COSTA KICA. 462 COSTIGAN. country then amounted to 0.000,000 eolones. five- sixths being gold, the rest being silver coin of tlie Kepublie. In that year a new coinage was put in circulation, based on an act passed in 1896, adopting a gold standard at 26!4 to 1, and mak- ing the colon (worth .$0.4ti,5) the monetary unit. Under this law all debts contracted in national money are payable in the new coin, on the basis of 1 colon to a silver peso. Foreign silver is not legal. PoPULVTiox. The population of Costa Eica, as given Ijy the census of 1892, was 243.205, but the actual population, including about 4000 aborigines, was supposed to be over 260.000. In ]8!i!l it was estimated at 310,000. The foreign population exceeds 6000. and consists mostly of immigrants from Spain and Germany. The na- tives are in the main descendants of Spanish colonists from Galicia. and by their industry and peaceful disposition present a favorable contrast to their neighbors in South and Central America. The capital is San .Jose (q.v.). Costa Rica leads the Central American States in education. Public instruction is free and is enforced. There are several institutions of higher education, and three important public libraries. The majority of the population, how- ever, are illiterate. The Roman Catholic Church is recognized and sujiported by the State, but other religions are tolerated. History. Costa Eica w.is first visited, and probably named, by Columbus in 1502. and set- tled permanently about 1530. It formed a part of the Audiencia and Captain-Gcneralcy of Guatemala till 1S21. With other Central Ameri- can States, Costa Rica was a part of Mexico till 1823, when the proclamation of a Mexican republic caused them to withdraw from a con- nection which had always been distasteful and which in effect had been merely nominal. A federal republic of the seceding States was first tried. It lasted until 1839. but it.s authority does not seem to have extended over the Costa Eicans. who busied themselves ^■ith commerce and took little interest in public matters. Af- fairs remained in an unsettled condition, how- ever, and Costa Eica's exact status was not definitely determined until 1848, when she suc- cessfully declared herself an independent repub- lic. In 1856 Costa Eica was involved in war against the filibuster William Walker (q.v.). The country has been freer from revolution than its neighbors. The present Constitution dates from 1871. In 1897 Costa Eica became a mem- ber of the short-lived Greater Republic of Cen- tral America, established in 1895 by Honduras, Nicaragua, and Salvador for the purpose of com- mon defense and the harmonious adjustment of foreign relations. Within the last half-dozen years nothing more serious than boundary dis- putes has disturbed the Government of Costa Eica. The most important of these, with Colombia, was adjusted in 1900, in favor of Costa Eica. Besides the general works on Cen- tral America, of which Squier, l?tates of Central 'America (Xew York. 1858). is the best, and Bancroft, f'entriil America, vol. iii. (San Fran- cisco, 1890), is the most copious, consult the English translation of Calvo, Republic of Costa Eica (Chicago. 1890K This is a popular and patriotic work, authorized by the Costa Rican Government, and gives the version of political and commercial events most acceptable to the men in power in 1890. Consult: Barrantes, Geografia de Costa Rica (Barcelona, 1892) : Villafranca, Costa Rica, the Hem of Amcricait Republics : The Land, Its Re- sources and Its People (Xew York, 1895) ; Church, '"Costa Rica," in Geographical Journal, vol. X. (London, 1897) ;' BioUey, Costa Rica and Her Future (Washington, 1889) ; Schroeder, Cos- ta Rica t<tate Immigration (San Jose, 1894). COSTE, kost, Jean Victor (1807-73). A French naturalist, noted for researches in em- bryology and for efforts toward the cultivation of fishes in his country. In 1841 he became professor of embryogeny at the College de France. Mainly through his influence. 600,000 salmon and trout were placed in the Ehone. In 1862 he was appointed inspector-general of the river and coast fisheries. He published Embryogcnie com- parce (1837) ; Instructions pratiques sur la pis- ciculture (1853) ; and Voyage d'cxploration sur le littoral Je la France et de I'ltalie (1855). COSTEANING (kos-ten'Ing) DITCH (from costean, from Corn, cothas, dropped -f- stean, tin, Welsh ystaen, Gael, staoin, Manx stainny, Lat. stannum, tin). A ditch dug with the object of encountering the outcrop of a mineral de- posit, the presence of which is suspected. Some- limes a series of ditches is dug to determine the direction of the line of outcrop. COSTEL'LO, LoLTis.v Stuakt (1799-1870). An English author and miniature painter. For a time she occupied herself entirely with paint- ing, but having attracted the attention of Scott and iloore, she adopted literature as her pro- fession and produced many works which attained popularity. Some of them are: Songs of a Stranger (1825) ; The Maid of the Cypress Isle and Olher Poems ( 1815) ; Specimens of the Early Poetry of France (1835) ; A Summer Among the Bocages and Tines (1840) ; and a number of semi-historical novels, of which the most promi- nent are: Memoirs of Mary, the Young Duchess of Burgundy (1853), and Memoirs of Anne, Duchess of Brittany (1855). COSTER, kos'ter, Laurens Janszoon. A na- tive of Haarlem, Holland, reputed inventor of printing (about 1440) . He is said to have printed sentences from beech-bark blocks, to have dis- covered a suitable' ink, and to have substituted types of lead and later of pewter for beech-wood. As he is alleged to have endeavored to counterfeit manuscript, he is supposed to have worked in secret, but to have taken apprentices, one of whom, Johann Gansfleisch, a member of the Gutenberg family, is said on Coster's death to have stolen types and matrices and fled to Mainz, where he might have revealed the secret to Guten- berg (q.v.). Coster's claim, vigorously main- tained by many Dutch scholars, was disproved by Van der Linde (1870), who showed that Coster was a tallow-chandler and tavern-keeper, that he was confused with Laurens Janszoon, a wine - merchant and town ofticer, and that the claim for him as inventor was first made by Gerrit Thomaszoon in 1550. Consult ilorley, English Writers, vol. vi. (London, 1890). COSTER, Samuel. See Kosteb, Samuel. COS'TIGAN, Captain. A retired shabby- genteel Irish ofl^cer in Tliackeray's Pendennis, whose sense of family dignity is second only to
