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mirable essays and experiments of Count 

 Rumford, who found very unusual effects 

 produced on meat by a low degree and 

 long-continued action of heat, both in the 

 dry and humid way. 



The application of a dry heat in the 

 cookery of meat is of two kinds, as it is 

 carried on in close vessels, or as it is ex- 

 posed to the air. The first of these which 

 we shall consider is baking. In this prac- 

 tice meat has generallya covering of paste, 

 by which any considerable exhalation is 

 prevented, and the retention of the juices 

 renders the meet more tender. In all cases 

 when the heat applied loosens, and in 

 some measure extricates, the air, without 

 exhaling it, the substance submitted to this 

 process is rendered more tender than 

 when an exhalation is allowed. Iij broiling, 

 an exhalation takes place ; but as the heat 

 of a naked fire is more nearly applied, the 

 outer surface is in some measure harden- 

 ed before the heat penetrates the whole, 

 and thereby a great exhalation is prevent- 

 ed, while the whole is rendered sufficient- 

 ly tender; but this kind of cookery is 

 suited to meats that are chosen to be eat- 

 en a little raw. Nearly a-kin to this is the 

 practice of frying, in which the meat being 

 cut into thin slices, and laid in a pan over 

 the naked fire, the heat is applied more 

 equally to the whole substance. Butgs^the 

 part of the meat lying next to the bojtom 

 of the vessel would be suddenly harden- 

 ed by the heat, it is always necessary to 

 interpose some fluid matter, usually pf an 

 oily quality, as butter. A strong heat ap- 

 plied to the latter renders it empyreuma- 

 tic, or at least less miscible with the fluids 

 of the stomach : so that all fried meats are 

 less easily digested than those of any other 

 preparation. Sometimes, indeed the same 

 thing happens to baked meats, to which 

 an oily matter, and that only, is added, to 

 avoid the too drying heat of the oven. It 

 is obvious that the preparations of stewing 

 and frying may be frequently joined to- 

 gether ; and according to there being 

 more or less of the one or other, the ef- 

 fects may be imagined. 



COOLER, among brewers, distillers, 

 &c. a large vessel, wherein certain liquors 

 are cooled after having been boiled. 



COOMB, or COMB of corn, a dry mea- 

 sure, containing four bushels, or half a 

 quarter. 



COOPER, in the trades, an artificer 

 who rmkes casks, tubs, barrels, and all 

 kinds of wooden vessels which are bound 

 together with hoops. This is unquestion- 

 ably a very ancient trade, and is referred 

 to 2000 years ago by the writers on rural 



economy in Rome. Their descriptions 

 correspond in a good measure with the 

 construction of casks in our day. It is not 

 known when the business of a cooper 

 was first introduced into this country, but 

 it has been supposed it was deiived from 

 the French. Wood used for the purpose 

 of cask-making should be old and thick ; 

 straight trees are the best; from these are 

 hewn thin planks, which are formed into 

 staves. In France, we !re told, the wood 

 is prepared in winter ; the staves and bot- 

 toms are then formed, and they are put 

 together in summer. Planing the staves 

 is one of the most difficult parts of the 

 work, and it is at the same time one of the 

 most important in the fabrication of casks. 

 In the formation of the staves, it must be 

 recollected that each is to constitute part 

 of a double conoid. Each stave must there- 

 fore be broader at the middle, and gradu- 

 ally become narrower, but not in straight 

 lines towards the extremities. The out- 

 side of the staves, across the wood, must 

 be wrought into the segment of a circle ; 

 and it must be thickest near the middle, 

 growing gradually thinner towards the 

 ends. After the staves are dressed and 

 ready to be arranged, the cooper, without 

 attempting any great nicety in sloping 

 them, so that the whole surface of the 

 edge may touch in every point, brings the 

 contiguous staves into contact only at the 

 inner surface ; and in this way, by driving 

 the hoops hard, he can make a closer 

 joint than could be done by sloping them 

 from the outer to the inner side. 



COOPER, on board a ship, he that looks 

 to the casks and all other vessels for 

 beer, water, or any other liquor. He 

 has a mate under him. 



COPAIFERA, in botany, a genus of 

 the Decandria Monogynia class and or- 

 der. Natural order of Leguminosae, Jus- 

 sieu. Essential character ; calyx none; 

 petals five ; legume ovate ; seed one, 

 with a berried aril. There is but one 

 species, viz. C. officinalis, balsam of ca- 

 pevi tree. This is a lofty elegant tree, 

 with a handsome head ; the extreme 

 branches at the axils are flexuose, with 

 a brownish ash-coloured bark; leaves 

 alternate, round, four inches long; ra- 

 cemes axillary, solitary, loosely divided 

 into eight alternate, lateral common pe- 

 duncles, an inch and half in length, with 

 white flowers sitting closely on them. 

 Native of South V merica : from this tree 

 is obtained in very considerable quanti- 

 ties, by perforating the trunk, fluid bal- 

 sam or resin, which thickens by degrees; 



