COL 
1796, was not lefs than 1352 perfons. A number fuffi- 
cient furely to awaken the attention of the molt preju¬ 
diced admirers of a cold winter. And though the evi¬ 
dence of two years only are dated here, yet the fame con- 
clulion may univerfally be drawn from a careful examina¬ 
tion of the weekly bills of mortality for many years. 
Thefe two feafons were chofen as being each of them 
very remarkable, and in immediate fucceflion one to the 
other, and in every body’s recollection. One of the firft 
things that mull ftrike every mind engaged in this invef- 
tigation, is its effedt on old people. It is .curious to ob- 
ferve, among thofe who are faid in the bills to die above 
Jixty years of age, how regularly the tide of mortality fol¬ 
lows the influence of fevere cold : fo that a perfon ufed 
to fuch enquiries, may form no contemptible judgment 
of the feverity of any of our winter months, merely by 
attending to this circumftance. Thus their number in 
January 1796 was not above one-fiftieth of what it had 
been in the fame month the year before. The article of 
afthma, as might be expedited, is prodigioufly increafed, 
and leems to include the molt conliderable part of the 
mortaliry of the aged. After thele come apoplexies and 
palfies, fevers, confumptions, and dropfies. Under the 
two hill: of which are contained a large proportion of the 
chronical difeafes of this country : all which feem to be 
hurried on to a premature termination. See, for the 
prevention and cure of all thefe maladies, the article 
Med'icine. 
COLD'DITZ, a towm of Germany, in the circle of Up¬ 
per Saxony, and circle ofLeiplic : twenty-one miles fouth- 
ealt of Leipfic, and thirty fix welt of Drefdtn. 
COLDh'NIA, f. [fo named by Linnaeus, in honour of 
C. Golden, of North America, a very curious botanift who 
difcovered feveral new plants.] In botany, a genus of the 
clafs tetrandria, order tetragynia, natural order afperifo- 
liae. The generic characters are—Calyx : perianthium 
four-leaved; leaflets lanceolate, ereCt, length of the co¬ 
rolla. Corolla : one-petalled, funnel-form, with the open¬ 
ing pervious; border patulous, obtufe. Stamina: fila¬ 
ments four, inferted into the tube; anthers rcundilh. 
Piltillum : germs four, ovate; ltyles as many, capillary-, 
length of the ftamens; ftigmas Ample, permanent. Peri- 
carpium: none; fruit ovate, comprefled, fcabrous, acu¬ 
minate, terminated by four beaks. Seeds: tw'O, muricate, 
two-celled.— E.Jfential CbaraEler. Calyx, four-leaved ; co¬ 
rolla, funnel-form; ltyles four; feeds, two, two-celled. 
There is but one fpecies, called by Linnaeus coldenia 
procumbens. It is an annual plant, whole branches trail 
on the ground ; they extend near a foot from the root, 
and divide into many fmaller branches; leaves Ihort and 
fefiile, deeply crenate, have feveral longitudinal nerves, 
and are of a glaucous colour; corolla cut into four feg- 
ments at the top, of a pale blue colour, and very fmall; 
the ftigmas are hairy; fruit compoled of four cells, and 
wrapped up in the calyx, with a Angle feed in each cell; 
branches alternate ; leaves alternate, fubpetioled, obo- 
vate, fublunate on the upper fide, plaited along the deep 
ferratures, tomentole, except in the plaits; flowersaxil¬ 
lary, few, feftile; feeds flat on the inner fide, muricate, 
and angular on the outer : according to Gtertner, they 
confift of four nuts, united into a rounded-four-cornered 
mucronate fruit; the rind fungous, very thick on the 
back, but becoming gradually thinner and almolt mem¬ 
branaceous on the fides; fhells bony, hard, convex on 
one fide, rounded ; on the other fide comprefled into an 
acute angle, one-celled. Native of the Eait Indies; cul¬ 
tivated in 1739 by Mr. Miller. 
Propagation and Culture. This plant is propagated by 
feeds, which mult be lown upon a hot-bed in the fpring; 
and, when the plants are fit to remove, they fhould be 
each put into a feparate fmall pot, plunged into a hot¬ 
bed of tanners’ bark, obierving to (hade them til) they 
have taken firelh root; after which they fhould have air 
admitted to them every day in proportion to the warmth 
Vql. IV. No. 337. 
COL 769 
of the feafon, and gently watered two or three times a- 
week in warm weather; but they mull not have too much 
moilture. Thefe plants muft remain in the hot-bed, 
where they will flower in June, and the feeds will ripen 
in September. 
COI/DING, or Holding, a town of Denmark, in the 
diocefe of Ripen, fituated between mountains, on the 
river Thueths, which runs into the Little Belt, about a 
league below. It is ancient, and was formerly the refi- 
dence of many Danifh kings, who adorned it with feveral 
edifices. At prefent the harbour is filled up, and its com¬ 
merce nearly annihilated: twenty-four miles north-eaft 
of Ripen. Lat. 55. 30. N. Ion. 9.23. E. Greenwich. 
COL'DINGHAM, a town in Scotland, fuppcfed to be 
the Colonia of Ptolemy, and called by Bede the city Col - 
dana and of Colud (Coludum) , fituated about two miles 
from Eymouth, a place famous many ages ago for its 
convent. This was the oldeft nunnery in Scotland, and 
here the virgin-wife Etheldreda took the veil in 670 ; but, 
by the ancient name Coludum it fhould feem, that it had 
before been inhabited by the religious called Culdees. In 
870 it was deftroyed by the Danes; but its name was 
rendered immortal by the lieroifm of its nuns; who, to 
preferve themlelves inviolate from thofe invaders, cut off 
their lips and nofes; and thus rendering themfelves ob¬ 
jects of horror, were, with their abbefs Ebba, burnt in 
the monaftery by the difappointed invaders. After this 
it lay deferted till the year 1098, when king Edgar founded 
on its fite a priory of benedidtines in honour of St. Cuth- 
bert, and bellowed it on the monks of Durham. Mr. 
Pennant’s defcription of the black, joylefs, heathy, moor, 
where it was fituated, might be fufficient to guard the 
fair inhabitants of the nunnery were it ftill fubfilting. 
That defcription, however, is now altogether inapplica¬ 
ble : the whole tra6l, five miles over, has been fince im¬ 
proved, and converted into corn fields; and the paflage 
of the fteep glen called the Peafe, which terminates the 
moor on the road towards Edinburgh, and was formerly 
the terror of travellers, is now rendered fafe and eafy by 
means of a bridge extending from one fide of the chafrn 
to the other. 
COL'DINGUEN, a town of Denmark, in North Jut¬ 
land, and diocefe of Ripen. It is remarkable for its. 
bridge, over which pafs ail the oxen and other cattle that 
go from Jutland into Germany, which brings in a con- 
fiderable revenue to the king. It is feated on an eminence, 
in a pleafant country abounding with game. 
COL'DITZ, a town of Germany, in the circle of Up¬ 
per Saxony, and margraviate of Meiflen, fituated on the 
Mulda. This town fiuffered feverely in the civil wars of 
Germany in the laft century. It w'as feveral times pil¬ 
laged by the Swedes and Huflites: ten miles fouth-eaftof 
Leipfic. 
COLD'LY, ad-v. Without heat. Without concern; in¬ 
differently; negligently; without warmth of temper or 
expreflion : 
What England fays, fay briefly, gentle lord ; 
We coldly paufe for thee. Sbakcfpcare. 
COLD / NESS,yl Want of heat; pow'er of caufing the 
fenfation of cold : 
Such was the difcord, which did firft difperfe 
Form,'order, beauty, through, the univerfej 
While drynefs moilture, coldnefs heat refills. 
All that we have, and that we are, lubfifts. Denham. 
Unconcern; frigidity of temper; want of zeal; negli¬ 
gence; dillegard.—If, upon reading admired paflages in 
authors, he finds a coldnejs and indifFerence in his thoughts, 
he ought to conclude, that he himlelf wants the faculty 
of difcovering them. AddiJ'on. —Coynefs; want of kind- 
nefs ; want of paflion : 
Let ev’ry tongue its various cenfures chufe, 
Abfolve with coLlnefs } or with lpite accufe. Prior. 
9 K Chaftity ; 
