au roi et aux grands de son royaume_.

See monograph by E. A. Berthault, _De M. Corderio et creatis apud
Protestantes litterarum studiis_ (1875).

CORDES, a town of southern France, in the department of Tarn, 15 m. N.W.
of Albi by road. Pop. (1906) 1619. Cordes, which covers the summit and
slopes of an isolated hill, was a bastide founded by Raymond VII., count
of Toulouse, in the first half of the 13th century. It preserves its
medieval aspect to a remarkable degree, a large number of houses of the
13th and 14th centuries, with decorated fronts, forming its chief
attraction. A church of the same periods and remains of the original
ramparts are also to be seen.

CORDILLERA, a Spanish term for a range or chain of mountains, derived
from the Old Spanish _cordilla_, the diminutive of _cuerda_, a cord or
rope. The name was first given to the Andes ranges of South America,
_Las Cordilleras de los Andes_, and applied to the extension of the
system into Mexico. In North America the parallel ranges of mountains
running between and including the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada
are known as the "Cordilleras," and that part of the western continent
crossed by them has been termed the "Cordilleran region." Although the
name has been applied to the eastern mountain system of Australia, the
word is not, outside America, used as a generic term for parallel ranges
of mountains.

CORDITE, the name given to the smokeless propellant in use in the
British army and navy. The material is produced in the form of
cylindrical rods or strings of varying thicknesses by pressing the
material, whilst in a soft and pasty state, through dies or perforations
in a steel plate by hydraulic or screw pressure, hence the name cordite.
The thickness or size of the rods varies from about 1 mm. diameter to 5
or more mm. according to the nature of the charge for which it is
intended. The smallest diameter is used for revolver cartridge and the
largest for heavy guns. When first devised by the Ordnance Committee,
presided over by Sir Frederick Abel, in 1891, this explosive consisted
of 58% of nitro-glycerin, 37% of gun-cotton, and 5% of mineral jelly.
This variety is now known as Cordite Mark 1. At the present time a
modification is made which contains gun-cotton 65%, nitro-glycerin 30%,
and mineral jelly 5%. This is known as Cordite M.D. The advantages of
Cordite M.D. over Mark 1 are slightly reduced rate of burning, higher
vel