band's house, must step over the blood of a newly killed lamb; and the whole pageant, which has lasted 8 days, ends with a grand feast at the bridegroom's house. This is the custom with the wealthy and on the occasion of a young girl's marriage. The poor are wedded more simply, and no parade is made when a widow goes to the house of her second husband. All marriages, to be religiously lawful, must be licensed by the patriarch or bishop; but as civil contracts, marriages licensed by the cadi are valid, and many of the poorer Copts prefer the disgrace of that resort to the extortion of their own spiritual rulers. Such marriages, moreover, are more easily dissolved than those which the priest solemnizes. The respectable Copt women live in the harem, in seclusion. The wife's adultery is the only ground for divorce, notwithstanding that the incontinence of the husband is regarded as a sin. In most of the cities and large towns the Copts form but a fraction of the population. In the city of Cairo they have been estimated as high as 60,000; other writers put their number at 30,000, 20,000, or even 10,000. At Negaddeh, in upper Egypt, there are 2,500; and Minieh, Osioot, Ekhmim, and Girgeh, have each a considerable Coptic population. In the neighborhood of the sugar factories of Reramoon and Roda, there are several Copt villages, in which the agricultural superiority of the Christian over the Arab fellah may be tested. The clerks in these sugar factories are Copts. In Cairo, one of the most eligible portions of the city, near the Esbekich or park, is inhabited exclusively by Copts. The whole race, from the sea to the Nubian frontier, number somewhat more than a 15th of the entire population of Egypt. In Nubia they are not found, and would not be allowed to live there by the bigoted Moslem race. -The history of the Copts in Egypt, from the time of St. Mark to the Arabic conquest, is the history of the land itself. The names of their patriarchs, scholars, and anchorites, Clement, Origen, Athanasius, Cyril, Dionysius, Anthony, Macarius, and many more, belong to the annals of the Christian church and are commemorated both in the Romish and Greek calendars. From the 3d to the 6th century, Egypt had great influence in settling the docrines of faith; its patriarch was the rival of the Roman bishop; its hermitages were the most attractive shrines of pilgrimage, and in its solitudes the persecuted believers found safety. From the latter half of the 5th century, the controversy between the Melchite or royalist party, who adhered to the creed of the Greeks, and the Jacobite party, who were Eutychians, was vehemently maintained for more than a century, the victory inclining more and more to the Jacobite party. The pacific policy of Zeno for a time restrained open warfare; but in the succeeding reigns of Justin, Justinian, Phocas, and Heraclius, the strife of arms was added to the strife of words, and bloody persecutions were carried on. In vain Apollinarius, at once prefect and patriarch, attempted by threatening and massacre to convert the

Jacobite masses; roused by their zealous bishops, they returned defiance, and early in the 7th century all Christian faith not Monophysite was heresy, from Alexandria to Syene. To quarrels with the Greeks succeeded quarrels with each other about minor points. The odore and Themistius discussed the question concerning the wisdom of Jesus, the latter expressing the belief that Jesus was not omniscient. John the Grammarian affirmed that there were 3 Gods, and rejected the word unity from the doctrine of the being of God. In the 5 years of his administration as patriarch, from A. D. 611, John the Almsgiver made more converts by his zeal in good works than by his zeal against the Greek heresy; yet he was not acknowledged as a genuine patriarch, since he was appointed to office by the emperor, and followed the imperial party when it was driven from Alexandria by the invading Persians. In the 10 years of Persian rule the patriarch was a true Copt. When the Romans regained power, the Jacobite Benjamin was displaced, and for a short time the church of Egypt had a ruler whose opinion was a compromise between the Greek and the Jacobite views; maintaining two natures in Christ, but only a single will. In the great strife between the Greeks and the Arabs, which occupied the succeeding years, the Coptic church secretly inclined to the Moslem party, and it has been charged against them that their connivance with Amru and his army decided the contest in favor of the religion of the prophet. But if they were promised amnesty and protection, the promise was not long kept. Within a century from the fall of Alexandria the hands of monks were branded and heavy annual imposts exacted of them, and such as refused to pay were scourged, outraged, and even beheaded; many of the churches, too, were destroyed and plundered. In the reign of the caliph Hashem (724-743), the Melchite dispute was revived by the restoration of some of the Greek bishops to their ancient sees in Nubia, and bribes by one and the other party swayed the authorities in either direction. In 755 it was forbidden to any Copt to hold any public office, even if he should embrace Islamism. In the reigns of the succeeding Abbasside dynasty the humiliations of the Copts were multiplied; the caliph Motawackel compelled them to wear disgraceful ar ticles of dress, and to fasten on their doors pic tures of devils'; and a century later the mad Fati mite caliph Hakem prescribed for them the black robe and turban, ordered them to wear suspended from their necks a heavy wooden cross, confis cated their churches, and finally decreed their banishment. To save themselves from these heavy penalties, great numbers apostatized. But no new proselyte was permitted to return to his family, unless that should likewise accept the Mussulman faith; and as many of the conversions were known to be feigned, greater strictness was required in the observance of Mussulman forms. In the following centuries the number of Christians steadily decreased. Many churches were

turned to mosques, and the reproach which had been formerly brought of arrogance and ostentation was quite removed by the vigilance of their oppressors. In 1301, the rage of the Mogreb ambassador at seeing a Copt riding through Cairo with all the state and retinue of an orthodox effendi, produced an edict requiring all Christians to wear blue turbans, and forbidding them to ride on horses or mules. Fresh conversions to Islam were the result of this edict. In 1321, by a bold conspiracy, the Moslem zealots destroyed simultaneously all the Egyptian churches, many of which were overturned from the foundations. The Christians retaliated by burning in Fostat and Cairo a large number of houses, palaces, and mosques. The punishment for these outrages, though it fell upon some of the Arabs, bore more severely upon the Christians. Some were hanged, some were burned alive, and leave was given to all Moslem subjects to rob and murder any Christian who might be seen wearing the white turban. No government official was permitted to employ a Copt. At the baths they were distinguished by a bell hung from the neck. Very numerous changes of faith resulted from this persecution, and at the end of the 14th century the condition of the Copts in numbers and influence had reached its lowest point, at which it continued with but little variation until the present century. Under Mehemet Ali and his successors, the Copts have had no occasion to complain of unreasonable taxation or of violated rights. Their exemption from military service, which seems to be a disgrace, is in reality a privilege, and is so regarded by most of their body.-A full statement of their history may be found in the 2d volume of Quatremère's Mémoires géographiques et historiques. The most condensed account of their manners and customs is given in Lane's "Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians." Sir Gardner Wilkinson has given some valuable notices of the Copts in his works on Egypt, and Mr. Curzon has described the appearance and condition of their convents and MSS. A good acccount of the Coptic versions may be found in the "Introductions to the New Testament," by Hug and Tregelles. Burckhardt, Bunsen, and Lepsius have furnished many important incidental notices, and the Arabic historian Makrizi has treated of the fortunes of the subject people in his elaborate account of their conquerors, and of the Moslem rule in Egypt.

COPYING MACHINE. Various methods have been contrived for multiplying copies of manuscripts. Dr. Franklin recommended writing with gummed ink, and applying to this emery powder, then by the press obtaining an impression upon a pewter plate, which could be used for printing from. Mr. James Watt patented in 1780 a method of transferring writing to a dampened sheet of unsized paper, by placing this upon the manuscript, and passing the two together through a press. The impression being reversed, this transparent paper is used, through which the writing may be read

from the back side. Any sort of ink may be employed, thickened with a little sugar. Mr. Brunel introduced a method of dampening the manuscript by rolling upon it a metallic cylinder, covered with several thicknesses of linen, which are moistened with water. This sheet is placed between the thin blank leaves of a copying book, and the whole is pressed together in a hand press made for this purpose. Such is the method commonly used for taking and preserving copies of letters or other manuscripts. A method was contrived in 1806 by Mr. Ralph Wedgwood of obtaining two copies at one writing by the use of a sheet blackened on both sides with printer's ink, and dried between blotting paper for 6 weeks. This is placed between a sheet of letter paper below, and one of thin oiled paper above, and the writing is done upon the latter with an agate style. By the pressure of this marks are produced upon both papers, and those upon the upper sheet, being reversed, are to be read through from the opposite side. Patterns and the outlines of drawings are conveniently copied by this method, by placing the original upon the upper sheet, and going over its lines with the agate style. Machines called polygraphs have also been devised, the object of which is to work two or more pens, connected together by light wires and joints, so that the motions given to one are communicated alike to the other, and as many copies are obtained as there are pens. The latest of these is that of Mr. Nathan Ames, of Saugus, Mass.

COPYRIGHT, a right conferred by law upon an author or his representatives to the sale or use of his intellectual productions. Owing probably to the circumstance that the ideas of property originated in an age of violence, the first laws recognizing property referred wholly to material things; and long before intellectual property acquired a pecuniary value, the laws of property in modern society were established, and it became difficult to admit a new object of property among those recognized by the ancient law. Hence we find that in 1769 the question came up in the case of Millar vs. Taylor, whether the owner of the copyright of Thomson's "Seasons" had a perpetual right of property in that work, or the limited term allowed by the copyright act of 1710; and although Lord Mansfield, with two of his associates, declared in favor of the permanency of literary property, Justice Yates took the opposite side, and his opinion was confirmed on appeal in parliament. When the question was afterward brought up in parliament, the bill making a copyright perpetual was rejected in the house of lords. The law of England since that time is regarded as settled against the perpetual right of the author, and the copyrights of authors in that country as well as in the United States are deemed property only by virtue of statute law. In England that right, by the act of 1842, extends to 42 years, and, if the author be still alive, during his life. In order to secure a copyright there, an

vorably received, on credit and banks, in which he takes up the gauntlet for the free banking system of the United States. In 1851 he became the chief editor of the Dictionnaire de l'économie politique, and had already contributed a variety of valuable articles when he died.

COQUEREL, ATHANASE LAURENT CHARLES, a French divine, born in Paris, Aug. 27, 1795. In 1816 he was graduated at the divinity school of Montauban. During 12 years he preached in the French church of Amsterdam, and occasionally at Leyden and Utrecht. In 1830 he became pastor of the Protestant church in Paris. In 1848 and 1849 he was elected member of the constituent and legislative assemblies. He voted with the moderate republicans, and in the legislative assembly he made several speeches, in which he expressed his favorite idea of founding republicanism upon the basis of evangelical religion. On one occasion he was interrupted in his theological dissertation by M. Dupin, the president, who said to him: Allons donc, Jésus n'a jamais dit, que je sache: "Ma république n'est pas de ce monde." His most important act during his political career was to propose, in conjunction with M. I. Buvignier, the total abolition of capital punishment. Since the coup d'état of Dec. 2, 1851, M. Coquerel has withdrawn from political life, and exclusively devotes himself to his clerical duties. Eight volumes of sermons, delivered by him from 1819 to 1852, have already been published, and partly translated, like most of his other works, into English, German, and Dutch. In 1841 he published a work in reply to Strauss's "Life of Jesus." In the ensuing year he brought out his Orthodoxie moderne, and in 1847 his Christianisme expérimental. Among his previous publications, his "Sacred Biography" and "Analytical History of the Bible" are prominent.

COQUILLA NUTS, the fruit of the Brazilian tree attalea funifera of Martius, cocos lapidea of Görtner. The nuts are nearly solid shells, commonly containing two small kernels of disagreeable flavor. They are valued only for the solid portion of the shell, which is of very close texture, brittle and hard, and of a hazel-brown color. It is susceptible of a high polish, works well in the lathe, and is an excellent material for small ornamental works, as toys, heads of umbrellas, parasols, &c.

COQUIMBO, or LA SERENA, a city of Chili, capital of the province of the same name; pop. of the latter in 1858, 119,991, and of the former about 8,000. It is situated near the embouchure of the river Coquimbo into the bay of the same name, and has one of the best harbors in Chili, 6 or 7 miles distant. Considerable trade is carried on at this port, the exports consisting chiefly of metals, especially copper. The name La Serena was given to it on account of its serene climate. The province of Coquimbo extends from Atacama on the north to the river Chuapa on its southern border. It is not fertile, but its mines are very productive. Those of copper are the richest in Chili. In 1857, 292 vessels enVOL. V.-45

tered the port of Coquimbo, tonnage 86,732, and 309 vessels cleared, tonnage 94,665.

CORA, or CORI, a very ancient Italian town, about 39 m. in a south-westerly direction from Rome, probably of Pelasgic origin, and interesting for its antiquities, among which the remains of; the ancient Cyclopean walls, and a bridge which spans a deep gorge with a single arch, are the most remarkable.

CORAL (Gr. Kopaλλiov; Lat. coralium, curalium, or corallum). The derivation and use of this term are discussed by Theophrastus in his work on plants. Such were these stony products of the ocean naturally believed to be, from their growth resembling that of the productions of the garden. Imitating the forms of trees and flowering shrubs, they rivalled them in gracefulness and delicacy; and the brilliant hues of the blossoms that crowned them made permanently beautiful these gardens in the depths of the sea. The mode of accumulation of the coral masses more resembled that of peat than of animal matters. Upon the old dead bodies the new continued to grow, perpetually adding to the mass, and building up strata to rank as important members in geological formations. It seemed also analogous to the increase of the calcareous bunches of petrified moss upon which the living plant continues to flourish, as the roots below are constantly incased in the carbonate of lime brought among them dissolved in the infiltrating waters. And when at last Peysonnel, in an elaborate memoir sent to the royal society in 1751, supported the opinion (first advanced by the Neapolitan naturalist, Ferrante Imperato, in 1599) that the coral blossoms, les fleurs du corail, so described in 1706 by Marsigli, belonged to the animal and not to the vegetable kingdom, his views met with a cool reception among naturalists, and were pronounced even by Réaumur too absurd to be discussed. The power of vegetation to produce stately forests and the minutest plants was familiar to naturalists. To ascribe still greater power and as elaborate skill to "poor, helpless, jelly-like animals," seemed like an insulting demand upon their credulity. The controversy was continued through the greater part of the last century. The coral animals were shown in form resembling blossoms, sending forth their petal-like tentacles from around the circular mouth, and drawing into this their prey. Still Linnæus would admit for them only a nature intermediate between plants and animals, and the word zoophyte, from the Greek (wov, animal, and øve, to grow like a plant, was applied by him to the organic bodies, with reference to their supposed relation to both kingdoms. The word is still in use with naturalists, and is regarded as a convenient term for the whole compound mass. So it is used by Prof. J. D. Dana, the highest authority, and the single animal is called by him a polyp.-Coral is the stony frame which belongs to these animals, as a skeleton belongs to an individual of the higher orders of the animal kingdom. It is formed within the mass of

them by animal secretion, each individual adding to the common structure, not by actual effort directed to this purpose, but by the involuntary secretion of calcareous matter upon that portion to which he is attached. A single poİyp of the genus astræa, for instance, cast off as a fragment from any collection of them, soon assumes the discoid form; its tentacles appear around the mouth, which is also the stomach, though furnished with only the one passage for the entrance and exit of the fluids. By the motion of the arms currents are produced which flow into and out of the sack. The calcareous portion of the sea water is extracted, and remains behind in thin plates radiating from the centre of the sack between fleshy plates, which divide the cavity into compartments. It may be that even before this operation has commenced, a new polyp begins to appear in the form of a bud from some part of the imperfect individual, and soon attaining the requisite organs, grows together with the parent polyp, each adding to the calcareous accumulation within, and each sending forth new buds to be developed into new polyps. According to the portion in which the buds appear the mass receives its shape, branching out in some species into tree-like forms, from the buds putting forth laterally, and each polyp forming a separate branch, at the termination of which it is seated. At these extremities the growth goes on, while the stem below is left behind dead. Other species, in which the polyps are arranged side by side, forming a convex surface above, put forth the young polyps in the spaces which are produced between the older ones as these extend upward, thus keeping the hemispherical form symmetrical, till in a single astrea dome a diameter of even 12 feet has been attained, and the polyps, each occupying a square half inch only, have increased to more than 100,000 in number. Many of the polyps are of still smaller dimensions. A porites of the same extent should contain, according to Prof. Dana, more than 5,500,000 individuals. The genus is often met with among the coralline forms, in rudely shaped hillocks sometimes measuring 20 feet across. It is by the spreading of the buds, each of which, as it opens into the living individual, appears like a blooming flower, the mouth being the calyx, and the tentacles spreading like petals, that the gayest forms of vegetation appear to be reproduced in the depths of the ocean.-In addition to the familiar forms of vegetation seen in the star coral (astroa) and the brain coral (meandrina), the madrepore shrubs and trees, Prof. Dana remarks that "some species grow up in the form of large leaves rolled around one another like an open cabbage, and cabbage coral would be no inapt designation for such species. Another foliated kind consists of leaves more crisped and of more delicate structure, irregularly clustered; lettuce coral would be a significant name. Each leaf has a surface covered with polyp flowers, and was formed by the growth and secretion of these polyps. Clus

tered leaves of the acanthus and oak are at once called to mind by other species; a spriet g asparagus bed by others. The mushra a here imitated in very many of its fantastic shapes, and other fungi, with mosses and libera add to the variety. Vases of madrepores are common about the reefs of the Parific. They stand on a cylindrical base, which a enveloped in flowers when alive, and consist of a network of branches and branchlets, spreading gracefully from the centre, covered above with crowded sprigs of tinted polyps. . . . . The artitie my well be called the asters, carnations, and an mones of the submarine garden; the thres and alcyonia form literally its pink beds; tha gorgoniæ and melitaas are its flowering two the madrepores its plants and shrubbery; astræas often form domes amid the grove dozen feet or more in diameter, emberi with green or purple blossoms which send the surface like gems, while other hemist Leres of meandrina appear as if enveloped in a network of flowering vines." Over the surface of a these corals each depression was the site of a polyp; and the radiated form of this rel. <.... marks with its plates the similar structure of the animal. As young polyps were prodami they communicated for a time or permaner dy with the parent stock, through the intera cavity, in some species having in the early pe riod of its growth nothing to mark its sepert existence but a new mouth, opened by the of that of the parent. The tentacles, as the appear, are strengthened and made rigid by the absorption of a drop of water, and are then spread forth in search of food. When disturbed, the water is ejected, the arms contract and ea within the mouth, the lips of which ru ward, concealing within their folds the wi organization. Upon many even of the larger corals the living portion is but the third covering of the deserted mass beneath. I pa the delicate branchlets of the gorgonia the lyps, scarcely visible to the eye, secrete the careous matter of these forms, and fix them strongly to the rock that this will sometimes he broken sooner than the zoophyte will arata from it. Numerous forms of coral are this pro duced by as many species of polyps. These classified and ably described by Prof. Dana z his great work "On Zoophytes."-Among i the tribes of the zoophytes, some species at other are found in all parts of the world the equator to the polar regions, and to the est depths explored by man. But the range of individual species and families is limited by the physical conditions of light, heat, prese &c., appropriate to their organization. Towe tribes which produce the great coral recís, 20 the astræas, madrepores, meandrinas, &c. developed with peculiar luxuriance in the warest parts of the Pacific, where the tea pers ture varies from 80° to 85°; but they are found in waters as cold as 72°, and in ete oceans and seas. The range in depth of the reef-forming corals appears to be inmated to