Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

ent genus, Leptocephalus. This name, being the older, has displaced the long-used generic term, Conger. See EEL; and Plate of EELS, CONGERS, and MORAYS.

CONGER, EDWIN HURD (1843-). An American politician and diplomat, born in Knox County, Ill. He graduated in 1862 at Lombard University (Galesburg, Ill.), and at the Albany Law School in 1866, and in the latter year was admitted to the bar of Illinois. He served in the Federal Army during the Civil War, was brevetted major, and in 1868 set up as a stockman and banker in Iowa. From 1885 to 1891 he was a member of Congress, and at the close of the latter year was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Brazil. In 1898 he was transferred to the embassy in China, a post of obviously greater importance. He was the only representative of a foreign power who, during the siege of Peking from June 28 to August 14, 1900, was able to send a communication to his Government, and he was prominent in the peace negotiations after the siege. In 1905 he was appointed ambassador to Mexico, but resigned the same year.

CONGESTION (Lat. congestio, accumulation, from congerere, to carry together, from com-, together + gerere, to carry). An abnormal increase of blood in the vessels, due to increased pressure in the arteries or obstruction to the emptying of the veins. Emotion or exercise, by causing the heart to beat more rapidly; alcohol, or other drugs, by expanding the arteries as well as stimulating the heart; local irritation by cold, a blow, or a burn, may cause congestion of the active variety, with the production of a rosy color. A tight garter, a stooping posture, or the swelling of a finger from injury may cause passive congestion by obstructing the veins, in which case the color of the congested part is bluish or purple. In certain diseases in which the blood deteriorates, such as smallpox, typhoid fever, and septic conditions, the blood gravitates to the most dependent parts of the body, and 'hypostatic congestion' of the lungs, liver, and skin results mechanically. Congestion occurs during many diseases.

CONGLETON, kōn'g'l-ton.

A market-town

of Cheshire, England, on the Dane, about 26 miles south of Manchester (Map: England, D 3). Its chief industries consist of manufactures of silks and towels. Population, in 1891, 10,744; in 1901, 10,706. Congleton appears in Domesday, and received a charter from Henry de Lacey in the thirteenth century.

CONGLETON, HENRY BROOKE PARNELL. See PARNELL, HENRY BROOKE.

CONGLOMERATE (from Lat. conglomeratus, p. p. of conglomerare, to roll together, from com-, together+glomerare, to roll into a ball, from glomus, ball). A sedimentary rock (commonly called 'puddingstone') composed of pebbles cemented together by finer grained rock material. Conglomerates form along shores, and the pebbly beaches which are now forming will, when consolidated, produce conglomerates. Since conglomerates can form only in shallow water (where the force of the waves is sufficient to move pebbles), their occurrence within the strata of the earth's crust indicates an encroachment of the sea upon the land. Such an encroachment occurs during and after a subsidence

of the land beneath the sea, when deposits of sediment are laid down. Conglomerates, therefore, generally lie at the base of geological formations and serve to separate these formations from one another. Their occurrence also indicates a lost page of the record which the sedimentary rocks have furnished of the earth's history.

CONGO, kōn'go, or KONGO (from the African tribe of Mosicongo). The largest, and, excepting the Nile, the longest river of Africa, and one of the great rivers of the earth. It drains most of Central Africa west of longitude 320 E., from latitude 8° N. to 120 S. It is formed by the union of two great streams, the Lualaba, from the south, whose sources on the Zambezi water parting are believed to be the ultimate fountain head of the Congo; and the Luapula, from the southeast, which drains Lake Bangweolo, the ultimate source of this branch of the Congo being the Chambezi affluent of Bangweolo. The drainage system is extended furthest east, however, by the eastern tributaries of Lake Tanganyika which send the waters of a large area within 500 miles of the Indian Ocean, to Tanganyika, through the Lukuga outlet to the Congo and down that river to the Atlantic. Below the Lukuga several minor streams are received by the Congo, mainly from the eastern side, until, at the equator, in longitude 24° 30′ E., at a point about 80 miles below Stanley Falls, the Congo is joined by the Lomami, which has a parallel course on the west. Eastward of this point the Congo begins its great bend toward the west. About 60 miles below the entrance of the Lomami, the Aruwimi enters the Congo from the east, and still farther downstream there join at intervals from the north the rivers Rubi, Mongala, Ubangi (all great rivers, the Ubangi being larger than any rivers of Europe excepting the Volga and Danube), Sanga, Likuala, and Alima, besides smaller streams; and from the south the Lulongo, Ruki, and Kassai. Below these, throughout the lower 500 miles of the river's course, only small tributaries are received. Over 400 miles up the Congo is Stanley Pool, an enlargement of the river. The basin of the Congo consists of plateaus ranging in altitude from 1000 to 3000 feet. It is in the descent from the plateau near the west coast that the chief impediments to navigation occur. The basin has a great tropical forest extending east of the Congo between the Aruwimi and the Nile system and there are large forest areas to the south of the northern bend of the Congo; but the greater part of the country consists of rolling savannas interspersed with timber. The river is navigable for ocean steamers from its mouth to a point about 100 miles up-stream, where navigation is interrupted by falls and rapids; and also by steamboats from Stanley Pool to Stanley Falls, for a distance of nearly 1000 miles farther. The length of the navigable waters of the Congo system is estimated at about 7000 miles. The completion of the Matadi Railroad has placed the middle course of the river in communication with its estuary, and the building of the railroad between Stanleyville (at Stanley Falls), and Ponthierville, 75 miles, finished in 1906 and circumventing the upper rapids has extended steam transportation 200 miles further up the river. The Congo has a length of about 2500 miles, and drains an area of more than 1,400,000 square

miles.

[graphic]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

HT

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[graphic]

rah el Nahas

Om Gedo

TERTIT Bakr

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Zenio Bassa Bandai

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Capemba

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

lamwank Tenke

[merged small][ocr errors][subsumed]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

LAND-Standa NOR

[blocks in formation]
[subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

JOHANNA

[blocks in formation]
[subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinuar »