CURICÓ, a province of central Chile, lying between the provinces of Colchagua and Talca and extending from the Pacific to the Argentine frontier; area, 2978 sq. m.; pop. (1895) 103,242. The eastern and western sections are mountainous, and are separated by the fertile valley of central Chile. The mineral resources are undeveloped, but are said to include copper, gold and silver. Cattle, wheat and wine are the principal products, but Indian corn and fruit also are produced. On the coast are important salt-producing industries. The climate is mild and the rainfall more abundant than at the northern part of the valley, and the effects of this are to be seen in the better pasturage. Irrigation is used to a large extent. The province was created in 1865 by a division of Colchagua. The capital is Curicó, on the Mataquito river, in lat. 34° 58′ S. long. 71° 19′ W., 114 m. S. of Santiago by the Chilean Central railway, which crosses the province. The city stands on the great central plain, 748 ft. above sea-level, and in the midst of a comparatively well-cultivated district. It was founded in 1742 by José de Manso, and is one of the more cultured and progressive provincial towns of Chile. Pop. (1895) 12,669. Vichiquen, on a tide-water lake on the coast, is a prosperous town, the centre of the salt trade.
CURIE, PIERRE (1859-1906), French physicist, was born in Paris on the 15th of May 1859, and was educated at the Sorbonne, where he subsequently became professor of physics. Although he had previously published meritorious researches on piezoelectricity, the magnetic properties of bodies at different temperatures, and other topics, he was chiefly known for his work on radium carried out jointly with his wife, Marie Sklodowska, who was born at Warsaw on the 7th of November 1867. After the discovery of the radioactive properties of uranium by Henri Becquerel in 1896, it was noticed that some minerals of uranium, such as pitchblende, were more active than the element itself, and this circumstance suggested that such minerals contained small quantities of some unknown substance or substances possessing radioactive properties in a very high degree. Acting on this surmise M. and Mme Curie subjected a large amount of pitchblende to a laborious process of fractionation, with the result that in 1898 they announced the existence in it of two highly radioactive substances, polonium and radium. In subsequent years they did much to elucidate the remarkable properties of these two substances, one of which, polonium, came to be regarded as one of the transformation-products of the other (see [Radioactivity]). In 1903 they were awarded the Davy medal of the Royal Society in recognition of this work, and in the same year the Nobel prize for physics was divided between them and Henri Becquerel. Professor Curie, who was elected to the Academy of Sciences in 1905, was run over by a dray and killed instantly in Paris on the 19th of April 1906.
His elder brother, Paul Jacques Curie, born at Paris on the 29th of October 1856, published an elaborate memoir on the specific inductive capacities of crystalline bodies (Ann. Chim. Phys. 1889, 17 and 18).
CURIO, GAIUS SCRIBONIUS, Roman statesman and orator, son of a distinguished orator of the same name, flourished during the 1st century B.C. He was tribune of the people in 90 B.C., and afterwards served in Sulla’s army in Greece against Archelaus, general of Mithradates, and as his legate in Asia, where he was commissioned to restore order in the kingdoms abandoned by Mithradates. In 76 he was consul, and as governor of Macedonia carried on war successfully against the Thracians and Dardanians, and was the first Roman general who penetrated as far as the Danube. On his return he was granted the honour of a triumph. During the discussion as to the punishment of the Catilinarian conspirators he supported Cicero, but he spoke in favour of P. Clodius (q.v.) when the latter was being tried for the Bona Dea affair. This led to a violent attack on the part of Cicero, but it does not appear to have interfered with their friendship. Curio was a vehement opponent of Caesar, against whom he wrote a political pamphlet in the form of a dialogue. He was pontifex maximus in 57, and died in 53. His reputation as an orator was considerable, but according to Cicero he was very illiterate, and his only qualifications were brilliancy of style and the purity of his Latin. He was nicknamed Burbuleius (after an actor) from the way in which he moved his body while speaking.
Orelli, Onomasticon to Cicero; Florus iii. 4; Eutropius vi. 2; Val. Max. ix. 14, 5; Quintilian, Instit., vi. 3, 76; Dio Cassius xxxviii. 16.
His son, Gaius Scribonius Curio, was first a supporter of Pompey, but after his tribuneship (50 B.C.) went over to Caesar, by whom he was said to have been bribed. But, while breaking off relations with Pompey, Curio desired to keep up the appearance of impartiality. When it was demanded that Caesar should lay down his imperium before entering Rome, Curio proposed that Pompey should do the same, adding that, if the rivals refused to do so, they ought both to be declared public enemies. His proposal was carried by a large majority, but a report having spread that Caesar was on the way to attack Rome, the consuls called upon Pompey to undertake the command of all the troops stationed in Italy. Curio’s appeal to the people to prevent the levying of an army by Pompey was disregarded; whereupon, feeling himself in danger, he fled to Ravenna to Caesar. He was commissioned by Caesar, who was still unwilling to proceed to extremities, to take a message to the senate. But Curio’s reception was so hostile that he hurriedly returned during the night to Caesar. It was now obvious that civil war would break out. Curio collected troops in Umbria and Etruria for Caesar, who sent him to Sicily as propraetor in 49. After having fought with considerable success there against the Pompeians, Curio crossed over to Africa, where he was defeated and slain by Juba, king of Numidia. Curio, although a man of profligate character, possessed conspicuous ability, and was a distinguished orator. In spite of his faults, Cicero, as an old friend of his father, took a great interest in him and did his utmost to reform him. Seven of Cicero’s letters (Ad. Fam. ii. 1-7) are addressed to him. There can be no doubt that Curio’s behaviour in regard to the laying down of the imperium by Caesar and Pompey in great measure contributed to the outbreak of civil war. The first amphitheatre in Rome was erected by him (50), for the celebration of the funeral games in honour of his father.
Orelli, Onomasticon to Cicero; Livy, Epit. 109, 110; Caesar, Bell. Civ., ii. 23, for Curio’s African campaign; Appian, Bell. Civ., ii. 26-44; Vell. Pat. ii. 48.