(A. B. R.; W. G. F.)
COFFER(Fr.coffre, O. Fr.cofreorcofne, Lat.cophinus, cf. “coffin”), in architecture, a sunk panel in a ceiling or vault; also a casket or chest in which jewels or precious goods were kept, and, if of large dimensions, clothes. The marriage coffers in Italy were of exceptional richness in their carving and gilding and were sometimes painted by great artists.
COFFERDAM, in engineering. To enable foundations (q.v.) to be laid in a site which is under water, the engineer sometimes surrounds it with an embankment or dam, known as a cofferdam, to form an enclosure from which the water is excluded. Where the depth of water is small and the current slight, simple clay dams may be used, but in general cofferdams consist of two rows of piles, the space between which is packed with clay puddle. The dam must be sufficiently strong to withstand the exterior pressure to which it is exposed when the enclosed space is pumped dry.
COFFEYVILLE, a city of Montgomery county, Kansas, U.S.A., on the Verdigris river, about 150 m. S. of Topeka and near thesouthern boundary of the state. Pop. (1890) 2282; (1900) 4953, of whom 803 were negroes; (1905) 13,196; (1910) 12,687. Coffeyville is served by the Missouri Pacific, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, and the Saint Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern railways, and by inter-urban electric railway to Independence. It is in the Kansas natural-gas field, ships large quantities of grain, and has a large zinc oxide smelter and a large oil refinery, and various manufactures, including vitrified brick and tile, flour, lumber, chemicals, window glass, bottles, pottery and straw boards. The municipality owns and operates its water-works and electric lighting plant. Coffeyville, named in honour of A. M. Coffey, who was a member of the first legislature of the territory of Kansas, was founded in 1869, but in 1871 it was removed about 1 m. from its original site, now known as “old town.” It was incorporated as a city of the third class in 1872 and received a new charter in 1887. Coffeyville became a station on the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston railway (now part of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé), and for several years large numbers of cattle were driven here from Indian Territory and Texas for shipment; in fact, the city’s chief importance was as a trade centre for the north part of Indian Territory until natural gas was found here in large quantities in 1892.
COFFIN(from Lat.cophinus, Gr.κόφινος, a coffer, chest or basket, but never meaning “coffin” in its present sense), the receptacle in which a corpse is confined. The Greeks and Romans disposed of their dead both by burial and by cremation. Greek coffins varied in shape, being in the form of an urn, or like the modern coffins, or triangular, the body being in a sitting posture. The material used was generally burnt clay, and in some cases this had obviously been first moulded round the body, and so baked. Cremation was the commonest method of disposing of the dead among the Romans, until the Christian era, when stone coffins came into use. Examples of these have been frequently dug up in England. In 1853, during excavations for the foundations of some warehouses in Hayden Square, Minories, London, a Roman stone coffin was found within which was a leaden shell. Others have been found at Whitechapel, Stratford-le-Bow, Old Kent Road and Battersea Fields, and in great numbers at Colchester, York, Southfleet and Kingsholme near Gloucester. In early England stone coffins were only used by the nobles and the wealthy. Those of the Romans who were rich enough had their coffins made of a limestone brought from Assos in Troas, which it was commonly believed “ate the body”; hence arose the name sarcophagus (q.v.).
The coffins of the Chaldaeans were generally clay urns with the top left open, resembling immense jars. These, too, must have been moulded round the body, as the size of the mouth would not admit of its introduction after the clay was baked. The Egyptian coffins, or sarcophagi, as they have been improperly called, are the largest stone coffins known and are generally highly polished and covered with hieroglyphics, usually a history of the deceased. Mummy chests shaped to the form of the body were also used. These were made of hard wood orpapier mâchépainted, and like the stone coffins bore hieroglyphics. The Persians, Parthians, Medes and peoples of the Caspian are not known to have had any coffins, their usual custom being to expose the body to be devoured by beasts and birds of prey. Unhewn flat stones were sometimes used by the ancient European peoples to line the grave. One was placed at the bottom, others stood on their edges to form the sides, and a large slab was put on top, thus forming a rude cist. In England after the Roman invasion these rude cists gave place to the stone coffin, and this, though varying much in shape, continued in use until the 16th century.
The most primitive wooden coffin was formed of a tree-trunk split down the centre, and hollowed out. The earliest specimen of this type is in the Copenhagen museum, the implements found in it proving that it belonged to the Bronze Age. This type of coffin, more or less modified by planing, was used in medieval Britain by those of the better classes who could not afford stone, but the poor were buried without coffins, wrapped simply in cloth or even covered only with hay and flowers. Towards the end of the 17th century, coffins became usual for all classes. It is worth noting that in the Burial Service in the Book of Common Prayer the word “coffin” is not used.
Among the American Indians some tribes,e.g.the Sacs, Foxes and Sioux, used rough hewn wooden coffins; others, such as the Seris, sometimes enclosed the corpse between the carapace and plastron of a turtle. The Seminoles of Florida used no coffins, while at Santa Barbara, California, canoes containing corpses have been found buried though they may have been intended for the dead warrior’s use in the next world. Rough stone cists, too, have been found, especially in Illinois and Kentucky. In their tree and scaffold burial the Indians sometimes used wooden coffins, but oftener the bodies were simply wrapped in blankets. Canoes mounted on a scaffold near a river were used as coffins by some tribes, while others placed the corpse in a canoe or wicker basket and floated them out into the stream or lake (seeFuneral Rites). The aborigines of Australia generally used coffins of bark, but some tribes employed baskets of wicker-work.
Lead coffins were used in Europe in the middle ages, shaped like the mummy chests of ancient Egypt. Iron coffins were more rare, but they were certainly used in England and Scotland as late as the 17th century, when an order was made that upon bodies so buried a heavier burial fee should be levied. The coffins used in England to-day are generally of elm or oak lined with lead, or with a leaden shell so as to delay as far as possible the process of disintegration and decomposition. In America glass is sometimes used for the lids, and the inside is lined with copper or zinc. The coffins of France and Germany and the continent generally, usually differ from those of England in not being of the ordinary hexagonal shape but having sides and ends parallel. Coffins used in cremation throughout the civilized world are of some light material easily consumed and yielding little ash. Ordinary thin deal andpapier mâchéare the favourite materials. Coffins for what is known as Earth to Earth Burial are made of wicker-work covered with a thin layer ofpapier mâchéover cloth.
See alsoFuneral Rites;Cremation;Burial and Burial Acts;Embalming;Mummy, &c.Bibliography.—Dr H. C. Yarrow, “Study of the Mortuary Customs of the North American Indians,”Report of Bureau of Amer. Ethnol.vol. i. (Washington, U.S.A., 1881); Rev. Thomas Hugo, “On the Hayden Square Sarcophagus,”Journ. of Archaeol. Soc.vol. ix. (London, 1854); C. V. Creagh, “On Unusual Forms of Burial by People of the East Coast of Borneo,”J.A.I., vol. xxvi. (London, 1896-1897); Rev. J. Edward Vaux,Church Folk-lore(1894).
See alsoFuneral Rites;Cremation;Burial and Burial Acts;Embalming;Mummy, &c.
Bibliography.—Dr H. C. Yarrow, “Study of the Mortuary Customs of the North American Indians,”Report of Bureau of Amer. Ethnol.vol. i. (Washington, U.S.A., 1881); Rev. Thomas Hugo, “On the Hayden Square Sarcophagus,”Journ. of Archaeol. Soc.vol. ix. (London, 1854); C. V. Creagh, “On Unusual Forms of Burial by People of the East Coast of Borneo,”J.A.I., vol. xxvi. (London, 1896-1897); Rev. J. Edward Vaux,Church Folk-lore(1894).
COG. (1) (From an oldercogge, a word which appears in various forms in Teutonic languages, as in O. Ger.koggeorkocke, and also in Romanic, as in O. Fr.cogue, orcoque, from which the Eng. “cock-boat” is derived; the connexion between the Teutonic and the Romanic forms is obscure), a broadly built, round-shaped ship, used as a trader and also as a ship of war till the 15th century. (2) (A word of obscure origin, possibly connected with Fr.coche, and Ital.cocca, a notch; the Celtic formscogandcocascome from the English), a tooth in a series of teeth, morticed on to, or cut out of the circumference of a wheel, which works with the tooth in a corresponding series on another wheel (seeMechanics). (3) (Also of quite obscure origin), a slang term for a form of cheating at dice. The early uses of the word show that this was done not by “loading” the dice, as the modern use of the expression of “cogged dice” seems to imply, but by sleight of hand in directing the fall or in changing the dice.
COGERS HALL, a London tavern debating society. It was instituted in 1755 at the White Bear Inn (now St Bride’s Tavern), Fleet Street, moved about 1850 to Discussion Hall, Shoe Lane, and in 1871 finally migrated to the Barley Mow Inn, Salisbury Square, E.C., its present quarters. The name is often wrongly spelt Codgers and Coggers; the “o” is really long, the accepted derivation being from Descartes’Cogito, ergo sum, and thus meaning “The society of thinkers.” The aims of the Cogers were “the promotion of the liberty of the subject and the freedom of the Press, the maintenance of loyalty to the laws,the rights and claims of humanity and the practice of public and private virtue.” Among its early members Cogers Hall reckoned John Wilkes, one of its first presidents, and Curran, who in 1773 writes to a friend that he spent a couple of hours every night at the Hall. Later Dickens was a prominent member.
See Peter Rayleigh,History of Ye Antient Society of Cogers(London, 1904).
See Peter Rayleigh,History of Ye Antient Society of Cogers(London, 1904).
COGHLAN, CHARLES FRANCIS(1841-1899), Irish actor, was born in Paris, and was educated for the law. He made his first London appearance in 1860, and became the leading actor at the Prince of Wales’s. He went to America in 1876, where he remained for the rest of his life, playing first in Augustin Daly’s company and then in the Union Square stock company, during the long run ofThe Celebrated Case. He also played with his sister, and in support of Mrs Langtry and Mrs Fiske, and in 1898 produced a version of Dumas’Kean, calledThe Royal Box, in which he successfully starred during the last years of his life. He died in Galveston, Texas, on the 27th of November 1899.
His sister, the actressRose Coghlan(1853- ), went to America in 1871, was again in England from 1873 to 1877, playing with Barry Sullivan, and then returned to America, where she became prominent as Countess Zicka inDiplomacy, and Stephanie inForget-me-not. She was at Wallack’s almost continuously until 1888, and subsequently appeared in melodrama in parts like the title-rôle ofThe Sporting Duchess.
COGNAC, a town of south-western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Charente, on the left bank of the river Charente, 32 m. W. of Angoulême on the Ouest-État railway, between Angoulême and Saintes. Pop. (1906) 18,389. The streets of the old town—which borders the river—are narrow and tortuous, but the newer parts are well provided with open spaces. The chief of these is the beautiful Parc François 1er overlooking the Charente. In one of the squares there is a statue of Francis I., who was born here. The chief building is a church of the 12th century dedicated to St Leger, which preserves a fine Romanesque façade and a tower of the 15th century. A castle of the 15th and 16th centuries, once the residence of the counts of Angoulême, now a storehouse for brandy, and a medieval gate stand in the older part of the town. Cognac is the seat of a subprefect and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a council of trade arbitrators, a chamber of commerce, and consulates of the United States, Spain and Portugal. Its most important industry is the distillation of the brandy (q.v.) to which the town gives its name. Large quantities are carried, by way of the river, to the neighbouring port of Tonnay-Charente. The industries subsidiary to the brandy trade, such as the making of cases and bottles, occupy many hands. Ironware is also manufactured, and a considerable trade is maintained in grain and cattle. In 1526 Cognac gave its name to a treaty concluded against Charles V. by Francis I., the pope, Venice and Milan. Its possession was contested during the wars of religion, and in 1570 it became one of the Huguenot strongholds. In 1651 it successfully sustained a siege against Louis II., prince of Condé, leader of the Fronde.
SeeLe Pays du Cognac, by L. Ravaz, for a description of the district and its viticulture.
SeeLe Pays du Cognac, by L. Ravaz, for a description of the district and its viticulture.
COGNITION(Latincognitio, fromcognoscere, to become acquainted with), in psychology, a term used in its most general sense for all modes of being conscious or aware of an object, whether material or intellectual. It is an ultimate mode of consciousness, strictly the presentation (through sensation or otherwise) of an object to consciousness; in its complete form, however, it seems to involve a judgment,i.e.the separation from other objects of the object presented. The psychological theory of cognition takes for granted the dualism of the mind that knows and the object known; it takes no account of the metaphysical problem as to the possibility of a relation between the ego and the non-ego, but assumes that such a relation does exist. Cognition is therefore distinct from emotion and conation; it has no psychological connexion with feelings of pleasure and pain, nor does it tend as such to issue in action.
For the analysis of cognition-reactions see O. Külpe,Outlines of Psychology(Eng. trans., 1895), pp. 411 foll.; E. B. Titchener,Experimental Psychology(1905), ii. 187 foll. On cognition generally, G. F. Stout’sAnalytic Psychology and Manual of Psychology; W. James’sPrinciples of Psychology(1890), i. 216 foll.; also articlePsychology.
For the analysis of cognition-reactions see O. Külpe,Outlines of Psychology(Eng. trans., 1895), pp. 411 foll.; E. B. Titchener,Experimental Psychology(1905), ii. 187 foll. On cognition generally, G. F. Stout’sAnalytic Psychology and Manual of Psychology; W. James’sPrinciples of Psychology(1890), i. 216 foll.; also articlePsychology.
COGNIZANCE(Lat.cognoscere, to know), knowledge, notice, especially judicial notice, the right of trying or considering a case judicially, the exercise of jurisdiction by a court of law. In heraldry a “cognizance” is an emblem, badge or device, used as a distinguishing mark by the body of retainers of a royal or noble house.
COHEN(Hebrew for “priest”), a Jewish family name, implying descent from the ancient Hebrew priests. Many families claiming such descent are, however, not named Cohen. Other forms of the name are Cohn, Cowen, Kahn.
See J. Jacobs,Jewish Encyclopedia, iv. 144.
See J. Jacobs,Jewish Encyclopedia, iv. 144.
COHN, FERDINAND JULIUS(1828-1898), German botanist, was born on the 24th of January 1828 at Breslau. He was educated at Breslau and Berlin, and in 1859 became extraordinary, and in 1871 ordinary, professor of botany at Breslau University. He had a remarkable career, owing to his Jewish origin. He was contemporary with N. Pringsheim, and worked with H. R. Goeppert, C. G. Nees von Esenbeck, C. G. Ehrenberg and Johannes Müller. At an early date he exhibited astonishing ability with the microscope, which he did much to improve, and his researches on cell-walls and the growth and contents of plant-cells soon attracted attention, especially as he made remarkable advances in the establishment of an improved cell-theory, discovered the cilia in, and analysed the movements of, zoospores, and pointed out that the protoplasm of the plant-cell and the sarcode of the zoologists were one and the same physical vehicle of life. Although these early researches were especially on the Algae, in which group he instituted marked reforms of the rigid system due to F. T. Kützing, Cohn had already displayed that activity in various departments which made him so famous as an all-round naturalist, his attention at various times being turned to such varied subjects asAldorovanda, torsion in trees, the nature of waterspouts, the effects of lightning, physiology of seeds, the proteid crystals in the potato, which he discovered, the formation of travertin, the rotatoria, luminous worms, &c.
It is, however, in the introduction of the strict biological and philosophical analysis of the life-histories of the lower and most minute forms of life that Cohn’s greatest achievements consist, for he applied to these organisms the principle that we can only know the phases of growth of microscopic plants by watching every stage of development under the microscope, just as we learn how different are the youthful and adult appearances of an oak or a fern by direct observation. The success with which he attempted and carried out the application of cultural and developmental methods on the Algae, Fungi and Bacteria can only be fully appreciated by those familiar with the minute size and elusive evolutions of these organisms, and with the limited appliances at Cohn’s command. Nevertheless his account of the life-histories ofProtococcus(1850),Stephanosphaera(1852),Volvox(1856 and 1875),Hydrodictyon(1861), andSphaeroplea(1855-1857) among the Algae have never been put aside. The first is a model of what a study in development should be; the last shares with G. Thuret’s studies onFucusand Pringsheim’s onVaucheriathe merit of establishing the existence of a sexual process in Algae. Among the Fungi Cohn contributed important researches onPilobolus(1851),Empusa(1855),Tarichium(1869), as well as valuable work on the nature of parasitism of Algae and Fungi.
It is as the founder of bacteriology that Cohn’s most striking claims to recognition will be established. He seems to have been always attracted particularly by curious problems of fermentation and coloration due to the most minute forms of life, as evinced by his papers onMonas prodigiosa(1850) and “Über blutähnliche Färbungen” (1850), on infusoria (1851 and 1852), on organisms in drinking-water (1853), “Die Wunder des Blutes” (1854), and had already published several works on insect epidemics (1869-1870) and on plant diseases, when his first specially bacteriological memoir (Crenothrix) appeared inthe journal,Beiträge zur Biologie, which he then started (1870-1871), and which has since become so renowned. Investigations on other branches of bacteriology soon followed, among which “Organismen der Pockenlymphe” (1872) and “Untersuchungen über Bacterien” (1872-1875) are most important, and laid the foundations of the new department of science which has now its own laboratories, literature and workers specially devoted to its extension in all directions. When it is remembered that Cohn brought out and helped R. Koch in publishing his celebrated paper onAnthrax(1876), the first clearly worked out case of a bacterial disease, the significance of his influence on bacteriology becomes apparent.
Among his most striking discoveries during his studies of the forms and movements of the Bacteria may be mentioned the nature of Zoogloea, the formation and germination of true spores—which he observed for the first time, and which he himself discovered inBacillus subtilis—and their resistance to high temperatures, and the bearing of this on the fallacious experiments supposed to support abiogenesis; as well as works on the bacteria of air and water, the significance of the bright sulphur granules in sulphur bacteria, and of the iron oxide deposited in the walls ofCrenothrix. His discoveries in these and in other departments all stand forth as mementoes of his acute observation and reasoning powers, and the thoughtful (in every sense of the word) consideration of the work of others, and suggestive ideas attached to his principal papers, bear the same characteristics. If we overcome the always difficult task of bridging in imagination the interval between our present platform of knowledge and that on which bacteriologists stood in, say, 1870, we shall not undervalue the important contributions of Cohn to the overthrow of the then formidable bugbear known as the doctrine of “spontaneous generation,” a dogma of despair calculated to impede progress as much in its day as that of “vitalism” did in other periods. Cohn had also clear perceptions of the important bearings of Mycology and Bacteriology in infective diseases, as shown by his studies in insect-killing fungi, microscopic analysis of water, &c. He was a foreign member of the Royal Society and of the Linnean Society, and received the gold medal of the latter in 1895. He died at Breslau on the 25th of June 1898.
Lists of his papers will be found in theCatalogue of Scientific Papers of the Royal Society, and inBer. d. d. bot. Gesellsch., 1899, vol. xvii. p. (196). The latter also contains (p. (172)) a full memoir by F. Rosen.
Lists of his papers will be found in theCatalogue of Scientific Papers of the Royal Society, and inBer. d. d. bot. Gesellsch., 1899, vol. xvii. p. (196). The latter also contains (p. (172)) a full memoir by F. Rosen.
(H. M. W.)
COHN, GUSTAV(1840- ), German economist, was born on the 12th of December 1840 at Marienwerder, in West Prussia. He was educated at Berlin and Jena universities. In 1869 he obtained a post at the polytechnic in Riga, and in 1875 was elected a professor at the polytechnic at Zürich. In 1873 he went to England for a period of study, and as a result published hisUntersuchungen über die englische Eisenbahnpolitik(Leipzig, 1874-1875). In 1884 he was appointed professor of political science at Göttingen. Cohn’s best-known works areSystem der Nationalökonomie(Stuttgart, 1885);Finanzwissenschaft(1889);Nationalökonomische Studien(1886), andZur Geschichte und Politik des Verkehrswesens(1900).
COHOES, a city of Albany county, New York, U.S.A., about 9 m. N. of Albany, at the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson rivers. Pop. (1890) 22,509; (1900) 23,910, of whom 7303 were foreign-born; (1910) 24,709. It is served by the New York Central & Hudson River and the Delaware & Hudson railways, by electric lines to Troy and Albany, and by the Erie and Champlain canals. It is primarily a manufacturing city. Hosiery and knit goods, cotton cloth, cotton batting, shoddy, underwear and shirts and collars are the principal products, but there are also extensive valve works and manufactories of pulp, paper and paper boxes, beer, pins and needles, tools and machinery, and sash, doors and blinds. The value of the factory products in 1905 was $10,289,822, of which $4,126,873, or 40.1%, was the value of hosiery and knit goods, Cohoes ranking fifth among the cities of the United States (of 20,000 inhabitants or more) in this industry, and showing a higher degree of specialization in it than any other city in the United States except Little Falls, N.Y. The Falls of the Mohawk, which furnish power for the majority of the manufacturing establishments, are 75 ft. high and 900 ft. broad, a large dam above the falls storing the water, which is conveyed through canals to the mills. Below the falls the river is crossed by two fine iron bridges. The city has a public library, a normal training school and the St Bernard’s (Roman Catholic) Academy. Cohoes was a part of the extensive manorial grant made to Killian Van Rensselaer in 1629 and it was probably settled very soon afterwards. It was incorporated as a village in 1848 and was chartered as a city in 1870.
COHORT(Lat.cohors), originally a place enclosed: in the Roman army, the name of a unit of infantry. The troops of the first grade, the legions, were divided into cohorts, of which there were ten in each legion: the cohort thus contained 600 men. Among the troops of the second grade (theauxilia) the cohorts were independent foot regiments 500 or 1000 strong, corresponding to thealae, which were similar regiments of cavalry; they were generally posted on the frontiers of the Empire in small forts of four to eight acres, each holding one cohort orala. The special troops of Rome itself, the Praetorian Guard, the Urbanae Cohortes, and the Vigiles (fire brigade), were divided into cohorts (see furtherRoman Army). The phrasecohors praetoriaorcohors amicorumwas sometimes used, especially during the Roman republic, to denote the suite of the governor of a province; hence developed the Praetorian cohorts which formed the emperor’s bodyguard.
In biology, “cohort” is a term for a group of allied orders or families of plants or animals.
COIF(from Fr.coiffe, Ital.cuffia, a cap), a close-fitting covering for the head. Originally it was the name given to a head-covering worn in the middle ages, tied like a night-cap under the chin, and worn out of doors by both sexes; this was later worn by men as a kind of night-cap or skull-cap. The coif was also a close-fitting cap of white lawn or silk, worn by English serjeants-at-law as a distinguishing mark of their profession. It became the fashion to wear on the top of the white coif a small skull-cap of black silk or velvet; and on the introduction of wigs at the end of the 17th century a round space was left on the top of the wig for the display of the coif, which was afterwards covered by a small patch of black silk edged with white (see A. Pulling,Order of the Coif, 1897). The random conjecture of Sir H. Spelman (Glossarium archaiologicum) that the coif was originally designed to conceal the ecclesiastical tonsure has unfortunately been quoted by annotators of Blackstone’sCommentariesas well as by Lord Campbell in hisLives of the Chief Justices. It may be classed with the curious conceit, recorded in Brand’sPopular Antiquities, that the coif was derived from the child’s caul, and was worn on the advocate’s head for luck.
COIMBATORE, a city and district of British India, in the Madras presidency. The city is situated on the left bank of the Noyil river, 305 m. from Madras by the Madras railway. In 1901 it had a population of 53,080, showing an increase of 14% in the decade. The city stands 1437 ft. above sea-level, is well laid out and healthy, and is rendered additionally attractive to European residents by its picturesque position on the slopes of the Nilgiri hills. It is an important industrial centre, carrying on cotton weaving and spinning, tanning, distilling, and the manufacture of coffee, sugar, manure and saltpetre. It has two second-grade colleges, a college of agriculture, and a school of forestry.
TheDistrict of Coimbatorehas an area of 7860 sq. m. It may be described as a flat, open country, hemmed in by mountains on the north, west and south, but opening eastwards on to the great plain of the Carnatic; the average height of the plain above sea-level is about 900 ft. The principal mountains are the Anamalai Hills, in the south of the district, rising at places to a height of between 8000 and 9000 ft. In the west the Palghat and Vallagiri Hills form a connecting link between the Anamalai range and the Nilgiris, with the exception of a remarkable gap known as the Palghat Pass. This gap, which completely intersects the Ghats, is about 20 m. wide. In the north is a rangeof primitive trap-hills known as the Cauvery chain, extending eastwards from the Nilgiris, and rising in places to a height of 4000 ft. The principal rivers are the Cauvery, Bhavani, Noyil, and Amravati. Numerous canals are cut from the rivers for the purpose of affording artificial irrigation, which has proved of immense benefit to the country. Well and tank water is also largely used for irrigation purposes. Coimbatore district was acquired by the British in 1799 at the close of the war which ended with the death of Tippoo. In 1901 the population was 2,201,782, showing an increase of 10% in the preceding decade. The principal crops are millet, rice, other food grains, pulse, oilseeds, cotton and tobacco, with a little coffee. Forests cover nearly 1½ million acres, yielding valuable timber (teak, sandalwood, &c.), and affording grazing-ground for cattle. There are several factories for pressing cotton, and for cleaning coffee, oil-cake presses, tanneries and saltpetre refineries. Cereals, cotton, forest products, cattle and hides, and brass and copper vessels are the chief exports from the district. The south-west line of the Madras railway runs through the district, and the South Indian railway (of metre gauge) joins this at Erode.
COIMBRA, the capital of an administrative district formerly included in the province of Beira, Portugal; on the north bank of the river Mondego, 115 m. N.N.E. of Lisbon, on the Lisbon-Oporto railway. Pop. (1900) 18,144. Coimbra is built for the most part on rising ground, and presents from the other side of the river a picturesque and imposing appearance; though in reality its houses have individually but little pretension, and its streets are, almost without exception, narrow and mean. It derives its present importance from being the seat of the only university in the kingdom—an institution which was originally established at Lisbon in 1291, was transferred to Coimbra in 1306, was again removed to Lisbon, and was finally fixed at Coimbra in 1527. There are five faculties—theology, law, medicine, mathematics and philosophy—with more than 1300 students. The library contains about 150,000 volumes, and the museums and laboratories are on an extensive scale. In connexion with the medical faculty there are regular hospitals; the mathematical faculty maintains an observatory from which an excellent view can be obtained of the whole valley of the Mondego; and outside the town there is a botanic garden (especially rich in the flora of Brazil), which also serves as a public promenade. Among the other educational establishments are a military college, a royal college of arts, a scientific and literary institute, and an episcopal seminary.
The city is the seat of a bishop, suffragan to the archbishop of Braga; its new cathedral, founded in 1580, is of little interest; but the old is a fine specimen of 12th-century Romanesque, and retains portions of the mosque which it replaced. The principal churches are Santa Cruz, of the 16th century, and San Salvador, founded in 1169. On the north bank of the Mondego stand the ruins of the once splendid monastery of Santa Clara, established in 1286; and on the south bank is the celebratedQuinta das lagrimas, or Villa of Tears, where Inez de Castro (q.v.) is believed to have been murdered in 1355. The town is supplied with water by means of an aqueduct of 20 arches. The Mondego is only navigable in flood, and the port of Figueira da Foz is 20 m. W. by S., so that the trade of Coimbra is mainly local; but there are important lamprey fisheries and manufactures of pottery, leather and hats.
A Latin inscription of the 4th century identifies Coimbra with the ancient Aeminium; while Condeixa (3623), 8 m. S.S.W., represents the ancient Conimbriga or Conembrica,. In the 9th century, however, when the bishopric of Conimbriga was removed hither, its old title was transferred to the new see, and hence arose the modern name Coimbra. The city was for a long time a Moorish stronghold, but in 1064 it was captured by Ferdinand I. of Castile and the Cid. Until 1260 it was the capital of the country, and no fewer than six kings—Sancho I. and II., Alphonso II. and III., Pedro and Ferdinand—were born within its walls. It was also the birthplace of the poet Francisco Sá de Miranda (1495-1558), and, according to one tradition, of the more famous Luiz de Camoens (1524-1580), who was a student at the university between 1537 and 1542. In 1755 Coimbra suffered considerably from the earthquake. In 1810 it was sacked by the French under Marshal Masséna. In 1834 Dom Miguel made the city his headquarters; and in 1846 it was the scene of a Miguelist insurrection.
The administrative district of Coimbra coincides with the south-western part of Beira; pop. (1900) 332,168; area 1508 sq. m.
COÍN, a town of southern Spain in the province of Málaga; 18 m. W.S.W. of the city of Málaga. Pop. (1900) 12,326. Coín is finely situated on the northern slope of the Sierra de Mijas, overlooking the small river Séco and surrounded by vineyards and plantations of oranges and lemons. There are marble quarries in the neighbourhood, and, despite the lack of a railway, Coín has a thriving agricultural trade. The population increased by more than half between 1880 and 1900.
COIN(older forms of the word arecoyne,quoinandcoign, all derived through the O. Fr.coing, andcuignefrom Lat.cuneus, a wedge), properly the term for a wedge-shaped die used for stamping money, and so transferred to the money so stamped; hence a piece of money. The form “quoin” is used for the external angle of a building (seeQuoins), and “coign,” also a projecting angle, survives in the Shakespearean phrase “a coign of vantage.”
COINAGE OFFENCES. The coinage of money is in all states a prerogative of the sovereign power; consequently any infringement of that prerogative is always severely punished, as being an offence likely to interfere with the well-being of the state.
In the United Kingdom the statute law against offences relating to the coin was codified by an act of 1861. The statute provides that whoever falsely makes or counterfeits any coin resembling or apparently intended to resemble or pass for any current gold or silver coin of the realm (s. 2), or gilds, silvers, washes, cases over or colours with materials capable of producing the appearance of gold or silver a coin or a piece of any metal or mixture of metals, or files or alters it, with intent to make it resemble or pass for any current gold or silver coin (s. 3), or who buys, sells, receives or pays a false gold or silver coin at a lower rate than its denomination imports, or who receives into the United Kingdom any false coin knowing it to be counterfeit (ss. 6, 7), or who, without lawful authority or excuse, knowingly makes or mends, buys or sells, or has in his custody or possession, or conveys out of the Royal Mint any coining moulds, machines or tools, is guilty of felony (ss. 24, 25). The punishment for such offences is either penal servitude for life or for not less than three years, or imprisonment for not more than two years, with or without hard labour. Whoever impairs, diminishes or lightens current gold or silver coin, with intent to pass same, is liable to penal servitude for from three to fourteen years (s. 4), and whoever has in his possession filings or clippings obtained by impairing or lightening current coin is liable to the same punishment, or to penal servitude for from three to seven years. The statute also makes provision against tendering or uttering false gold or silver coin, which is a misdemeanour, punishable by imprisonment with or without hard labour. Provision is also made with respect to falsely making, counterfeiting, tendering or uttering copper coin, exporting false coin, or defacing current coin by stamping names or words on it, and counterfeiting, tendering or uttering coin resembling or meant to pass as that of some foreign state. The act of 1861 applies to offences with respect to colonial coins as well as to those of the United Kingdom.
By the constitution of the United States, Congress has the power of coining money, regulating the value thereof and of foreign coin (Art. i. s. viii.), and the states are prohibited from coining money, or making anything but gold and silver money a tender in payment of debts (Art. i. s. x.). The counterfeiting coin or money, uttering the same, or mutilating or defacing it, is an offence against the United States, and is punishable by fine and imprisonment with hard labour for from two to ten years. It has also been made punishable by state legislation.
COIR(from MalayKāyar, cord,Kāyaru, to be twisted), a rough, strong, fibrous substance obtained from the outer husk of the coco-nut. (SeeCoco-nut Palm.)
COIRE(Ger.ChurorCur, Ital.Coira, Lat.Curia Raetorum, RomonschCuera), the capital of the Swiss canton of the Grisons. It is built, at a height of 1949 ft. above the sea-level, on the right bank of the Plessur torrent, just as it issues from the Schanfigg valley, and about a mile above its junction with the Rhine. It is overshadowed by the Mittenberg (east) and Pizokel (south), hills that guard the entrance to the deep-cut Schanfigg valley. In 1900 it contained 11,532 inhabitants, of whom 9288 were German-speaking, 1466 Romonsch-speaking, and 677 Italian-speaking; while 7561 were Protestants, 3962 Romanists and one a Jew. The modern part of the city is to the west, but the old portion, with all the historical buildings, is to the east. Here is the cathedral church of St Lucius (who is the patron of Coire, and is supposed to be a 2nd-century British king, though really the name has probably arisen from a confusion between Lucius of Cyrene—miswritten “curiensis”—with the Roman general Lucius Munatius Plancus, who conquered Raetia). Built between 1178 and 1282, on the site of an older church, it contains many curious medieval antiquities (especially in the sacristy), as well as a picture by Angelica Kaufmann, and the tomb of the great Grisons political leader (d. 1637) Jenatsch (q.v.). Opposite is the Bishop’s Palace, and not far off is the Episcopal Seminary (built on the ruins of a 6th-century monastic foundation). Not far from these ancient monuments is the new Raetian Museum, which contains a great collection of objects relating to Raetia (including the geological collections of the Benedictine monk of Disentis, Placidus a Spescha (1752-1833), who explored the high snowy regions around the sources of the Rhine). One of the hospitals was founded by the famous Capuchin philanthropist, Father Theodosius Florentini (1808-1865), who was long the Romanist curé of Coire, and whose remains were in 1906 transferred from the cathedral here to Ingenbohl (near Schwyz), his chief foundation. Coire is 74 m. by rail from Zürich, and is the meeting-point of the routes from Italy over many Alpine passes (the Lukmanier, the Splügen, the San Bernardino) as well as from the Engadine (Albula, Julier), so that it is the centre of an active trade (particularly in wine from the Valtelline), though it possesses also a few local factories.
The episcopal see is first mentioned in 452, but probably existed a century earlier. The bishop soon acquired great temporal powers, especially after his dominions were made, in 831, dependent on the Empire alone, of which he became a prince in 1170. In 1392 he became head of the league of God’s House (originally formed against him in 1367), one of the three Raetian leagues, but, in 1526, after the Reformation, lost his temporal powers, having fulfilled his historical mission (seeGrisons). The bishopric still exists, with jurisdiction over the Cantons of the Grisons, Glarus, Zürich, and the three Forest Cantons, as well as the Austrian principality of Liechtenstein. The gild constitution of the city of Chur lasted from 1465 to 1839, while in 1874 theBurgergemeindewas replaced by anEinwohnergemeinde.
Authorities.—A. Eichhorn,Episcopatus Curiensis(St Blasien, 1797); W. von Juvalt,Forschungen über die Feudalzeit im Curischen Raetien, 2 parts (Zürich, 1871); C. Kind,Die Reformation in den Bisthümern Chur und Como(Coire, 1858); Conradin von Moor, Geschichte von Curraetien (2 vols., Coire, 1870-1874); P. C. von Planta,Das alte Raetien(Berlin, 1872);Idem, Die Curraetischen Herrschaften in der Feudalzeit(Bern, 1881);Idem, Verfassungsgeschichte der Stadt Cur im Mittelalter(Coire, 1879);Idem, Geschichte von Graubünden(Bern, 1892).
Authorities.—A. Eichhorn,Episcopatus Curiensis(St Blasien, 1797); W. von Juvalt,Forschungen über die Feudalzeit im Curischen Raetien, 2 parts (Zürich, 1871); C. Kind,Die Reformation in den Bisthümern Chur und Como(Coire, 1858); Conradin von Moor, Geschichte von Curraetien (2 vols., Coire, 1870-1874); P. C. von Planta,Das alte Raetien(Berlin, 1872);Idem, Die Curraetischen Herrschaften in der Feudalzeit(Bern, 1881);Idem, Verfassungsgeschichte der Stadt Cur im Mittelalter(Coire, 1879);Idem, Geschichte von Graubünden(Bern, 1892).
(W. A. B. C.)
COKE, SIR EDWARD(1552-1634), English lawyer, was born at Mileham, in Norfolk, on the 1st of February 1552. From the grammar school of Norwich he passed to Trinity College, Cambridge; and in 1572 he entered Lincoln’s Inn. In 1578 he was called to the bar, and in the next year he was chosen reader at Lyon’s Inn. His extensive and exact legal erudition, and the skill with which he argued the intricate libel case of Lord Cromwell (4 Rep. 13), and the celebrated real property case of Shelley (1 Rep. 94, 104), soon brought him a practice never before equalled, and caused him to be universally recognized as the greatest lawyer of his day. In 1586 he was made recorder of Norwich, and in 1592 recorder of London, solicitor-general, and reader in the Inner Temple. In 1593 he was returned as member of parliament for his native county, and also chosen speaker of the House of Commons. In 1594 he was promoted to the office of attorney-general, despite the claims of Bacon, who was warmly supported by the earl of Essex. As crown lawyer his treatment of the accused was marked by more than the harshness and violence common in his time; and the fame of the victim has caused his behaviour in the trial of Raleigh to be lastingly remembered against him. While the prisoner defended himself with the calmest dignity and self-possession, Coke burst into the bitterest invective, brutally addressing the great courtier as if he had been a servant, in the phrase, long remembered for its insolence and its utter injustice—“Thou hast an English face, but a Spanish heart!”
In 1582 Coke married the daughter of John Paston, a gentleman of Suffolk, receiving with her a fortune of £30,000; but in six months he was left a widower. Shortly after he sought the hand of Lady Elizabeth Hatton, daughter of Thomas, second Lord Burghley, and granddaughter of the great Cecil. Bacon was again his rival, and again unsuccessfully; the wealthy young widow became—not, it is said, to his future comfort—Coke’s second wife.
In 1606 Coke was made chief justice of the common pleas, but in 1613 he was removed to the office of chief justice of the king’s bench, which gave him less opportunity of interfering with the court. The change, though it brought promotion in dignity, caused a diminution of income as well as of power; but Coke received some compensation in being appointed a member of the privy council. The independence of his conduct as a judge, though not unmixed with the baser elements of prejudice and vulgar love of authority, has partly earned forgiveness for the harshness which was so prominent in his sturdy character. Full of an extreme reverence for the common law which he knew so well, he defended it alike against the court of chancery, the ecclesiastical courts, and the royal prerogative. In a narrow spirit, and strongly influenced, no doubt, by his enmity to the chancellor, Thomas Egerton (Lord Brackley), he sought to prevent the interference of the court of chancery with even the unjust decisions of the other courts. In the case of an appeal from a sentence given in the king’s bench, he advised the victorious, but guilty, party to bring an action of praemunire against all those who had been concerned in the appeal, and his authority was stretched to the utmost to obtain the verdict he desired. On the other hand, Coke has the credit of having repeatedly braved the anger of the king. He freely gave his opinion that the royal proclamation cannot make that an offence which was not an offence before. An equally famous but less satisfactory instance occurred during the trial of Edmund Peacham, a divine in whose study a sermon had been found containing libellous accusations against the king and the government. There was nothing to give colour to the charge of high treason with which he was charged, and the sermon had never been preached or published; yet Peacham was put to the torture, and Bacon was ordered to confer with the judges individually concerning the matter. Coke declared such conference to be illegal, and refused to give an opinion, except in writing, and even then he seems to have said nothing decided. But the most remarkable case of all occurred in the next year (1616). A trial was held before Coke in which one of the counsel denied the validity of a grant made by the king to the bishop of Lichfield of a benefice to be heldin commendam. James, through Bacon, who was then attorney-general, commanded the chief justice to delay judgment till he himself should discuss the question with the judges. At Coke’s request Bacon sent a letter containing the same command to each of the judges, and Coke then obtained their signatures to a paper declaring that the attorney-general’s instructions were illegal, and that they were bound to proceed with the case. His Majesty expressed his displeasure, and summoned them before him in the council-chamber, where he insisted on his supreme prerogative, which,he said, ought not to be discussed in ordinary argument. Upon this all the judges fell on their knees, seeking pardon for the form of their letter; but Coke ventured to declare his continued belief in the loyalty of its substance, and when asked if he would in the future delay a case at the king’s order, the only reply he would vouchsafe was that he would do what became him as a judge. Soon after he was dismissed from all his offices on the following charges,—the concealment, as attorney-general, of a bond belonging to the king, a charge which could not be proved, illegal interference with the court of chancery and disrespect to the king in the case of commendams. He was also ordered by the council to revise his book of reports, which was said to contain many extravagant opinions (June 1616).
Coke did not suffer these losses with patience. He offered his daughter Frances, then little more than a child, in marriage to Sir John Villiers, brother of the favourite Buckingham. Her mother, supported at first by her husband’s great rival and her own former suitor, Bacon, objected to the match, and placed her in concealment. But Coke discovered her hiding-place; and she was forced to wed the man whom she declared that of all others she abhorred. The result was the desertion of the husband and the fall of the wife. It is said, however, that after his daughter’s public penance in the Savoy church, Coke had heart enough to receive her back to the home which he had forced her to leave. Almost all that he gained by his heartless diplomacy was a seat in the council and in the star-chamber.
In 1620 a new and more honourable career opened for him. He was elected member of parliament for Liskeard; and henceforth he was one of the most prominent of the constitutional party. It was he who proposed a remonstrance against the growth of popery and the marriage of Prince Charles to the infanta of Spain, and who led the Commons in the decisive step of entering on the journal of the House the famous petition of the 18th of December 1621, insisting on the freedom of parliamentary discussion, and the liberty of speech of every individual member. In consequence, together with Pym and Sir Robert Philips, he was thrown into confinement; and, when in the August of the next year he was released, he was commanded to remain in his house at Stoke Poges during his Majesty’s pleasure. Of the first and second parliaments of Charles I. Coke was again a member. From the second he was excluded by being appointed sheriff of Buckinghamshire. In 1628 he was at once returned for both Buckinghamshire and Suffolk, and he took his seat for the former county. After rendering other valuable support to the popular cause, he took a most important part in drawing up the great Petition of Right. The last act of his public career was to bewail with tears the ruin which he declared the duke of Buckingham was bringing upon the country. At the close of the session he retired into private life; and the six years that remained to him were spent in revising and improving the works upon which, at least as much as upon his public career, his fame now rests. He died at Stoke Poges on the 3rd of September 1634.
Coke publishedInstitutes(1628), of which the first is also known asCoke upon Littleton;Reports(1600-1615), in thirteen parts;A Treatise of Bail and Mainprize(1635);The Complete Copyholder(1630);A Reading on Fines and Recoveries(1684).