COF 
house, and elsewhere at other times, has a 
special charge and oversight of other offi- 
cers of the house, for their good demeanor 
and charge of their offices, to all ^yhicll be 
pays their wages. 
COFFIN, the case in which a dead body 
is intered ; usually made of elm, or oak. 
It consists of a bottom, tvyo ends, and two 
sides ; the latter being sawed half through, 
at right angles with their length, so as to 
give a pliancy to the boards ; whereby 
tlie shoulder bend is made to suit the 
corpse : the lid is afterward screwed down. 
Coffins are sometimes plain, but generally 
are covered with black serge, &c. and or- 
namented with white, or yellow escut- 
cheons and handles. It Ls necessary, that, 
whatever cloth is used, not only in lining 
and covering 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. lye have, among other ingenious 
inventions, patent coffins, which effectually 
preclude the depredations of that abomina- 
ble crew, that obtain a livelihood by rob- 
bing cemeteries. The security of this con- 
trivance arises chiefly from making the 
coffin so very strong, as to resist the instru- 
ments usually employed by vvhat are 
termed, “ Resurrection-men,” apd by mak- 
ing the lid to fit on with spring plugs, 
fitting into hitched sockets ; so that being 
once closed, they never can be severed, 
except by breaking the coffin to pieces. 
It is to be lamented that such practices 
are considered to be at all necessary under 
the plea of the bodies being subjects for 
dissection, and Considerably aiding to ana- 
tomical and pathological research. Were 
all who suffer imder the sentence of ffie law 
to be devoted to that purpose, many good 
effects might arise, and the obnoxious re- 
source, 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 however, to be remembered, that the 
shroud used by the Musselmans, both in 
Europe and throughout Asia, is called 
“ Kanffin;” whence we may be led to con- 
jecture that to have been the origin of our 
designation. 
Coffins are by no means to be recom- 
mended ; they cause a long continuance of 
COH 
that fermentation which is the parent of 
putrefaction, aiding the retention of infec- 
tious diseases for many months, and de- 
barring the access of the surrounding soil, 
w'hereby the noxious particles would be 
absorbed and neutralized. Every coffin, 
ought jo 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 Germa- 
ny, about 3Q years hack, prohibited coffins, 
and caused quick lime to be immediately 
used. Strange to say, such was the offences 
given to his superstitious and bigotted sub- 
jects, that this regulation, in itself wise, and 
intended for their safety, vras the cause of 
very serious discontents, and to prevent 
insurrection, was shortly after repealed. 
CO.GNIZANCE, in law, has divers sig- 
nifications : sometimes jt i^ ap acknow- 
ledgment of a fine, pt confession of some- 
thing done ; , sometimes the hearing of a 
matter judicially, as to take cognizance of 
a cause ; and sometimes a pai’ticular juris- 
diction, as cognizance of pleas is an autho- 
rity 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 privilege 
granted to a city or town, to hold plea of 
all contracts, &c. within the liberty; and 
if any one is impleaded for such matters in 
the courts at Westpiinster, the Mayor, &c. 
of such franchise may demand cognizance 
of the plea, and that it be determined be- 
fore them. 
In a military sbnse, it implies the inves- 
tigation' to 'which any person or action ia 
fiable, Huring the suspension of civil am 
thority, every offence comes under military 
cognizance, is subjeqt to military law, and 
may be proceeded upon accoi ding to the 
summary spirit of its regulation. The 
strongest instance of military cognisance is 
a drum-head epurt martial. 
COIfESION, 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 tlife texture of dif- 
ferent terrestrial bodies. He did not, hovv- 
ever, 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 
