73° C O C 
valuable produce, befide the precious metals, confilt in 
pepper, cinnamon, l'ugar, fiik, and cotton} which are 
readily given, by the natives, in exchange for a variety 
of European manufactures ; and, accordingly, feveral of 
the principal commercial nations of Europe, trading to 
tlie Eaft, have had con Merab le intercourfe with the Co¬ 
chi n-chinefe, and their neighbours theTong-quinefe. But 
nothing is now to be feen in any of their harbours except 
their own galleys, a few Chinefe junks, and now and then 
a fmall Portuguele veflel from Macao. The ravages of 
civil war have, no doubt, contributedfo drain the fources. 
of commerce ; -and the want of fecurity and protection to 
foreigners inclined to trade there, mull at prefent impede 
its revival. But if, fays fir George Staunton, a folid fet- 
tlement in Cochin-china were to be productive of advan¬ 
tage to any European nation, it mult peculiarly be fo to 
Great Britain ; becaufe, befides th'e opening it would make 
for the fale of its own manufactures, among the people of 
the country, the Britifh pofleffions in Hindooftan would 
be fure of a very confiderable demand from thence for 
their productions. 
The whole of the Cochin-chinefe dominions, finceTong- 
quin has yielded to the arms of the late ufurper, fills the 
fpace between the twelfth degree of northern latitude 
and the tropic of Cancer; but their breadth do not amount 
to two degrees of longitude. They are bounded to the 
weftward by a long chain of mountains, which border, on 
the other fide, on the kingdoms of Laos, Siam, and Cam¬ 
bodia. The fea wafhes Cochin-china and Tong-quin to 
the eaft; the former has Tfiompa to the fouthward, and 
the latter the Chinefe province of Yunnan to the north¬ 
ward of it. The whole comprehends about ninety-five 
thoufand fquare miles. 
COCHINEAL', / [from cochinilla, Span, a woodloufe.] 
A valuable colouring matter, ufed principally in dying 
erimfons and fcarlets, and for making carmine, &c. It 
was at firft fuppofed to be a grain, but naturalifts foon 
difcovered that it was an infeCf. It was brought to us 
chiefly from Mexico, where the infeCt lives upon different 
fpecies of the opuntia. Two forts of cochineal are ga¬ 
thered in South America: the fylveftris, there known by 
the Spanifli name gratia fylmejlva ; and the line, or grc.na 
fina, called alio mejiequc, from the name of a province in 
Mexico, where they are bred. The firft is fmaller, and 
covered with a cottony down, which increafes its weight 
with a fubftance which is ufelefs in dying; an equal 
weight of it therefore gives lefs colour, and is of a lower 
price than the fine cochineal; butthefe difadvantages are 
perhaps compenfated by its being reared with greater 
facility, and at lefs expence, and even by the effects of 
its down, which enables it better to refill rain and ftorms-. 
The cochinilla fylveftris, when bred upon the proper plant, 
like the true cochineal, lofes part of its tenacity, and 
lome of its cotton, and acquires double the fize it has on 
the wild fpecies of opuntia. It is therefore to be hoped 
that it might be improved by a continued attention to 
the rearing of it, and would approach more and more to 
the fine cochineal. M. Thieri de Menonville was led by 
his patriotic Tpirit and perfonal courage to expofe himfelf 
to imminent danger, in going to obferve the mode of 
rearing the cochineal in Mexico, in order to obtain from 
thence that valuable production, wherewith he might.en¬ 
rich the colony of St. Domingo. He brought back with 
him both fpecies of cochineal, and the kind of opuntia 
which affords the belt food for thefe infedts. Upon his 
return, he employed himfelf in the cultivation of diffe¬ 
rent kinds of opuntia,-and in rearing the two fpecies of 
cochineal; but death cut off that excellent citizen, and 
the fine cochineal foon perifhed. Some time after, the 
cochinilla fylveftris was found upon a kind of opuntia 
called perefcbia, or patte de iortue, which grows there. This 
difcovery did not remain unprofitable : M. Bruley em¬ 
ployed himfelf fuccefsfully in rearing this fpecies of co¬ 
chineal; he communicated it to the Cercle des Phiiadei- 
2 
c o c 
phes, now the royal fociety of arts and fciences at Cape 
Frangois, who do not lofe fight of that objedt, and have 
publifhed a pofthumous work of M. Thieri de Menon¬ 
ville, which contains very minute inftrudtions with regard 
to every thing that reipedts the cultivation of the nopal, 
and the other fpecies of opuntia that may be fubftituted 
for it more or lefs fuccefsfully for breeding or rearing the 
cochineal in St, Domingo. Fine cochineal, which has 
been well dried and properly kept, ought to be of a grey 
colour inclining to purple. The grey is owing to a pow¬ 
der which covers it naturally, a part of which it ftili re¬ 
tains; the purple tinge proceeds from the colour ex- 
trafted by the hot water in which it is moftly killed. 
Cochineal will keep a long time in a dry place. Kellot 
fays, that he tried lome one hundred and thirty years old, 
and found it produce the. fame effedt as new. If the ex- 
tradl which decodtion of cochineal affords on evaporation 
be digefted in alcohol, the colouring part difiblves, and 
leaves a fefiduum of the colour of wine-lees, of which 
frefh alcohol cannot deprive it. This refiduum, analyfed 
by fire, affords the common products of animal fubftances. 
The alcohol of cochineal leaves on evaporation a tranf- 
parent refiduum of a deep red, which when dry has the 
appearance of a rc-fm. This alfo, if diftilled, yields the 
produdt of animal fubftances; which (hews that the co¬ 
louring matter is an animal produdtion. Yet the decoc¬ 
tion of cochineal does not eafily putrefy. Berthollet has 
kept lome of it more than two months, both in an open 
veflel and in a bottle corked. At the end of that time 
the former fbewed no figns of putrefadtion, the latter had 
a flight putrid fmell. The firft grew turbid in a few days, 
" and left a brown violet fediment on the filter; the fecond 
preferved its tranfparency a long time, and probably loll 
it only from the effedt of an incipient putrefadlion, or 
rather of a flight combuftion, produced by means of a 
little vital air, probably united with the red particles of 
the cochineal. The colour of each had become crimfon; 
but that of the former was more weak, becaufe a greater 
part of the colouring matter had precipitated, in confe- 
quence of the effedts produced on it by the air.—For its 
other chemical properties, fee the article Chemistry, 
p. 34.5, of this volume. 
The importation of cochineal from ports in Spain is 
declared lawful by 6 Anne, c. 33. Any perfons may im¬ 
port cochineal into this kingdom, in (hips belonging to 
Great Britain, or other country in amity, from any place 
' whatfoever, by 7 Geo. II. c. 18. 
COCHl'NO, a town of European Turkey, in the ifland 
ofLemno. Lat. 39.57. N. Ion. 43. 8. E. Ferro. 
COCHLAi'US (John), a native of Nuremberg, canon 
of Breflau, difputed warmly againft Luther, Ofiander, 
Bucer, Melandthon, Calvin, and the other patriarchs of 
the reformation. His ftyle is not only eafy, but negli¬ 
gent. In 1539 he received from England a refutation by 
Richard Morrifon, D. D. of the tradt he had publiflie’d 
againft the marriage of Henry VIII. Fie replied in a 
publication bearing this title : “ The Broom of Johannes 
Cochlseus for fiveeping down the Cobwebs of Morrifon.” 
He defends what lie had written againft the divorce of 
Henry VIII. and boafts that Erafimus had approved his 
work. The principal productions of this author are, 1. 
Hiftoria Huffitarum, folio ; a fcarce and curious work, 
and one .of his bell performances. 2.. De adtis & feriptis 
Lutheri, fob 1 5-1-9. 3. Speculum circa Miffam,. 8vo. 4. 
De vita Theodorici regis Oftrogothorum, Stockholm, 
1699, 4to. 5. Confilium Cardmalium anno 1538, Svo. 
6. De eniendanda Ecclefia, 1539, 8vo, very fcarce. He 
died at Breflau, Jan. 10, 1552, at the age of feventy-two, 
COCHLE'A, f. The fliell fnail. See Helix. 
COCHLE'A, f. One of the five mechanical powers, 
otherwife called the /crew , being fo named from the re- 
femblance a fcrew bears to the ipiral fliell of the cochlea 
fnail. 
COCHLE'A, /. [from y.o^^u, to turn round ] In 
anatomy; 
