenting the helmet with a capriciously assumed figure existed in classical times; but no such usage is found in the early middle ages, or at the time when heraldry had its rise. Crests first appear occasionally on the helmets of knights in the 13th century, and were a mark of dignity and estate beyond what was implied by the use of arms. Edward III. was the first English king who assumed a crest; and crests are found in use by the early Knights of the Garter. The practice gradually spread, particularly in England, till the crest became the almost indispensable adjunct of a shield of arms, as it now is. On the Continent there are still many families of distinction who have never used a crest. The crest is generally placed on a Wreath (q.v.) of the principal metal and colour of the shield; sometimes, however, it is (by permission of the sovereign or king-at-arms) allowed to issue out of a ducal coronet, mural crown, or cap of maintenance. Different crests are, in modern times, often assigned to separate branches of the same family, and there are many crests which so many families have in common that they are hardly distinctive. No ladies except sovereign princesses can, with any propriety, attach a crest to their arms. The assumption of crests by churchmen is equally objectionable. Corporations occasionally use them, a practice for which precedent may be shown from the 15th century. Crests are not to be confounded with family badges, which were never placed on a helmet, and ought not to be borne on a wreath. See BADGE; Fairbairn's Crests (2 vols. new ed. 1882), and Knight and Butters' Crests (2 vols. 1885).

Creste, in Architecture, an ornamental finishing, either in stone, or of tiles or metal, running

Creste, 13th century (from Viollet le Duc).

along the top of a wall or the ridge of a roof. Such crestings were adopted by the Romanesque architects from the East, but the designs were soon made after their own style. Elaborate ornaments of this kind were frequently used in Gothic buildings. In modern times cast-iron has been greatly

CRETACEOUS SYSTEM

used for such ornaments, many roofs being covered with gilded iron rails or crests.

Crested, in Heraldry. When a cock or other bird has its comb of a different tincture from its body, it is said to be crested of such a tincture, naming the tincture.

Creston, a town of Union county, Iowa, 115 miles W. of Ottumwa. It is connected by railway with Burlington, Chicago, and St Joseph, and has large machine-shops and railway-carriage works. Pop. (1870) 411; (1890) 7195.

Creswell, SIR CRESWELL, judge, born in Newcastle in 1794, was educated at Charterhouse and Cambridge, and called to the bar in 1819. Between 1822 and 1830 he issued, with Barnewall, a valuable series of Reports; in 1830 he was appointed recorder of Hull, and in 1834 a king's counsel. He was returned to parliament by Liver pool in 1837 and 1841, and in 1842 Peel made him a puisne judge. He sat in the Court of Common Pleas till 1858, when he was appointed first judge of the newly-created Probate and Divorce Court, the success of which was mainly due to his unsparing exertions. He died 29th July 1863.

Creswick, THOMAS, R. A., a popular landscapepainter, was born at Sheffield, 5th February 1811. He early exhibited a taste for drawing, and removed to London in 1828, where two of his pictures during that year found a place in the Royal Academy's exhibition. Creswick loved to paint the beautiful streams, and glens, and wooded dells of his native land; and these, which, along with some coast scenes, form the subject of his best paintings, are represented on his canvas with great delicacy of finished detail and truth of aerial perspective, the figures introduced being frequently from the brush of Ansdell, Cooper, Frith, and other artists. He was well known as a book-illustrator by his drawings for the wood-engravers, and he contributed to the publications of the English Etching Club. He was elected an A. R. A. in 1842, an R.A. in 1851. He died 28th December 1869. More than a hundred of his works were collected in the London International Exhibition of 1873.

Cretaceous System, the highest division of the Mesozoic or Secondary strata, rests conformably unconformably by the oldest deposits of the Eocene upon the Jurassic System (q.v.), and is overlaid System (q.v.). The cretaceous strata of Britain are confined chiefly to the east and south-east of England. They form the Yorkshire Wolds, extend over large parts of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Hertford, and compose the Chiltern Hills, Salisbury Plain, the Downs, and the south part of the Isle of Wight. On the Continent the cretaceous rocks have a considerable development. They form a broad basin in the north of France, and stretch eastward from Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and the south of Sweden, through the great plains of northern Europe to the south end of the Ural Mountains. But over extensive regions within that wide area they lie more or less concealed under younger formations. There is another extensive development of cretaceous strata in southern Europe, where they enter largely into the composition of many of the Mediterranean coast-lands. The chief petrological feature of the cretaceous strata of western and northern Europe is the great development of white chalk in the Anglo-French area, and its gradual replacement, when followed eastwards into Germany, &c., by earthy limestones, shales, sandstones, &c. The most marked characteristic of the cretaceous system in southern Europe is the great development in that region of massive marine limestone (hippurite limestone).

In North America cretaceous strata likewise occur

in force, especially in the western states and

territories. They also occupy wide tracts in the Gulf states, whence they extend up the Mississippi valley to the Ohio; they put in an appearance at intervals on the Atlantic borders between South Carolina and New Jersey; and we meet with them again on the Pacific border and in the coast-range. Strata of the same age occur also in the far west of British America, at the mouth of the Mackenzie River, and in Greenland. In India the system is marked in the Deccan by a massive series of basaltrocks, 4000 to 6000 feet thick, and covering an area of 200,000 sq. m. In Australia and New Zealand there is a considerable development of cretaceous rocks, such as the desert sandstones' of Queensland, and a small coal-bearing group of beds In New Zealand the system likewise contains coals, some of which are lignites, while others are bituminous coals of fair quality. The following is the succession of cretaceous strata in England:

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The Wealden Beds consist largely of clay and sand, and are almost entirely of fresh-water origin, In Yorkshire, however, the strata which occur on the same horizon as the Wealden beds of the south are of marine origin, as seen in the Speeton clay near Bridlington. The Lower Greensand, consisting of sand, clay, &c., are marine. The Gault (q.v.), a tough blue clay, is likewise marine, and so also are the shallow water sands of the Upper Greensand, and the thin layer of chalky marf called Chloritic Mari (q.v.), which is characterised by the presence of glauconitie grains and phosphatic nodules. The most characteristic rocks of the system, however, are the chalk beds. The basement of these beds is the argillaceous chalk known as Chalk Marl. The lower chalk is a grayish-white chalk, while the middle chalk is a pure white chalk, containing in its upper portions layers of flint nodules. A hard laver of yellowish limestone called Chalk-rock | hes at the top of this division. The upper white chik is a thick massive white chalk, containing numerous layers of nodules and occasional tabular sheets of flint. All these chalks are of marine origin. The following are the divisions adopted by continental geologists, and now largely used by geologists in Britain:

The cretaceous strata of Britain being almost exclusively of marine origin, it is not surprising that land plants seldom occur, and that they are tart with chiefly in the fresh-water beds near the suse of the system. They consist chiefly of ferns, eveads, and conifers-a flora resembling that of the preeding Jurassic period. The upper cretaceous Forks of Germany, however, have furnished many Jant remains. Amongst those are the oldest known dicotyledons, such as extinct species of taple, oak, walnut, beach, laurel, magnolia, &c., & several proteaceous plants. A similar admixture of forms occurs in the cretaceous strata of North America. Amongst animals the Protozoa played a very important part-the white chalks

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and earthy limestones being very largely composed of the minute shells of foraminifera, such as Globigerina, Rotalia, and Textularia, which still swarm in the ooze of the Atlantic. Sponges, such as Ventriculites, Siphonia, &c., were very abundant, and sea urchins also occurred in great numbers. Star-fishes and bryozoans were fairly common, as were also, amongst brachiopods, Terebratula and Rhynchonella. But the brachiopods as a class were feebly represented as compared with their abundance in the earlier stages of the world's history. Ordinary bivalves, however, were very numerous, such as Inoceramus, Hippurites, Spondylus, Lima, Pecten, &c. In the Danian beds carnivorous gasteropods begin to abound, and they include a number of existing genera. Cephalopods are not only the most abundant, but also the most characteristic fossils of the cretaceous rocks. Amongst them are a great variety of Ammonites, and many forms of Belemnitida. Amongst the fishes were ganoids, and various kinds of the shark tribe, together with the earliest representatives of the Teleostei -which include most living genera of fishes. The waters of the period seem also to have swarmed with reptiles, such as Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus. Winged reptiles were also present, such as Pterodactylus. Amongst dinosaurs were Cetiosaurus, Megalosaurus, and Iguanodon. Another remarkable reptile was the serpent-like Mosasaurus. Besides these, there were lizards, chelonians, and croco diles. The American cretaceous system is likewise characterised by the presence of huge dinosaurs and other reptiles-some of them being European types, while others are peculiar. One of the most remarkable features of the American rocks, however, is the occurrence in them of the toothed birds-Ichthyornis and Hesperornis. (Separate articles deal with most of these various forms.)

No break separates the Jurassic from the cretaceous system- there is a gradual passage from the upper beds of the former into the lower beds of the latter. At the beginning of cretaceous times most of the British and Irish area existed as dry land. Over the south-east of England lay the estuary of a large river, flowing probably from the north. The Wealden beds are the delta deposits of that river; the English and French beds of this division covering an area of 20,000 sq. m. The sea into which that river flowed occupied a considerable area in the north of France, spread over the Low Countries into Hanover, filled the basin of the North Sea, and overflowed a portion of eastern England. Wealden beds occur in north west Germany, and indicate the delta of a river, like that of the British area, flowing from the north. While land conditions predominated in northern and middle Europe, an open sea covered vast areas in southern Europe. Gradual subsidence of the sea bottom took place during the deposition of the Wealden series, and eventually the great deltas became submerged, and a wide sea covered most of what are now the low grounds of the British area, and passing eastwards, submerged vast regions of middle Europe up to the slopes of the Ural Mountains. The depression was greatest in the western areas, where in the deep clear waters there gradually accumulated the calcareous matter which subsequently formed our white chalk. There is no deposit forming at present which is quite analogous to white chalk. The calcareous oozes of existing seas which most resemble it are of abyssal origin, but the sea in which the chalk accumulated probably did not exceed 1000 or 2000 feet in depth. The extreme purity of the chalk, consisting as that rock does of 95 per cent, and more of carbonate of lime, is dithcult to account for on the supposition that the sea in which it formed was comparatively shallow.

The sea of western Europe may have been dotted with small islands-from none of which large rivers descended; and possibly the formation of the chalk was not so slow a process as many geologists suppose. Professor Prestwich even suggests that it may to some extent be of the nature of a chemical precipitate thrown down under special and peculiar conditions prevailing at the time. However that may be, the shells of foraminifera and other organic remains certainly enter very largely into its composition. In the Mediterranean basin, a deep open sea would seem to have persisted all through the cretaceous period. It was in this sea that the massive hippurite limestone was formed. Open water appears at this time to have extended through the Mediterranean area into Asia, covering there also vast tracts of what is now dry land, and communicating with the Indian Ocean. The conditions of climate seem to have been remarkably uniform over vast regions of the earth's surface. Ferns, cycads, and conifers flourished in the lands within the Arctic Circle, and the waters of the same region were tenanted by cuttlefish, ammonites, and huge reptiles.

Crete (Ital. Candia, Turk. Kirit, Gr. Krētē), a Turkish island in the Mediterranean, is the most southerly portion of Europe. It is 60 miles S. of Cape Malea in Greece, 110 SW. of Cape Krio in Asia Minor, 100 SSW. of Rhodes, and 300 W. of Cyprus. Its length is 156 miles; its breadth varies from 30 to as little as 7 miles; and its area is 3326 sq. m., or twice the size of Hampshire. The climate, inferior only to that of Rhodes, is excellent, and has always been celebrated for its salubrity. The air is pure, fresh, and bracing; the rainfall about 27 inches. In July, August, and September it is hot in the plains, but the seabreezes temper the heat, especially at night, and during the rest of the year the climate is delightful. Crete is for the most part mountainous, especially in the west, where the White Mountains form the most important range. In the centre Mount Ida, now called Upsiloriti, the loftiest in Crete, rises to a height of 8055 feet. The east is less mountainous, and everywhere numerous small valleys are exceedingly fertile. The rivers are unimportant, being almost invariably dry in summer, and in winter and spring rushing down to the sea as torrents. The country is, however, fairly well watered, even in the dry season, as springs abound all over the island.

The coast-line, deeply indented on the north, includes some good harbours: Suda Bay, on the north, is one of the finest anchorages in the Mediterranean, and now well known by name as the resort of the British fleet at interesting political crises; and on the south is the small but wellsheltered Kaloi Limenes, or the Fair Havens, by which name it is spoken of in Acts, xxvii. 8. In the immediate neighbourhood of Crete are three islands: Clauda, the modern Gavdo, off the southwest coast, with an area of about 15 sq. m., also spoken of in Acts, xxvii. 16, was in the middle ages the see of a bishop. At the present day it is remarkable for its lighthouse, whose brilliant revolving light-flash every minute-is visible at a distance of 25 miles. Dia, eight miles north of Candia, and Grabusa, at the extreme north-west, were both fortified by the Venetians as strongholds in their wars with the Turks.

Wheat and fruit are the most important products. Oranges and lemons particularly flourish. The grapes are good, but the wine, though abundant and cheap, is of very inferior quality. In the middle ages the wine made at Malevesi, near Canea, was celebrated under the well-known name of Malmsey (Fr. Malvoisie). The forests, as usual in the Levant, have almost entirely dis

CRETINISM

appeared. But on the hills the cypress flourishes, and in the plain country the olive is the most important tree. Chestnuts, valonia oak, and carobs also grow in certain localities. The principal exports are olive-oil, soap, carobs, wool, cheese, valonia acorns, and fruits. Sheep are largely bred, and the wool is exported, but is not of fine quality. Sponges are found upon the coast. There are few wild animals, the most important being the Cretan ibex; there are no serpents of any kind, and there is a paucity of game, whether of fur or of feather.

The population, in 1881 numbering 279,000, chiefly of Greek descent, consists of 204,700 Christians and 74,300 Mohammedans, although these latter are rarely Turks, but native Mussulmans, speaking Greek and not Turkish as their mothertongue. There are also 700 Jews and only 250 Roman Catholics. The Cretans are a turbulent race, of proved and proverbial mendacity, bold, independent, and hard to govern. Their subjec tion to the Ottoman Porte is more nominal than real. They are practically independent, they pay no taxes to Stamboul, and the viceroy who represents the dominion of the Porte in the island is invariably a native or 'Greek' Christian.

Crete had once, according to Homer, a hundred cities.' There are now but three towns of any importance: Megala Kastron or Candia, pop. 14,000; Rhithymnos or Retimo, 8000; and Canea or Khania, the residence of the governor and of the foreign consuls, about 23,000.

History. The early Cretans were seafaring Greeks, rivals of the Phoenicians. The island was the favourite resort of colonists from every part of Greece (Odyssey, xix. 175), and was celebrated at once for its climate, its laws, and its great law. giver, judge, and king, Minos. Crete was subdued by the Romans in 67 B.C. under Q. Metellus, called in consequence Creticus. It was occupied in suecession by the Saracens and the Greek emperors, with varying fortune, until in 1205 it passed under the dominion of Venice, in whose hands it continued for over 450 years, till it was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1669. In 1821 the Greek insurrection was heralded by an outbreak in Crete. From 1830 to 1840 Crete was administered by the Viceroy of Egypt by order of the Powers. There were revolts against the Turks in 1859 and 1866, and a great measure of freedom and independence was granted to the Cretans in 1868, which was confirmed by the Treaty of Berlin. See Spratt's Travel and Researches in Crete (1865), and C. Edwardes' Letters from Crete (1887).

Cretinism, from Fr. crétin, an idiot of the Alps, and this again probably from chrétien, ‘§ Christian,' one who, from his state of fatuity, could not sin, and was viewed with some degree of religi ous respect (cf. the frequent use of innocent). The i name cretinism is now applied to idiocy or defective mental development of a particular type, associated with bodily deformity or arrested growth. Cretinism occurs occasionally in most parts of the world, but particularly in connection with enlargement of the Thyroid Gland (q.v.) or Goitre (q.v.), in the lower Alpine valleys, not only of Switzerland 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 exclude the light, and limit the free circulation of air. In some such localities it is extremely prevalent. Cretins are always pitiable and frequently repulsive objects; they are gener ally dirty, shameless, and obscene; their appetite is commonly voracious; the mouth is large and opet, the tongue often protruded, the eyes small, the nose flat and broad, the skull flattened above and