31G 



COB-NUT 



COCA 



Treves. In 1798 it was made the capital of the 

 new French department, Rhine and Moselle, and 

 by the treaty of 1815 was given to Prussia. 



Cob-nut, a name given to some of .the largest 

 and finest cultivated varieties of the Hazel-nut 

 (q.v. ). In the West Indies the name cob-nut is 

 given to the fruit of Omphalea triandra, a tree of 

 the natural order Euphorbiaceae. It is also called 

 Hog-nut. The tree has a white juice, which turns 

 black in drying, and in Guiana is used instead of 

 ink. The albumen of the seed is eaten, after the 

 embryo, which contains a cathartic principle, is 

 removed. 



Cobourg, a port of entry and capital of North- 

 umberland county, Ontario, on Lake Ontario, 69 

 miles NE. of Toronto. It is a railway junction, and 

 contains a Wesleyan university, and several woollen- 

 mills, foundries, and breweries. Pop. (1891)4829. 



Cobra da CapellO ('hooded snake'), the 

 Portuguese name for one of the most deadly of the 

 poisonous Indian snakes, technically known as Naja 

 tripudians. It belongs to the sub-order of venomous 

 Colubrine snakes (Proteroglyphia), in which the 

 fangs borne on the upper jaw are not perforated by 

 a complete canal, but possess simply an anterior 

 groove down which the poison trickles. The cobra 

 is a large snake, 5 feet or more in length ; the 

 colour varies considerably 

 from pale yellow to dark 

 olive ; one variety has spec- 

 tacle-like black markings 

 on its neck. By the dila- 

 tation of the anterior ribs 

 during excitement the neck 

 can be distended so as to 

 produce a hood-like appear- 

 ance. It is by preference 

 nocturnal, and feeds on 

 amphibians, reptiles, birds, 

 eggs, small mammals, &c. 

 It does not appear to be 

 naturally aggressive, but 

 instinctively assumes a 

 threatening attitude when 

 disturbed. It then dilates 

 its neck, hisses loudly, and 

 prepares to strike by rais- 

 ing its fangs in the usual 

 snake fashion. The habits 

 vary greatly in different 



situations. It may haunt human dwellings for the 

 sake of poultry and other food, and is said to occur 

 8000 feet up the Himalayas. Though essentially 

 land animals and fond of concealing themselves 

 among old masonry, stone heaps and the like, the 

 cobras can swim and climb with ease. In graceful- 

 ness of movement they excel. The head and neck 

 are often raised above the level of the rest of 

 the body, which remains horizontal. In spite of 

 pictures to the contrary, they can only raise the 

 front part of the body to a very limited extent. 



The bite of the cobra is as usual accompanied by 

 the compression of one of the salivary glands modi- 

 lied as a poison bag. The secretion trickles down 

 the grooves of the fangs, and entering the wound 

 produces rapid nervous paralysis, from which re- 

 covery is, to say the least, extremely rare. Great 

 numbers of deaths occur annually in India from 

 cobra bitesj but as the assailant often escapes, 

 identification is frequently a matter of conjecture. 

 The victims are usually natives, despite the rattles 

 they use to warn off the reptiles. No certain remedy 

 is known, but excision, cauterisation, ligaturing, 

 doses of ammonia, drugging with rum, &c. are 

 often resorted to. The cobra is the object of animal- 

 worship, and the centre of numerous native super- 

 stitions, and is a favourite with snake-charmers. 



Head of Cobra. 



Naja tripudians is found in India, Java, and 

 South China ; N. haje, an allied species, is common 

 in Egypt and parts of Africa. The coral snake 

 ( Elaps ), the rock-snake ( Bungarus ), the venomous 

 water-snake (Hydrophis), are genera within the 

 same sub-order. 



See SNAKES, and works there quoted ; also Professor G. 

 Giinther's Reptiles of British India ( Ray Society, 1861 ), 

 and Sir Joseph Fayrer's Thanatophidia of India (1874). 



Cobre, a city of Cuba, 9 miles NW. by N. of 

 Santiago de Cuba. In the vicinityare copper-mines. 

 Pop. (1899) 1028. 



Coburg, the capital of the duchy of Coburg, 

 in the united duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, is 



Ficturesquely situated on the left bank of the 

 bz, 81 miles SSE. of Eisenach by rail. The older 

 part of the town, which is fairly well built, is 

 surrounded by attractive modern suburbs. Coburg 

 is, alternately with Gotha, the ducal residence, 

 and the palace, erected in 1549, is one of the prin- 

 cipal buildings in the town. Among the other* 

 are the government buildings, the arsenal, contain- 

 ing a public library, the town-house, and the palace 

 of the Duke of Edinburgh. The old castle of 

 Coburg, mentioned in 1057, beside which Coburg 

 originally grew up, is situated on an eminence 

 530 feet above the town. It afforded Luther a 

 shelter during the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, and 

 in 1632 successfully resisted a siege by Wallenstein. 

 In 1782 it was converted into a prison, but in 1838 

 it was thoroughly restored, and now contains 

 valuable collections of engravings, zoology, &c. 

 Luther's apartments are preserved as he used 

 them. Conurg has manufactures of woollen, 

 cotton, marquetry, baskets, porcelain, furniture, 

 and carriages, and exports Deer. Pop. (1875) 

 14,567; (1895) 18,688. Prince Albert, to whom a 

 statue was erected in the market-place of Coburg 

 by Queen Victoria in 1865, was born at Rosenau, a 

 ducal seat 4 miles to the north. 



Coburg Peninsula, the most northerly part 

 of Australia to the west of the Gulf of Carpentaria, 

 runs out in a north-west direction towards Melville 

 Island, from which it is divided by Dundas Strait. 

 On its north side is the bay known as Port Essing- 

 ton, at the head of which was established, in 1831, 

 the settlement of Port Victoria abandoned, on 

 account of its insalubrity, in 1850. Swamp buffa- 

 loes, originally brought from Java, have increased 

 here enormously. 



Cobweb. See SPIDERS. 



Co'ca (Erythroxylon Coca which has of course 

 no connection with Cocoa or with Cocoa-nuts), a 

 shrub of the order Erythroxylacese, of which the 

 leaves furnish an important narcotic and stimulant. 

 The shrub is 6 or 8 feet high, and somewhat re- 

 sembles a blackthorn bush ; the leaves are ovate- 

 lanceolate, simple, and with entire and slightly 

 waved margins, and strongly marked veins, of 

 which two on each side of the midrib run parallel 

 to the margin. It has been in use from a very 

 remote period among the Indians of South America, 

 and was extensively cultivated before the Spanish 

 conquest. Many of the Indians of the Peruvian 

 Andes are to this day excessively addicted to it, 

 and its use is quite general among them, besides 

 extending to men of European race. The dried 

 leaves are chewed with a little finely powdered 

 unslaked lime, or with the alkaline ashes of 

 the Quinoa (q.v. ), or certain other plants. An 

 infusion is also occasionally used. An habitual 

 coca-chewer takes a dose about four times daily. 

 In soothing effect it recalls tobacco, but its influ- 

 ence is a much more remarkable one. It greatly 

 lessens the desire for ordinary food, and at the 

 same time permits of much more sustained exer- 



