Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/449

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COW TREE COX 445 largely imported into Calcutta and Bombay from the Laccadive and Maldive islands. Their value in Bengal used to be rated at 2,400, then at 2,560, but now more than 3,200 to the Tiger Cowry (Cypraea tigris). rupee, the worth of which is about 50 cents. They are largely imported into Liverpool . They are sent to the western coast of Africa for barter with the natives. A species of this family called the C. princeps, " the brindled cowry of the Persian gulf," is very highly prized by conchologists for its rarity and beauty. Only two specimens are known ; one is in the British museum, and the other was sold some years since in London, at the sale of the col- lection of the earl of Mountnorris, for 40. A specimen of the C. umbilicata was sold in 1850 for 30. The cowries, from the great variety and beauty of the markings upon their smoothly polished surface, have long been in demand among civilized and uncivilized na- tions for ornaments to their dress and habita- tions. The tiger cowry (C. tigris) is the one so generally seen upon the mantels of houses in various parts of this country. COW TREE (brosimum galactodendron ; Sp. palo de vaca), an evergreen of the natural order urticacece, indigenous in the Cordilleras Cow Tree Leaves and Fruit. of Caracas, having oblong, pointed, coria- ceous, and alternate leaves about 10 inches long, and especially distinguished by its sap, which almost exactly resembles milk, and flows copiously from incisions made in the bark. Of this sap Alexander von Humboldt, who first brought the tree to the notice of for- eigners, writes: "We were assured that the negroes on the farm, who are in the habit of drinking large quantities of this vegetable milk, consider it as highly nutritive; an assertion which startled us the more, as almost all lac- tescent vegetable fluids are acrid, bitter, and more or less poisonous. Experience, however, proved to us, during our residence at Barbula, that the virtues of the cow tree, or palo de vaca, have not been exaggerated." COX, David, an English landscape painter, born in Birmingham in 1793, died in 1859. His paintings, chiefly on Welsh subjects, are in water colors, small, and apparently careless, but full of the impression and effect of nature. He succeeded best in sketching rain and wind, bursts of sunshine on dark moors, and the dank herbage of marshes. He published in 1814 a "Treatise on Landscape Painting in Water Colors," which is still considered the best series of lessons on water-color painting. His son DAVID is also a painter of ability. COX, Francis Angastos, D. D., an English Bap- tist clergyman, born March 7, 1783, died in September, 1853. He graduated at the univer- sity of Edinburgh, became pastor at Hackney, near London, in 1811, and was active in pro- curing the establishment of the London univer- sity. He was chosen about 1840 to visit the United States, for the purpose of cultivating fraternal feeling between the Baptists of the two countries. Dr. Cox was a contributor to the " Eclectic Review " and other periodicals, and published a " Life of Melanchthon " (1815), a prize essay, " Our Young Men" (1838), "Fe- male Scripture Biography" (2 vols. 8vo, 1852), and other works. COX, Jacob Dolson, an American lawyer and soldier, born in Montreal, Canada, Oct. 27-, 1828. His parents, who had been temporarily in Canada, were residents of New York city, where he studied law for a while. He then went to Ohio, studied at Oberlin college, and was admitted to the bar in 1852. In 1859 he was elected state senator. In April, 1861, he was made brigadier general of the state militia in Ohio, and placed in command of a camp of instruction. In May he was appointed brigadier general of U. S. volunteers, and com- manded in the valley of the Kanawha, from which he drove out the confederates under Gen. Henry A. Wise. In August, 1862, he was assigned to the army of Virginia, under Gen. Pope. After the death of Gen. Reno he com- manded the 9th army corps at the battles of South Mountain and Antietam (Sept. 14-17, 1862), and in April, 1863, was assigned to the command of the district of Ohio. He served during the Atlanta campaign of 1864, and was made major general of volunteers in December of that year. In March, 1865, he fought the battle of Kingston, N. C., and then united his force with that of Gen. Sherman. In 1866 he