The Coats of Arms were frequently open, and diversify'd with Bands and Fillers of several Colours, alternately plac'd, as we still see Cloths scarleted, water'd, &c. hence they were also call'd Divizes, or Divises; as being divided, or compos'd of several Pieces, few'd together; whence the Words, Fesse, Pale, Chevron, Bend, Cross, Salteer, Losenge, &c. which have since made the honourable Pieces, or Ordinaries of the Shield. See each in its Place, FESSE, BEND, CROSS, &c.
Coats of Arms, and Banners, were never allow'd to be wore by any but Knights, and antient Nobles. See ESCUTCHEON, &C.
COAT of Mail, or Jacques de Mail, a kind of Armour made in form of a Shirt; consisting of Iron Rings wove together. See MAIL.
COAT, in Anatomy. See TUNIC.
COBALT, in Natural Hiſtory, a kind of Natural Cadmia, out of which is drawn Bizmuth, Arfenic, and Smalt. Sce CADMIA, BIZMUTH, ARSENIC, &c.
Cobalt usually contains a little Silver. There are various Mines of Cobalt, especially in Saxony; some in France and England.
COCCIFEROUS, in Botany, such Plants, or Trees, as bear Berries. See BERRY.
COCCIGIS, or COCCÆ OS, in Anatomy, a Bone join'd to the Extremity of the Os Sacrum; compos'd of three or four Bones, whereof the lower is still less than the upper, till the last ends in a small Cartilage.
It resembles a little Tail turned inwards; or rather, as some imagine, the Beak of a Cuckow; whence the Name. Its Use is to sustain the strait Gut: It yields to the Pressure of the Fetus in Women in travail; and Midwives use to thrust it backwards; but sometimes rudely and violently, which is the occasion of great Pain, and several bad Effects.
COCCULUS Indicus, a poisonous Narcotick Berry, known mostly now to Poachers, who have got a trick of intoxicating Fish therewith, so as to take them out of the Water with their Hands; for which Reason they are called Bacce Piscatorie, Fishers Berries.
COCHINEAL, or COCHENEAL, a Drug us'd by the Dyers, &c. for giving red Colours, especially Crimsons, and Scarlets. See RED, SCARLET, &c.
It is brought from the West Indies: but Authors are divided as to its Nature; some taking it to be a kind of Worm, and others the Grain of a Tree. F. Plumier, the Minime, a celebrated Botanist, has maintain'd the former Opinion, and Pomet the latter.
It may perhaps be said, that they are both equally distant from the Truth in the Description they have given of Cochineal; and yet that there is both a Cochineal which is a Worm, and another a Grain. This Opinion is founded on the Account given by Dampier; who gives a precise Description of each kind: If it ben't true, 'tis at least more likely than any Opinion yet propos'd. His Description of each is as follows:
'The Cochineal Worm, is an Insect ingender'd in a Fruit resembling a Pear: The Shrub which bears it is five or six Foot high. A-top of the Fruit grows a red Flower, which when mature falls on the Fruit; and that opening, discovers a Cleft two or three Inches in Diameter. The Fruit then appears full of little red Infects, having Wings of a surprizing smallnefs, and which would die and rot there, if not taken out.
The Indians, therefore, spreading Cloth under the Tree, shake it with Poles, till the Insects are forc'd to quit their Lodging, and fly about the Tree; which they cannot do many Moments, but tumble down dead into the Cloth; where they are left till they be entirely dry: When the Insect flies it is red; when it is fallen, black; and when dry, white; tho it afterwards changes Colour.
There are whole Plantations of the Cochineal Tree, or Tonna, as the Natives call it, about Guatimala, Chepe, and Guexaca, in the Kingdom of Mexico.
Cochineal Grain, or, as Dampier calls it, Sylvestris, is a red Berry, growing in America, found in a Fruit resembling that of the Cochineal Tree, or Tonna. The first Shoots produce a yellow Flower; then comes the Fruit, which is long, and when ripe opens with a Cleft of three or four Inches. The Fruit is full of Pippins, or Grains, which fall on the least Agitation, and which the Indians take care to gather. Eight or ten of theſe Fruits may yield about an Ounce of Grain.
This Berry yields a Dye almost as beautiful as that of the Infect; and a Person may be easily deceiv'd in them: tho the first is much less esteem'd. See DYING.
Cochineal is us'd in Medicine as an Alexipharmic, tending to promote Sweating, and alſo as a Cordial.
COCHLEA, in Mechanicks, one of the five mechanical Powers; otherwise called the Screw. See SCREW.
It is thus call'd, from the resemblance a Screw hears to the Spiral Shell of a Snail, which the Latins call Cochlea.
COCHLEA, in Anatomy, is the last Canal, or Cavity of the Ear; thus call'd from its helical Form. See EAR.
The Cochlea is divided into two Parts, the upper, and lower, by a thin, spiral Lamina; of which the Part next the Axis is bony, but extremely brittle; and that, next the outer Shell, membranous; appearing to be only made of an Expansion of the Auditory Nerve. See NERVE.
The upper Canal opens into the Tympanum, and the
lower into the Vestibulum: this is narrower than that, especially towards the Basis of the Cocklea; where each is about
a Line wide; and the Basis it self is about four Lines in
Diameter. See HEARING.
COCK of a Dial, the Pin, Style, or Gnomon. See DIAL, STYLE, and GNOMON. See SEAL, &c.
COCKET, a Seal belonging to the King's Custom-house.
COCKET is also a Scroll of Parchment, sealed and deliver'd by the Officers of the Custom-house to the Merchants, upon entering their Goods, certifying that the Goods were customed. See CUSTOMS.
The same Word is also used in the Statutes of Bread and Ale, 15 Hen. III. where there is mentioned Cocket Bread, among several other Kinds: It seems to have been hard Sea-Bisket, which perhaps had then some Cocket, Mark, or Seal; or else was so called from its being design'd for the use of the Cockswains, or Seamen.
COCKLE-Stairs. See STAIRS.
COCKING-CLOTH, a Deviſe for the catching of Pheasants withal.
It consists of a piece of coarse Canvas, about an Ell square, dipp'd in a Tan Pit to colour it; and kept stretch'd by two Sticks, placed from corner to corner, diagonal-wise: a Hole to be left to peep thro'. The Gamester, then, being provided of a short Gun; carries the Cloth before him at Arms end; under cover of which, he may approach his Game as near as he pleases: when near enough, he puts the Nosel of his Gun thro' the Hole, and shoots.
COCKPIT, a fort of Theatre, whereon Game-Cocks fight their Battels.
The Cock-Pit is usually a House, or Hovel cover'd over: They fight on the Clod, or green Sod; which is generally mark'd out round, and incompass'd with Seats, one above another.
The COCK-PIT Laws, are principally these: When Cocks are set, none to be on the Sod but the two Setters. When the Cocks are set Beak to Beak in the middle of the Clod, and there left by the Setters, if the set Cock do not strike in counting twenty, and six times ten, and twenty after all, the Battel is lost: but if he do strike, the Battel is to begin again, and they must count again. If any offer a Mark to a Groat, or 40 to 1, and the Wager be taken, the Cock must be set, and they are to fight it out. Done, and done, is a sufficient Bet, or Wager, when the Cocks are, cast on the Clod.
COCK-PIT, in a Man of War, is a Place on the lower Floor, or Deck, abaft the main Capstan, lying between the Platform and the Steward's Room; where are Subdivisions or Partitions for the Purser, the Surgeon, and his Mates.
COCK-ROAD, a Contrivance for the taking of Wood-cocks. As that Bird lies close by day, under some Hedge, or near the Root of an old Tree, to peck for Worms under dry Leaves, and will scarce stir out, unless disturb'd, as not seeing his way so well in the Morning; toward the Evening he takes Wing, to seek for Water; Alying generally low, and when he finds any thorowfare in a Wood ventures thro' it. To take 'em, therefore, they plant Nets in such Places; or, for want of such Places ready to their hands, they cut Roads thro' Woods, Thickets, Groves, &c.
Thefe Roads they usually make 35 or 40 Foot broad, perfectly strait and clear; and to two opposite Trees they tie the Net, which has a Stone saften'd to each corner. Then, having a Stand, or Place to lie conceal'd in, at a proper distance, with a Stake near the same, to fasten the Lines of the Net to: when they perceive the Game flying up the Road, they unwind the Lines from off the Stake; upon which, the Stones drawing it down, the Birds are intangled in the same.
COCK-SWAIN, or COCKSON, is an Officer on board a Man of War, who hath the care of the Barge, or Sloop, and all things belonging to it; to be always ready with his Boat's-Gang, or Crew, and to Man the Boat on all Occasions.
He sits in the Stern of the Boat, and fleers; and hath a Whistle to call and encourage his Men.
COCOA, or more justly CACAO, the Nut whose Kernel yields the Chocolate. See CACAO, and CHOCOLATE.
COCOS, or COCO, is also used for a Nut, whole Shell is much used by Turners, Carvers, &c. for divers Works.
The Coco Tree, which the Malabars call Tenga, is strait, without any Branches, and ordinarily, thirty or forty Foot high: Its Wood is too spongious to be uſed in Carpentry. A-top it bears twelve Leaves, ten Foot long, and half a Footbroad,
