COI 



COI 



He then tried the relative cohesion, or 

 the force with which bodies resist an ac- 

 tion applied to them in a direction per- 

 pendicular to their length. For this pur- 

 pose he fixed pieces of wood by one end 

 into a square hole in a metal plate, and 

 hung weights towards the other end till 

 they broke at the hole : the weights and 

 distances from the hole are exhibited in 

 '-he following table : 



See his " Elem. Nat. Philos." 



COIF, the badge of a sergeant at law, 

 who is called sergeant of the coif, from 

 the lawn-coif they wear under their caps 

 when they are created sergeants. 



COIL, in naval affairs, the manner in 

 which all ropes are disposed aboard ships, 

 for the conveniency of stowage. Coiling 

 is a sort of serpentine winding the ropes, 

 by which they occupy a small space, and 

 are not liable to be entangled among one 

 another in working the sails. The small 

 ropes are frequently coiled by hand, and 

 hung up, to prevent them from being en- 

 tangled among one another, in traversing, 

 contracting, or extending sails. 



COIN. Among the impediments to 

 commerce, the greatest, undoubtedly, is 

 the charge of conveyance from place to 

 place. This is the great obstacle, which 

 limits the exchange of commodities from 

 one extremity of the world to the other. 

 Whenever the charges of carriage arise 

 to such an amount as to equal the effec- 

 tual return in any remote market, the 

 motive for conveying merchandize to that 

 place ceases. If goods were always ex- 

 changed for goods, it is clear that the 

 conveyance, under the uncertainty of dis- 

 posal, would take place to a very small 

 distance indeed ; and the labour required 

 to discover the persons willing to ex- 

 change would greatly enhance the charge . 

 It would require a volume to enumerate 

 and describe the expedients, moral as well 

 as mechanical, by which these difficulties 

 are in part subdued, and still more to de- 

 duce their origin and general effects. One 

 of the chief of these expedients consists in 

 4 he use of some article of merchandize as 

 ''"> medium of exchange, which shall be 



acceptable to every man, and will there* 

 fore be received and held by the seller of 

 any commodity, until he shall meet vrith 

 another individual, who he knows will 

 again take it for the article he wants. 



In the island of^ladagascar, it is said, 

 that the exchangeable value of goods is 

 reckoned in hatchets, bullocks, and slaves; 

 these commodities being universally ven- 

 dible, and for that reason every where re- 

 ceived. Smith affirms, that nails answer 

 the same purpose in some parts of Creat 

 Britain. These, and other instances, may 

 serve to shew how a preferable med'um 

 of exchange becomes adopted ; and it 

 will without difficulty be seen, that the 

 scarcest and least destructible metals 

 must have at length become the univer- 

 sal substitutes : for their value does not 

 depend on their figure ; they may be sub- 

 divided and joined again without loss ; 

 they receive no injury by keeping ; and 

 the labour of conveying them from place 

 to place forms a less part of their value 

 than of any other article. 



The first monies were mere quantities of 

 metals ascertained by weight, as the names 

 of most species s*ill indicate. The inter- 

 ference of government was found neces- 

 sary to assure the weight, and more par- 

 ticularly the fineness of determinate por- 

 tions of metal ; and this has given rise to 

 an opinion, that a part of the value of 

 coin must depend on the edict of the state 

 which issues it. Whether statesmen them- 

 selves have in reality thought this to be 

 the case, is little to the purpose ; but it is 

 certain that they have, from time to time, 

 yielded to the temptation of diminishing 

 the quantity of precious metals issued un- 

 der a given denomination, either by openly 

 deducting from the w r eight, or secretly 

 debasing the coin. Transactions of this 

 kind must have operated to the loss of all 

 the creditors in the state : but they have 

 never deceived the sellers, who have al- 

 ways regulated their prices by their 

 knowledge of the real quantities of the 

 metal, and not by the denomination, or 

 the supposed weight or fineness, it might 

 denote. The imaginary coin, or money 

 of account, to be found in the mercan- 

 tile books of almost every commercial na- 

 tion, must have arisen partly from this 

 cause. 



This diminution has taken place 

 throughout Europe. With us the pound 

 of money, which about the year 1087 con- 

 tained a pound weight of silver, has 

 continued at less than one third (or |) 

 of that quantity, ever since the reign of 

 Elizabeth. Our neighbours, however,have 



