COF 



COH 



their length, so as to give a pliancy to the 

 boards ; whereby the shoulder bend is 

 made to suit the corps: the lid is after- 

 wards screwed down. Coffins are some- 

 times plain, but generally- are covered 

 with black serge, &c. and ornamented 

 with white, or yellow escutcheons and 

 handles. It is necessary, that, whatever 

 cloth is used, not only in lining and co- 

 vering the coffin, but in the shroud, &c. 

 it should be of woollen : this is done for 

 the benefit of our manufacturers. Per- 

 sons of property are sometimes cased in 

 lead, well soldered, and afterwards put 

 into richly ornamented coffins, for the 

 purpose of laying in state, or for being 

 deposited in vaults . We have, among other 

 ingenious inventions, patent coffins, 

 which effectually preclude the depreda- 

 tions of that abominable crew, that obtain 

 a livelihood by robbing cemeteries. The 

 security of this contrivance arises chiefly 

 from making the coffin so very strong, as 

 to resist the instruments usually employ- 

 ed by what are termed "Resurrection- 

 men," and by making the lid to fit on 

 with spring plugs, fitting into hitched 

 sockets ; so that being once closed, they 

 never can be severed, except by break- 

 ing the coffin to pieces. It is to be la- 

 mented, that such practices are consider- 

 ed to be at all necessary, under the plea 

 of the bodies being subjects for dissec- 

 tion, and considerably aiding to anatomi- 

 cal and pathological researches. Were all 

 who suffer under the sentence of the 

 law to be devoted to that purpose, many 

 good effects might arise, and the ob- 

 noxious resource, now referred to, be 

 discontinued. Our ancestors generally 

 used stone coffins. The nations of Asia, 

 Africa, and America, as well as the 

 Turks in general, do not use any case for 

 the interment of their dead It is, how- 

 ever, to be tcmembered, that the shroud 

 used by the Musselmans, both in Eu- 

 rope and throughout Asia, is called 

 " Kauffin ;" whence we may be led to 

 conjecture that to have been the origin 

 of our designation. 



Coffins are by no means to be recom- 

 mended ; they cause a long continuance 

 of that fermentation which is the parent 

 of putrefaction, aiding the retention of 

 infectious diseases for many months, and 

 debarring the access of the surrounding 

 soil, whereby the noxious particles would 

 be absorbed and neutralized. Every coffin 

 ought to be filled up with quick lime, 

 whence the putrefaction would be accele- 

 rated, and the danger of infection be, at 

 least, lessened. The Emperor of Ger- 



VOL. TIT 



many, about 30 years back, prohibited 

 coffins, and caused quick lime to be im- 

 mediately used. Strange to say, such 

 was the offence given to his supersti- 

 tious and bigoted subjects, that this re- 

 gulation, in itself wise, and intended for 

 their safety, was the cause of very serious 

 discontents, and, to prevent insurrection, 

 was shortly after repealed. 



COGNIZANCE, in law, has divers sig- 

 nifications ; sometimes it is an acknow- 

 ledgment of a fine, or confession of some- 

 thing done ; sometimes the hearing of a 

 matter judicially, as to take cognizance 

 of a cause ; and sometimes a particular 

 jurisdiction, as cognizance of pleas is an 

 authority to call a cause or plea out of 

 another court, which no person can do 

 but the King, except he can shew a 

 charter for it. This cognizance is a pri- 

 vilege granted to a city or town, to 

 hold pleas of all contracts, &c. within 

 the liberty ; and if any one is implead- 

 ed for such matters in the Courts 

 at Westminster, the Mayor, &c. of 

 such franchise may demand cognizance 

 of the plea, and that it be determined 

 before them. 



In a military sense, it implies the in- 

 vestigation to which any person or ac- 

 tion is liable. During the suspension of 

 civil authority, every offence comes 

 under military cognizance, is subject to 

 military law, and may be proceeded 

 upon according to the summary spirit of 

 its regulation. The strongest instance 

 of military cognizance is a drum-head 

 court martial. 



COHESION, one of the species of at- 

 traction, denoting that force by which the 

 parts of bodies stick together. 



This power was first considered by Sir 

 Isaac Newton as one of the properties 

 essential to all matter, and the cause of all 

 that variety observed in the texture of 

 different terrestrial bodies. He did not, 

 however, absolutely determine that the 

 power of cohesion was an immaterial one, 

 but that it might possibly arise, as well as 

 that of gravitation, from the action of 

 another. His doctrine of cohesion is thus 

 expressed : " The particles of all hard 

 homogeneous bodies, which touch one 

 another, cohere with a great force ; to 

 account for which, some philosophers 

 have recourse to a kind of hooked atoms, 

 which in effect is nothing else but to 

 beg the thing in question. Others ima- 

 gine that the particles of bodies are con- 

 nected by rest, i. e. in effect, by nothing 

 at all ; and others by conspiring 



