making cotton printing cloths of a yard in width, having the same texture as those of the English mills. In 1871, 4,400 looms and 230,000 spindles were in operation in all the mills; the number of hands was 3,100, of whom two thirds were women and girls; number of water wheels, 15, of 3,000 horse power. To July 1 of that year $1,750,000 had been expended for machinery and $2,275,000 for real estate. The average monthly product is 5,500,000 yards of cloth. In 1870, 52,342,000 yards were manufactured, worth $4,053,254; amount of cotton consumed, 9,012,000 lbs., worth $2,545,887; wages paid, $855,350. The company have recently erected a large brick depot on the New York Central railroad, capable of containing 15,000 bales of cotton. They own large storehouses, and 700 or 800 dwellings occupied by their employees, which are situated on wide streets, regularly laid out, well paved, lighted with gas, and bordered with trees. Knit goods, including undershirts, drawers, and stockings, are a prominent feature of the industry of Cohoes, which produces a third of all the hosiery manufactured in the country. In 1870 there were 18 knitting mills, with an aggregate capital of $1,157,000, requiring 1,066 horse power; amount of wages paid, $535,362; value of materials used, 1,394,948; value of products, $2,345,226. The first knitting mill in the United States was established here in 1832, but it is only within a few years that the business has assumed its present proportions. The Cohoes rolling mill occupies an area of 500 by 160 ft., and produces shafting, bar and band iron, and a superior quality of axe, pick, and mattock poles, as well as an excellent iron for tool makers, which is said to have superseded to some extent the Norway iron formerly used. In 1870 this establishment produced 2,500 tons of band iron and 8,000 axe poles, of the aggregate value of $299,000. There are two axe factories, producing articles to the value of $380,000. The Empire pin company has a capital of $25,000, and in 1870 manufactured 175,000 packages of pins, worth $38,359. A new factory 40 by 100 ft., and six stories high, has recently been erected by the company. The Cohoes knitting-needle factory in 1870 produced 2,804,000 dozen needles, worth $14,450. Besides the establishments mentioned, there are two founderies, three machine shops, a planing mill, a sawing and bevelling establishment, a paper mill, and manufactories of straw board, bedsteads, and tape. The city contains two banks, with an aggregate capital of $350,000. It is divided into four wards, and is governed by a mayor, who, together with the board of aldermen, consisting of two members from each ward, constitute the common council. The public schools, under the control of two commissioners in each ward, are 22 in number, including a high school, and have 28 teachers and 1,430 pupils. There are night schools for the operatives. The Harmony company supports a Sunday school, which has an average attendance of 420 pupils, and is furnished with an elegant school room, a library of 1,800 volumes, and a well appointed reading room. There are also several parish schools, and two weekly newspapers. There are 7 churches, of which 2 are Roman Catholic. One of the Catholic churches is supported by French Canadians, who are largely represented among the mill hands.—Previous to 1811 the site of Cohoes was a barren waste. In that year the Cohoes manufacturing company was incorporated, "for the purpose of manufacturing cotton, woollen, and linen goods, bar iron, nail rods, hoop iron, and ironmongery;" but it failed about 15 years later. In 1831 the population of the neighborhood did not exceed 150. It was incorporated as a village in 1848, and as a city in 1869.
COHORT, in Roman antiquity, a division of an army, comprising three maniples or six centuries, and being the tenth part of a legion. It contained from 400 to 600 men, according to the number in the legion. There was one cohort (cohors milliaria) which had precedence over the others, and consisted of 1,000 select men. It marched in the van, carried the eagle, and was commanded by a tribune of approved valor. Marius, who during the wars with the Cimbri introduced tactical reforms into the Roman army, was the first who organized the legion into ten cohorts. The prætorian cohorts were the special guards successively of the generals, triumvirs, and emperors, and exerted great influence during the decline of the empire. Augustus organized nine of them, which he retained as a standing army in the vicinity of Rome, under the command of two prefects. Tiberius placed them under a single prefect, and gave them a fortified camp within the walls. (See Prætorians.)—When Napoleon organized the legion of honor, he divided it into 16 cohorts.
COHOSH, an Indian name applied to cimicifuga racemosa (Gray), or black snakeroot, a plant of the order ranunculaceæ. Two varieties of actæa spicata are known respectively as red and white cohosh. The black snakeroot has a perennial root and herbaceous stem, which rises to the height of 4 to 8 ft., and grows in shady woods from Canada to Florida.
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Cohosh (Actæa spicata).
Its physiological action has not been well determined, but it is regarded as a stimulant tonic, and is said to diminish
