a subordinate capacity, and subsequently as chief engineer)
of the new works, Forts Moselle and Bellecroix, at Metz, which he built
according to his own system of fortification. He was present at the
siege of Philipsburg in 1733, and as a lieutenant-colonel took part in
most of the sieges in the Low Countries during the War of the Austrian
Succession. He attained the rank of brigadier and finally that of
_marechal de camp_, and was employed in fortification work until his
death. His _Architecture militaire_, written in 1714, was long kept
secret by order of the authorities, but, an unauthorized edition having
appeared at the Hague in 1741, he himself prepared another version
called _Premier memoire sur la fortification_, which from 1741 onwards
was followed by others. His ideas are closely modelled on those of
Vauban (q.v.), and in his lifetime he was not considered the equal of
such engineers as d'Asfeld and Filley. It was not until twenty years
after his death that his system became widely known. Fourcroy de
Rainecourt, then chief of engineers, searching the archives for valuable
matter, chose the numerous memoirs of Cormontaingne for publication
amongst engineer officers in 1776. Even then they only circulated
privately, and it was not until the engineer Bousmard published
Cormontaingne's _Memorial de l'attaque des places_ (Berlin, 1803) that
Fourcroy, and after him General La Fitte de Clave, actually gave to the
general public the _OEuvres posthumes de Cormontaingne_ (Paris,
1806-1809).

His system of fortification was not marked by any great originality of
thought, which indeed could not be expected of a member of the _corps du
genie_, the characteristics of which were a close caste spirit and an
unquestioning reverence for the authority of Vauban. Forts Moselle and
Bellecroix are still in existence.

See Von Brese-Winiari, _Uber Entstehen etc. der neueren
Befestigungsmethode_ (Berlin, 1844); Prevost du Vernois, _De la
fortification depuis Vauban_ (Paris, 1861); Cosseron de Villenoisy,
_Essai historique sur la fortification_ (Paris, 1869).

CORMORANT (from the Lat. _corvus marinus_,[1] through the Fr., in some
_patois_ of which it is still "cor marin"; in certain Ital. dialects are
the forms "corvo marin" or "corvo marino"), a large sea-fowl belonging
to the genus _Phalacrocorax_[2] (_Carbo_, _Halieus_ and _Graculus_ of
some ornithologists), and that group of the Linnaean order _Anseres_,
now partl