Corium

[Lat.] ( Mil.) A kind of body-armor, formed of leathern scales placed in tile-fashion one above the other; worn by Roman and Gothic soldiers, . ( Anat .) The basis of the skin, or true skin , consisting of a vascular and fibro-cellular ti ue, of interlaced, dense, but elastic filaments. It rests on the subcutaneous, cellular ti ue, and is covered by the cuticle or scarf skin. Co-ri'val, n. A competitor; a fellow-rival. -r. a. To rival another; to a ume equality with. Co-rivalry, Co-rivalship. n. Fellow-rivalry. Cork, n. [Ger. kork ; Du. kurk ; Lat. cortez.] The thick and spongy bark of a species of oak (Quercus suber , Linn.), abundant in the dry, mountainous districts in the S. of France, and in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Algeria. The tree grows to the height of 30 feet or more, has a striking resemblance to the Quercus Ilex , or evergreen oak, and attains a great age. After arriving at a certain state of maturity, it periodically sheds its Lark; but this valuable product is found to be of a much better quality when it is artificially removed from the tree, which may be effected without any injury to the latter. After a tree has attained to the age of from 26 to 30 years, it may be barked; and the operation Fig . 686. CORK-TREE, ( Quercus suber.) qualities make it superior to all other substances for stoppers for bottles, in the manufacture of which it is principally made use of. It is also employed as buoys to float nets, in the construction of life-boats, the making of water-proof shoes, and in various other ways. Before being manufactured into stoppers, the Cis charred on each side; this makes it contract, le ens its porosity, and consequently fits it the better for cutting off all communication between the external air and the liquid in the bottle. Spanish black is made of calcined C. The Greeks and Romans were both well acquainted with C. They seem also to have occasionally used it as stoppers for ve els, (Plin. Hist . Nat . xvi. 8;) but it was not extensively employed for this purpose till the 17th cent., when gla bottles, of which no mention is made before the 15th cent., began to be generally introduced. The manufacture of bottle-C. is a considerable source of wealth in the French dep. of Gironde, which produces annually abt. 125,000 quintals of C. Το supply the demand of the manufacture, which annually consumes 155,000 quintals, 30,000 quintals of rough C. are imported from Catalonia. The annual production amounts to 1,283,000,000 bottle-C., valued at about $3,100,000. The value of the raw material is abt. $600,000. In Spain, C. are made chiefly in San Felice, Palafurgell, Pelajos, and Junquera. The chief seats of the production of C. in Portugal are the provinces of Alemtejo and Algarve.