roFFF.K Kisu 



COFFIN 



dams were <-on>tnirted of wrought iron Caissons 

 (q.v.) or boxes, in sulwtitution for ordinary timber 

 dam* ; on the suggestion of Sir Joseph Ba/algette, 

 in <iii|. -i to effect a Having by using the same 

 c,ii"niis two or three times siiccr->ivrl\ in different 

 parts of ili.- d.-nii. The caissons were oval, l-'A feet 

 nog, 7 feet wide, joined end to end, and made 

 watertight at tlie joints by felting. In about two- 

 third)} of the length of the embankment, 195 caissons 



wen- employed. 



Coffer-fish ( Ostrucion ), a peculiar genus of 

 liiiny fishes in the small order Plectognathi, and in 

 the family Sclerodermi, which also includes the 

 file-fishes. The body is inclosed in a firm box 

 formed of hexagonal bony scales fitted into one 



Coffer-fish. 



another like a mosaic. The snout, the bases of 

 the tins, and the end of the tail are the only soft- 

 skinned parts. Over a score of species are Known 

 from tropical and subtropical seas. The best- 

 known form is 0. quadricornis from the tropical 

 Atlantic. See GLOBE-FISH, and SUN-FISH. 



Coffin ( Lat. cophinus, Gr. kophinos, in both 

 languages signifying a basket, coffer, or chest, but 

 never a coffin ). Coffins for the bodies of the dead 

 constructed of wood are known to have been used 

 in prehistoric times in Europe. The earliest form 

 of the wooden coffin is simply a suitable length of 

 an oak-tree trunk split, and hollowed out for the 

 reception of the body. Two such coffins contain- 

 ing the skeletons of a man and a woman of the 

 bronze age, with their clothing undecayed, and 

 their weapons, are preserved in the museum at 

 Copenhagen. The wooden coffins of the iron age 

 were sometimes of tree trunks, and at other times 

 of hewn planks fastened with clinker nails. From 

 Bede we learn that the Saxons occasionally em- 

 ployed wood ; but the common people, both then 

 and in the subsequent Norman and English eras, 

 were simply wrapped in cloth, and so put into the 

 ground. The same custom seems to have been 

 followed with monks down to a comparatively 

 recent period, and is still in use among the poorer 

 classes in the East. See EMBALMING. 



It has been keenly disputed amongst scholars, 

 whether it was more usual with the Greeks to bury 

 their dead or to burn them (see BURIAL) ; but both 

 customs unquestionably prevailed. Greek coffins 

 were called by various names (soroi, pueloi, &c. ), 

 and composed of various materials, the most com- 

 mon being baked clay, or earthenware. Their 

 forms also varied. In Rome the ancient practice 

 was to bury the dead, not to burn them ; though 

 under the Empire, and previous to the recogni- 

 tion of Christianity, the latter custom became 

 almost universal. The coffin in Rome was called 

 area or loculus, and was frequently made of 

 stone, sometimes of a peculiar kind of stone 

 brought from Assos, in Troas, which was said to 

 consume all the body except the teeth in forty 

 davs. and which, from* this circumstance, was called 

 >arcophagus an eater of flesh (see SARCOPHAGUS). 

 Unman stone coffins, both of the heathen and 

 early Christian time, have been found in Britain. 

 Cremation was repugnant to the feelings of the 

 primitive Christians, who buried their dead in 

 receptacles of stone. These were either hewn out 



of the rock as in the catacomb*, or were xarcophagi 

 elaborately sculptured with scenes from Scripture 

 history and MBNWM of the faith. The simplest 

 form of stone coffin was that used in prehistoric 



Roman Stone Coffin, found at York. 



times throughout Europe, consisting of unhewn 

 stones set on their edges, so as to cover the sides 

 and ends of the grave, one or more flat stones being 

 then laid over the body to form a lid. This form 

 of rude stone cist or coffin was continued long after 

 the introduction of Christianity in most European 

 countries, and many ancient cemeteries, formerly 

 regarded as pagan and prehistoric, are now recog- 

 nised as Christian by the orientation of their stone- 

 lined graves. To these succeeded stone coffins, 

 which were commonly used for persons of the 

 higher classes throughout the middle ages ; and 

 so late as 1686 the antiquary Dugdale was buried 



Stone Coffin, Temple Church, London. 



in a stone coffin. These stone coffins were gener- 

 ally of a single block, commonly tapering from the 

 upper end. In the hollow for tne reception of the 

 body, there was from the 12th century a part pecu- 

 liarly fitted for the head, and a hole in the bottom 

 to allow of the escape of moisture. Such coffins, 

 for the most part, were not buried deeply in the 

 earth, and were frequently placed so near the sur- 

 face that the lids were Visible, which, within a 

 church, often formed part of the pavement, and 

 were covered with elaborate sculpture representing 

 crosses and other ornaments. Sometimes they 

 were even above the ground altogether, and thus 

 became the originals of the table-tombs and altar- 

 tombs of the middle ages. Leaden coffins were 

 also occasionally used in the middle ages, as tho>e 

 in the Temple 'Church in London testify, but the 

 slight wooden cases now in common use appear 

 to oe of comparatively recent origin. The practice 

 of surrounding the wooden shell with a coffin of 

 lead, and inclosing both in an oak casket, is, for 

 sanitary reasons, to be discouraged. Even a 

 wooden coffin, if well made, greatly retards decom- 

 position, and keeps the process long incomplete ; 

 and to remedy this the use of wicker coffins, of 

 white or stained osiers, has been suggested. In 

 America, however, zinc or copper lining and lids 

 of heavy French glass are employed i>y under- 

 takers to render their work as far as may be air- 

 tight and indestructible ; and of late years caskets 

 of zinc or copper, and even of iron or rolled 

 steel, have come into use. The modern hexagonal 

 form of coffin is peculiar to Great Britain. The 

 sides of the American casket are parallel, the ends 

 either rounded or broken into three panels ; the 

 exterior is sometimes ornamented with carved work, 



