village in 1848, and in 1870 was chartered as a city. Population, in 1890, 22,509; in 1900, 23,910.
CO′HORT (Lat. cohors, originally meaning inclosure, connected with Gk. χορτός, chortos, garden, Olr. gort, sedge, Ger. Garten, garden, AS. geard, Engl. yard). A portion of a legion in the ancient Roman armies. Usually there were 600 men to a cohort, and ten cohorts to a legion (q.v.). See Centurion.
CO′HOSH. The American Indian name of black snakeroot (Cimicifuga racemosa). It occurs in the United States from Maine to Wisconsin and south to Florida. The rhizomes, which are employed in medicine, contain resin, wax, tannin, and a crystalline principle. Alterative, sedative, and emmenagogue properties are attributed to it. See Plate with article Sanguinaria.
COIF (from OF. coife, Fr. coiffe, It. cuffia, from ML. cofia, coif, from OHG. chuppa, cap under the helmet, from chuph, Ger. Kopf; connected with AS. cuppe, Engl. cup). (1) A covering for the head in general, but more especially for the circular portion on the crown, which certain of the Roman Catholic clergy in monastic orders are in the habit of shaving. (See Tonsure.) A special signification refers to the distinguishing mark of sergeants-at-law, which, though nothing but an insignificant black patch on top of the legal wig, is now the only reminiscence of the tonsure among English lawyers. On attaining the degrees of the coif, or becoming a sergeant, a barrister retires from the Inn of Court by which he was called to the bar and becomes a member of Sergeants' Inn.
(2) In the armor of the Middle Ages, a defensive hood, usually surmounted by a helmet, sometimes continuous with the hauberk, and sometimes separate.
COIMBATORE, kō̇-ĭm′bȧ-tōr′, or KOIMBATUR, kō̇-ĭm′bȧ-to͞or′ (Telugu, also Koiampadi, Koibmutur, Koiamuturn) . A city in Madras, British India, capital of the district of the same name, situated near the left bank of the Noyel, a tributary of the Kavery, in latitude 11° N., longitude 77° 1′ E. (Map: India, C 6). It lies 304 miles southwest of Madras, with which it is connected by rail. It occupies the south declivity of the Nilgiri, 1483 feet above the sea, and has a cool and healthful climate. The adjacent low-lying plains, however, are malarious and dangerous to health. The suburban Pagoda of Perur is an important archæological structure. Population, in 1891, 46,400; in 1901, 53,000.
COIMBRA, kō̇-ēm′brȧ. A city of Portugal, capital of a district of the same name, in Beira, picturesquely situated, partly on a steep rock and partly in a plain, amid vineyards and orange orchards, on the right bank of the river Mondego, 110 miles north-northeast of Lisbon (Map: Portugal, A 2). The upper town is badly built, its streets being steep, narrow, and dirty. Of the public buildings, the most noteworthy are the cathedral, the churches of São Francisco and São Salvador, and the convents of Santa Cruz and Santa Clara. There is here a fine aqueduct of twenty-one arches, which dates from the sixteenth century. The famous University of Coimbra (q.v.) is the only university in Portugal. Coimbra has manufactures of linen, woolen, earthenware, and combs. Population, in 1890, 17,329. Coimbra was the Conimbrica of the Romans. In 1064 it was taken from the Moors by Ferdinand I., and for two hundred and fifty years (1129-1383) was the capital of Portugal. It was the scene of prolonged fighting between Masséna and Wellington in the campaigns of 1810 and 1811.
COIMBRA, University of. The State University of Portugal, and the only university in that kingdom. With some 1600 students in theology, law, medicine, mathematics, and philosophy, its library, hospitals, observatory, museums, and laboratories, it is an institution of great national importance. Its history is long and checkered. Founded in 1290 by the poet-king, Diniz, at Lisbon, a supplementary charter was issued in 1308, transferring it, because of dissensions between town and gown, to Coimbra, the first of a long series of migrations which make it unique among universities. From 1308 to 1380 it vibrated between Coimbra and Lisbon, in the latter year being settled at Lisbon. In 1537 it migrated again to Coimbra, where it has since remained. It was at the beginning of this last period that it reckoned Camoëns (see Camões) among its members. Alone among Continental universities to-day, it preserves the mediæval academic dress; and in this, as in its architecture, traditions, and customs, it finds its only rivals in picturesque interest in Oxford and Cambridge. Consult Braga, Historia da Universidade de Coimbra (Lisbon, 1892).
COINAGE (from Engl., OF. coin, wedge, piece of money, from Lat. cuneus, wedge; connected with Gk. κῶνος, kōnos, cone, Skt. śāna, whetstone, from śā, to sharpen). Coins are pieces of metal designed to circulate as money, whose weight and fineness are certified by the impressions they bear. These impressions are the symbols of the authority by whose orders the coins are issued, but they also bear an important function in maintaining the integrity of the coin. To insure constancy in the weight of the coin it is necessary to protect it against clipping and against unnecessary wear and tear, or abrasion. The form of the coin is, in itself, a guaranty. Convenience of carriage, as well as greater durability, has given the preference to a rounded, generally a circular coin, over other shapes. Where, as in Japan, we find oblong coins, the corners are generally rounded off. The symmetry of outline guarantees the coin. This is heightened by milling the edges. Raised inscriptions serve the same purpose and do so better than incised letters, which are also used. The design upon the face of the coin is usually protected by raised edges, which project as much as the highest part of the design.
The importance of these features of modern coins in maintaining intact the weight of the coin by showing at once any attempted clipping, and by preventing the wearing off of surfaces by use, can best be appreciated by comparing them with the crude, irregular disks from which early coins were made, and the high relief of many of the designs upon them.
Gold and silver were used in settling accounts before coins were invented, but scales were a necessary adjunct of such transactions. Just as gold dust is weighed in the mining regions, so all exchanges effected by the metals before the introduction of coinage involved
