the grain or seeds of plants separated from the spica or ear, and used for making bread.

There are several species of corn, such as wheat, rye, and barley, millet and rice, oats, maize, and lentils, peas, and a number of other kinds; each of which has its usefulness and propriety.

Europe, in every part of it; Egypt, and some other cantons of Africa, particularly the coasts of Barbary; and some parts of America cultivated by the Europeans, particularly New England, New France, and Acadia, are the places which produce corn. Other countries have maize and rice in lieu of it; and some parts of America, both in the islands and continents, simple roots, such as potatoes and manioc.—Egypt was anciently the most fertile of all other countries in corn; as appears both from sacred and profane history. It furnished a good part of the people subject to the Roman empire, and was called the dry nurse of Rome and Italy. Britain, France, and Poland, seem now in the place of Egypt, and with their superfluities support a good part of Europe.

For the first discovery and culture of corn, authors are much divided; the common opinion is, that in the first ages men lived on the spontaneous fruits of the earth; as acorns, and the nut or mast produced by the beech; which, they say, took its name figus, from the Greek φύγω, I eat. It is added that they had not either the use of corn, or the art of preparing or making it eatable.

Ceres has the credit of being the first that showed the use of corn, on which account she was placed among the gods; others gave the honour to Triptolemus; others share it between the two, making Ceres the first discoverer, and Triptolemus, the first planter and cultivator of corn. Diodorus Siculus ascribes the whole to Isis; on which Polydore Virgil observes, he does not differ from the rest; Isis and Ceres being in reality the same. The Athenians pretend it was among them the art began; and the Cretans or Candioti, Sicilians, and Egyptians, lay claim to the same. Some think the title of the Sicilians best supported, that being the country of Ceres: and authors add, did not teach the secret to the Athenians, till she had first instructed her own countrymen. Others say, Ceres passed first into Attica, thence into Crete, and, last of all, into Sicily: many of the learned, however, maintain it was in Egypt the art of cultivating corn first began; and it is certain there was corn in Egypt and the East long before the time of Ceres.

Corn is very different from fruits, with respect to the manner of its preservation; and is capable of being preserved in public granaries, for pressing occasions, and of being kept for several centuries.—A little time after the siege of Metz, under Henry II. of France, in the year 1578, the duc d'Espernon laid up vast stores of corn in the citadel; which was preserved in good plight to the year 1707, when the French king and his retinue, passing that way, ate bread baked thereof.

The chief thing that contributes to the preservation of corn is a crust which forms on its surface, by the germination of the grain next underneath, to the thickness of an inch and a half. On that at Metz people walked, without its giving the least way. At Sedan was a granary cut in a rock, wherein a heap of corn was preserved a hundred and ten years: it was covered with a crust a foot thick.

For the preservation of corn, the first method is to let it remain in the spike; the only expedient for conveying it to the islands and provinces of America. The inhabitants of those countries save it in the ear, and raise it to maturity by that precaution: but this method of preserving it is attended with several inconveniences among us; corn is apt to rot or sprout, if any leafl moisture is in the heap; the rats likewise infest it, and our want of straw also obliges us to separate the grain from the ear. The second is to turn out and winnow it frequently; or to pour it through a trough or mill-hopper, from one floor to another; being thus moved and aired every 15 days, for the first 6 months, it will require less labour for the future, if lodged in a dry place: but if, through neglect, mites should be allowed to slide into the heap, they will soon reduce the corn to a heap of dust: this must be avoided by moving the corn anew, and rubbing the places adjacent with oils and herbs, whose strong odour may chase them away; for which garlic and dwarf-elder are very effectual; they may likewise be exposed to the open sun, which immediately kills them. When the corn has been preserved from all impurities for the space of two years, and has exhale all its fires, it may be kept for 50 or even 100 years, by lodging it in pits covered with strong planks closely joined together; but the safer way is to cover the heap with quicklime, which should be dissolved by sprinkling it over with a small quantity of water; this causes the grains to shoot to the depth of two or three fingers; and incloses them with an incrustation, as above mentioned, through which neither air nor insects can penetrate.

Indian Corn, or Maize. See ZEA, Botany Index.

Corn Butterfly, method of destroying it. See Agriculture Index.

Corn-Crake. See RALLUS, Ornithology Index.

Corn Mill, a water-engine for grinding corn. See Mechanics.

Farriery. See Farriery Index.

Corns, in Surgery, hard excrescences, consisting of indurations of the skin arising on the toes, and sometimes on the sides of the feet, where they are much exposed to the pressure of the shoes. By degrees they press themselves farther down between the muscular fibres on these parts, and by their irritation occasion extreme pain. Many cures have been prescribed, but the total removal of them is always found to be attended with great difficulty. It has been recommended to soften them with plasters, and then to pull them up by the roots, to apply caustic, &c., but the best cure is to bath them frequently in warm water, and pare away as much as possible of the indurated skin without drawing blood.