COIMM; 



(OKI-; 



880 



Coining* The privilege of coining money 

 being an exclusive prerogative of the crown, the 

 crime of counterfeiting the king's money, as it 

 was called, was declared to 1*3 treason, botB by the 

 common law of England and by many statutes. 

 In Scuiland, then* continued to l>e some differences 

 in regard to this crime, even after the Union had 

 extended the treason laws of England to that 

 kingdom, and prosecutions were in use to lie laid 

 unmon law. That practice is now abandoned, 

 and the laws of the two countries were assimilated 

 by a series of statutes, which are codified in the 

 Act of 18U1 passed to consolidate the law relating 

 to offences against the coin. All such offences are 

 now prosecuted under this statute. By this act it 

 is a nigh crime and offence, punishable by penal 

 servitude for life, to counterfeit gold or silver coin ; 

 or to colour coin or metal with intent to make it 

 pass for genuine gold or silver coin ; or to buy, 

 sell, or import counterfeit gold or silver coin ; or 

 unlawfully to make, mend, buy, sell, or possess 

 instruments used in fabricating gold or silver coin ; 

 or to convey such instruments out of the mint. To 

 impair or diminish or lighten gold or silver coin (as 

 by clipping or sweating) is punishable with fourteen 

 years. It is an offence punishable with penal servi- 

 tude for seven years to unlawfully possess gold or 

 silver taken from any coin ; or to counterfeit copper 

 coin; or unlawfully to make, mend, buy, sell, or 

 possess instruments for counterfeiting copper coin ; 

 or to deal in base British copper coin ; or to utter 

 or import base foreign gold or silver coin. Several 

 offences of a less heinous nature are dealt with 

 in the act. In order to bring these offences within 

 the limits of the statute, it is not necessary that 

 the resemblance of the false to the true coin shall 

 be very perfect ; but if it be not such as to deceive 

 a person of ordinary observation, the attempt to 

 bring it into circulation is fraud, and not uttering. 

 For false bank-notes, see FORGERY. 



In the United States, the crime of counterfeiting 

 coin or money is punishable with fine and imprison- 

 ment at hard labour for a term of from two to ten 

 years ; and includes falsely making, forging, or 

 counterfeiting coins or notes, postal money orders, 

 postal cards, government stamps of all kinds, and 

 government securities, as also importing, possess- 

 ing, uttering, or passing false coins or notes with 

 fraudulent intent. Mutilating and debasing the 

 coin is also counterfeiting, but is not so severely 

 punished as the making or counterfeit coins. 



For coinage and coins, see MINT, NUMISMATICS, 

 MONEY, BULLION, CURRENCY. 



Coir, or COCOA-NUT FIBRE, is the fibre of the 

 husk of the cocoa-nut. The husks are steeped in 

 water, in pits, for six months, or even for a year, 

 and then oeaten with a stick till the fibre readily 

 separates. The material is largely used on account 

 of its strength and wear-resisting qualities for floor- 

 matting in positions where there is much traffic, 

 and for making hall and door mats. It is also in 

 demand for coarse brushes, for ships' fenders, and, 

 to some extent, for ropes and cables. In the South 

 Sea Islands, ropes of coir fibre, made by the natives, 

 are extensively used. Coir rope, on account of its 

 lightness, possesses some advantages for maritime 

 purposes. The Chamaerops (q.v.) is sometimes 

 called the coir-palm. 



Coire (Ital. Coira ; local Romansch, Quera ; 

 ancient Curia Rhastorum ; Ger. Chur), a town of 

 Switzerland, capital of the Orisons, in the valley 

 of the Upper Rhine, lies in a fertile plain 1940 

 feet above the sea, and surrounded bv high moun- 

 tains. It is 80 miles SE. of Zurich" bv rail, and 

 stands on the Plessur, a mile and a half from its 

 junction with the Rhine. It is of importance as 

 standing on the great road to Italy by the Spliigen 



Pass, and thus poHseHHing a considerable transit 

 trade. The bishop's palace, and the quarter 

 around it, inhabited by 2400 Catholics, occupy 

 the summit of an eminence, and are separated 

 from the rest by walls and battlement*, clotted by 

 double gates. Here stands the old cathedral of 

 Si Lucius a Romanesque edifice dating from the 

 8th century. It contains singular old carving, 

 paintings by Cranach, Holbein, and Diirer, and 

 also, it is said, the bones of St Lucius, a legend- 

 ary British king. The town-hall, the Rhu-tuin 

 museum, and two Protestant churches are in 

 the lower town. Romansch is still spoken in the 

 vicinity. Coire is a great tourist centre ; and wine, 

 fruit, and corn are produced by the country round 

 Population, 9500. 



t See Jon's TEARS. 



Cojuteneque, a town of the republic of Sal 

 vador, Central America, 15 miles E. of the city of 

 San Salvador. Pop. 4154. 



Coke is a form of fuel obtained by the heating of 

 coal in confined spaces whereby it* more volatile 

 constituents are driven off. Caking coal is the 

 most suitable for the manufacture of coke, which, 

 in its principal qualities, is approached by the hard 

 anthracitic coals. The process of coking is con- 

 ducted (1) in heaps or mounds, or (2) in ovens; 

 but coke is also produced in gas retorts, where, 

 however, it is merely a secondary product. Cok- 

 ing in mounds a method now little practised is 

 done in a way similar to that employed for prepar- 

 ing charcoal from wood. The coal is built up into 

 round stacks, around a wide open chimney or 

 column, the larger masses being placed in the 

 centre, and small broken coal outside, the whole 

 being covered with wet coke-dust, except at certain 

 air-holes. The mound of coal is ignited from 

 above, and burns gradually downwards and out- 

 wards, giving off at first much smoke and vapour, 

 which consist mainly of tar-water and coal-gas. 

 When the fire ceases to be smoky, the process of 

 coking is concluded, all openings are covered over 

 to exclude air and extinguish combustion, and 

 cooling of the mound is aided by drenching it witli 

 water. The principle of making coke in coke- 

 ovens is the same, but the process is much quicker 

 and more economical, ana the resulting coke is 

 better in quality than that made in mounds. 

 Formerly the heat and volatile gases given off in 

 coking were allowed freely to escape, but in modern 

 coke-ovens arrangements are made for utilising the 

 combustion in one retort to force the heat or an- 

 other, by passing the hot gases in flues around 

 contiguous ovens. The whole of the gases pass 

 from these flues into a common flue, by which they 

 are carried away to heat steam-boilers. In a 

 similar way the coal-gas is, from certain kinds of 

 ovens, collected and burned, and the tar-water 

 evolved is condensed and used as a source of 

 ammonia and gas-tar products. 



Coke is a hard, brittle, porous solid, with a steel- 

 gray, somewhat metallic lustre, and it does not soil 

 the fingers when being handled. It is principally 

 valued for the intense heat which it gives off in 

 combustion, for its freedom from smoke in burning, 

 and because it does not become pasty and adhesive 

 in the fire. The process of coking also drives off a 

 good deal of the sulphur which may be present in 

 coal, and all these properties render coke a most 

 valuable fuel for many metallurgical operations, 

 and for use where intense smokeless combustion is a 

 desideratum. The higher the temperature to which 

 coal in coking is submitted, the harder and more 

 valuable is the resulting coke, and the heat it gives 

 off is relatively more intense. In chemical constitu- 

 tion coke consists of a modified form of graphite 

 contaminated with earthy impurities from the ash 



