COP 
and set it, as quick as possible, upon a tire 
so brisk as to make the spirit boil almost 
immediately; then keep it boiling very 
gently for about an hour, when so much of 
the copal will be dissolved as vdll make a 
very good varnish ; or, if the operation has 
been properly begun, but enough of copal 
has not been dissolved, it may be again put 
on the fire, and by boiling it slowly for a 
longer time, it may be at last brought to 
the consistence desired, 
COPARCENARY, an estate held in 
coparcenary, is where lands of inheritance 
descend from the ancestor to two or more 
persons. It arises either by common law, 
or particular custom. By common law, as 
where a person seised in fee-simple, or fee- 
tail dies, and his next heirs are two or more 
females, his daughters, sisters, aunts, cou- 
sins, or their representatives ; in this case 
they shall all inherit. And these co-heirs 
are then called coparceners ; or for brevity 
sake parceners. Parceners, by par ticular 
custom, are where lands descend, as in 
gavel-kind, to all the males in equal degree, 
as sons, brothers, uncles, or other kindred ; 
and in either of tliese cases, all the parce- 
ners put together make but one heir, and 
have but one estate among them. 
COPERNICAN-system, or Hypothesis, 
that system of the world, wherein the Sun 
is supposed at rest in the centre, and the 
planets, with the Earth, to move in ellipses 
round him. The Sun and stars are here 
supposed at rest, and that diurnal motion 
which they appear to have from east to 
west, is imputed to the Earth’s motion from 
west to east, round its axis. This system 
was received of old by Philolaus, Aristar- 
chus, and Pythagoras, from which last it 
had the name of the Pythagoric system : it 
was also held by Archimedes; but after 
him it became neglected, and even forgot- 
ten for many ages, till it was revived by 
Copernicus, about the year 1500, and from 
him named the Copernican system. Ac- 
cording to tliis hypothesis, the Sun is sup- 
posed very nearly the centre of gravity of 
the whole system, and in the common focus 
of every one of the planetary orbits : next to 
him Mercury performs his revolution around 
him; next Mercury is the orbit of Venus; 
then the Earth, with its attendant or secon- 
dary the Moon, performing a joint course, 
and in their revolution measuring out the an- 
nual period. Next the Earth is Mars, the 
first of the superior planets ; next him Jupi- 
ter, then Saturn, and, lastly, the Herschel 
planet. Between Mars and Jnpiter, have 
COP 
been discovered four very small bodies, 
called Asteroides, which see. 
These and the comets are the consti- 
tuent parts of the solar system, wliich is 
now received and approved as the only 
true one See Astronomy. 
COPERNICUS (Nicholas) in bio- 
graphy, was born at Thom, in Prassia, in 
14TS. Having acquired during the course 
of his education at Cracow a fondness for 
matliematical studies, and particularly for 
asti’onomy, he went to Bologna, to prose- 
cute these studies under an eminent astro- 
nomer of that university. Here he obtamed 
such distinction, that he was appointed pro- 
fessor of matliematics at Rome. Returning 
after some years to his native country, he 
obtained a canonry in the cathedral church 
of Frauenburg, and in the leisure which this 
situation afforded him pursued his astrono- 
mical speculations. Perceiving the Ptole- 
maic system (which supposes the Earth to 
be fixed in the centre, and the Moon, Mer- 
cury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and 
Saturn, to revolve about it in concentric 
circles) to be inconsistent with the pheno- 
mena, and encumbered with many absur- 
dities, he had recourse to the Pythagorean 
hypothesis, which places the Sun in the cen- 
tre of the system, and makes the Earth a 
planet, revolving annually with the rest 
about the Sun, and daily about its own axis. 
Upon this system, compared with the ob- 
servations which had been made by others 
and himself, he proceeded to ascertain the 
periodical revolutions of the planets, and 
wrote his treatise, “ De Orbium Coelestium 
Revolutionibus” — “ On the Revolutions of 
the Heavenly Bodies,” in which he demon- 
strated them geometrically. 
A doctrine which explained tlie celestial 
phenomena with so much simplicity could 
not fail to engage the attention and 
admiration of astronomers and philoso- 
phers. But, on account of its inconsis- 
tency with some passages of scripture, it 
was rejected by many divines, and censured 
in an express decree of the Romish church. 
Nevertheless the doctrine daily gained 
ground, and is now universally received. 
Copernicus died in 1543. 
COPPEL, Corel, or Cuppel, a chemical 
vessel made of earth, pretty thick, and of the 
form of a platter or dish. See Laboratory. 
COPPER, in tire arts, seems to have been 
known in the remotest periods of antiquity. 
It is among the first metals which was em- 
ployed by the early nations of the world; 
it is not one of the scarce metals, is easily 
