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admirable essays and experiments ofCount 

 Rumtbrd, who found very unusual effects 

 produced on meat by a low degree and 

 long-continued action of heat, both in the 

 dry and humid way. 



The application of a dry heat in the 

 cookery of meat is of two kinds, as it is 

 carried on in close vessels, or as it is ex- 

 posed to the air. The first of these which 

 we shall consider is baking. In this prac- 

 tice meat has generally a coveringof paste, 

 by which any considerable exhalation is 

 prevented, and the retention of the juices 

 renders the meat more tender. In all 

 cases, when the heat applied loosens, and 

 in some measure extricates, the air, with- 

 out exhaling it, the substance submitted 

 to this process is rendered more tender 

 than when an exhalation is allowed. In 

 broiling, an exhalation takes place ; but as 

 the heat of a naked fire is more nearly ap- 

 plied, the outer surface is in some mea- 

 sure hardened before the heat penetrates 

 the whole, and thereby a great exhalation 

 is prevented, while the whole is rendered 

 sufficiently tender; but th'skind of cook-, 

 ery is suited to meats that are chosen to 

 be eaten a little raw. Nearly a-kin to this 

 is the practice of frying, in which the meat 

 being cut into thin slices, and laid in a 

 pan over the naked fire, the heat is ap- 

 plied more equally to the whole substance. 

 But as the part of the meat lying next to 

 the bottom of the vessel would be sud- 

 denly hardened by the heat, it is always 

 necessary to interpose some fluid matter, 

 usually of an oily quality, as butter. A 

 strong heat applied to the latter renders 

 it empyreumatic, or at least less miscible 

 with the fluids of the stomach : so that all 

 fried meats are less easily digested than 

 those of any other preparation. Some- 

 times, indeed the same thing happens to 

 baked meats, to which an oily matter, and 

 that only, is added, to avoid the too dry- 

 ing heat of the oven. It is obvious that 

 the preparations of stewing and frying 

 may be frequently joined together ; and 

 according to there being more or less of 

 the one or other, the effects may be ima- 

 gined. 



COOLER, among brewers, distillers, 

 $cc. a large vessel, wherein certain liquors 

 are cooled after haying been boiled. 



COOMB, or COMB of corn, a dry mea- 

 sure, containing four bushels, or half a 

 quarter. 



COOPER, in the trades, an artificer who 

 makes casks, tubs, barrels, and all kinds 

 of wooden vessels which are bound toge- 

 ther with hoops. This is unquestionably a 

 yery ancient trade, and is referred to 

 2000 years ago by tUe writers on rural 



economy in Rome. Their descriptions 

 correspond ift a good measure with the 

 construction of casks in our day. It is not 

 known when the business of a cooper was 

 first introduced into this country, bu, it 

 has been supposed it was derived from 

 the French. Wood used for the purpose 

 of cask-making should be old and thick; 

 straight trees are the best ; from these are 

 hewn thin planks, which are formed into 

 staves. In France, we are told, the wood 

 is prepared in winter ; the staves and bot- 

 toms are then formed, and they are put 

 together in summer. Planing the staves 

 is one of the most difficult parts of the 

 work, and it is at the same time om of 

 the most important in the fabrication of 

 casks. In the formation of the staves, it 

 must be recollected that each is to consti- 

 tute part of a double conoid. Each stave 

 must therefore be broader at the middle, 

 and gradually become narrower, but not 

 in straight lines towards the extremities. 

 The outside of the staves, across the 

 wood, must be wrought into the segment 

 of a circle; and it must be thickest near 

 the middle, growing gradually thinner 

 towards the ends. After the staves are 

 dressed and ready to be arranged, the 

 cooper, without attempting any great 

 nicety in sloping them, so that the whole 

 surface of the edge may touch in every 

 point, brings the contiguous staves into 

 contact only at the inner surface ; and in 

 this way, by driving the hoops hard, he can 

 make a closer joint than could be done by 

 sloping them from the outer to the inner 

 side. 



COOPEB, on board a ship, he that looks 

 to the casks and all other vessels for beer, 

 water, or any other liquor. He has a mate 

 under him. 



COPAIFERA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Decandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Natural order of Leguminosx, Jussieu. 

 Essential character ; calyx none ; petals 

 five ; legume ovate ; seed one, with a 

 berried aril. There is but one species, 

 viz. C. officinalis, balsam of capevi tree. 

 This is a lofty elegant tree, with a hand- 

 some head ; the extreme branches at 

 the axils are flexuose, with a brownish 

 ash-coloured bark ; leaves alternate, 

 round, four inches long; racemes ax- 

 illary, solitary, loosely divided into eight 

 alternate, lateral common peduncles, 

 an inch and a half in length, with white 

 flowers sitting closely on them. Native 

 of South America : from this tree is 

 obtained in very considerable quantities, 

 by perforating the trunk, fluid balsam 

 or resin, which thickens by degrees ; 



