CORTD ALINE. 



COSTS. 



246 



stellation. There are 

 ancient, in Hyginua. 



mythological stories, apparently not very 



(".uir.-.ctiT. 



No. in Catalogue 



of Flamsteed. 



1 



2 



4 

 7 

 9 



No. in Catalogue 



of British 

 Association. 

 4090 

 4097 

 4124 

 4211 

 4234 



Magnitude. 

 4 

 4 

 8 

 3 

 3 



CORYD ALIKE (C M H S7 N0 18 ?). An alkaloid contained in the root of 

 the Corydalis bulbosa, as also in snake-root (Aristolockia serpentaria). 

 It is a gray, light, non-coherent substance, soluble in alcohol and 

 ether, but insoluble in water. 



COSECANT, COSINE, &c. [TRIGONOMETRY.] 

 COSMO'GONY, in the proper sense of the term, is the science of the 

 creation of the world. As the creation of the world was not observed 

 by man, and as it is not possible for man to observe the creation of a 

 world, BO cosmogony cannot be a science founded on direct experience, 

 but must necessarily be a philosophical science. But though cosmogony 

 belongs to the department of philosophy, yet, as it requires an accu- 

 mulation of facts and observations to rest on, it must still be classed 

 under the division of practical philosophy. The ancients not possessing 

 these facts and observations, cosmogony has only become a science in 

 modern times. The German philosopher Kant has denied the capacity 

 of the human mind to entertain this science. 



The doctrine of the creation of the world may be considered in three 

 ways ; the inquirer either confines himself to the creation of our earth, 

 and reduces cosmogony to geognosy, geoguny, speculative geology, and 

 oryctognosy (which latter is a science of itself), or he may merely 

 investigate the creation of celestial bodies, or he may extend his re- 

 searches to the origin of creative power, and the creation of the elements 

 of matter. 



The first of these modes of investigation is pure cosmogony ; the 

 lecond is a union of cosmogony with dynamogony, physiogony, and 

 speculative chemistry and physics. The ancients speculated or dog- 

 matised in both these divisions of the science, with no very satisfactory 

 results. The chief modern cosmogonists may be divided into two 

 classes ; first the dogmatists, as Buffon, in his ' Histoire Naturelle ; ' 

 Wolff, in his ' Ccwmologia ; ' Maupertuis, in the ' Easai de Cosmologic ; 

 Lambert, in the ' Kosmologische Briefe ; ' Dalberg, in the ' Betrach- 

 tungen iiber Universum ; ' Berger, ill his ' Philosophische Darstellung 

 des Weltalls,' Des Cartes, ' Opera Omnia,' lately edited by Victor Cousin 

 and Hollbach, in the ' Systeme de la Nature.' Secondly, the critica 

 cosmogonists, who conduct their inquiries according to the principles 

 of Kant, as developed in his ' Allgemeine Naturgeschichte, und Theori 

 dea Himmels ; ' and in detached part* of the philosophical system* o: 

 Scheming, Hegel, Herbart, and in the ' Naturphilosophie ' of Oken 

 which contains a complete system of cosmogony, dynamogony, anc 

 physiogony ; and in a work of John Jluller, entitled ' Ueber dii 

 EnUtehung der Welt aus Nichts.' 



COSMOGRAPHY (Kotriuiyfa^ia), the description of tb system o 

 the world, from the two Greek words ypiitpa, to write, and x&r 

 which signifies the world, or the universe, considered as a system o 

 order. Cosmography, strictly limited, has nothing to do either with 

 the origin and creation of things, which is the subject of cosmogony 

 or with the metaphysical philosophy of the constitution of thing! 

 which in cosmology. It is merely the description of the system of the 

 material world, as it is, or as it appears to our senses. Nor does i 

 comprehend any examination of the separate parts of the system 

 except in so far as each is connected with the whole, any more than 

 the description of a machine comprehends any account of the wood o 

 iron or other material of which it may be fabricated. Yet this dis 

 tinction has been sometimes neglected. There is a work, for instance 

 by Paul Merula, under the title of ' Cosmographia Generalis,' fo 

 Amst. 1621, which is in the greater part merely a description of th 

 different countries of the earth, or in other words a treatise on geo 

 graphy. In like manner, the English work of Dr. Heylin, first pub 

 lushed in 1622, under the title of ' Hicrocosmos,' and afterwards unde 

 that of his ' Cosmography ,' is merely a compilation of geography an 

 history. The word cosmography may perhaps legitimately admit o 

 some variety of acceptation, in regard to the extent of what is to b 

 considered the system of the world or of the universe. Of the universe 

 absolutely we can of course predicate nothing ; but as anything ma 

 be called the whole which can be regarded as complete in itself, so th 

 word universe is applied sometimes to this globe alone, which in on 

 sense is the universe to us, and sometimes to that solar system o 

 which our globe is one of the parts. But the term cosmography migh 

 alto, without impropriety, be used as meaning a view or description o 

 any separate portion of the entire universe still more extensive tha 

 the solar system. The ' Cosmos ' of Baron Alex. Humboldt is one o 

 the most satisfactory examples of the proper mode of treating o 

 cosmography, in its most comprehensive sense. 



COSTS, in the technical sense of the word, are the expenses incurre 

 by parties in proceedings at law or in equity. In civil actions particuh 

 importance and interest attach to the principles and practice concern- 

 ing them, since though in themselves merely incidental and subordinate 



the main cause of action, it not unfrequently happens that they 

 ecome a prominent object of anxiety and contention. Under the head 

 riril actions may be considered the steps by which the mutual 

 ghts and liabilities to them were originally created, and have been 

 ubsequently qualified; the medications to which those rights and 

 abilities are subjected by reason of the particular character in which 

 le parties may sue or be sued ; and the practice by which the amount 

 f costs is ascertained and controlled. 



At common law neither the plaintiff nor the defendant W;M entitled 

 o recover costs the one from the other, as a matter of right ; the only 

 ability which attached to the unsuccessful party, beyond the direct 

 esult of the suit, being an amercement imposed upon him for his 

 alse complaint or defence. If, however, the plaintiff succeeded, the 

 ury were at liberty, and were usually directed, to take his costs into 

 onsideration in estimating the amount of damages. And before there 

 was any legislative enactment upon the subject, it is said that the 

 ustices in eyre, and afterwards those of assize and nisi prius, were in 

 tie habit of assessing the plaintiff his costs, exclusively and apart from 

 be damages. 



The first statutory provision with respect to costs was that of the 

 ttatute of Marlbridge (52 Hen. III. c. 6), which gave them to the 

 defendant in one particular case (wardship in chivalry), which became 

 xtinct in the reign of Charles II. Then came the Statute of Glou- 

 jester (6 Edw. I. c. 1), by which a successful plaintiff recovered the 

 ,osts of his suit in all cases where he was previously entitled to 

 eoover damages. The right to costs under this statute, which were 

 styled costs of increase, was entirely independent of the amount of 

 damages recovered. The consequence of this being found mischievous, 

 >ower was given to the judges by the stat. of 43 Eliz. c. 6, s. 2, in all 

 >ereonal actions, except such as concerned the title or freehold of land, 

 and those of battery, where the debt or damages did not amount to 

 40., to grant a certificate of that fact, and to award to the plaintiff 

 no greater or more costs than the sum of the debt or damages re- 

 covered should amount to, bxit less at their pleasure. Owing to the 

 indisposition of the judges to grant certificates under this statute, it 

 was for some time wholly inoperative, and it was therefore enacted by 

 the statute of 22 & 23 Car. II. c. 9, s. 136, that in all actions of tres- 

 pass, assault, and battery, and other personal actions, where the jury 

 ihould find damages under 40.,the plaintiff should recover no greater 

 costs than damages, unless the judge should certify that an assault and 

 battery were sufficiently proved, or that the freehold or title of land 

 was chiefly in question. It has been observed of this statute, with 

 great show of reason, that the legislature intended by it to preclude 

 the plaintiff absolutely from recovering full costs, where the damages 

 were below 40., in all personal actions but those specially named, and 

 even in them, unless the judge gare them by a certificate under the Act, 

 It received, however, a different construction from the courts, by 

 which it was held to apply to those actions only in which it was 

 possible to grant the prescribed certificate, all others being left to the 

 provisions of the previous statute. Wherever therefore it appeared, 

 either from the form of the action, or from the pleadings, or the 

 nature of the case, that no question of a battery, or of freehold or title 

 of land, could possibly be involved in the dispute, so as to give the 

 judge the option of certifying, it was held that the plaintiff would be 

 entitled to full costs, notwithstanding the statute. 



By the statute of 8 ft 9 Will. III. c. 11, full costs were given to the 

 plaintiff in actions of trespass, where the judge should certify that the 

 trespasses were wilful and malicious. 



In the particular case of actions for oral slander of the person, where 

 the words are actionable in themselves, either from their own intrinsic 

 meaning, or from having been spoken of a party in reference to his 

 profession or trade, the plaintiff's right to more costs than damages, 

 where the latter fall short of 40*., is absolutely barred by the statute 

 of 21 Jac. I. c. 16. 



Hitherto those statutes only have been considered which relate to a 

 plaintiff 't right to costs. The first Act which recognised the interest of 

 defendants in personal actions was one passed in the twenty-third year 

 of Henry VIII., which, jointly with another Act of the reign of James 

 I., gives costs to the defendant where the plaintiff is nonsuited or has a 

 verdict passed against him, in all cases in which the plaintiff would 

 have been entitled to them if he succeeded. By a subsequent enact- 

 ment of the reign of Elizabeth, costs are given to the defendant 

 where the plaintiff is guilty of delay or discontinuance in his suit. Tho 

 defendant's right to costs was farther extended by the 3*4 Will. IV. 

 c. 42, which gives him costs in cases where the plaintiff enters a nolle 

 profequi, or remits hia suit. The same Act gives reasonable costs to one 

 or more of several defendants sued together, who shall have a nolle 

 profeqtd entered as to him or them, or upon trial of the action shall 

 have a verdict pass for him or them, unless the judge shall certify that 

 there was reasonable cause for joining him or them in the action. 



In the late very important changes which have been made with 

 regard to the mode of pleading in civil actions, the courts have taken 

 great pains to provide a more equitable apportionment of costs between 

 the parties than was formerly observed. It is enacted (C. L. P. Act, 

 1852, s. 81) that the costs of any issue, either of fact or law shall 

 follow the finding or judgment upon such issue, whatever may be the 

 result of other issues. 



To render the costs of legal proceedings in some degree at least com- 



