of an ounce in $5000 in double eagles, eagles, and half-eagles.”
Every effort is made by watching the process of manufacture to insure the observance of these rules. Trial pieces of every lot of coin which passes through the mints must be reserved. Once a year an Assay Commission is appointed for the examination of these sample pieces, which are both weighed and assayed. The accuracy of the work of the United States mints is shown by the report of the Assay Commission for 1901 that the fineness of gold coins varied from 899.5 to 900.2, the legal limits being 899 to 901, while that of silver coins varied from 898.2 to 900.9, the legal limits being 897 to 903.
In the circulation of coins from hand to hand, the friction gradually wears the impressions off and reduces the weight of the coin. It is, therefore, customary for coinage legislation to determine the point at which the coin loses its legal validity. In the United States gold coins which have lost more than one-half of one per cent. of their weight in twenty years from date of issue, or proportional amounts for less periods, are legal tender only by weight. All such coins received by the Government must be recoined. The depreciation of coins by abrasion has, in earlier times, been a serious problem. By a familiar monetary law (Gresham's Law), full-weight money is always preferred for export, while the worn coin remains at home. If the home circulation is much worn, there is a great temptation to ‘sweat’ all the new coins which come from the mint for the profit of the transaction. Hence the necessity from time to time of general recoinage of the money in circulation. The Government calls in all outstanding coins of certain dates and replaces them with new coins, declaring, moreover, that after a certain date the coins not presented shall lose their legal-tender quality.
In England, coining, although a prerogative of the Crown, is regulated by Parliament. By the Constitution of the United States the power of coining money, regulating the value thereof, and of foreign coin is granted to Congress, and the several States are prohibited from coining money as well as from making anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts. The uttering of spurious coin, therefore, is a crime against the United States. It is also punishable by a State government as a cheat. Coin has been judicially defined as “a piece of metal stamped and made legally current as money.”
A counterfeit coin is one made falsely in imitation of the genuine, and intended to resemble or to pass for it. The mutilation or debasement of United States coin, as well as the fraudulent importation or use of spurious foreign coin, is a crime under Federal statutes. See Counterfeiting.
The works cited under Money contain much information in relation to coinage. Consult also Reports of the Director of the Mint, and Coinage Laws of the United States. See Mint; Money; Numismatics; Legal Tender.
COIR (Tamil kayiru, cord), or Cocoanut Fibre. The fibre of the husk of the cocoanut palm. Coir is a corruption of a word meaning rope. Its manufacture has become an important industry, both in England and America. The fibre of the husk is divided into two classes—the ordinary fibre converted directly into mats, and the so-called brush fibre, which lies just under the skin. The latter is packed under great pressure, and then shipped to the manufacturer. It is spun by special machinery, and produces a perfectly cabled yarn, which is woven into doormats or ordinary yard-matting. In 1901 the coir imported into the United States amounted to 3,901,384 pounds, valued at $141,830. The refuse from coir is used for stuffing mattresses, and also in horticulture as a protection against insects for vines and young trees.
COIT, James Milnor (1845—). An American teacher, born at Harrisburg, Pa. He received his education at Hobart College, was connected for some time with the Cleveland Tube Works, and has for many years taught natural science at Saint Paul's School, Concord, N. H. He is a member of several learned and patriotic societies, and his publications include the following interesting works: A Manual of Chemical Arithmetic (1886); Treatise on the X-Rays and Their Relation to Medical and Surgical Sciences (1897); and Liquid Air (1899).
COI′TER, Volcher (1534-90). A Dutch anatomist, born at Groningen. He studied in France and in Italy, where he heard the lectures of Fallopius at Pisa, was city physician of Nuremberg, and later was attached as surgeon to the army of Johann Kasimir, Count Palatine of the Rhine. He is considered one of the founders of the science of pathological anatomy. Numerous anatomical discoveries are credited to him, including that of the superior muscles of the nose. His studies in osteology and myology are partially set forth in the volumes Tabulæ Externarum et Internarum Humani Corporis Partium (1573) and Lectiones Gabrielis Fallopii (1575), which are also interesting as revealing one of the earliest attempts at an examination of the internal structure of birds. Indeed, his table, De Differentiis Avium, included in the latter, is among the first ornithological classifications.
COJUTEPEQUE, kō̇-Hoo′tȧ-pā′kȧ. The capital of the Department of Cuscatlán, Salvador, about 15 miles east of San Salvador (Map: Central America, C 4). It is situated north of the volcano Cojutepeque, and near Lake Ilopango. The city has considerable transit trade. Cojutepeque, for a few years after 1854, when San Salvador was destroyed by an earthquake, was the seat of government of the Republic.
COKE (probably connected with cake). A hard, brittle, porous solid, of a blackish-gray color and more or less metallic lustre. It does not soil the fingers when rubbed, and gives no smoke when burning. It absorbs moisture from the air to a very great extent. In general, the operation of making coke consists of expelling by heat the gaseous elements of bituminous coal. The residue resulting consists chiefly of pure carbon, mixed with varying amounts of ash containing sulphur and phosphorus, and is known as coke. In the manufacture of illuminating gas, coke is produced as a by-product (see Gas, Illuminating); but this method is inadequate to produce the requisite quality and amount, and the manufacture of coke is itself an industry of great and rapidly increasing importance. Coke, charcoal, and anthracite coal are the fuels most used in metallurgy, and of these coke possesses the advantages and is without the dis-
