Chapter 4

SeeMemoir of the Life of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, by his daughter Jane, Lady Bourchier, wife of Sir T. Bourchier, R.N. (London, 1873).

(D. H.)

CODRUS,in Greek legend, the last king of Athens. According to the story, it was prophesied at the time of the Dorian invasion of Peloponnesus (c.1068B.C.) that only the death of their king at the enemy’s hands could ensure victory to the Athenians. Devoting himself to his country, Codrus, in the disguise of a peasant, made his way into the enemy’s camp, and provoked a quarrel with some Dorian soldiers. He fell, and the Dorians, on discovering that Codrus had been slain, retreated homeward, despairing of success. No one being thought worthy to succeed Codrus, the title of king was abolished, and that of archon (q.v.) substituted for it.

See Lycurgus,Leocr.xx. [=84-87]; Justin ii. 6; Vell. Pat. i. 2; Grote,Hist. of Greece, pt. i. ch. 18; Busolt,Griechische Geschichte, i.

CODY, WILLIAM FREDERICK(1846- ), American scout and showman, known under the name of “Buffalo Bill,” was born in 1846 in Scott county, Iowa. He first became known as one of the riders of the “Pony Express,” a mail service established in the spring of 1860 by the Central Overland California and Pike’s Peak Express Company to carry the mails overland from Saint Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, a distance of 1950 m., by means of relays of ponies, each rider being expected to cover about 75 m. daily. Owing to the wildness of the country and the hostility of the Indians, both the riders and the station-keepers led lives of great hardship and danger. The “Pony Express” was discontinued in 1861 upon the completion of the Pacific Telegraph company’s line, and young Cody became a scout and guide for the United States army. In 1863 he formally enlisted in the 7th regiment of Kansas cavalry, in which he served until the close of the Civil War. In 1867 he made a contract with the Kansas Pacific railway to furnish its employees with buffalo meat while the line was being extended through the wilderness, and his name of “Buffalo Bill” was given him from this circumstance. In 1868-1872 he was again an army scout and guide, serving against the Sioux and Cheyennes; and in 1872 was a member of the Nebraska house of representatives. During the Sioux-Cheyenne War of 1876 he served in the 5th United States Cavalry, and at the battle of Indian Creek killed the Cheyenne chief Yellow Hand in single combat. In 1883 he organized his “Wild West Show,” a spectacular performance on a large scale, his first European tour taking place in 1887. In the Nebraska national guard he again served against the Sioux in 1890-1891.

CO-EDUCATION,the term applied to the instruction and training of boys and girls, or of young people of both sexes, in the same school or institution, in the same classes and through the same courses of study. Examples of the thoroughgoing application of this principle can be found in every grade of education from the elementary school to the university. But the term “Co-education” is sometimes used in a wider sense, in order to include cases in which boys and girls, or young men and young women of university age, are admitted to membership of the same school or college but receive instruction wholly or in part in separate classes and in different subjects. Other variable factors in co-educational systems are the extent to which men and women are mixed on the teaching staff, and the freedom of intercourse permitted between pupils of the two sexes in class, in games and in other activities of school life. In another form of combined education (preferred by Comte,Système de politique positive, iv. 266), pupils of the two sexes are taught successively by the same teacher. By the English Board of Education, a distinction is drawn between mixed schools and dual schools. “Mixed schools” are those in which, for most subjects of the curriculum, boys and girls are taught together by the same teachers: in “dual schools” there are separate boys’ and girls’ departments under a single principal, but with separate entrances, classrooms and playgrounds for the two sexes.

History.—Co-education in early times was occasional and sporadic. For example, women were admitted by Plato to the inner circle of the Academy on terms of equality with men. The educational endowments of Teos provided that the professors of literature should teach both boys and girls. It is uncertain whether the Roman schools in classical times were attended by both sexes. A tombstone found at Capua represents a schoolmaster with a boy on one side and a girl on the other. Probably co-education was practised in country districts for economical reasons; and also in the home schools organized by wealthier families (Wilkins,Roman Education, pp. 42-43). At Charles the Great’s Palace School at Aachen (A.D.782 onwards), Alcuin taught together the young princes and their sisters, as well as grown men and women. The Humanists of the Renaissance made the full development of personality a chief aim of education, and held up literary accomplishment as a desirable mark of personal distinction both for men and women. This led to the scholarly education of girls along with boys in the home schools of some great families. Thus, at Mantua (1423 onwards), Vittorino da Feltre taught Cecilia Gonzaga with her brothers and the other boy pupils at his boarding-school; but there is no evidence that the latter was otherwise co-educational. Luther and other Reformers urged that girls as well as boys should be taught to read the Bible. Hence came the tendency to co-education of boys and girls in some elementary schools in Protestant lands. This tendency can be traced both in Scotland and in the northern parts of England. It is believed that, in the early days of New England, district schools in smaller American towns were open to boys and girls alike, but that few girls advanced beyond reading and writing (Martin,Massachusetts Public School System, p. 130). At Dorchester, Mass., it was left to the discretion of the elders and schoolmen whether maids should be taught with the boys or not; but in practice the girls seem to have been educated apart. In 1602 the council of Ayr, Scotland, ordained that the girls who were learning to read and write at the Grammar School should be sent to the master of the Song School, “because it is not seemly that sic lasses should be among the lads” (Grant,History of the Burgh and Parish Schools of Scotland, p. 526 ff.). Meriden, Connecticut, seems to have made common provision for the elementary education of boys and girls in 1678. Northampton, Mass., did the same in 1680. Deerfield, Mass., in 1698 voted that “all families having children either male or female between the ages of six and ten years shall pay by the poll for their schooling”—presumably in the common school.

Thus the beginnings of co-education in its modern organized form may be traced back partly to Scotland and partly to the United States. The co-education of boys and girls, carried through in varying degrees of completeness, was not uncommon in the old Endowed Schools of Scotland, and became more frequent as increasing attention was given to the education of girls. At the Dollar Institution, founded by John McNabb for the benefit of the poor of the parish of Dollar and shire of Clackmannan (date of will, 1800), boys and girls have been educated together in certain classes since the beginning of the school in 1818. In the eastern parts of the United States, where the Puritan tradition also prevailed, co-education struck firm root, and spread chiefly for reasons of convenience and economy (Dexter,History of Education in United States, p. 430). But throughout the west, co-education was strongly preferred in elementary and secondary schools and in universities on the further ground that it was believed to be more in accordance with the democratic principle of equal educational opportunity for the two sexes.

It should be added, however, that the leaven of Pestalozzi’s thought has worked powerfully both in Europe and America in favour of the idea of co-education. His view was that all educational institutions should, as far as possible, be modelled upon the analogy of the family and of the home. At Stanz (1798-1799) he educated together in one household boys and girls ranging in age from five to fifteen. At Burgdorf (1799-1804) his work was in part co-educational. At Yverdun (1804-1825) Pestalozzi established a school for girls close to his school for boys. The girls received instruction from some of the masters of the boys’ school, and girls and boys met at evening worship, in short excursions and at other times.

In England, the Society of Friends have been the pioneers of co-education in boarding schools, both for younger children and for pupils up to fifteen or sixteen years of age. The practice of the society, though not exclusively co-educational, has long been favourable to co-education, either in its complete or restricted form, as being more in harmony with the conditionsof family life. Ackworth school was established by the London Yearly Meeting in 1779 for the education of boys and girls; but the school has never been fully co-educational, the boys and girls being taught separately except in a few classes. At Sidcot school, which was founded in 1808 by the Associated Quarterly Meetings in the west of England for the education of children of Friends, boys and girls are taught together, except in certain handicraft subjects. Several other co-educational schools were founded by the Society of Friends during the first half of the 19th century.

Since that time the movement towards co-education in secondary schools and universities has steadily gained strength in England. It has been furthered by the diffusion of Pestalozzian ideas and also by the influence of American example. In England, private schools have made some of the most valuable co-educational experiments. A private boarding and day secondary school on co-educational lines was instituted by Mr W. A. Case in Hampstead in 1865. A co-educational boarding-school was founded in 1869 by Miss Lushington at Kingsley near Alton, Hants. In 1873 Mr W. H. Herford began the Ladybarn school for boys and girls at Withington in the suburbs of Manchester. The passing of the Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889 led to the establishment of a considerable number of new mixed or dual secondary day-schools in Wales. Many English teachers gained experience in these schools and subsequently influenced English education. The work and writings of Mr J. H. Badley at Bedales, Petersfield, a co-educational boarding-school of the first grade, gave greatly increased weight to the principle of co-education. Important additions have also been made to the fund of co-educational experience by the King Alfred’s school (Hampstead), Keswick school, and West Heath school (Hampstead). In 1907 a Public Co-educational Boarding School was opened at Harpenden.

Since the Education Act 1902 became law, there has been a rapid increase of co-educational secondary day-schools of the lower grade, under county or borough education authorities, in all parts of England. This increase is due to two chief causes, viz. (1) The co-educational tradition of some of the higher grade board schools, many of which have become secondary schools; and (2) the economy effected by establishing one co-educational secondary school, in place of two smaller schools for boys and girls separately.

The idea of co-education in secondary schools has spread in several other European countries, especially in Holland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. In Scandinavia, the new practice appears to have begun with the establishment of a private higher secondary school, the Palmgremska Samskolan, in Stockholm, in 1876. A similar school, Nya Svenska Läroverket, was founded upon the same model in Helsingfors, Finland, in 1880. In Norway, the law of 1896 introduced co-education in all state schools. In Denmark, as in Norway, co-education was begun in private schools; on its proving a success there, it was introduced into the state schools, with two exceptions; and it is now obligatory in most state schools but optional in private schools (J. S. Thornton,Schools Public and Private in the North of Europe, 1907, p. 97). In Holland, there is now a good deal of co-education in lower secondary schools of the modern type. For example, at Utrecht, the state higher burgher school provides the same course of instruction, except in gymnastics, for boys and girls. At Almeloo, the municipal higher burgher school, though co-educational, differentiates the classes in several subjects. In Belgium, France, Germany and Austria, co-education, though frequent in elementary schools, is regarded as undesirable in secondary; but the movement in its favour in many parts of Germany seems to be gathering strength. All over Europe the Roman Catholic populations prefer the older ideal of separate schools for boys and girls.

Co-education in colleges and universities, which began at Oberlin, Ohio, in 1833, was adopted almost without exception by the state universities throughout the west of America from 1862 onwards. Since that time the idea has spread rapidly throughout Europe, and the presence of women students at universities originally confined to men is one of the most striking educational facts of the age.

Co-education in the United Kingdom, (a) England and Wales.—The Board of Education does not possess any summary showing the number of pupils in mixed public elementary schools or in mixed departments of such schools. In 1901, out of 31,502 departments of public elementary schools in England and Wales, nearly half (15,504) were mixed departments, in which boys and girls were educated together. But as the departments were of unequal size, it must not be inferred from this that half the children in public elementary schools in that year (5,883,762) were receiving co-education. Of the total number of departments in public elementary schools in England and Wales, the percentage of mixed schools fell from 51.6 in 1881 to 49.4 in 1891 and 49.2 in 1901. But these percentages must not be taken to prove an absolute decline in the number of children in mixed departments.

In England, out of 492 public secondary schools which were recognized by the Board of Education for the receipt of government grant for the school year ending July 31, 1905, and which contained 85,358 pupils, 108 schools, with 21,720 pupils, were mixed; and 20 schools, with 8980 pupils, were dual schools.

Thus, of the total number of pupils in the secondary schools referred to above, a little over 25% were in mixed schools, and about 10% were in dual schools. It is not safe to assume, however, that all the mixed schools were completely co-educational in their work, or that the dual schools were not co-educational in respect of certain subjects or parts of the course. It should also be remembered that, besides the secondary schools recognized by the Board of Education for the receipt of government grant, there is a considerable number of great endowed secondary boarding-schools (“public schools” in the English use of that expression) which are for boys only. There are also at least 5000 private secondary schools, of which, in 1897 (since when no comprehensive statistical inquiry has been made), 970, with 26,027 pupils, were mixed schools. But the great majority of the children in these mixed schools were under twelve years of age. The number of boys and girls over twelve years of age, in the mixed private secondary schools which were included in the 1897 return, was only 5488.

In Wales, for the school year ending July 31, 1905, out of 84 state-aided public secondary schools, 11 were mixed and 44 were dual schools. The number of scholars in the Welsh schools referred to above was 9340. Of these, 1457, or 15%, were in mixed schools, and 5085, or 54%, were in dual schools. The managers of dual schools in Wales have the power to arrange that boys and girls shall be taught together in any or all the classes; and, as a matter of fact, nearly all the dual schools are worked as mixed schools, though they appear in these figures under dual.

(b) Scotland.—In the public elementary schools, including the higher grade schools of Scotland, co-education is the almost universal rule. The exceptions, which for the most part are Roman Catholic or Episcopal Church schools, tend to diminish year by year. In 1905, out of 3843 departments in the Scotch public elementary and higher grade schools, 3783 were mixed. These include the infant departments. Out of the total number of children in the public elementary and higher grade schools, including infants’ departments, 98.43% were receiving co-education.

In the secondary schools of Scotland there has been in recent years little perceptible movement either towards co-education or away from it. What movement there is, favours the establishment of separate secondary schools for girls in the large centres of population. Out of 109 public secondary schools in Scotland in 1905-1906, 29 schools were for boys only and 40 schools for girls only. One school had boys and girls in separate departments. In the remaining 39 schools, boys and girls were taken together to an extent which varied with the subjects taken; but there was nothing of the nature of a strict separation of the sexes as regards the ordinary work of the school.

(c) Ireland.—In Ireland, the percentage of pupils on the rolls of mixed national schools (i.e.schools attended by boys andgirls), to the total number of pupils on the rolls of all national schools, has slowly increased. In 1880 the percentage was 57.5; in 1898, 59.4; in 1905, 60.9.

The Commissioners of Intermediate Education in Ireland had on their list in 1906, 38 secondary schools which were classified by them as mixed schools. These schools were attended by 640 boys and 413 girls between 13 and 19 years of age. The commissioners do not know to what extent the boys and girls in these schools received instruction in the same classes. As, however, the schools are small, they believe that in the great majority of cases the boys and girls were taught together. In one large school not classified as mixed, the boys (117) and girls (60) were taught in the same classes.

Universities and University Colleges in the United Kingdom.—Women are admitted as members of the universities of London, Durham, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Wales, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, St Andrews, Glasgow, Dublin and the Royal University of Ireland. At Oxford and Cambridge women are not admitted as members of the university, but by courtesy enjoy entrance to practically all university lectures and examinations. The social life of the men and women students is more separate in the old than in the new universities. In no grade of education in the United Kingdom has the principle of co-education made more rapid advance than in the universities. The university education of women began in London (Queen’s College 1848, Bedford College 1849, both being preceded by classes in earlier years). The University of London in 1878 decided to accept from the crown a supplemental charter making every degree, honour and prize awarded by the university accessible to students of both sexes on perfectly equal terms. By charter in 1880, the Victoria University (now broken up into the universities of Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds) received power to grant degrees to women as well as to men. The charter of the university of Wales (1893) provides that “Women shall be eligible equally with men for admittance to any degree which our university is authorized to confer; every office created in the university, and the membership of every authority constituted by the charter shall be open to women equally with men.” In 1889 the Universities (Scotland) Act empowered the commissioners to make ordinances, enabling each university to admit women in graduation in one or more faculties and to provide for their instruction. At all the university colleges in the United Kingdom women are educated as well as men.

United States.—Co-education is a characteristic feature of the educational system of the different states of the American Union. Of elementary school pupils at least 96%, and of secondary school pupils 95%, are in mixed schools. In 1903, out of a total enrolment of 15,990,803 pupils in public elementary and secondary schools and training colleges, 15,387,734 were in schools attended by pupils of both sexes. Out of 550,600 pupils on the rolls of public secondary schools (high schools) in 1902, 523,300 were in co-educational schools. The same was true of 43% of the pupils (numbering over 100,000) in private secondary schools. In colleges and universities 62% of all undergraduates were in co-educational institutions, to which category thirty-four American universities belong (U.S. Commissioner of Education,Report for 1903, p. 2454). In America opinion is thus predominantly in favour of co-education, but there is a current of adverse criticism, especially among some who have had experience of school conditions in large cities.

General Review of the Question.—In schools for infants and younger children co-education is approved by all authorities. It is increasingly favoured on educational grounds in smaller schools for children up to 12 or 13 years of age or thereabouts. But where elementary schools have to be large, separate departments for boys and girls are generally preferable, though mixed schools are often established for reasons of economy. At the other end of the educational scale, viz. in the universities, the co-education of men and women in the same institution is fast becoming the rule. This is due partly to the prohibitive cost of duplicating teaching staff, laboratories, libraries and other equipment, partly to the desire of women to qualify themselves for professional life by passing through the same courses of training as are prescribed for men. The degree, however, to which social intercourse is carried on between men and women students differs widely in the different co-educational universities. There are occasional signs,e.g.at Chicago, of a reaction against the fullest form of academic co-education. And it is probable that the universities will provide, among many courses common to men and women, some (like engineering) suitable for men only, and others (like advanced instruction in home-science, or certain courses of professional preparation for teachers of young children) which will rarely be attended by any but women. Common use of the same university institutions is compatible with much differentiation in courses of study and with separately organized forms of collegiate life. It is with regard to the part of education which lies between the elementary schools and the universities that the sharpest division of opinion upon the principle of co-education now exists. In Europe, with the exception of Scandinavia, those who advocate co-education of the sexes in secondary schools up to 18 or 19 years of age are at present in a distinct minority, even as regards day schools, and still more when they propose to apply the same principle to boarding schools. But the application of the co-educational principle to all schools alike is favoured by an apparently increasing number of men and women. This movement in opinion is connected with the increase in the number of girls desiring access to secondary schools, a demand which can most easily and economically be met by granting to girls access to some of the existing schools for boys. The co-educational movement is also connected with a strong view of sex equality. It is furthered by the rapidly increasing number of women teachers who are available for higher educational work. Mixed secondary schools with mixed staffs are spreading for reasons of economy in smaller towns and rural districts. In large towns separate schools are usually recommended in preference, but much depends upon the social tradition of the neighbourhood. Those who advocate co-education for boys and girls in secondary schools urge it mainly on the ground of its naturalness and closer conformity to the conditions of healthy, unselfconscious home life. They believe it to be a protective against uncleanness of talk and school immorality. They point to its convenience and economy. They welcome co-education as likely to bring with it a healthy radicalism in regard to the older tradition of studies in boys’ secondary schools. They approve it as leading to mixed staffs of men and women teachers, and as the most effectual way of putting girls in a position of reasonable equality with boys in respect of intellectual and civic opportunity. On the other hand, those who oppose co-education in secondary schools rest their case upon the danger of the intellectual or physical overstrain of girls during adolescence; and upon the unequal rate of development of boys and girls during the secondary school period, the girls being more forward than the boys at first, but as a rule less able to work as hard at a somewhat later stage. The critics further complain that co-education is generally so organized that the girls’ course of study is more or less assimilated to that of the boys, with the result that it cannot have the artistic and domestic character which is suitable for the majority of girls. Complaint is also made that the head of a co-educational school for pupils over the age of 10 is usually a man, though the health and character of girls need the care and control of a woman vested with complete authority and responsibility. While demurring to the view that co-education of the sexes would be a moral panacea, the critics of the system admit that the presence of the girls would exert a refining influence, but they believe that on the whole the boys are likely to gain less from co-education than the girls are likely to lose by it. In all these matters carefully recorded observation and experiment are needed, and it may well be found that co-education is best for some boys and for some girls, though not for all. Temperaments and dispositions differ. Some boys seem by nature more fitted for the kind of training generally given to girls; some girls are by nature fitted for the kind of training generally given to boys. The sex division does not mark offtemperaments into two sharply contrasted groups. The introduction of girls into boys’ secondary schools may remove or mitigate coarse traditions of speech and conduct where such persist. But it would be unfortunate if stiff and pedantic traditions of secondary education were now fixed upon girls instead of being reconsidered and modified in the interests of boys also. In any case, if co-education in secondary schools is to yield the benefits which some anticipate from it, great vigilance, careful selection of pupils and very liberal staffing will be necessary. Without these securities the results of co-education in secondary schools might be disappointing, disquieting or even disastrous.

Bibliography.—Plato in theRepublic(v. 452-456) andLaws(vii. 804-805) argues that women should share as far as possible in education with men. Mary Wollstonecraft,A Vindication of the Rights of Women(1792), contends that “both sexes ought, not only in private families but in public schools, to be educated together.” J. G. Spurzheim,Principles of Education, pp. 272-288 (Edinburgh, 1821), replies to this argument. In the Board of EducationSpecial Reports on Educational Subjects, vol. vi. (Wyman & Sons, 1900), J. H. Badley, writing onThe Possibility of Co-education in English Preparatory and other Secondary Schools, is strongly in favour. “In co-education ... half-heartedness means failure. The more completely both sexes can be brought together upon an equal and natural footing the less the difficulties grow.” In the Board of EducationSpecial Reports, vol. xi. (Wyman & Sons, 1902), Rev. Cecil Grant, writing onCan American Education be grafted upon the English Public School System?answers strongly in the affirmative; co-education is recommended on eight grounds:—(1) Vast economy of expenditure; (2) return to the natural system; (3) discipline made easier; (4) intellectual stimulus; (5) a better balance in instruction; (6) improved manners; (7) prevention of extremes of masculinity or femininity; (8) a safeguard against the moral danger.Co-education: a series of Essays(London, 1903), edited by Alice Woods, is in favour of co-education, nine practical workers recording their experience; this is one of the best books on the subject. J. H. Badley’sCo-education after Fifteen: its Value and Difficulties.Child Life(London, January, 1906), is candid, judicious and practical. M. E. Sadler inReports on Secondary Education in Hampshire, Derbyshire and Essex(1904, 1905 and 1906 respectively) gives details of the curriculum of many co-educational secondary schools. In the U.S. Commissioner of EducationReport for 1903, vol. i. pp. 1047-1078, Anna Tolman Smith, writing onCo-education in the Schools and Colleges of the United States, gives an historical review of the subject with bibliography (compare bibliography inReport of U.S. Commissioner of Education for 1900-1901, pp. 1310-1325). G. Stanley Hall onAdolescence, its Psychology and its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion and Education, vol. ii. chap. xvii., on Adolescent Girls and their education (New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1904), is strongly against co-education during adolescence. In W. Rein’sEncyklopädisches Handbuch der Pädagogik(Langensalza, Beyer), art. “Gemeinsame Erziehung für Knaben und Mädchen,” K. E. Palmgren is in favour of co-education (vol. iii. of 2nd ed. 1905). See also W. Rein,Über gemeinsame Erziehung von Knaben und Mädchen(Freiburg, 1903), andBericht über den I. Internationalen Kongress für Schulhygiene(Nürnberg, 1904), vol. ii. pp. 140 ff., “Co-education in der höheren Schulen.”

Co-education: a series of Essays(London, 1903), edited by Alice Woods, is in favour of co-education, nine practical workers recording their experience; this is one of the best books on the subject. J. H. Badley’sCo-education after Fifteen: its Value and Difficulties.Child Life(London, January, 1906), is candid, judicious and practical. M. E. Sadler inReports on Secondary Education in Hampshire, Derbyshire and Essex(1904, 1905 and 1906 respectively) gives details of the curriculum of many co-educational secondary schools. In the U.S. Commissioner of EducationReport for 1903, vol. i. pp. 1047-1078, Anna Tolman Smith, writing onCo-education in the Schools and Colleges of the United States, gives an historical review of the subject with bibliography (compare bibliography inReport of U.S. Commissioner of Education for 1900-1901, pp. 1310-1325). G. Stanley Hall onAdolescence, its Psychology and its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion and Education, vol. ii. chap. xvii., on Adolescent Girls and their education (New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1904), is strongly against co-education during adolescence. In W. Rein’sEncyklopädisches Handbuch der Pädagogik(Langensalza, Beyer), art. “Gemeinsame Erziehung für Knaben und Mädchen,” K. E. Palmgren is in favour of co-education (vol. iii. of 2nd ed. 1905). See also W. Rein,Über gemeinsame Erziehung von Knaben und Mädchen(Freiburg, 1903), andBericht über den I. Internationalen Kongress für Schulhygiene(Nürnberg, 1904), vol. ii. pp. 140 ff., “Co-education in der höheren Schulen.”

(M. E. S.)

COEFFETEAU, NICOLAS(1574-1623), French theologian, poet and historian, was born at Saint-Calais. He entered the Dominican order and lectured on philosophy at Paris, being also “ordinary preacher” to Henry IV., and afterwards ambassador at Rome. In 1606 he was vicar-general of the congregation of France, and received from Marie de’ Medici the revenues of the sees of Lombez and Saintes. He also administered the diocese of Metz, and was nominated to that of Marseilles in 1621, but ill-health obliged him here to take a coadjutor. Coeffeteau won considerable distinction in the controversy against the Protestant reformers and also wrote aHistory of Rome from Augustus to Constantine. Many of his theological writings were collected in one volume (Paris, 1622), and at the time of his death in 1623 he was engaged on a translation of the New Testament which is still in manuscript.

COEHOORN, MENNO,Baron van(1641-1704), Dutch soldier and military engineer, of Swedish extraction, was born at Leeuwarden in Friesland. He received an excellent military and general education, and at the age of sixteen became a captain in the Dutch army. He took part in the defence of Maastricht in 1673 and in the siege of Grave in the same year, where the small mortars (called coehorns) invented by him caused the French garrison considerable trouble (Seydel,Nachrichten über Festungskriege, Leipzig, 1818). He was made a colonel for his gallant conduct at the battle of Seneff (1674), and was present also at the battles of Cassel (1677) and Saint Denis (1678).

The circumstances of the time and the country turned Coehoorn’s attention to the art of fortification, and the events of the late war showed him that existing methods could no longer be relied upon. His first published work,Versterckinge de Vijfhoeks met alle syne Buytenwerken(Leeuwarden, 1682), at once aroused attention, and involved the author in a lively controversy with a rival engineer, Louys Paan (Leeuwarden, 1682, 1683; copies are in the library of the Dutch ministry of war). The military authorities were much interested in this, and entrusted Coehoorn with the reconstruction of several fortresses in the Netherlands. This task he continued throughout his career; and his experience in the work made him the worthy rival of his great contemporary Vauban. He formulated his ideas a little later in his chief work,Nieuwe Vestingbouw op en natte of lage horizont, &c. (Leeuwarden, 1685), in which he laid down three “systems,” the characteristic feature of which was the multiplicity and great saliency of the works, which were calculated and in principle are still eminently suited for flat and almost marshy sites such as those of the Low Countries. He borrowed many of the details from the works of his Dutch predecessor Freytag, of Albrecht Dürer, and of the German engineer Speckle, and in general he aimed rather at the adaptation of his principles to the requirements of individual sites than at producing a geometrically and theoretically perfect fortress; and throughout his career he never hesitated to depart from his own rules in dealing with exceptional cases, such as that of Groningen. Subsequent editions ofNieuwe Vestingbouwappeared in Dutch (1702, and frequently afterwards), English (London, 1705), French (Wesel, 1705), and German (Düsseldorf, 1709).

From 1688 to the treaty of Ryswick Coehoorn served as a brigadier. At the battle of Fleurus he greatly distinguished himself, and in 1692 he defended Namur, a fortress of his own creation. Namur was taken by Vauban; but the Dutch engineer had his revenge three years later, when the place, on which in the meantime Vauban had lavished his skill, fell to his attack. Coehoorn became lieutenant-general and inspector-general of the Netherlands fortresses, and the high-German peoples as well as his own countrymen honoured him. He commanded a corps in the army of the duke of Marlborough from 1701 to 1703, and in the constant siege warfare of these campaigns in the Low Countries his technical skill was of the highest value. The swift reduction of the fortress of Bonn and the siege of Huy in 1703 were his crowning successes. At the opening of his following campaign he was on his way to confer with Marlborough when he died of apoplexy at Wijkel on the 17th of March 1704.

His “first system” was applied to numerous places in Holland, notably Nijmwegen, Breda and Bergen-op-Zoom. Mannheim in Germany was also fortified in this way, while the “secondsystem” was applied to Belgrade and Temesvár in eastern Europe.

His son, Gosewijn Theodor van Coehoorn, wrote his life (re-edited Syperstein, Leeuwarden, 1860). See also v. Zastrow,Geschichte der beständigen Befestigung(Leipzig, 1828); von Brese-Winiari,Über Entstehen und Wesen der neueren Befestigungsmethode(1844); Cosseran de Villenoisy,Essai historique sur la fortification(1869); Mandar,Architecture des forteresses(1801); Krayenhoff,Verhandeling over de erste versterkingsmanier van Coehoorn(Hague, 1823); Bosscha,Nederlandsche heldend te Land(Amsterdam, 1838); Dewez,Histoire de Belgique(Brussels, 1823); Ypey,Narratio de rebus gestis Mennonis Cohorni(1771); Hennert,Dissertation sur la fortification permanente(1795); Böhms,Gründliche Anleitung zur Kriegsbaukunst(1776);Axiomatas of allgemeene bekentnisse over de Vestinghbouw door Menno Baron van Coehoorn, Uytgewerkt door E. W. Berg(MS. in Dutch Ministry of War); Bousmard,Essai général de fortification(1797); also the articleFortification and Siegecraft.

COELENTERA,a group or grade of the animal kingdom, the zoological importance of which has risen considerably since the time (1887) of the publication of the first article under that heading in theEncy. Brit.(9th edit.), even though their numbers have been reduced by the elevation of the Sponges or Porifera to the rank of an independent Phylum under the title Parazoa (W. J. Sollas, 1884). For the Coelentera thus restricted, the term Enterocoela, in contrast to Coelomocoela (the old Coelomata), was suggested by E. R. Lankester (1900).

From the more complex colonial Protozoa the Coelentera are readily separated by their possession of two distinct sets of cells, with diverse functions, arranged in two definite layers,—a condition found in no Protozoan. The old criterion by which they and other Metazoa were once distinguished from Protozoa, namely, the differentiation of large and small sexual cells from each other and from the remaining cells of the body, has been broken down by the discovery of numerous cases of such differentiation among Protozoa. The Coelentera, as contrasted with other Metazoa (but not Parazoa), consist of two layers of cells only, an outer layer or ectoderm, an inner layer or endoderm. They have hence been described as Diploblastica. In the remaining Metazoa certain cells are budded off at an early stage of development from one or both of the two original layers, to form later a third layer, the mesoderm, which lies between the ectoderm and endoderm; such forms have therefore received the name Triploblastica. At the same time it is necessary to observe that it is by no means certain that the mesoderm found in various groups of Metazoa is a similar or homologous formation in all cases. A second essential difference between Coelentera and other Metazoa (except Parazoa) is that in the former all spaces in the interior of the body are referable to a single cavity of endodermal origin, the “gastro-vascular cavity,” often termed the coelenteron: the spaces are always originally continuous with one another, and are in almost every case permanently so. This single cavity and its lining serve apparently for all those functions (digestion, excretion, circulation and often reproduction) which in more complex organisms are distributed among various cavities of independent and often very diverse origin.

In the Coelentera the ectoderm and endoderm are set apart from one another at a very early period in the life-history; generally either by delamination or invagination, processes described in the articleEmbryology. Between these two cell-layers a mesogloea (G. C. Bourne, 1887) is always intercalated as a secretion by one or both of them; this is a gelatinoid, primitively structureless lamella, which in the first instance serves merely as a basal support for the cells. In many cases, as, for example, in the Medusae or jelly-fish, the mesogloea may be so thick as to constitute the chief part of the body in bulk and weight. The ectoderm rarely consists of more than one layer of cells: these are divisible by structure and function into nervous, muscular and secretory cells, supported by interstitial cells. The endoderm is generally also an epithelium one cell in thickness, the cells being digestive, secretory and sometimes muscular. Reproductive sexual cells may be found in either of these two layers, according to the class and sub-class in question. The mesogloea is in itself an inert non-cellular secretion, but the immigration of muscular and other cells into its substance, from both ectoderm and endoderm, gives it in many cases a strong resemblance to the mesoderm of Triploblastica,—a resemblance which, while probably superficial, may yet serve to indicate the path of evolution of the mesoderm.

The Coelentera may thus be briefly defined as Metazoa which exhibit two embryonic cell-layers only,—the ectoderm and endoderm,—their body-cavities being referable to a single cavity or coelenteron in the endoderm. Their position in the animal kingdom and their main subdivisions may be expressed in the following table:—

In the above-given classification, the Scyphomedusae, formerly included with the Hydromedusae as Hydrozoa, are placed nearer the Anthozoa. The reasons for this may be stated briefly.

TheHydromedusaeare distinguished from the Scyphozoa chiefly by negative characters; they have no stomodaeum, that is, no ingrowth of ectoderm at the mouth to form an oesophagus; they have no mesenteries (radiating partitions) which incompletely subdivide the coelenteron; and they have no concentration of digestive cells into special organs. Their ectodermal muscles are mainly longitudinal, their endodermal muscles are circularly arranged on the body-wall. Their sexual cells are (probably in all cases) produced from the ectoderm, and lie in those radii which are first accentuated in development. They typically present two structural forms, the non-sexual hydroid and the sexual medusoid; in such a case there is an alternation of generations (metagenesis), the hydroid giving rise to the medusoid by a sexual gemmation, the medusoid bearing sexual cells which develop into a hydroid. In some other cases medusoid develops directly from medusoid (hypogenesis), whether by sexual cells or by gemmation. The medusoids have a muscular velum of ectoderm and mesogloea only.

TheScyphozoahave the following features in common:—They typically exhibit an ectodermal stomodaeum; partitions or mesenteries project into their coelenteron from the body-wall, and on these are generally concentrated digestive cells (to form mesenterial filaments, phacellae or gastric filaments, &c.); the external musculature of the body-wall is circular (except inCerianthus); the internal, longitudinal; and the sexual cells probably always arise in the endoderm.

TheScyphomedusae, like the Hydromedusae, typically present a metagenesis, the non-sexual scyphistomoid (corresponding to the hydroid) alternating with the sexual medusoid. In other cases the medusoid is hypogenetic, medusoid producing medusoid. The sexual cells of the medusoid lie in the endoderm on interradii, that is, on the second set of radii accentuated in the course of development. The medusoids have no true velum; in some cases a structure more or less resembling this organ, termed a velarium, is present, permeated by endodermal canals.

TheAnthozoadiffer from the Scyphomedusae in having no medusoid form; they all more or less resemble a sea-anemone, and may be termed actinioid. They are (with rare exceptions, probably secondarily acquired) hypogenetic, the offspring resembling the parent, and both being sexual. The sexual cells are borne on the mesenteries in positions irrespective of obvious developmental radii.

TheCtenophoraare so aberrant in structure that it has been proposed to separate them from the Coelentera altogether: they are, however, theoretically deducible from an ancestor common to other Coelentera, but their extreme specialization precludes the idea of any close relationship with the rest.

As regards the other three groups, however, it is easy to conceive of them as derived from an ancestor, represented to-day to some extent by the planula-larva, which was Coelenterate in so far as it was composed of an ectoderm and endoderm, and had an internal digestive cavity (I. of the table).

At the point of divergence between Scyphozoa and Hydromedusae (II. of the table of hypothetical descent), we may conceive of its descendant as tentaculate, capable of either floating (swimming) or fixation at will like Lucernaria to-day; and exhibiting incipient differentiation of myoepithelial cells (formerly termed neuro-muscular cells). At the parting of the ways which led, on the one hand, to modern Scyphomedusae, on the other to Anthozoa (III.), it is probable that the common ancestor was marked by incipient mesenteries and by the limitation of the sexual cells to endoderm. The lines of descent—II. to Hydromedusae, and III. to Scyphomedusae—represent periods during which the hypothetical ancestors II. and III., capable of either locomotion or fixation at will, were either differentiated into alternating generations of fixed sterile nutritive hydroids (scyphistomoids) and locomotor sexual medusoids, or abandoned the power of fixation in hypogenetic cases. During the periodrepresented by the line of descent—III. to Anthozoa—this group abandoned its power of adult locomotion by swimming. During these periods were also attained those less important structural characters which these three groups present to-day.

(G. H. Fo.)

COELLO, ALONSO SANCHEZ(1515-1590), Spanish painter, according to some authorities a native of Portugal, was born, according to others, at Benifacio, near the city of Valencia. He studied many years in Italy; and returning to Spain in 1541 he settled at Madrid, and worked on religious themes for most of the palaces and larger churches. He was a follower of Titian, and, like him, excelled in portraits and single figures, elaborating the textures of his armours, draperies, and such accessories in a manner so masterly as strongly to influence Velazquez in his treatment of like objects. Many of his pictures were destroyed in the fires that consumed the Madrid and Prado palaces, but many good examples are yet extant, among which may be noted the portraits of the infantes Carlos and Isabella, now in the Madrid gallery, and the St Sebastian painted in the church of San Gerónimo, also in Madrid. Coello left a daughter, Isabella Sanchez, who studied under him, and painted excellent portraits.

COELLO, ANTONIO(1610?-1652), Spanish dramatist and poet, was born at Madrid about the beginning of the 17th century. He entered the household of the duke de Albuquerque, and after some years of service in the army received the order of Santiago in 1648. He was a favourite of Philip IV., who is reported to have collaborated with him; this rumour is not confirmed, but there is ample proof of Coello’s collaboration with Calderón, Rojas Zorrilla, Solís and Velez de Guevara, the most distinguished dramatists of the age. The best of his original plays,Los Empeños de seis horas, has been wrongly ascribed to Calderón; it was adapted by Samuel Tuke, under the title ofThe Adventures of five Hours, and was described by Pepys as superior toOthello. It is an excellent example of stagecraft and animated dialogue. Coello died on the 20th of October 1652, shortly after his nomination to a post in the household of Philip IV.

COELOM AND SEROUS MEMBRANES.In human anatomy the body-cavity or coelom (Gr.κοῖλος, hollow) is divided into thepericardium, the twopleurae, theperitoneumand the twotunicae vaginales.

Thepericardiumis a closed sac which occupies the central part of the thorax and contains the heart. Like all the serous membranes it has a visceral and a parietal layer, the former of which is closely applied to the heart and consists of endothelial cells with a slight fibrous backing: to it is due the glossy appearance of a freshly removed heart. The parietal layer is double; externally there is a strong fibrous protective coat which is continuous with the other fibrous structures in the neighbourhood, especially with the sheaths of the great vessels at the root of the heart, with prolongations of the fascia of the neck, and with the central tendon of the diaphragm, while internally is the serous layer which is reflected from the surface of the heart, where the great vessels enter, so that everywhere the two layers of the serous membrane are in contact, and the only thing within the cavity is a drop or two of the fluid secreted by the serous walls. When the parietal layer is laid open and the heart removed by cutting through the great vessels, it will be seen that there are two lines of reflection of the serous layer, one common to the aorta and pulmonary artery, the other to all the pulmonary veins and the two venae cavae.

Thepleuraevery closely resemble the pericardium except that the fibrous outer coat of the parietal layer is not nearly as strong; it is closely attached to the inner surface of the chest walls and mesially to the outer layer of the pericardium; above it is thickened by a fibrous contribution from the scalene muscles, and this forms thedome of the pleurawhich fits into the concavity of the first rib and contains the apex of the lung. The reflection of the serous layer of the pleura, from the parietal to the visceral part, takes place at the root of the lung, where the great vessels enter, and continues for some distance below this as theligamentum latum pulmonis. The upper limit of the pleural cavity reaches about half an inch above the inner third of the clavicle, while, below, it may be marked out by a line drawn from the twelfth thoracic spine to the tenth rib in the mid axillary line, the eighth rib in the nipple line, and the sixth rib at its junction with the sternum. There is probably very little difference in the lower level of the pleurae on the two sides.

Theperitoneumis a more extensive and complicated membrane than either the pericardium or pleura; it surrounds the abdominal and pelvic viscera, and, like the other sacs, has a parietal and visceral layer. The line of reflection of these, though a continuous one, is very tortuous. The peritoneum consists of agreaterandlesser sacwhich communicate through an opening known as theforamen of Winslow, and the most satisfactory way of understanding these is to follow the reflections first in a vertical median (sagittal) section and then in a horizontal one, the body being supposed to be in the upright position. If a median sagittal section be studied first, and a start be made at the umbilicus (see fig. 1), the parietal peritoneum is seen to run upward, lining the anterior abdominal wall, and then to pass along the under surface of the diaphragm till its posterior third is reached; here there is a reflection on to the liver (L), forming the anterior layer of thecoronary ligamentof that viscus, while the membrane now becomes visceral and envelops the front of the liver as far back as the transverse fissure on its lower surface; here it is reflected on to the stomach (St) forming the anterior layer of thegastro-hepaticorlesser omentum. It now covers the front of the stomach, and at the lower border runs down as the anterior layer of an apron-like fold, thegreat omentum, which in some cases reaches as low as the pubes; then it turns up again as the posterior or fourth layer of the great omentum until the transverse colon (C) is reached, the posterior surface of which it covers and is reflected, as the posterior layer of thetransverse meso-colon, to the lower part of the pancreas (P); after this it turns down and covers the anterior surface of the third part of the duodenum (D) till the posterior wall of the abdomen is reached, from which it is reflected on to the small intestine (I) as the anterior layer of themesentery, a fold varying from 5 to 8 in. between itsattachments. After surrounding the small intestine it becomes the posterior layer of the mesentery and so again reaches the posterior abdominal wall, down which it runs until the rectum (R) is reached. The anterior surface of this tube is covered by peritoneum to a point about 3 in. from the anus, where it is reflected on to the uterus and vagina (V) in the female and then on to the bladder (B); in the male, on the other hand, the reflection is directly from the rectum to the bladder. At the apex of the bladder, after covering the upper surface of that organ, it is lifted off by the urachus and runs up the anterior abdominal wall to the umbilicus, from which the start was made. All this is the greater sac. The tracing of the lesser sac may be conveniently started at the transverse fissure of the liver, whence the membrane runs down to the stomach (St) as the posterior layer of the lesser omentum, lines the posterior surface of the stomach, passes down as the second layer of the great omentum and up again as the third layer, covers the anterior surface of the transverse colon (C) and then reaches the pancreas (P) as the anterior layer of the transverse mesocolon. After this it covers the front of the pancreas and in the middle line of the body runs up below the diaphragm to within an inch of the anterior layer of the coronary ligament of the liver; here it is reflected on to the top of the Spigelian lobe of the liver to form the posterior layer of the coronary ligament, covers the whole Spigelian lobe, and so reaches the transverse fissure, the starting-point.

This section, therefore, shows two completely closed sacs without any visible communication. In the female, however, the great sac is not absolutely closed, for the Fallopian tubes open into it by their minuteostia abdominalia, while at the other ends they communicate with the cavity of the uterus and so with the vagina and exterior.

A horizontal section through the upper part of the first lumbar vertebra will, if a fortunate one (see fig. 2), pass through the foramen of Winslow and show the communication of the two sacs. A starting-point may be made from the mid-ventral line and the parietal peritoneum traced round the left side of the body wall until the outer edge of the left kidney (K) is reached; here it passes in front of the kidney and is soon reflected off on to the spleen, which it nearly surrounds; just before it reaches the hilum of that organ, where the vessels enter, it is reflected on to the front of the stomach (St), forming the anterior layer of thegastro-splenic omentum; it soon reaches the lesser curvature of the stomach and then becomes the anterior layer of the lesser omentum, which continues until the bile duct (B.D) and portal vein (P.V) are reached at its right free extremity; here it turns completely round these structures and runs to the left again, as the posterior layer of the lesser omentum, behind the stomach (St) and then to the spleen (Sp) as the posterior layer of the gastro-splenic omentum. From the spleen it runs to the right once more, in front of the pancreas (P), until the inferior vena cava (V.C) is reached, and this point is just behind the portal vein and is the place where the lesser and greater sacs communicate, known as the foramen of Winslow. From this opening the lesser sac runs to the left, while all the rest of the peritoneal cavity in the section is greater sac. From the front of the vena cava the parietal peritoneum passes in front of the right kidney (K) and round the right abdominal wall to the mid-ventral line. The right part of this section is filled by the liver (L), which is completely surrounded by a visceral layer of peritoneum, and no reflection is usually seen at this level between it and the parietal layer. Some of the viscera, such as the kidneys and pancreas, are retro-peritoneal; others, such as the small intestines and transverse colon, are surrounded, except at one point where they are attached to the dorsal wall by amesenteryormesocolonas the reflections are called; others again are completely surrounded, and of these the caecum is an example; while some, like the liver and bladder, have large uncovered areas, and the reflections of the membrane form ligaments which allow considerable freedom of movement.

Thetunica vaginalisis the remains of a process of the peritoneum (processus vaginalis) which descends into the scrotum during foetal life some little time before the testis itself descends. After the descent of the testis the upper part usually becomes obliterated, while the lower part forms a serous sac which nearly surrounds the testis, but does not quite do so. Posteriorly the epididymis is in close contact with the testis, and here the visceral layer is not in contact; there is, however, a pocket called thedigital fossawhich squeezes in from the outer side between the testis and epididymis. The parietal layer lines the inner wall of its own side of the scrotum.

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