CON 



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COP 



CONVE'XEDLT. In a convex form. 



CONVE'XITY. (convexite, Fr. convessita, 

 It.) Protuberance in a circular or spheri- 

 cal form. 



CO'NVEXLY. In a convex form. 



CO'NVEXNESS. Convexity. 



CONVE'XO-CONCAVE. Convex on one side, 

 and concave on the other, but having the 

 convexity on the inside. 



CO'NVEXO-CO'NVEX. Convex, or protu- 

 berant, on both sides. 



CO'N VOLUTE. > (convolutus, from con- 



CO'NVOLUTED. $ ro/#o,Lat. ) Rolled up; 

 twisted spirally ; rolled upon itself. 



CONVOLUTION. (convolutio, Lat.) The 

 state of being rolled upon itself ; the act 

 of twisting anything spirally, or of rolling 

 it upon itself. 



CONVO'LVE. (convolve, Lat.) To roll up ; 

 to roll together ; to roll upon itself. 



CONULA'RIA. A genus of orthocerata, of a 

 conical shape, and polythalamous, the 

 transverse septa being imperforate. The 

 conularia has no siphon, and in this 

 character differs from orthoceras. 



CO'NULUS. A genus of echinites ; in it are 

 contained those which rise from a cir- 

 cular base into a cone, (from which form 

 they obtain their name,) with an acute 

 or obtuse vertex, from which five pairs of 

 punctated or crenulated lines, or am- 

 bulacra, pass ; dividing the shell into five 

 large and five small arese, that in which 

 the anus is placed being rather the 

 largest. All the species which constitute 

 the genus are known only as fossils, and 

 are distinguished by the modification of 

 their form. 



CO'NUS. (icutvog, Gr. conus, Lat.) Ani- 

 mal, a Limax ; shell univalve, convolute, 

 turbinate ; aperture effuse, longitudinal, 

 linear, without teeth, entire at the base ; 

 pillar smooth. This genus is divided by 

 some into five families. The recent conus 

 is an inhabitant of the ocean, and is ge- 

 nerally found on rocky shores. Some of 

 the shells are very beautiful, and are both 

 rare and valuable ; one species, the cedo 

 nulli, is valued at one hundred guineas. 

 The conus does not inhabit our seas. 



*<*- 



CO'PPER. (cuprum, Lat. kupfer, Germ. 

 koper, Dutch. The word is derived 

 from the island of Cyprus, where it was 

 first wrought.) When pure, copper is of 

 a red colour ; its specific gravity is from 

 8'6 to 8'9, or nearly nine times as heavy 

 as water. Copper is found in primary 

 and secondary rocks, and is often native, 

 i. e. in a pure metallic state ; it is also 

 found crystallized. In smell and taste 

 copper is excessively nauseous. It is 

 very malleable, next so in degree after 

 gold and silver, and can be hammered 



out into extremely thin leaves, so thin as 

 to be blown about by the slightest breeze. 

 In ductility it ranks after gold, silver, 

 platinum, and iron ; while in tenacity it 

 yields only to iron. A copper wire one- 

 tenth of an inch in diameter will sustain a 

 weight of 385 Ibs. Copper is the most 

 sonorous of all metals : its fusing point 

 is 1450 Fah., and it can be volatilized by 

 an increased temperature ; when allowed 

 to cool slowly, it assumes a crystalline 

 form. At common temperatures, copper 

 is not acted on by water, but, if long ex- 

 posed to the action of the atmosphere 

 and moisture, it oxidizes ; as it does in 

 the air alone, if heated to redness. It 

 combines with oxygen in two proportions. 

 Copper admits of a greater degree of 

 condensation by hammering than any 

 other metal. Copper has been known 

 from the earliest ages. As stated before, 

 it occurs frequently in the native state, 

 either in masses, grains, or crystallized 

 in cubes and octohedrons. The most 

 abundant, and most generally diffused 

 ore, and that from which the metal is 

 chiefly obtained, is the sulphuret of cop- 

 per, termed copper pyrites, composed of 

 copper, sulphur, and a small portion of 

 iron. Copper has never been combined 

 with carbon, hydrogen, or azote ; but it 

 combines readily with sulphur and phos- 

 phorus, forming with them compounds 

 called sulphuret and phosphuret of cop- 

 per. Copper, having the property of in- 

 creasing the hardness of gold without in- 

 juring its colour, is used in the making 

 of gold coin ; that of Great Britain is an 

 alloy of 11 parts of gold and 1 of 

 copper. 



CO'PPERAS. (copparosa, It. couperose, 

 Fr. kupferwasser, Germ.) Sulphate of 

 iron ; green vitriol. Sulphate of iron 

 has a fine green colour ; its crystals are 

 transparent rhomboidal prisms, the faces 

 of which are rhombs with angles of 

 79 50' and 100 10' inclined to each 

 other at angles of 98 37' and 81 23'. 

 It has a strong styptic taste, and reddens 

 vegetable blues. It is prepared by moist- 

 ening the sulphurets of iron, which are 

 found native in abundance, and exposing 

 them to the open air. These are slowly 

 covered with a crust of sulphate of iron, 

 which is first dissolved in water and sub- 

 sequently, by means of evaporation, ob- 

 tained in crystals. 



CO'PPLE-STONES. Boulders ; cobble-stones, 

 which see. 



CO'PROLITE. The petrified faecal matter 

 of carnivorous reptiles. The following 

 description of coprolites is taken from a 

 memoir on the subject, by Professor 

 Buckland, published in the transactions 

 of the Geological Society, as well as from 



