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Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 3 - "Convention" to "Copyright"
Author: Various
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 3 - "Convention" to "Copyright"" ***
Transcriber's notes:
(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally
printed in subscript. When letters are subscripted, they are
preceded by an underscore, like C_n.
(2) Characters following a carat (^) were originally printed in
superscript.
(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective
paragraphs.
(4) Letters topped by Macron are represented as [=x].
(5) The following typographical errors have been corrected:
Article CONVEYANCING: "By this ingenious device was the publicity
of feoffment or enrolment avoided, and the lease and release, as
the process was called, remained the usual mode of conveying a
freehold, in possession down to the 19th century." 'possession'
amended from 'posession'.
Article COPPER: "Vessels of several designs are used--some modelled
exactly after steel converters, others barrel-shaped, but all with
side tuyeres elevated about 10 in. above the level of the bottom
lining." 'others' amended from 'other'.
Article COPYRIGHT: "The obsolete copyright of the crown in Lilly's
Latin Grammar was founded on the fact of its having been drawn up
at the king's expense. The universities have a joint right (with
the crown's patentees) of printing acts of parliament."
'parliament' amended from 'parliment'.
Article COPYRIGHT: "No one, it has been said, has a right to take,
whether with or without acknowledgment, a material and substantial
portion of another's work, his arguments, his illustrations, his
authorities, for the purpose of making or improving a rival
publication." 'making' amended from 'makinng'.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE
AND GENERAL INFORMATION
ELEVENTH EDITION
VOLUME VII, SLICE III
Convention to Copyright
Articles in This Slice:
CONVENTION COOPER, THOMAS (1805-1892)
CONVENTION, THE NATIONAL COOPER, THOMAS SIDNEY
CONVERSANO COOPERAGE (system of traffic)
CONVERSION COOPERAGE (making casks & vessels)
CONVEX CO-OPERATION
CONVEYANCE COOPERSTOWN
CONVEYANCING COOPER UNION
CONVEYORS CO-OPTATION
CONVOCATION COORG
CONVOLVULACEAE COORNHERT, DIRCK VOLCKERTSZOON
CONVOY COOT
CONVULSIONS COOTE, SIR EYRE
CONWAY, HENRY SEYMOUR COPAIBA
CONWAY, HUGH COPAL
CONWAY, MONCURE DANIEL COPALITE
CONWAY, SIR WILLIAM MARTIN COPÁN
CONWAY (borough of England) COPARCENARY
CONYBEARE, WILLIAM DANIEL COPE, EDWARD DRINKER
CONYBEARE, WILLIAM JOHN COPE, EDWARD MEREDITH
COODE, SIR JOHN COPE (liturgical vestment)
COOK, ALBERT STANBURROUGH COPELAND, HENRY
COOK, EDWARD DUTTON COPENHAGEN
COOK, ELIZA COPERNICUS, NICOLAUS
COOK, JAMES COPIAPÓ
COOK, THOMAS COPING
COOK ISLANDS COPLAND, ROBERT
COOKE, GEORGE FREDERICK COPLESTON, EDWARD
COOKE, JAY COPLEY, JOHN SINGLETON
COOKE, ROSE TERRY COPPÉE, FRANÇOIS ÉDOUARD JOACHIM
COOKERY COPPÉE, HENRY
COOKSTOWN COPPER
COOKTOWN COPPERAS
COOKWORTHY, WILLIAM COPPER-GLANCE
COOLGARDIE COPPERHEADS
COOLIE COPPERMINE
COOMA COPPER-PYRITES
COOPER, ABRAHAM COPPICE
COOPER, ALEXANDER COPRA
COOPER, SIR ASTLEY PASTON COPROLITES
COOPER, CHARLES HENRY COPTOS
COOPER, JAMES FENIMORE COPTS
COOPER, PETER COPYHOLD
COOPER, SAMUEL COPYING MACHINES
COOPER, THOMAS (1517-1594) COPYRIGHT
COOPER, THOMAS (1759-1840)
CONVENTION (Lat. _conventio_, an assembly or agreement, from
_convenire_, to come together), a meeting or assembly; an agreement
between parties; a general agreement on which is based some custom,
institution, rule of behaviour or taste, or canon of art; hence extended
to the abuse of such an agreement, whereby the rules based upon it
become lifeless and artificial. The word is of some interest
historically and politically. It is used of an assembly of the
representatives of a nation, state or party, and is particularly
contrasted with the formal meetings of a legislature. It is thus applied
to those parliaments in English history which, owing to the abeyance of
the crown, have assembled without the formal summons of the sovereign;
in 1660 a convention parliament restored Charles II. to the throne, and
in 1689 the Houses of Commons and Lords were summoned informally to a
convention by William, prince of Orange, as were the Estates of
Scotland, and declared the throne abdicated by James II. and settled the
disposition of the realm. Similarly, the assembly which ruled France
from September 1792 to October 1795 was known as the National Convention
(see below); the statutory assembly of delegates which framed the
constitution of the United States of America in 1787 was called the
Constitutional Convention; and the various American state constitutions
have been drafted and sometimes revised by constitutional conventions.
In the party system of the United States the nomination of party
candidates for office or election is in the hands of delegates, chosen
by the primaries, meeting in the convention of the party; the convention
system is universal, from the national conventions of the Republican and
Democratic parties, which nominate the candidates for the presidency and
vice-presidency, down to a ward convention, which nominates the
candidate for a town-councillorship. In diplomacy, "convention" is a
general name given to international agreements other than treaties, but
not necessarily differing either in form or subject-matter from a
treaty, and sometimes used quite widely of all forms of such agreements.
Many conventions have been made for the formation of international
"unions" to regulate and protect various economic, industrial and other
non-political interests, such as postal and telegraphic services,
trade-marks, patents, copyright, quarantine, &c. Thus the Latin Monetary
Union was created in 1865 by the Convention of Paris, and the abolition
of bounties on the production and exportation of sugar by the Convention
of Brussels in 1902 (see TREATIES).
CONVENTION, THE NATIONAL, in France, the constitutional and legislative
assembly which sat from the 20th of September 1792 to the 26th of
October 1795 (the 4th of Brumaire of the year IV.). On the 10th of
August 1792, when the populace of Paris stormed the Tuileries and
demanded the abolition of the monarchy, the Legislative Assembly decreed
the provisional suspension of the king and the convocation of a national
convention which should draw up a constitution. At the same time it was
decided that the deputies to that convention should be elected by all
Frenchmen 25 years old, domiciled for a year and living by the product
of their labour. The National Convention was therefore the first French
assembly elected by universal suffrage, without distinctions of class.
The age limit of the electors was further lowered to 21, and that of
eligibility was fixed at 25 years.
The first session was held on the 20th of September 1792. The next day
royalty was abolished, and on the 22nd it was decided that all documents
should be henceforth dated from the year I. of the French Republic. The
Convention was destined to last for three years. The country was at war,
and it seemed best to postpone the new constitution until peace should
be concluded. At the same time as the Convention prolonged its powers it
extended them considerably in order to meet the pressing dangers which
menaced the Republic. Though a legislative assembly, it took over the
executive power, entrusting it to its own members. This "confusion of
powers," which was contrary to the philosophical theories--those of
Montesquieu especially--which had inspired the Revolution at first, was
one of the essential characteristics of the Convention. The series of
exceptional measures by which that confusion of powers was created
constitutes the "Revolutionary government" in the strict sense of the
word, a government which was principally in vigour during the period
called "the Terror." It is thus necessary to distinguish, in the work of
the Convention, the temporary expedients from measures intended to be
permanent.
The Convention held its first session in a hall of the Tuileries, then
it sat in the hall of _Manège_, and finally from the 10th of May 1793 in
that of the _Spectacles_ (or _Machines_), an immense hall in which the
deputies were but loosely scattered. This last hall had tribunes for the
public, which often influenced the debate by interruptions or applause.
The full number of deputies was 749, not counting 33 from the colonies,
of whom only a section arrived in Paris. Besides these, however, the
departments annexed from 1792 to 1795 were allowed to send deputations.
Many of the original deputies died or were exiled during the Convention,
but not all their places were filled by _suppléants_. Some of those
proscribed during the Terror returned after the 9th of Thermidor.
Finally, many members were sent away either to the departments or to the
armies, on missions which lasted sometimes for a considerable length of
time. For all these reasons it is difficult to find out the number of
deputies present at any given date, for votes by roll-call were rare. In
the Terror the number of those voting averaged only 250. The members of
the Convention were drawn from all classes of society, but the most
numerous were lawyers. Seventy-five members had sat in the Constituent
Assembly, 183 in the Legislative.
According to its own ruling, the Convention elected its president every
fortnight. He was eligible for re-election after the lapse of a
fortnight. Ordinarily the sessions were held in the morning, but evening
sessions were also frequent, often extending late into the night.
Sometimes in exceptional circumstances the Convention declared itself in
permanent session and sat for several days without interruption. For
both legislative and administrative purposes the Convention used
committees, with powers more or less widely extended and regulated by
successive laws. The most famous of these committees are those of Public
Safety, of General Security, of Education (_Comité de salut public_,
_Comité de sûreté générale_, _Comité de l'instruction_).
The work of the Convention was immense in all branches of public
affairs. To appreciate it without prejudice, one should recall that this
assembly saved France from a civil war and invasion, that it founded the
system of public education (_Muséum_, _École Polytechnique_, _École
Normale Supérieure_, _École des Langues orientales_, _Conservatoire_),
created institutions of capital importance, like that of the _Grand
Livre de la Dette publique_, and definitely established the social and
political gains of the Revolution.
See FRENCH REVOLUTION; GIRONDISTS; MOUNTAIN; DANTON; ROBESPIERRE; MARAT,
&c.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The Convention published a _Procès-verbal_ of its
sessions, which, although lacking the value of those published by
assemblies to-day, is an official document of capital importance.
Copies of it are rare, however, and it has been too much neglected by
historians. See F. A. Aulard, _Recueil des actes du comité de Salut
Public avec la correspondance officielle des représentants en mission,
et le registre du conseil exécutif provisoire_ (Paris, 1889 et seq.);
M. J. Guillaume, _Procès-verbaux du comité d'Instruction Publique de
la Convention Nationale_ (Paris, 1891-1904, 5 vols. 4to); F. A.
Aulard, _Histoire politique de la Révolution française_ (Paris, 1903);
Mortimer-Ternaux, _Histoire de la Terreur_ (1862-1881), a work based
on and comprising documents, but written with strong royalist bias;
Eugène Despois, _Le Vandalisme révolutionnaire_ (1868), for the
scientific work of the Convention. A detailed bibliography of the
documents relating to the Convention is given in the _Répertoire
général des sources manuscrites de l'histoire de Paris pendant la
Révolution française_, vol. viii. &c. (1908), edited by A. Tueléy
under the auspices of the municipality of Paris. For a more summary
bibliography see M. Tourneux, _Bibliog. de l'histoire de Paris pendant
la Révolution française_, i. 89-95 (Paris, 1890). (R. A.*)
CONVERSANO, a town and episcopal see of Apulia, Italy, in the province
of Bari, 17 m. S.E. by rail from the town of Bari. Pop. (1901) 13,685.
It has a fine southern Romanesque cathedral of the end of the 11th
century, with a modernized interior, and a castle which from 1456
belonged to the Acquaviva family, dukes of Atri and counts of
Conversano. The convent of S. Benedetto is one of the earliest offshoots
of Montecassino. (See S. Simone, _Il Duomo di Conversano_, Trani, 1896).
Here, or in the vicinity, is the site of the unimportant ancient town of
Norba.
CONVERSION (Lat. _conversio_, from _convertere_, to turn or change), a
general term for the operation of converting, changing, or transposing;
used technically in special senses in logic, theology and law.
1. _In logic,_ conversion is one of three chief methods of immediate
inference by which a conclusion is obtained directly from a single
premise without the intervention of another premise or middle term. A
proposition is said to be "converted" when the subject and the predicate
change places; the original proposition is the "convertend," the new one
the "converse." The chief rule governing conversion is that no term
which was not _distributed_[1] in the convertend may be distributed in
the converse; nor may the quality of the proposition (affirmative or
negative) be changed. It follows that of the four possible forms of
propositions A, E, I and O (see article A), E and I can be converted
simply. If no A is B (E), it follows that no B is A; if some A is B, it
follows that some B is A. This form of conversion is called Simple
Conversion; E propositions convert into E, and I into I. On the other
hand, A cannot be converted simply. If all men are mortal, the most that
can follow by conversion is that some mortals are men. This is called
Conversion by Limitation or _Per Accidens_. Only if it be known from
external or non-logical sources that the predicate also is distributed
can there be simple conversion of a universal affirmative. Neither of
these forms of conversion can be applied to the particular negative
proposition O, which has to be dealt with under a secondary system of
conversion, as follows. The terminology by which these secondary
processes are described is not altogether satisfactory, and logicians
are not agreed as to the application of the terms. The following system
is perhaps the most commonly used. We have seen that the converse of
"all A is B" is "some B is A"; we can, in addition, derive from it
another, though purely formal, proposition "no A is not-B"; i.e. an E
proposition. This process is called Obversion, Permutation or Immediate
Inference by Privative Conception; it is applicable to every proposition
including O. A further process, known as Contraposition or Conversion by
Negation, consists of conversion following on obversion. Thus from "all
A is B," we get "no not-B is A." In the case of the O proposition we get
(by obversion) "some A is not-B" and then (by conversion) "some not-B is
A" (i.e. an I proposition). In the case of the I proposition the
contrapositive is impossible, as infringing the main rule of conversion.
Another term, Inversion, has been used by some logicians for a still
more complicated process by the alternative use of conversion and
obversion, which is applicable to A and E, and results in obtaining a
proposition concerning the contradictory of the original subject; thus
"all A is B" becomes "some not-A is not B."
Considerable discussion has centred on the problem as to whether the
process of conversion can properly be regarded as inference. The essence
of inference is that the conclusion should embody knowledge which is not
in the premise or premises, and many logicians have contended that no
fact is stated in the converse which was not in the convertend, or, in
other words, that conversion is merely a transformation or verbal change
of the same statement. Hence the term Eductions and Equivalent
Propositional Forms have been given to converse propositions. It is
clear, for instance, that if the universal affirmative is taken
connotatively as a scientific law, and not historically, no real
inference is achieved by stating as another scientific fact its
converse, the particular affirmative. Moreover, even if the convertend
is stated as an historic fact, though there is acquired a certain new
significance, it may well be argued that the inference is not immediate
but syllogistic.
For this controversy see J. S. Mill, _Logic_, II. i. 2; Bradley,
_Logic_, III. pt. i. chap. ii. 30-37; H. W. B. Joseph, _Introduction
to Logic_ (1906), pp. 209 foll.; J. N. Keynes, _Formal Logic_ (3rd
ed., 1894).
2. _In theology_, conversion (the equivalent of the Gr. [Greek:
strephein, epistrephein]) is originally the acceptation of Christianity
by heathens. It is also used generally for a change from one religion to
another, or in a narrower sense for a complete change of attitude
towards God, involving a deeper conviction of the ultimate religious and
moral truths. Considerable difference of opinion has always existed, and
still exists, within the Christian Church as to the true nature and the
causes of conversion, especially in the sense last described. Some have
held that man is merely the passive recipient of the Divine Grace, a
view based largely on the rendering of the Authorized Version of Isaiah
vi. 10 as quoted in Matt. xiii. 15, Mark iv. 12, and John xii. 40.
Others again hold that baptism, as involving a second birth of the
baptized person, makes subsequent conversion unnecessary or even
meaningless, or conversely that conversion is this very second birth and
renders baptism unnecessary. The reply generally made to such arguments
is that baptism implies regeneration only, which is a change wrought
from the outside by the Divine Spirit in general disposition or
spiritual status, while conversion is a positive or concrete
demonstration of that change, not merely the negative beginning of a new
life but the positive "returning" to God in faith and repentance. The
precise connexion between conversion and repentance is again a vexed
question. How far and in what sense does man take an active part in his
own conversion? To this it is frequently answered that while the initial
stage of conversion is and can be the work of the Holy Spirit alone, it
lies with man to make it complete by accepting the proffered grace in
repentance and faith (cf. Acts vii. 51, "Ye stiffnecked and
uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost"). A
man may of his own free will avoid those surroundings which predispose
him to such "resistance." The view that man cannot convert himself is
clearly stated in Article X. by the Church of England. "The condition of
man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn (_sese
convertere_) and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good
works, to faith, and calling upon God: wherefore we have no power to do
good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by
Christ preventing us that we may have a good will, and working with us,
when we have that good will." Further problems are connected with the
possibility of repeated conversions of the same man, the necessity of a
single strongly marked conversion completed in a single process, the
significance of sudden conversion of persons in a highly emotional
state, such as has been common in revivalist meetings, especially in
Wales and the United States of America. Conversions of the last kind
have followed frequently on striking physical phenomena, perceived in
many cases only by the convert himself, such as a sudden bright light or
a noise like a clap of thunder.[2] In all cases of conversion, however,
the criterion of its validity is generally taken to be the resultant
change of a man's character as manifested in his mode of life and
thought, in the abstention from sin, and in devotion to good works. (X.)
3. _In English law_, conversion is the unauthorized exercise of dominion
by one person over the property (other than money or chattels real) of
another, in a manner inconsistent with his rights of possession, or the
unauthorized assumption by another of the powers of the true owner of
goods. The history and exact definition of this form of actionable wrong
have occupied the attention of many learned writers, and the incidents
of actions to assert the rights of the true owner form a considerable
part of treatises on the rules and forms of civil pleading. There are
many ways in which the wrong may be committed. In some cases the
exercise of the dominion may amount to an act of trespass or to a crime,
e.g. where the taking amounts to larceny, or fraudulent appropriation by
a bailee or agent entrusted with the property of another (Larceny Acts
of 1861 and 1901). But in such cases, except where money is taken, the
civil remedy of the owner is by action for conversion or detention of
the property, subject in the case of larceny to the rule that criminal
prosecution should precede restitution by the taker. The remedy in use
in these cases used to be by what was called an action on the case for
trover and conversion, the plaintiff putting aside all suggestions of
trespass and of crime, and resting his case on the fiction that the
defendant had found and used goods not his own. The fictitious averment
of loss was abolished in 1852, and under the present procedure, in which
the old forms of action are not in use, the remedy is by a claim (still
usually called conversion) for wrongfully depriving the true owner of
personal property of its use by some specified act inconsistent with his
dominion over it, usually by dealing with the property in a manner
inconsistent with the owner's rights. Originally, the action of trover
and conversion was limited to goods and chattels, but it is now accepted
as applying to valuable securities, such as cheques and bills of
exchange.
The gist of the action is in the unauthorized dealing, for however short
a time and for however limited a purpose, with the personal property of
another. Even refusal to deliver up to the owner is sufficient to prove
conversion, though it is often made the ground of an action for
detinue, if the plaintiff desires to have the property returned in
specie. The knowledge, motive or good faith of the person wrongfully
dealing with the property of another is for civil purposes immaterial,
and the action is often brought to try the title of two claimants to the
same goods; e.g. where a person who has innocently bought or taken in
pledge goods stolen or illegally procured resists the claim of the
original owner for the return of the goods. A warehouseman may render
himself liable to the owner of goods deposited with him, through
delivering the goods to a third person on a forged authority or without
authority, or by issuing a warehouse receipt representing the goods to
be in his possession or control when they have ceased to be so.
The exact measure of compensation due to a plaintiff whose goods have
been wrongfully converted may be merely nominal if the wrong is
technical and the defendant can return the goods; it may be limited to
the actual damage where the goods can be returned, but the wrong is
substantial; but in ordinary cases it is the full value to the owner of
the goods of which he has been deprived.
Fraudulent conversion by any person to his own use (or that of persons
other than the owner) of property entrusted to him is a crime in the
case of custodians of property, factors, trustees under express trusts
in writing (Larceny Act, 1861, ss. 77-85; Larceny Act, 1901).
The law of Ireland, of most British possessions, and of the United
States, follows that of England as to the civil or criminal remedies for
conversion.
The term "conversion" is also used in English law with reference to the
rule of courts of equity which, in certain cases (following the maxim of
treating as done what ought to have been done), treats as converted into
personalty land which has been directed so to be converted by a will,
contract or settlement, or as converted into land personalty which has
been by such instrument directed to be applied for purchase of realty.
The rule is also applied where a vendor of land dies between the making
of the contract of sale and its completion by conveyance of the land.
The importance of the rule lies in the different destination of realty
and personalty under the laws relating to inheritance and succession.
See Bullen and Leake, _Precedents of Pleading_ (3rd ed., 1868, 6th ed.
by Dodd and Chitty, 1905); F. Pollock, on _Torts_ (7th ed., 1904);
Clerk and Lindsell, on _Torts_ (3rd ed., 1904); Lewin, on _Trusts_
(11th ed., 1904); Jarman, on _Wills_ (5th ed., 1893); Dart, _Vendors
and Purchasers_ (11th ed., p. 301). (W. F. C.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] A term is said to be "distributed" when it is taken universally:
in the proposition "men are mortal" (meaning "all men") the term
"men" is "distributed" while "mortal" is undistributed, because there
are mortal beings which are not men.
[2] Numerous instances, drawn from other religions besides
Christianity, are given in Professor William James's _The Varieties
of Religious Experience_ (1902).
CONVEX (Lat. _convexus_, carried round, rounded, from _con-_, with, and
_vehere_, to carry), a term for the exterior side of a curved or rounded
surface, as opposed to "concave" (Lat. _con-_, and _cavus_, hollow), the
inner surface.
CONVEYANCE, primarily the act or process of conveying anything. The verb
"to convey," now used in the senses of carrying, transporting,
transmitting, communicating or handing over, originally had the same
meaning as "convoy" (q.v.), i.e. to accompany, a meaning which still
survived in the 18th century. Like "convoy" it is ultimately derived
from the Late Lat. _conviare_ (not from _convehere_), but through the
old Norman French form _conveier_, which in central France passed into
the form _convoier_, mod. Fr. _convoyer_, whence "convoy." Apart from
the general sense given above the word conveyance is now used in three
special senses: (1) a carriage or other means of transport, (2) in law,
the transference of property by deed or writing between living persons,
and (3) the written instrument by which such transference is effected.
(See CONVEYANCING.)
CONVEYANCING, in English law, the art or science of conveying or
effecting the transfer of property, or modifying interests in relation
to property, by means of written documents.
History.
In early legal systems the main element in the transfer of property was
the change, generally accompanied by some public ceremony, in the actual
physical possession: the function of documents, where used, being merely
the preservation of evidence. Thus, in Great Britain in the feudal
period, the common mode of conveying an immediate freehold was by
_feoffment with livery of seisin_--a proceeding in which the transferee
was publicly invested with the feudal possession or _seisin_, usually
through the medium of some symbolic act performed in the presence of
witnesses upon the land itself. A deed or charter of feoffment was
commonly executed at the same time by way of record, but formed no
essential part of the conveyance. In the language of the old rule of the
common law, the immediate freehold in corporeal hereditaments lay in
livery, whereas reversions and remainders and all incorporeal
hereditaments lay in grant, i.e. passed by the delivery of the deed of
conveyance or grant without any further ceremony. The process by which
this distinction was broken down and the present uniform system of
private conveyancing by simple deed was established, constitutes a long
chapter in English legal history.
The land of a feudal owner was subject to the risk of forfeiture for
treason, and to military and other burdens. The common law did not
allow him to dispose of it by will. By the law of mortmain religious
houses were prohibited from acquiring it. The desire to escape from
these burdens and limitations gave rise to the practice of making
feoffments to the _use_ of, or upon trust for, persons other than
those to whom the seisin or legal possession was delivered. The common
law recognized only the legal tenant; but the _cestui que use_ or
beneficial owner gradually secured for his wishes and directions
concerning the profits of the land the strong protection of the
chancellors as exercising the equitable jurisdiction of the king. The
resulting loss to the crown and the great lords of the feudal dues and
privileges, coupled with the public disadvantages arising from
ownership of land which, in an increasing degree, was merely nominal,
brought about the passing in the year 1535 of the famous Statute of
Uses, the object of which was to destroy altogether the system of uses
and equitable estates. It enacted, in substance, that whoever should
have a use or trust in any hereditaments should be deemed to have the
legal seisin, estate and possession for the same interest that he had
in the use; in other words, that he should become in effect the feudal
tenant without actual delivery of possession to him by the actual
feoffee to uses or trustee: In its result the statute was a fiasco. It
was solemnly decided that the act transferred the legal possession to
the use once only, and that in the case of a conveyance to A to the
use of B to the use of or upon trust for C, it gave the legal estate
to B, and left C with an interest in the position of the use before
the statute. Thus was completed the foundation of the modern system of
trusts fastened upon legal estates and protected by the equitable
doctrines and practice of the judicature.
But the statute not only failed to abolish uses: it also opened the
way to the evasion of the public ceremony of livery of seisin, and the
avoidance of all notoriety in conveyances. Other ways, besides an
actual feoffment to uses, of creating a use had been in vogue before
the statute. If A bargained with B, in writing or not, for the sale of
land, and B paid the price, but A remained in legal possession, the
court of chancery enforced the use or equitable interest in favour of
B. The effect of a _bargain and sale_ (as such a transaction was
called) after the statute was to give B the legal interest without any
livery of seisin. This fresh danger was met in the very year of the
statute itself by an enactment that a bargain and sale of an estate of
inheritance or freehold should be made by deed publicly enrolled. But
the Statute of Enrolments was in terms limited to estates of freehold.
It was allowed that a bargain and sale for a term, say, of one year,
must transfer the seisin to the bargainee without enrolment. And since
what remained in the bargainer was merely a reversion which "lay in
grant," it was an easy matter to release this by deed the day after.
By this ingenious device was the publicity of feoffment or enrolment
avoided, and the _lease and release_, as the process was called,
remained the usual mode of conveying a freehold, in possession down to
the 19th century.
It was not until 1845 that the modern system of transfer by a single
deed was finally established. By the Real Property Act of that year it
was enacted that all corporeal hereditaments should, as regards the
immediate freehold, be deemed to lie in grant as well as in livery.
Since this act the ancient modes of conveyance, though not abolished by
it, have in practice become obsolete. Traces of the old learning
connected with them remain, however, embedded in the modern conveyance.
Many a purchase-deed recites that the vendor is _seised_ in fee-simple
of the property. It is the practice, moreover, to convey not only "to"
but also "to the use of" a purchaser. For before the Statute of Uses, a
conveyance made without any consideration or declaration of uses was
deemed to be made to the use of the party conveying. In view of the
operation of the statute upon the legal estate in such circumstances, it
is usual in all conveyances, whether for value or not, to declare a use
in favour of the party to whom the grant is made.
In its popular usage the word "conveyance" signifies the document
employed to carry out a purchase of land. But the term "conveyancing" is
of much wider import, and comprises the preparation and completion of
all kinds of legal instruments. A well-known branch of the conveyancer's
business is the investigation of title--an important function in the
case of purchases or mortgages of real estate. With personal estate
(other than leasehold) he has perhaps not so much concern. Chattels are
usually transferred by delivery, and stocks or shares by means of
printed instruments which can be bought at a law-stationer's. The common
settlements and wills, however, deal wholly or mainly with personal
property; and an interest in settled personalty is frequently the
subject of a mortgage. Of late years, also, there has been an enormous
increase in the volume of conveyancing business in connexion with
limited joint-stock companies.
In the preparation of legal documents the practitioner is much assisted
by the use of _precedents_. These are outlines or models of instruments
of all kinds, exhibiting in accepted legal phraseology their usual form
and contents with additions and variations adapted to particular
circumstances. Collections of them have been in use from early times,
certainly since printing became common. The modern precedent is, upon
the whole, concise and businesslike. The prolixity which formerly
characterized most legal documents has largely disappeared, mainly
through the operation of statutes which enable many clauses previously
inserted at great length to be, in some cases, e.g. covenants for title,
incorporated by the use of a few prescribed words, and in others safely
omitted altogether. The Solicitors' Remuneration Act 1881, has also
assisted the process of curtailment, for there is now little or no
connexion between the length of a deed and the cost of its preparation.
So long as the draftsman adheres to recognized legal phraseology and to
the well-settled methods of carrying out legal operations, there is no
reason why modern instruments should not be made as terse and
businesslike as possible.
Contracts for sale.
It is not usual for land to be sold without a formal agreement in
writing being entered into. This precaution is due, partly to the
Statute of Frauds (§ 4), which renders a contract for the sale of land
unenforceable by action "unless the agreement upon which such action
shall be brought, or some memorandum or note thereof, shall be in
writing and signed by the party to be charged therewith or some other
person thereunto by him lawfully authorized," and partly to the fact
that there are few titles which can with prudence be exposed to all the
requisitions that a purchaser under an "open contract" is entitled by
law to make. Such a purchaser may, for example, require a forty years'
title (Vendor and Purchaser Act 1874). Under an open contract a vendor
is presumed to be selling the fee-simple in possession, free from any
incumbrance, or liability, or restriction as to user or otherwise; and
if he cannot deduce a title of the statutory length, or procure an
incumbrance or restriction to be removed, the purchaser may repudiate
the contract. The preparation of an agreement for sale involves
accordingly an examination of the vendor's title, and the exercise of
skill and judgment in deciding how the vendor may be protected against
trouble and expense without prejudice to the sale. Upon a sale by
auction the agreement is made up of (1) the particulars, which describe
the property; (2) the conditions of sale, which state the terms upon
which it is offered; and (3) the memorandum or formal contract at the
foot of the conditions, which incorporates by reference the particulars
and conditions, names or sufficiently refers to the vendor, and is
signed by the purchaser after the sale. The object of the agreement,
whether the sale is by private contract or by auction, is to define
accurately what is sold, to provide for the length of title and the
evidence in support of or in connexion with the title which is to be
required except so far as it is intended that the general law shall
regulate the rights of the parties, and to fix the times at which the
principal steps in the transaction are to be taken. It is also usual to
provide for the payment of interest at a prescribed rate upon the
purchase money if the completion shall be delayed beyond the day fixed
for any cause other than the vendor's wilful default, and also that the
vendor shall be at liberty to rescind the contract without paying costs
or compensation if the purchaser insists upon any requisition or
objection which the vendor is unable or, upon the ground of expense or
other reasonable ground, is unwilling to comply with or remove. Upon a
sale by auction it is the rule to require a deposit to be paid by way of
security to the vendor against default on the part of the purchaser.
Abstract of title.
Requisitions.
The signature of the agreement is followed by the delivery to the
purchaser or his solicitor of the abstract of title, which is an epitome
of the various instruments and events under and in consequence of which
the vendor derives his title. A purchaser is entitled to an abstract at
the vendor's expense unless otherwise stipulated. It begins with the
instrument fixed by the contract for the commencement of the title, or,
if there has been no agreement upon the subject, with an instrument of
such character and date as is prescribed by the law in the absence of
stipulation between the parties. From its commencement as so determined
the abstract, if properly prepared, shows the history of the title down
to the sale; every instrument, marriage, birth, death, or other fact or
event constituting a link in the chain of title, being sufficiently set
forth in its proper order. The next step is the verification of the
abstract on the purchaser's behalf by a comparison of it with the
originals of the deeds, the probates of the wills, and office copies of
the instruments of record through which the title is traced. The vendor
is bound to produce the original documents, except such as are of record
or have been lost or destroyed, but, unless otherwise stipulated, the
expense of producing those which are not in his possession falls upon
the purchaser (Conveyancing Act 1881). After being thus verified, the
abstract is perused by the purchaser's advisers with the object of
seeing whether a title to the property sold is deduced according to the
contract, and what evidence, information or objection, in respect of
matters appearing or arising upon the abstract, ought to be called for
or taken. For this purpose it is necessary to consider the legal effect
of the abstracted instruments, whether they have been properly
completed, whether incumbrances, adverse interests, defects, liabilities
in respect of duties, or any other burdens or restrictions disclosed by
the abstract, have been already got rid of or satisfied, or remain to be
dealt with before the completion of the sale. The result of the
consideration of these matters is embodied in "requisitions upon title,"
which are delivered to the vendor's solicitors within a time usually
fixed for the purpose by the contract. In making or insisting upon
requisitions regard is had, among other things, to any special
conditions in the contract dealing with points as to which evidence or
objection might otherwise have been required or taken, and to a variety
of provisions contained in the Vendor and Purchaser Act 1874, and the
Conveyancing Act 1881, which apply, except so far as otherwise agreed,
and of which the following are the most important: (1) Recitals,
statements and descriptions of facts, matters and parties contained in
instruments twenty years old at the date of the contract are, unless
proved inaccurate, to be taken as sufficient evidence of the truth of
such facts, matters and descriptions; (2) a purchaser cannot require the
production of, or make any requisition or objection in respect of, any
document dated before the commencement of the title; (3) the cost of
obtaining evidence and information not in the vendor's possession must
be borne by the purchaser. The possibility of the rescission clause now
commonly found in contracts for the sale of real estate being exercised
in order to avoid compliance with an onerous requisition, is also an
important factor in the situation. The requisitions are in due course
replied to, and further requisitions may arise out of the answers. A
summary method of obtaining a judicial determination of questions
connected with the contract, but not affecting its validity, is provided
by the Vendor and Purchaser Act 1874. Before completion it is usual for
the purchaser to cause searches to be made in various official registers
for matters required to be entered therein, such as judgments, land
charges, and pending actions, which may affect the vendor's title to
sell, or amount to an incumbrance upon the property.
Conveyances.
When the title has been approved, or so soon as it appears reasonably
certain that it will be accepted, the draft conveyance is prepared and
submitted to the vendor. This is commonly done by and at the expense of
the purchaser, who is entitled to determine the form of the conveyance,
provided that the vendor is not thereby prejudiced, or put to additional
expense. The common mode of conveying a freehold is now, as already
mentioned, by ordinary deed, called in this case an _indenture_, from
the old practice, where a deed was made between two or more parties, of
writing copies upon the same parchment and then dividing it by an
indented or toothed line. Indenting is, however, not necessary, and in
modern practice is disused. A deed derives its efficacy from its being
sealed and delivered. It is still a matter of doubt whether signing is
essential. It is not necessary that its execution should be attested
except in special circumstances, as, e.g. where made under a power
requiring the instrument exercising it to be attested. But in practice
conveyances are not only sealed, but also signed, and attested by one or
two witnesses. The details of a conveyance in any particular case depend
upon the subject-matter and terms of the sale, and the state of the
title as appearing by the abstract. The framework, however, of an
ordinary purchase-deed consists of (1) the date and parties, (2) the
recitals, (3) the testatum or witnessing-part, containing the statement
of the consideration for the sale, the words incorporating covenants for
title and the operative words, (4) the parcels or description of the
property, (5) the habendum, showing the estate or interest to be taken
by the purchaser, and (6) any provisos or covenants that may be
required. A few words will illustrate the object and effect of these
component parts.
(1) The parties are the persons from whom the property, or some estate
or interest in or in relation to it, is to pass to the purchaser, or
whose concurrence is rendered necessary by the state of the title in
order to give the purchaser the full benefit of his contract and to
complete it according to law. It is often necessary that other persons
besides the actual vendor should join in the conveyance, e.g. a
mortgagee who is to be paid off and convey his estate, a trustee of an
outstanding legal estate, a person entitled to some charge or
restriction who is to release it, or trustees who are to receive the
purchase-money where a limited owner is selling under a power (e.g. a
tenant for life under the power given by the Settled Land Act 1882).
Parties are described by their names, addresses and occupations or
titles, each person with a separate interest, or filling a distinct
character, being of a separate part. (2) The recitals explain the
circumstances of the title, the interests of the parties in relation to
the property, and the agreement or object intended to be carried into
effect by the conveyance. Where the sale is by an absolute owner there
is no need for recitals, and they are frequently dispensed with; but
where there are several parties occupying different positions, recitals
in chronological order of the instruments and facts giving rise to their
connexion with the property are generally necessary in order to make the
deed intelligible. (3) It is usual to mention the consideration. Where
it consists of money the statement of its payment is followed by an
acknowledgment, in a parenthesis, of its receipt, which, in deeds
executed since the Conveyancing Act 1881, dispenses with any endorsed or
further receipt. A vendor, who is the absolute beneficial owner, now
conveys expressly "as beneficial owner," which words, by virtue of the
Conveyancing Act 1881, imply covenants by him with the purchaser that he
has a right to convey, for quiet enjoyment, freedom from incumbrances,
and for further assurance--limited, however, to the acts and defaults of
the covenantor and those through whom he derives his title otherwise
than by purchase for value. A trustee or an incumbrancer joining in the
deed conveys "as trustee" or "as mortgagee," by which words covenants
are implied that the covenantor individually has not done or suffered
anything to incumber the property, or prevent him from conveying as
expressed. As to the operative words, any expression showing an
intention to pass the estate is effectual. Since the Conveyancing Act
1881, "convey" has become as common as "grant," which was formerly used.
(4) The property may be described either in the body of the deed or in a
schedule, or compendiously in the one and in detail in the other. In any
case it is usual to annex a plan. Different kinds of property have their
appropriate technical words of description. _Hereditaments_ is the most
comprehensive term, and is generally used either alone or in conjunction
with other words more specifically descriptive of the property conveyed.
(5) The habendum begins with the words "to hold," and the estate, on a
sale in fee-simple, is limited, as already mentioned, not only _to_, but
also _to the use of_, the purchaser. Before the Conveyancing Act 1881,
it was necessary to add, after the name of the purchaser, the words "and
his heirs," or "his heir and assigns," though the word "assigns" never
had any conveyancing force. But since that Act it is sufficient to add
"in fee-simple" without using the word "heirs." Unless, however, one or
other of these additions is made, the purchaser will even now get only
an estate for his life. If the property is to be held subject to a lease
or incumbrance, or is released by the deed from an incumbrance
previously existing, this is expressed after the words of limitation.
(6) Where any special covenants or provisions have been stipulated for,
or are required in the circumstances of the title, they are, as a rule,
inserted at the end of the conveyance. In simple cases none are needed.
Where, however, a vendor retains documents of title, which he is
entitled to do where he sells a part only of the estate to which they
relate, it is the practice for him by the conveyance to acknowledge the
right of the purchaser to production and delivery of copies of such of
them as are not instruments of record like wills or orders of court, and
to undertake for their safe custody. This acknowledgment and undertaking
supply the place of the lengthy covenants to the like effect which were
usual before the Conveyancing Act 1881. A trustee or mortgagee joining
gives an acknowledgment as to documents retained by him, but not an
undertaking. The foregoing outline of a conveyance will be illustrated
by the following specimen of a simple purchase-deed of part of an estate
belonging to an absolute owner in fee:--
THIS INDENTURE made the day of between A. B. of,
&c., of the one part and C. D. of, &c., of the other part WHEREAS the
said A. B. is seised (among other hereditaments) of the messuage
hereinafter described and hereby conveyed for an estate in fee simple
in possession free from incumbrances and has agreed to sell the same
to the said C. D. for £100 NOW THIS INDENTURE WITNESSETH that in
pursuance of the said agreement and in consideration of the sum of
£100 paid to the said A. B. by the said C. D. (the receipt whereof the
said A. B. doth hereby acknowledge) the said A. B. as beneficial owner
doth hereby convey unto the said C. D. ALL THAT messuage or tenement
situate &c., and known as, &c. TO HOLD the premises unto and to the
use of the said C. D. his heirs and assigns [_or_ in fee simple] And
the said A. B. doth hereby acknowledge the right of the said C. D. to
production and delivery of copies of the following documents of title
[_mentioning them_] and doth undertake for the safe custody thereof IN
WITNESS, &c.
It will be observed that throughout the deed there are no stops, the
commencement of the several parts being indicated by capital letters.
The draft conveyance having been approved on behalf of the vendor, it is
engrossed upon stout paper or parchment, and there remains only the
completion of the sale, which usually takes place at the office of the
vendor's solicitor. A purchaser is not entitled to require the vendor to
attend personally and execute the conveyance in his presence or that of
his solicitor. The practice is for the deed to be previously executed by
the vendor and delivered to his solicitor, and for the solicitor to
receive the purchase-money on his client's behalf, since a purchaser is,
under the Conveyancing Act 1881, safe in paying the purchase-money to a
solicitor producing a deed so executed, when it contains the usual
acknowledgment by the vendor of the receipt of the money. Upon the
completion, the documents of title are handed over except in the case
above referred to, and any claims between the parties in respect of
interest upon the purchase-money, apportioned outgoings, or otherwise,
are settled. The conveyance is, of course, delivered to the purchaser,
upon whom rests the obligation of affixing the proper stamp--which he
may do without penalty within thirty days after execution (Stamp Act
1891). It may be added that, subject to any special bargain, which is
rarely made, the costs of the execution by the vendor and other parties
whose concurrence is necessary, and of any act required to be done by
the vendor to carry out his contract, are borne by the vendor.
Leases.
Ordinary leases at rack-rents are not generally preceded by a formal
agreement, such as is common on a sale of land, or by an investigation
into the lessor's title. As a rule, the principal terms are arranged
between the parties, and embodied with various ancillary provisions in a
draft lease, which is prepared by the lessor's advisers and submitted to
the lessee, the ultimate form and contents of the instrument being
adjusted by negotiation. If an intending lessee desires to examine the
title he must make an express bargain to that effect, for under a
contract to grant a lease the intended lessee is not entitled, in the
absence of such express stipulation, to call for the title to the
freehold (Vendor and Purchaser Act 1874). By the Statute of Frauds all
leases, except leases for a term not exceeding three years, and at not
less than two-thirds of the rack-rent, were required to be in writing.
And now by the Real Property Act 1845, leases required by law to be in
writing are void _at law_ unless made by deed. An instrument, void as a
lease under the act, may, however, be valid as an agreement to take a
lease; and since the Judicature Act 1873, under which equitable
doctrines prevail in the High Court, a person holding under an agreement
for a lease, of which specific performance would be granted, is treated
in all branches of that court as if such a lease were already executed.
Unless otherwise agreed, a lease is always prepared by a lessor's
solicitor at the expense of the lessee; but the cost of the counterpart
(i.e. the duplicate executed by the lessee) is usually borne by the
lessor.
Assignment of leaseholds.
Upon the sale and conveyance of a leasehold property substantially the
same procedure is observed as above indicated in the case of a freehold.
A few additional points, however, may be specially mentioned. Under an
open contract the vendor cannot be called upon to show the title to the
freehold reversion (Vendor and Purchaser Act 1874; Conveyancing Act
1881). Accordingly, the abstract of title begins with the lease, however
old; but the subsequent title need not be carried back for more than
forty years before the sale. The purchaser, apart from stipulation, must
assume, unless the contrary appears, that the lease was duly granted,
and upon production of the receipt for the last payment due for rent
before completion, that all the covenants and provisions of the lease
have been duly performed and observed up to the date of actual
completion. The appropriate word of conveyance is "assign," and a
conveyance of leaseholds is generally called an assignment. The vendor's
covenants for title implied by his assigning "as beneficial owner"
include, in addition to the covenants implied by those words in a
conveyance of freehold, a covenant limited in manner above mentioned,
that the lease is valid, and that the rent and the provisions of the
lease have been paid and observed up to the time of conveyance
(Conveyancing Act 1881). Where the vendor, as is the common case,
remains liable after the assignment for the rent and the performance of
the covenants, the purchaser must covenant to pay the rent, and perform
and observe the covenants and provisions of the lease, and keep the
vendor indemnified in those respects.
Mortgages.
A mortgage is prepared by the solicitor of the mortgagee, and the
mortgagor bears the whole expenses of the transaction. It is seldom that
there is any preliminary agreement, because (1) a contract to lend money
is not specifically enforceable; and (2) inasmuch as the primary object
of a mortgagee is to have his money well secured, he is not, generally,
willing to submit to restrictions as to title or evidence of title which
might give rise to difficulty or expense in the event of a sale of the
mortgaged property. An intending mortgagor is accordingly required to
show a title easily marketable, and to verify it at his own cost. A
mortgage follows the same general form as a conveyance on sale, the
principal points of difference being that the conveyance of the property
is preceded by a covenant for the payment of the mortgage money and
interest, and followed by a proviso for reconveyance upon such payment,
and by any special provisions necessary or proper in the circumstances,
such as a covenant for insurance and repairs where the security
comprises buildings. The covenants for title implied by a mortgagor
conveying "as beneficial owner" are the same as in the case of a vendor,
but they are absolute and not qualified in the manner above pointed out.
The beneficial operation of the Conveyancing Act 1881 in shortening
conveyances is well illustrated by a modern mortgage. For, by virtue
of the act, a mortgagee by deed executed after its commencement has,
subject to any contrary provisions contained in the deed, the
following powers to the like extent as if they had been conferred in
terms: (1) a power of sale exercisable after the mortgage money has
become due (a) if notice requiring payment has been served and not
complied with for three months, (b) if any interest is in arrear for
two months, or (c) there has been a breach of some obligation under
the deed or the act other than the covenant for payment of the
mortgage money or interest; (2) a power to insure subject to certain
restrictions; (3) a power, when entitled to sell, to appoint a
receiver; and (4) a power while in possession to cut and sell timber.
The act contains ancillary provisions enabling a mortgagee upon a sale
to convey the property for such estate or interest as is the subject
of the mortgage, and to give a valid receipt for the purchase-money,
and the purchaser is amply protected against any irregularities of
which he had no notice. There are also large powers of leasing
conferred by the act upon mortgagor and mortgagee while respectively
in possession, and a power for the mortgagor, whilst entitled to
redeem, to inspect and take copies of title-deeds in the mortgagee's
possession. The elaborate provisions for all these purposes which were
formerly inserted in mortgage deeds are now omitted; but sometimes the
operation of the act is modified in certain respects. The procedure
upon a sale by a mortgagee is the same as in the case of any other
vendor. He conveys, however, "as mortgagee," these words implying only
a covenant by him against incumbrances arising from his own acts.
Settlements.
The frame of a strict settlement of real estate, which is usually made
either on marriage or by way of resettlement on a tenant in tail under
an existing settlement attaining twenty-one, has been much simplified;
but such settlements still remain the most technical and most
complicated of legal instruments. By virtue of the Settled Land Acts
1882 to 1890, tenants for life and many other limited owners have
extensive powers of sale, of leasing, and of doing numerous other acts
required in a due course of management. These powers cannot be excluded
or fettered by settlors. They are, as a rule, considered in practice to
be sufficient, and the corresponding elaborate provisions formerly
inserted in settlements are now omitted, the operation of the acts being
merely supplemented, where desirable, by some extension of the statutory
powers, in relation, e.g., to the investment and application of capital
money. To complete the statutory machinery it is desirable that persons
should be nominated by the settlement trustees for the purposes of the
acts. Since the Conveyancing Act 1881, provisions for the protection of
jointresses or persons entitled under settlements to rent charges or
annual sums issuing out of the land are no longer required, as all such
persons have now powers of distress and entry, and of limiting terms to
secure their respective interests. Terms for raising portions must
still, however, be expressly created. The Conveyancing Act 1881 also
confers large powers of management during the minorities of infants
beneficially entitled upon persons either appointed for the purpose by
the instrument or being such trustees such as are mentioned in § 42. An
estate in tail may now be limited by the use of the words "in tail"
without the words "heirs of the body" formerly necessary. And a settlor
generally conveys "as settlor," by which only a covenant for further
assurance is implied under the Conveyancing Act 1881. Personal
settlements are most often made upon marriage. The settled property is
vested in trustees, either by the settlement itself, or in the case of
cash, mortgage debts, stocks or shares, by previous delivery or
transfer, upon trusts declared by the instrument.
The normal trusts after the marriage are (1) for investment; (2) for
payment of the income of the husband's property to him for life, and
of the wife's property to her for life for her separate use without
power of anticipation whilst under coverture; (3) for payment to the
survivor for his or her life of the income of both properties; (4)
after the death of the survivor, both as to capital and income, for
the issue of the marriage as the husband and wife shall jointly by
deed appoint, and in default of joint appointment as the survivor
shall by deed or will appoint, and in default of such appointment for
the children of the marriage who attain twenty-one, or being daughters
marry, in equal shares, with the addition of a clause (called the
hotchpot clause) precluding a child who or whose issue takes a part of
the fund by appointment from sharing in the unappointed part without
bringing the appointed share into account. Then follows a power for
the trustees with the consent of the parents whilst respectively
living to raise a part (usually a half) of the share of a child and
apply it for his or her advancement or benefit. Power to apply income,
after the death of the life tenants, for the maintenance and education
of infants entitled in expectancy, is conferred upon trustees by the
Conveyancing Act 1881. The ultimate trusts in the event of there being
no children who attain vested interests are (1) of the husband's
property for him absolutely; and (2) of the wife's property for such
persons as she shall when discovert by deed, or whether covert or
discovert by will, appoint, and in default of appointment, for her
absolutely if she survive the husband, but if not, then for her next
of kin under the Statute of Distributions, excluding the husband. For
all ordinary purposes the trustees have now under various statutes
sufficient powers and indemnities. They may, however, in some cases
need special protection against liability. A power of appointing new
trustees is supplied by the Trustee Act 1893. It is usually made
exercisable by the husband and wife during their joint lives, and by
the survivor during his or her life.
Wills.
The form and contents of wills are extremely diverse. A will of,
perhaps, the commonest type (a) appoints executors and trustees; (b)
makes a specific disposition of a freehold or leasehold residence; (c)
gives a few legacies or annuities; and (d) devises and bequeaths to the
executors and trustees the residue of the real and personal estate upon
trust to sell and convert, to invest the proceeds (after payment of
debts and funeral and testamentary expenses) in a specified manner, to
pay the income of the investments to the testator's widow for life or
until another marriage, and subject to her interest, to hold the capital
and income in trust for his children who attain twenty-one, or being
daughters marry, in equal shares, with a power of advancement.
Daughters' shares are frequently settled by testators upon them and
their issue on the same lines and with the same statutory incidents as
above mentioned in the observations upon settlements; and sometimes a
will contains in like manner a strict settlement of real estate. It is a
point often overlooked by testators desirous of benefiting remote
descendants that future interests in property must, under what is known
as the rule against perpetuities, be restricted within a life or lives
in being and twenty-one years afterwards. In disposing of real estate
"devise" is the appropriate word of conveyance, and of personal estate
"bequeath." But neither word is at all necessary. "I leave all I have to
A. B. and appoint him my executor" would make an effectual will for a
testator who wished to give all his property, whether real or personal,
after payment of his debts, to a single person. By virtue of the Land
Transfer Act 1897, Part I., real estate of an owner dying after 1897 now
vests for administrative purposes in his executors or administrators,
notwithstanding any testamentary disposition.
It remains to mention that by the Land Transfer Act 1897 a system of
compulsory registration of title, limited to the county of London, was
established. (See LAND REGISTRATION.)
_Conveyancing counsel to the court_ (i.e. to the chancery division of
the High Court) are certain counsel, in actual practice as
conveyancers, of not less than ten years' standing, who are appointed
by the lord chancellor, to the number of six, under s. 40 of the
Master in Chancery Abolition Act 1852. They are appointed for the
purpose of assisting the court in the investigation of the title to
any estate, and upon their opinion the court or any judge thereof may
act. Any party who objects to the opinion given by any conveyancing
counsel may have the point in dispute disposed of by the judge at
chambers or in court. Business to be referred to conveyancing counsel
is distributed among them in rotation, and their fees are regulated by
the taxing officers.
_United States._--American legislation favours the general policy of
registering all documents in the contents of which the public have an
interest, and its tendency has been steadily towards more and more full
registration both of documents and statistics. From the early days of
the colonial era it has been customary to record wills and conveyances
of real estate in full in public books, suitably indexed, to which free
access was given. During the last decade of the 19th century, three
states--Illinois, Massachusetts, and Ohio--adopted the main features of
the Torrens or Prussian system for registering title to land rather than
conveyances under which title may be claimed. These are the
ascertainment by public officers of the state of the title to some or
all of the parcels of real estate which are the subject of individual
property within the state; the description of each parcel (giving its
proper boundaries and characteristics) on a separate page of a public
register, and of the manner in which the title is vested; the issue of a
certificate to the owner that he is the owner; the official notation on
this register of each change of title thereafter; and a warranty by the
government of the title to which it may have certified. To make the
system complete it is further requisite that every landowner should be
compelled to make use of it, and that it should be impossible to
transfer a title effectually without the issue of such a government
certificate in favour of the purchaser.
Constitutional provisions have been found to prevent or embarrass
legislation in these directions in some of the states, but it is
believed that they are nowhere such as cannot be obeyed without any
serious encroachment on the principles of the new system (_People_ v.
_Chase_, 165 Illinois Reports, 527; _State_ v. _Guilbert_, 56 Ohio State
Reports, 575; _People_ v. _Simon_, 176 Illinois Reports, 165; _Tyler_ v.
_Judges_, 173 Massachusetts Reports; 55 North-Eastern Reporter, 812;
_Hamilton_ v. _Brown_, 161 United States Reports, 256).
Conveyances which have been duly recorded become of comparatively little
importance in the United States. The party claiming immediately under
them, if forced to sue to vindicate his title, must produce them or
account for their loss; but any one deriving title from him can procure
a certified copy of the original conveyance from the recording officer
and rely on that. Equitable mortgages by a deposit of title-deeds are
unknown.
The general prevalence of public registry systems has had an influence
in the development of American jurisprudence in the direction of
supporting provisions in wills and conveyances, which, unless generally
known, might tend to mislead and deceive, such as spendthrift trusts
(_Nichols_ v. _Eaton_, 91 United States Reports, 716).
Conveyances of real estate are simple in form, and are often prepared by
those who have had no professional training for the purpose. Printed
blanks, sold at the law-stationers, are commonly employed. The lawyers
in each state have devised forms for such blanks, sometimes peculiar in
some points to the particular state, and sometimes copied verbatim from
those in use elsewhere. Deeds intended to convey an absolute estate are
generally either of the form known as _warranty deed_ or of that known
as _release deed_. The release deed is often used as a primary
conveyance without warranty to one who has no prior interest in the
land. Uniformity in deeds is rendered particularly desirable from the
general prevalence of the system of recording all conveyances at length
in a public office. Record books are printed for this purpose,
containing printed pages corresponding to the printed blanks in use in
the particular state, and the recording officer simply has to fill up
each page as the deed of similar form was filled up. One set of books
may thus be kept for recording warranty deeds, another for recording
release deeds, another for recording mortgage deeds, another for leases,
&c.
AUTHORITIES.--Davidson, _Precedents and Forms in Conveyancing_
(London, 1877 and 1885); Key and Elphinstone, _Compendium of
Precedents in Conveyancing_ (London, 1904); Elphinstone, _Introduction
to Conveyancing_ (London, 1900); Prideaux, _Precedents in
Conveyancing_ (1904); Pollock, _The Land Laws_ (London, 1896).
(S. WA.; S. E. B.)
CONVEYORS. "Conveyor" (for derivation see CONVEYANCE) is a term
generally applied to mechanical devices designed for the purpose of
moving material in a horizontal or slightly inclined direction; in this
article, however, are included a variety of appliances for moving
materials in horizontal, vertical and combined horizontal and vertical
directions. The material so handled may be conveyed in a practically
uninterrupted stream, as in the case of worms, bands and pushplate
conveyors, or elevators carrying grain or coal, &c.; or it may be
conveyed from one point to another, intermittently, that is to say in a
succession of separate loads, as happens with single bucket elevators,
furnace hoists, rope and chain haulage, and also in the case of ropeways
and aerial cableways. Some of these devices are of great antiquity,
others are of quite modern origin. The principles of their construction
are simple and easy of understanding, but by variations in the details
of their construction the engineer has adapted these few appliances to
the most varied work. At one end of the scale they may be used for such
light duties as conveying the goods purchased by a customer to the
packers and bringing them back made up into a parcel or for taking his
money to the cashier and returning the change. At the other they are
adopted for handling large quantities of heavy material at a minimum
expenditure of human labour. Coal, for instance, a more or less friable
substance, the value of which is seriously diminished by fracture, may
be mechanically handled with a minimum risk of breakage. The difficult
problem of handling the contents of gas retorts and coke ovens, and of
simultaneously quenching and conveying the glowing material, has been
solved. Perhaps an even more astonishing piece of work is the
manipulation of the iron from the blast furnace; for instance, liquid
metal is drawn from a furnace into pouring pots which in their turn
discharge it to and distribute it over a pig-iron casting machine, which
is practically a conveyor for liquid metal, consisting of a strand of
moving moulds from which the solidified pigs, after cooling in water,
are automatically removed after reaching the loading terminal over the
railway trucks. Certain types of conveyors may be made to combine
efficiently, with their primary work of transport, complex sorting,
sifting, drying and weighing operations.
_Worm Conveyors._--The worm conveyor, also known as the Archimedean
screw, is doubtless the most ancient form of conveyor. It consists of a
continuous or broken blade screw set on a spindle. This spindle is made
to revolve in a suitable trough, and as it revolves any material put in
is propelled by the screw from one end of the trough to the other. Such
conveyors have been used in flour-mills for centuries. The writer has
seen in an East Anglian mill which was over 250 years old disused screw
conveyors, probably as old as the mill, consisting of spindles of
octagonal shape, made of not too hard wood, around which a broken blade
screw was formed by the insertion at regular intervals of small blades
of hard wood (fig. 1). Modern worm conveyors usually consist of a
spindle formed of a length of wrought iron piping, to which is fitted
either a broken or continuous worm. In the former case (fig. 2) the worm
is composed of a series of blades or paddles arranged like a spiral
round the spindle; each blade is fixed, by means of its shank, in a
transverse hole in the spindle, and the shank is held in position by
being tapped and fitted with a nut. In this way is formed, out of
separate blades, a practically complete screw, technically known as a
"paddle worm." The lengths or sections of the worm run to about 8 ft.,
the various lengths being coupled by turned gudgeons, which also serve
as journals for the bearings. In the so-called continuous worm conveyors
the screw is formed of a continuous sheet-iron spiral (fig. 3).
Sometimes a narrow groove is cut in spiral form on the spindle, and in
this groove the sheet-iron spiral is secured.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Early Flour Mill Conveyor.[1]]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Paddle Worm Conveyor.]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Continuous Worm Conveyor.]
The _spiral_ or _anti-friction_ conveyor (fig. 4) was introduced about
1887. In this case a narrow spiral, which passes concentrically round
the spindle, with a space between both, is fixed to it at set intervals
by small blades, each of which is itself fixed by its shank and a nut to
the spindle. The spiral may be made of almost any section, from a round
bar about ½ in. in diameter to L or T section, but is preferably a flat
bar. Worms are fitted into wooden or iron troughs leaving a clearance of
1/8 to 1/4 in. The spindle must be supported at suitable intervals by
bearings, preferably of the bush type. A continuous worm, being more
rigid than a paddle worm, needs fewer supports. The lid of the worm
trough should be loose, not screwed on, because in case of an
accumulation of feed through a choke in a delivery spout the paddles of
a paddle worm would be broken, or a continuous worm stripped, unless the
material could throw off the lid and relieve the worm. The ratios of the
pitch of the worm to the diameter must be regulated by the nature of the
material to be conveyed, and will vary from one-third to a pitch equal
to, or even exceeding, the diameter. The greater the pitch the larger
the capacity, but also the greater the driving power required, at the
same speed. For handling materials of greater specific gravity, such as
cement, &c., it is advisable to use a smaller pitch than for substances
of lower specific gravity, such as grain. The capacity of a continuous
worm exceeds that of either a paddle or spiral conveyor of the same
diameter, pitch and speed. As regards the relative efficiency of paddle
and spiral conveyors a series of careful tests made by the writer
indicated that, run at a slow speed the paddle worm, but at a high speed
the spiral worm, has the greater efficiency. There is of course a speed
at which the efficiency of both types is about equal, and that is at 150
revolutions per minute for conveyors 4 to 6 in. in diameter.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Spiral or Anti-Friction Conveyor.]
The power necessary to drive worm conveyors under normal conditions is
very considerable; a continuous worm of 18 to 20 in. diameter running at
60 revolutions per minute will convey 50 tons of grain per hour over a
distance of a hundred feet at an expenditure of 18½ to 19 H.P. A
material like cement would require rather more power because of the
greater friction of the cement against the blades and the trough.
Delivery from a worm conveyor can be effected at any desired point, all
that is necessary being to cut an outlet, which should preferably be as
wide as the diameter of the worm, because the worm delivers only on its
leading side, and is practically empty on the other side, so that a
smaller outlet might only give exit to a portion of the feed, unless it
was on the leading side.
A special form of worm conveyor is the _tubular_ (fig. 5), which
consists of an iron tube with a continuous spiral fitted to its inner
periphery, or of iron or wooden tubes of square sections fitted with
fixed baffle plates inside. In working it revolves bodily on suitable
rollers. This type is more costly than the ordinary worm conveyors, and
also requires more power. Its efficiency is, moreover, easily impaired
if run at too high a speed, because the centrifugal force asserts itself
and counteracts the propulsion, which in this case is effected by
gravity. Some experiments made in 1868 by George Fosbery Lyster,
engineer of the Liverpool docks, gave convincing results (see _Proc.
Inst. Mech. Eng._, August 1869). The tubular worm conveyor is suitable
where a granular material has to be moved over a comparatively short
distance, say from one building to another on the same level, and where
no bridge is available for the installation of any other kind of
conveyor. Conveyors of this type have, however, come into use for
conveying hard and cutting substances over considerable lengths.
Ordinary worm conveyors are practically debarred from use for such
substances on account of the short life of the intermediate bearings,
which are not necessary with externally supported tubular worms.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Tubular Worm Conveyor.]
To sum up, worm conveyors are of the simplest construction and of small
prime cost. The terminals again are much less expensive than those of
most other kinds of conveyors. When the distance to be traversed by the
material is short, the worm conveyor has this advantage, that it is
cheaper than other kinds of conveyors. If it be desired not only to
convey but also to mix two or more materials, such as cement and sand in
a dry state, or poultry food, this appliance is thoroughly well adapted
for the work. On the other hand, there is a grinding action exercised on
any material conveyed, and when hard or cutting substances are handled
the wear and tear on the conveyor blades, trough and bearings is very
great, and the power absorbed by a worm conveyor is a sensible item.
_Band Conveyors._--The inventor of band conveyors for the handling of
grain and minerals was G. F. Lyster, who, as already mentioned, in 1868
carried out exhaustive experiments at the Liverpool docks, where he
established the band conveyor as a grain-handler. For granaries the band
conveyor is an ideal appliance. Its capacity is great, and it can be run
at relatively high speeds with a moderate expenditure of power. The band
conveyor of to-day is an endless belt of canvas or more often
india-rubber with insertion, and when fitted with the usual receiving
and delivery appliances can be used to handle grain from or into
granaries and also to feed bins or sections of a warehouse. The endless
bands run over terminal pulleys, and are also supported on their way by
a series of guide rollers, which are in greater number on the loaded
than on the empty strand. The band is usually run quite flat, except
that at the point or points where the grain is fed on it is slightly
hollowed for a few feet, by means of two curving rolls which are set
obliquely so as to make it trough-shaped. The supporting or guide
rollers are 4 in. to 6 in. in diameter, and are sometimes made of wood,
but more often consist of steel tubes to which spindles with conical end
gudgeons are secured. The gudgeons generally run in suitable
bush-bearings, which should be well lubricated. Band conveyors should be
driven on the delivery and not the receiving terminal, as the tight side
of the band is the flattest. The guide rollers, for ordinary grain
conveyors, are fitted to the upper or working side of the band at
intervals of about 6 ft., and at distances of 12 ft. on the lower or
return strand. In cases where both strands of the band are used for
carrying grain, the lower strand must be supported by as many rollers as
the upper. Under such conditions, terminal pulleys must be of larger
diameter than usual, the object being to throw the two strands farther
apart, so as to give sufficient space between the two strands to spout
the feed in and out again at the other end. The two strands can be run
any distance apart by the use of two additional pulleys for the
terminals. This arrangement would be in place where it was desired, as
it might be, to run one strand of the band along the top floor of the
granary to distribute, while the other strand travelled along the
ground-floor or basement to withdraw, the grain.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Throw-off Carriage for Band Conveyor.]
Band conveyors are kept tight, when the band is not very long, by a
tightening gear, similar to that used on elevators, and consisting of
two screws which push or better pull the two pedestals of one terminal
pulley farther away from the other terminal. If the band is of such
length that an adjustment of 4 to 5 ft. on the tightening gear is not
sufficient, it is advisable to use in place of screws a tightening
pulley, over which the belt passes, but which is itself held in
tension by weights. The choice of the exact tightening gear will
depend on various considerations, the length of the belt, the type of
throw-off carriage used, and the quality of the belt all being factors
to be considered. The throw-off carriage (fig. 6), which serves to
withdraw material from the band at any desired point, is a simple but
ingenious appliance consisting essentially of guide pulleys which by
raising one part of the band and lowering the other have the effect of
causing the grain to quit the surface of the band at the point where
it is deflected upwards. The grain is thus cast clear of the band, and
into the air, being caught as it falls in a hopper and spouted in any
desired direction. Throw-off carriages differ in certain details, but
the principle is the same. For feeding a band conveyor it is important
to give the material a horizontal velocity, approaching that of the
band. The grain should therefore be fed through a spout rather less in
breadth than half of the width of the band, and set at an incline of
42½° to the horizontal. Band conveyors run at a speed of 400 to 600
ft. per minute, according to the nature of the material; oats, for
instance, would be liable to be blown off the band at a speed in
excess of 500, which would be suitable for wheat. Nuts, maize and the
heavier seeds could be carried at 600. The power consumption by a
grain-laden band compares favourably with any other form of conveyor.
An 18-in. band 100 ft. in length running 500 ft. per minute would
carry 50 tons per hour at an expenditure of only 4.5 H.P.
While the band conveyor is an ideal conveyor in warehouses and mills, it
is also capable of rendering good service in handling such heavy
materials as coal and minerals. Of course for such purposes the band and
its fittings must be of much more substantial construction. The central
portions of the band carrying the load, being subjected to great wear
and tear, are often made of solid india-rubber extending to nearly half
the thickness of the band in the middle, and tapering off towards the
edges, while the surface facing the guide rollers is of insertion coated
with india-rubber. Bands properly prepared and stretched will bear a
strain of 3 tons to the square inch. Balata bands may be used in place
of india-rubber, but though less expensive are not so lasting. Bands
that have to carry coal or minerals are usually curved along the entire
length of the upper or loaded strand into a trough shape by guide
rollers (fig. 7). Bands of woven wire are sometimes used with
coal-washing plants, but have the disadvantage of lack of durability.
They are more liable to stretch and are high in price. They may be run
as high as about 600 ft. per minute, but to ensure proper grip-driving
terminals must either be faced with leather or made of wood.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.]
The speed of band conveyors loaded with coal or minerals greatly depends
on the size of the fragments; the proper speed for large pieces would be
150-200 ft. per minute, while smaller material could be carried at a
maximum velocity of 700-750 ft. Band conveyors will carry in an upward
direction, up to 24 degrees, without any loss of capacity. They can be
used not only to carry light and heavy bodies, such as grain and coal,
in a continuous stream, but also to convey relatively large bodies such
as sacks of flour, or cement, &c., intermittently. Thus a band 26 in.
wide and 350 ft. long is used at a flour-mill in York to load sacks of
flour into railway trucks; by this means 12 wagons can be loaded by two
men in 1 hour. Band conveyors are not necessarily fixed in one place. A
portable model has rendered good service in tunnel-cutting, mining and
quarrying. This band is mounted in a light steel frame, itself fitted
with small wheels, so as to be readily put in any required position, and
is entirely self-contained, being provided with tightening gear, a small
motor, &c. If required, several lengths can be joined together, or one
band can deliver upon another at a lower level. The same advantages that
attend the use of the band-conveyor for handling grain may be claimed
for this appliance when carrying coal and heavy bodies, namely the
demand for relatively small power, smooth and noiseless work, and gentle
handling of material. On the other hand the feed cannot be withdrawn at
intermediate points except by means of a throw-off carriage. The
numerous bearings of the guide rollers require careful lubrication, and
the rubber bands should be protected as much as possible from changes of
temperature.
The _metal band_ or belt conveyor, a modification of the rubber or
canvas band conveyors, is an endless belt composed of iron plates
connected to endless chains, usually of malleable cast iron, running
under the plates. Such appliances, being obviously more cumbrous than
band conveyors, are only used in handling material of a hard and cutting
nature. They usually deliver only at the end, but if intermediate
delivery be desired a scraper may be so fixed across the band at a given
point, at an angle of 45°, as to scrape the whole or part of the feed
into a shoot, or a scraper may be mounted obliquely on a suitable
carriage which can be moved to any points at which delivery may be
required. In some bands of this type supporting rollers are attached to
the links and travel with them, or are fixed to the framing so that the
band runs over them, an arrangement which has the advantage of
economizing driving power and of promoting smooth running. Metal band
conveyors are tightened in the same way as textile or rubber bands, and
may run at a speed of 60 to 120 ft. per minute. The driving gear must
always be placed at the delivery terminal, so that the loaded strand is
in tension. Such appliances are often used as sorting tables or picking
bands, for instance, for coal, cement, minerals, &c.
In another modification of the metal band conveyor, the _travelling
trough_ conveyor, the sides of each plate are turned up so as to form
the conveying surface of the band into a continuous trough. With this
arrangement intermediate delivery is impossible, as the sides of the
trough will not allow the use of a scraper. As compared with push-plate
conveyors (which consist of scrapers mounted on endless travelling
chains that run usually in troughs), travelling trough conveyors are
gentle handlers of material.
A conveyor which is capable of dealing with many different kinds of
material is known as the _vibrating trough_ conveyor. It is so far like
the band and travelling trough conveyor that the material it conveys
from one point to another is conveyed without the use of any stirring or
pushing agent, such as belong to worm, push-plate and cable trough
conveyors. For materials requiring gentle treatment, this type of
conveyor is eminently suitable. There are different kinds of vibrating
trough conveyors. In one type the trough is caused to make a
reciprocating motion by means of a crank and connecting rod, the trough
itself being supported on rollers. In another type the trough is
actuated by a cam, or by cranks with some kind of quick return motion.
In the appliance known as the Zimmer or swinging conveyor the trough is
supported in its reciprocating motion by means of laminated spring legs
set obliquely to the trough. These legs are securely bolted at one end
to the floor or any other solid support, and at the other end to the
trough itself; hence no lubrication is required, as would be the case
with supporting rollers. Moreover the combined action of the
reciprocating motion of the crank and the rocking of the spring legs has
the effect of causing the material to travel faster in the trough with a
given stroke of the crank than would be the case with any other support.
The material to be conveyed is not carried along with its support as in
the case of a band or travelling trough conveyor, but is caused to move
in a series of hops, to use popular language.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Swinging or Zimmer Conveyor.]
The action will be sufficiently explained by the appended diagram
(fig. 8), which, however, is exaggerated to give a clearer idea of the
actual movements, which are on quite a small scale. The line AB
represents the bottom of the trough, while CC are two of the spring
legs; the full lines indicate the spring legs at the extreme backward
position of the crank, while the dotted lines show the spring legs and
bottom of the trough at the extreme forward position of the crank D.
The material to be conveyed, represented by E, is thrown forward by
the forward movement of the crank, and describes a short parabolic
curve; it is thrown at about a right angle to the inclined legs CC,
but before it has time to complete its parabolic course, the trough
has been moved by the crank into its original position. As soon as the
material has dropped down, the trough makes another forward movement,
whereupon the material is thrown forward another stage, and this
process, which is continually repeated, as indicated by the letters
E1, E2, E3, has the effect of carrying or conveying the material in
the direction desired. It is important to note that the actual
movement both of trough and material is within narrow bounds; the
horizontal movement of the trough is only about 1 in., while the
vertical or upward movement is about 1/8 in. The material is conveyed
by this vibrating trough with a minimum of friction, as it is evident
that the material is carried forward without any contact with the
trough, while the very nature of the motion precludes injurious
friction between the particles themselves. When the trough is full the
material will move as it were in a solid mass.
An important improvement in this type of vibrating trough conveyor is
the balanced conveyor, in which the trough is made in two sections,
one being placed at a slightly lower level than the other, so that
one-half may deliver into the other half. The two sections are driven
by triple or quadruple cranks set at an angle of about 180° to one
another. In this case one-half of the conveyor will move forward while
the other moves backward, thus balancing each other (fig. 9). At the
same time the material keeps moving in the same direction because all
the spring legs are of the same inclination. It is usual to drive
balanced conveyors at or near the centre of their length, but they may
also be driven from one end, in which case the balancing of the
conveyor would be effected by a powerful volute spring which is
compressed and released by a crank and connecting rod, in place of
being connected to one-half of the conveyor. Two sections of a Zimmer
conveyor can be made to run in opposite directions by merely reversing
the inclination of the spring legs; in such a case the sections of a
trough would be connected by a flexible coupling. Conveyors of this
type have been used in lengths up to 500 ft., and in widths of over 6
ft. The feed can be received or discharged at any desired point in the
length; for drawing off material at intermediate points it is only
necessary to open a slide in the bottom of the trough. If a great
increase be desired in the capacity of this conveyor the connecting
rod may be attached, not to the trough at all, but to the spring legs
at a point of about a third or half-way from the base, so that the
free ends of the legs can swing the trough backward and forward; by
this means the stroke is amplified and consequently the capacity is
increased, while the driving power required is practically the same.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.]
The power absorbed by the Zimmer conveyor is comparatively small; a
length of 100 ft. conveying a load of 50 tons per hour takes 8.75 h.p.
With a speed of 300-370 revolutions per minute of the conveyor, the
material will traverse 40-70 ft. per minute. The gentle action of this
appliance has caused it to be largely used in dealing with friable
materials, such as coal. The simplicity of the mechanism leaves little
to get out of order, and the entire absence of travelling gear, such
as supporting rollers, is a valuable feature. The capacity of the
conveyor may be sensibly increased by running it on a downward
gradient, while the capacity will be correspondingly diminished by
working in an upward direction. Among many purposes for which this
type of conveyor has been found suitable is that of a drainer in
connexion with coal-washing plants. A perforated plate at the head
will allow the water to escape, while the coal is carried to the other
end. A slight upward slant permits the water left with the coal to run
back and escape. In colliery work this conveyor makes a suitable
picking table. The motion of the trough, while not so fast as to
baffle the pickers, has the advantage of uniformly spreading the lumps
of coal. This apparatus also lends itself to the grading of coal. All
that is necessary is to fit the trough with a sieve which divides it
into an upper and lower deck. The coarser material passes along the
top of the sieve, while the finer coal, sifted out by the
perforations, travels along the bottom of the trough till discharged.
In spite of the gentle propelling action of this conveyor, it has a
thorough sifting action; a perforated plate from 10 to 12 ft. long is
usually sufficient to separate any desired grade, and at a certain
Belgian colliery a conveyor of this type fitted with grading sieves
feeds seven trucks standing in a row, but each on a different siding,
and each taking coal of a different size. This conveyor has been found
useful both as a drying and cooling appliance. Several substances of a
sticky nature, such as moist sugar, which are difficult to deal with
mechanically, can be efficiently handled by the swinging conveyor.
The _gravity_ or _tilting bucket_ conveyor can be used as a combined
elevator and conveyor. It consists essentially of two endless chains or
ropes held at fixed distances apart by suitable bars which are fitted
with small rollers at each end. Every link, or second link, carries a
bucket, and the whole forms an endless chain of buckets. But these
buckets, unlike elevator buckets, which are bolted on to a band or
chain, are free to move on the axis on which they are suspended above
their centre of gravity. When the conveyor is at work the buckets will
always be in an upright position, whether the motion be vertical or
horizontal. Each bucket carries its load to the point at which delivery
is required, where an adjustable tippling device is ready to catch and
tilt the bucket, thus emptying it. This type of conveyor is chiefly used
in connexion with coal stores and boiler houses, where it has undeniable
advantages. For instance, in feeding overhead bunkers a well-designed
gravity bucket conveyor may do the work of (1) a horizontal conveyor in
bringing coal from the railway siding, (2) a vertical elevator in
raising it to the bunkers, and (3) a horizontal conveyor in distributing
it to the respective bunkers. In some cases the returning empty strand
of buckets is used to clear the ashes from under the boilers.
Conveyors of this type run at a mean rate of 40 ft. per minute, and if
it be desired to attain a given capacity the size of the buckets must be
adapted to the increased load as an increase of speed for a higher
capacity is impracticable. The power absorbed is not great, the heaviest
demand on the motive force being made by the elevating operation. Such
conveyors have the merit of handling the material gently, while feeding
and discharging can take place at any point. There are many journals to
be looked after, but in the most approved systems their lubrication is
effected automatically. Whilst such a plant has the advantage of
requiring only one driving gear, a breakdown at one point of the
installation means the stoppage of the whole.
Among typical conveyors on this system is the Hunt conveyor (fig. 10),
which consists of a double link carrying a series of pivoted buckets
which are free to revolve on their axes at all points, except at that
point at which they discharge. This operation is effected by a cam
action, the buckets on their release righting themselves and becoming
ready for refilling. The driving gear propels the chain by means of
pawls which engage with the cross studs of the chain and have a
central thrusting action. Another well-known appliance of this type is
the pan bucket conveyor. This consists of a continuous trough built in
sections and supported on axles and guide wheels running on suitable
rails. There is one axle to each section, and in each section of the
trough a bucket is pivoted to the sides. There are several other
conveyors of this type, amongst which the "Tipit" should be mentioned.
For the Bousse gravity conveyor it is claimed that it will go round
any curve backwards or forwards in both planes, and is therefore
adaptable for installations when the typical gravity bucket would be
useless. The buckets of this conveyor are coupled together by a link
in the middle, which obviously allows more latitude in negotiating
curves than the double chain of most of the other types.
_Pneumatic Grain Elevators_ have been employed with good effect in
loading and unloading grain from ships. This method of conveying grain
falls under three systems: (1) the blast system; (2) the suction system;
and (3) the combined blast and suction system.
In the first system a barge, known as a machinery barge, is fitted with
a steam boiler, a set of air compressing engines, and a length of
flexible piping long enough to reach from any part of the barge to the
farthest corner of the ship to be loaded. A small pipe, known as the
nozzle, is inserted at the inlet end of the piping, where the grain is
taken in, and communicates with the air compressor at the other end.
Compressed air can be admitted to the nozzle or shut off by a valve. The
inlet end of the flexible pipe is pushed into the grain in the barge,
while the other end is led over the hatches of the vessel to be loaded.
As the compressor is set to work and the valve of the compressed air
supply pipe opened, the air naturally rushes up the pipe and escapes at
the other end which is lying over the ship's hatchway. If the inlet
nozzle be immersed in the grain to the depth of 12 to 18 in. the induced
atmospheric air will follow the lead of the compressed air, and drawing
the grain around into the inlet nozzle will carry it up the pipe and
deliver it into the hold of the vessel loading.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Travelling Bucket Elevator.]
In the suction system, which is identified with the name of F. E.
Duckham, the process is somewhat different. An air-tight tank or
receiver, 8 to 10 ft. in diameter and 10 to 20 ft. high, is fitted with
a hopper bottom, and is erected, if floating, on a barge, at a
sufficient height to allow grain falling from the hopper bottom, and
passing through an air lock, to be delivered by gravity through a shoot
into the vessel being loaded. A pipe connects the vacuum tank with the
exhaust pumps. Several flexible pipes of sufficient length to reach any
corner of the ship to be unloaded, may be connected with the vacuum
tank. As the air pumps are set working a partial vacuum is formed within
the tank, and as the nozzle end of the pipe is immersed into the grain
to the depth of a few inches, the air and grain are drawn in at the
mouth of the nozzle and carried along the pipe to the vacuum tank. The
natural expansion of the air then lets the grain drop to the hopper
bottom, whence it issues from an air-lock valve, while the air is drawn
away by a pipe communicating with the pumps and is thence discharged
into the open.
In the third system, or blast and suction combined, the grain is sucked
into a vacuum tank, as just described, and drops from this through
valves into a second receptacle, whence it is conveyed to any desired
point by flexible pipes. This second tank is divided into two sections
and provided with valves so that the two sections will alternately be
under the influence of blast or suction. Alternatively the grain is
discharged by an automatic valve from the vacuum tank into the second
air-tight chamber which communicates with the compressed air chamber.
From this section the grain is discharged by an outlet pipe by the
agency of compressed air. A similar system was introduced by Messrs
Haviland & Farmer, who have, however, since abandoned it on account of
difficulties connected with the application of the blast, which was
found to abrade the grain rather severely, especially at the bends in
the pipes. An even greater objection was the delivery of dust with the
grain, which made it impossible for trimmers to remain in the hold while
the elevator was at work. Messrs Haviland and Farmer now work on the
suction system, in which they claim to have introduced several
improvements, notably in regard to the purification of the air between
the vacuum chamber and the exhaustors, and in devising a new automatic
air trap.
The first pneumatic suction elevator in Great Britain was erected at the
Millwall docks (London) under the Duckham patents. At Sulina, on the
Lower Danube, a pneumatic elevator erected on the Haviland-Farmer
system, which has undergone one or two reconstructions, has been proved
capable of elevating 160 tons of grain per hour with 375 i.h.p.
The only objection to pneumatic elevators appears to be that of expense.
The cost of installation is relatively heavy, and the power required for
working is large. But in dealing with vessels carrying heavy cargoes of
grain the saving of labour and demurrage is sufficient to justify the
large outlay of capital required in ports where there is sufficient
grain traffic.
_Hot Coke Conveyors._--Hot coke is admittedly one of the most difficult
materials to handle by mechanical means, and though it might be too much
to say that all difficulties have been surmounted by the engineer, it
has, since the end of the 19th century, been more or less satisfactorily
handled by machinery. Even in a dry state coke is a troublesome material
to handle by machinery. It is of a gritty and rasping nature, and is at
the same time very friable. Unless it is gently handled, breakage is
bound to occur and to result in the making of a certain proportion of
fine dust known as "breeze." Apart from the depreciation in the value of
the coke, this breeze is a sharp, cutting material, calculated to do
considerable injury to the working parts of the conveyor, such as
chains, and to the bearings, if it can get inside. Of course the
conveying of the coke in an incandescent condition is another serious
difficulty, as this glowing material must be quenched by water, a
sufficiently delicate operation in itself. The chief use for hot coke
conveyors has been found in connexion with gas works, but attempts have
also been made to provide efficient machinery for the service of coke
ovens of great capacity.
The justification of any kind of machinery must rest on its relative
efficiency and economy. As compared with some other materials the
mechanical handling of hot coke does not realize such a striking
economy; a hot coke conveyor is expensive to build--on account of the
great wear and tear it must be very solidly constructed--and it is
costly in upkeep. Still in large gas works the use of machinery for
treating glowing coke is economically advisable. Exact calculations are
not very easy to make, because while the cost of hand labour in this
department of a gas works is accurately known, the efficiency of
different hot coke conveyors varies. G. E. Stephenson, of the Gathorn
gas works, estimated that a saving of 4¾d. per ton had been realized on
each ton of coke conveyed to the yard from the retort house, as against
the same material wheeled in barrows. This saving represented the
difference between the cost of twelve men, who formerly handled the hot
coke with shovels and barrows, and the cost of one conveyor with the
wages of one man to look after it. In an ordinary way one man would rake
out the coke from the retort mouthpiece into a barrow placed underneath,
while a second man quenched the glowing coke with buckets of water, or
better still with a hose. Then the barrow would be wheeled out into the
yard. Obviously this is a slow and relatively expensive method, apart
from the deleterious fumes arising from the quenching of the coke. Some
improvement was effected by the substitution for the old hand-barrows of
cage-like tipping trucks; these are run on narrow gauge rails out of the
retort house and the red-hot coke they contain is quenched by a copious
spray, the truck being placed the while over a grating through which the
surplus water is drained away, under an inverted funnel with an uptake
to carry away the fumes and vapours. These trucks have been hauled, in
lieu of human arms, by endless ropes or even small locomotives.
The earlier hot coke conveyors were of the _pushplate_ type. The
trough, some 27 in. wide, consisted of cast iron sections, while the
pushplates, formed of malleable castings, were attached at a pitch of
24 in. to a central chain and were pulled along on a wrought iron bar,
which could be renewed when necessary. These conveyors with a speed of
48 ft. per minute, had a capacity of some 20 tons per hour. A conveyor
constructed on these lines was installed at the Gathorn works in 1903.
The wear and tear was very great; moreover the chain, being central,
suffered severely from the hot coke, to the action of which it was
directly exposed.
The New Conveyor Company's conveyor consists of a water-tight trough
through which pass closely-fitting tray plates, attached to a single
chain. These plates are joggled down at one end to receive the flat
front part of the succeeding plate, with the aim of excluding the
breeze from the under part of the carrying plate. The chain is made
entirely of steel with side rollers attached to every third plate, the
plates, ¼ in. thick, are dished in the shape of a tray, which is less
liable to distortion (from heat) than a flat plate. The speed of
travel is about 45 ft. per minute, while the capacity when handling
coke from 20 ft. retorts is some 30 tons per hour.
A conveyor made by Messrs Graham, Morton & Co., consists of a
travelling tray, the sections of which are joined together by steel
spindles provided with a roller at each end, the latter running on
suitable rails. These sections consist of steel castings with a number
of lateral slots; thus the tray has the appearance of a travelling
grating. To receive the quenching water that escapes through the
grating a trough is placed beneath, and a scraper is used to free the
trough of the dust escaping through the grating.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--Bronder Hot Coke Conveyor.]
An interesting conveyor is that of G. A. Bronder, of New York (fig.
11), which has some affinity with the gravity bucket conveyor. It runs
in a water-tight trough which is filled up to a certain height, the
water being slowly circulated by mechanism which resembles a water
wheel. The chain of buckets runs in the trough, the sides forming the
rails for the supporting rollers. The conveyor is covered in along its
whole length, and forms a sort of flue which is connected at each
bench with a number of shoots through which the coke drops into the
conveyor buckets. A pipe of large diameter is connected with an
exhaust fan, which draws away the fumes created by the quenching
process, and sends them into a chimney discharging into the open. The
chain and buckets, being carried on rollers which run on the outer
edge of the trough, cannot come in contact either with the hot coke
or with gritty particles. The chain of buckets is connected by
horseshoe-shaped brackets extending upwards beyond the sides of the
buckets and connected with the links of the driving chains. When the
conveyor is at work the covers of the mouth-pieces are opened and the
coke is fed into the buckets; simultaneously the water valves are
opened and the glowing coke is quenched. Any breeze which may have
fallen between the buckets is collected by a scraper and delivered
into a tank at one end, while the propeller wheel draws the water from
this tank and drives it back to the other end of the trough. The top
strand is the working strand and delivers its load at the terminal.
One important difference between an ordinary gravity bucket conveyor
and this apparatus is that the buckets are here rigidly connected to
the supporting wheels.
The West hot coke conveyor consists of a strongly-built trough in
which a single wide chain partly carries and partly drags the coke. In
the trough is a false bottom, the plates of which are loosely fixed
and kept in position by angle irons on which the chain drags. By two
arm-like extensions the links of the chain are widened right across
the trough. The pitch of the chain is 12 in., so that all the large
pieces of coke are more carried than dragged. The speed of travel is
about 40 ft. per minute.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Wild Coke Conveyor.]
The Wild conveyor (fig. 12) consists of a cast iron or steel trough 24
to 30 in. wide by 9 in. deep, supported by cast iron brackets to which
the rails that support the strands of the chain are secured. Both
chains run outside the trough, and are secured on either side to the
pushplates, so that only the scraper comes in contact with the hot
coke. Every second link of the 12 in. pitch chain carries a push or
scraper-plate, as shown in illustration.
The De Brouwer hot coke conveyor, which is much used in gas works both
in Great Britain and on the continent of Europe, was invented by a
Belgian engineer. Its construction has undergone many modifications
which experience has shown to be desirable. It consists of a trough of
cast or wrought iron, or mild steel, 20 to 36 in. wide and 3 to 6 in.
deep. Double endless chains run in the corners of the trough, the two
chains being connected together by round cross bars set 30 in. apart,
so as to form a sort of ladder. The hot coke is carried or dragged
along by these bars. One end of the trough is closed and the other is
bent upwards with a view to retaining the quenching water. As the hot
coke is dragged along it is subjected to the action of jets of water.
The conveyor bars, which act as scrapers, sweep the water and the coke
along the trough till the point is reached where the latter curves
upwards. Then the water flows back like a small cascade on the
half-quenched coke, which is thus thoroughly extinguished.
Considerable inclines can be negotiated with this conveyor; in some
installations on the continent of Europe angles of 30° to the
horizontal have been surmounted. In a modification of the De Brouwer
conveyor, installed at the Cassel gas works, the bars which form the
rungs of the conveyor were replaced by cast iron rakes. In another
modified form, the work of F. A. Marshall, to be found in the
Copenhagen gas works, sluices are provided for withdrawing an excess
of water at any point in the trough.
In Great Britain a hot coke conveyor has been designed on similar
lines by Messrs R. Dempster & Sons, Ltd. (fig. 13). The chains are
parallel from end to end, and are composed of identical and
interchangeable malleable cast links. Instead of the chains carrying
the rollers, as is often the case, the chains are themselves carried
and guided by flanged rollers supported from the framework. This
arrangement has the advantage of decreasing the weight of the chain,
as neither the rollers nor the lubricators have to be conveyed, being
stationary. The scrapers are of cast steel and have a rake-like shape
with a view to minimize the breakage of coke.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Dempster Coke Conveyor.]
The essential features in a hot coke conveyor are strength and
simplicity, a minimum of wearing parts, interchangeability of wearing
surfaces and of worn and broken parts, protection of wearing and working
parts from contact with the hot coke, and facilities for keeping the
temperature of the conveyor as even as possible, so as to avoid
distortion of parts through sudden changes. To attain these latter
conditions, it appears essential to construct conveyors of the pushplate
type. In these the hot coke is kept continually moving, and thus the
good effect is secured of heating the conveyor from end to end uniformly
and gradually. This applies particularly to gas works conveyors.
For the service of coke ovens the plate or tray conveyor might be
suitable because more gentle. It must be remembered that coke oven
conveyors must be of large capacity, and moreover in this case there is
more scope for cooling the coke in front of the oven before it is
removed to the conveyor, the work being all effected in the open.
_Elevators._--This term is here confined to its proper meaning (in
English engineering treatises) of a device for raising material in a
vertical or slanting direction by means of buckets attached to endless
belts or chains. Lifts for passengers are also sometimes termed
elevators (q.v.), and in America the term is also currently applied to
the granary or warehouse in which grain is stored (see GRANARIES).
In the bucket elevator, an endless belt or chain runs over terminal
pulleys which are fixed at different levels, the distance from centre to
centre of these pulleys beings known as the length of the elevator. The
design and construction of the elevator will be varied to suit its
purpose. Grain elevators are invariably cased in wooden or iron trunks,
and the head and foot are also of wood or iron, iron trunks being
particularly used in so-called fire-proof buildings. The trunk of the
grain elevator (fig. 14) is almost always vertical whilst the band to
which the buckets are attached may consist of leather, cotton, hemp,
webbing or other suitable substances. When an elevator is intended for
lifting heavy materials, such as coal, coke or cement, it is usually set
at a slant (figs. 15 and 16), and the endless belt is replaced by one or
two strands of endless chain which support the buckets and run over the
terminal sprocket wheels. The buckets are attached to the links of the
chains, and to prevent these heavy buckets and chains from sagging in
their inclined position, rollers or more often short skidder bars are
fixed to each bucket, sliding on well-oiled angle bars on each side of
the elevator frame.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Grain Elevator.]
Both grain and mineral elevators are usually fitted with tightening
gears to keep the belt or chain taut; these are generally placed at the
lower or well end so as not to interfere with the position of the upper
terminal, which is almost invariably the driven one. The tightening of
the band at the bottom terminal in the elevator well necessarily alters
the space between the terminal pulley and the bottom of the well. This
is of little consequence in grain elevators, but for elevators intended
to handle coal or any material of varying size the ordinary tightening
gear is unsuitable. In such a case the best plan is to attach the
elevator-well to the terminal in such a way as to go up or down with the
sprocket wheel when the chain is loosened or tightened, while the foot
bracket which supports the well and terminal spindle remains a fixture.
In order to tighten elevator chains without interfering with either of
the terminals, adjustable jockey pulleys at some suitable point may be
used, and the desired effect can thus be attained by pressing against
the chains and thereby taking up the slack without any interference with
either the feed or delivery end.
Elevator buckets must be proportioned to the size and nature of the
material they are intended to carry, and care must be taken to
maintain a uniform feed. This may readily be effected by adjustable
outlets and spouts for grain and the like, and by certain feeding
devices for handling minerals of uneven size. For instance, an
oscillating feed shoot making from 30 to 60 oscillations per minute
can be installed in such a case, and adjusted to deposit at each
backward and forward stroke the exact amount of material adapted to
the capacity of the elevator. The speed of the shoot will naturally
vary with the size of material to be fed. For small coal 60
oscillations would be about the correct speed; for large coal the
speed might be reduced to 30 or less. Speaking generally, care should
always be taken to prevent an undue rush of feed, that is, more than
the elevator can take up, and if tenacious materials are handled,
feeding devices should be employed provided with stirrers or agitators
that will effectually keep the material moving and prevent any larger
lumps from arching over the feed spout, and thus producing chokes.
Elevators should always be fed from that side on which the buckets
ascend, that the stream of material may meet the elevator buckets on
their upward journey. This will prevent the material from filling up
the elevator well and spare the buckets from dredging through an
accumulation of feed. Elevators erected at an incline are best fed at
a point several feet above the well into the chain of ascending
buckets, as under such conditions little will miss the buckets and
drop into the well.
The reason why grain elevators are set vertically, whereas elevators
intended to carry heavy bodies such as coal and ore are generally
inclined at an angle, is that the former can be run at a much greater
velocity than the latter. Grain, for instance, would be uninjured by a
velocity at the delivery end which would fracture coal and seriously
reduce its value, to say nothing of the dust production and the damage
which would be done to the receiving spouts and shoots. Elevators
carrying a light material can be run at a circumferential velocity of
250 to 350 ft. per minute, and if vertically set, will throw the
grain, &c., clear of the elevator into the shoot for its reception. On
the other hand, elevators handling heavy material must be set at an
angle in order to give a clear delivery at a much lower speed of 50 to
60 ft. per minute; in other words, the elevator is so inclined that
the shoot for the reception of the material can be put underneath the
delivering buckets which slowly disgorge their load. To obtain good
results, without taking up too much space, an elevator carrying heavy
material should be set at 40° to 60° to the horizontal. The same
results can be obtained if the main portion of the elevator is
vertical and only the upper portion inclined, or so curved as to bring
the delivery over the shoot. The speed at which vertical elevators
should be run will depend on the diameter of the terminal pulley, that
is, the pulley over which the buckets and bands pass. The centrifugal
force of pulleys revolving at the same speed is in direct proportion
to their diameters, and this is twice as much in a 2 ft. as in a 1 ft.
pulley. It may be taken that the centrifugal force of a pulley will
increase in proportion to the square of its velocity; hence the
centrifugal force of a pulley 2 ft. in diameter running at 50
revolutions per minute will be four times the centrifugal force of a
pulley of the same diameter making only 25 revolutions per minute. It
must not be forgotten that to effect a clean discharge of the buckets
of a vertical elevator, the centrifugal force must be sufficient to
overcome the gravity of the material, because the material thrown off
the delivery pulley in a horizontal direction will be more rapidly
deflected into a parabolic curve the higher its specific gravity. It
follows that for a specifically heavy material a greater centrifugal
force will be required; that is to say, the elevator will have to be
higher speeded than in dealing with a lighter material.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--Mineral Elevator, upper terminal.]
Elevator buckets must be varied according to the nature of the
material; for instance, shallow buckets will be found best for a soft
and clinging material such as flour, moist sugar, sand, small coal,
&c., while for a hard or semi-hard body such as wheat, coal, &c.,
deeper buckets are preferable. On account of their lower speed,
elevators for specifically heavy material require much larger buckets
and chains than grain elevators of the same bulk capacity. The most
economical form of elevator is fitted with a continuous chain of
buckets. Such elevators may be constructed to carry either grain or
minerals. The advantages are greater capacity than an ordinary
elevator of the same dimensions and a more uniform delivery; moreover,
smoother running is secured, since the buckets being close together
need not plunge intermittently through the contents of the
elevator-well.
_Intermittent Conveyors._--The elevators we have been considering,
whether used for carrying and distributing coal or grain, have this in
common, that they raise material from a lower to a higher level, so to
speak, in a continuous stream, the continuity being broken only by the
short spaces between the buckets. In the continuous bucket type indeed
the stream of material is practically, if not absolutely, continuous. In
all these cases the elevator is fed with the material in a continuous
stream, and by some mechanical means; whether by band, worm or shoot, is
immaterial. Elevators of a somewhat different and more substantial
construction may be and are often used for handling filled sacks,
barrels, carcases of animals and other bulky objects, which cannot be
delivered in a uniform stream, but may have to be conveyed by the
elevator intermittently. The ordinary buckets used for grain or coal are
replaced by other appliances for gripping and holding the object to be
raised from a lower to a higher level, but in principle these appliances
are essentially elevators.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Mineral Elevator, lower terminal.]
Another kind of elevator, known as a _lift_ or _hoist_, is used in mines
and quarries and in serving blast furnaces. This is an elevator with one
or two buckets. Essentially a heavy load lifter, it is intended for
material of too large a bulk to be handled economically by ordinary
elevators, and is employed for lifting in either a vertical or, more
often, an inclined direction.
For elevating materials, such as large coal, iron ore, limestone, &c.,
which are too large to be fed into ordinary elevators, and must
therefore be handled intermittently, the single bucket elevator or hoist
may be used with advantage. But as the essential use of mechanical
appliances for handling material is to save human labour as far as
possible, that hoist will prove the most economical the operation of
which is as automatic as possible. The Americans seem to have been
pioneers in the construction of _furnace hoists_, which form the
principal elevators of this class, but some excellent examples of the
modern furnace hoist are now to be found in Great Britain and elsewhere
in Europe. Generally speaking, a furnace hoist consists of an inclined
iron bridge girder set at an angle to the upright shaft of the furnace.
On this incline are laid rails for the ascent and descent of the bucket,
which in this case is known as a skip and is provided with suitable
wheels, while the hoisting gear manipulating the skips by a steel rope
is erected on or near the ground level. The rails when they approach the
upper terminus are usually bent in a more or less horizontal position so
as automatically to tilt and thereby unload the skip. To attain the same
end, the rails supporting the back wheels of the skips may be bent at
the terminus, or the back wheels may have additional wheels of a larger
diameter on the other side of their flanges, so that during the ascent
and descent the skip runs on its four normal wheels, while at the upper
terminus the outer and larger back wheels engage with short lengths of
extra rails and thus tilt and effect the automatic clearance of the
skip. The dead weight of the skip may be balanced by a counter weight,
or double tracks may be laid, so that the empty skip descends on one
track whilst the loaded skip is being raised on the other. In this case
the distributing hopper at the top of the furnace has an elongated shape
so as to take the charges alternately from buckets on either track.
Again, the two tracks may be laid one above the other, so that one skip
runs on the upper rails and the other on the lower. The two buckets will
pass each other at about the centre of the framing, where there will be
plenty of room for clearance.
The capacity of the skip will of course depend to some extent on the
capacity of the furnace, but an average charge may be put down at 2 tons
of ore and lime, or 1 ton of coke. To raise such a charge to a furnace
80 ft. high would require, assuming no counter weight were used, a motor
of about 100 h.p. On account of the great speed at which the hoist
works, the time taken in raising the charged skip, discharging it, and
returning it empty would be only 30 to 40 seconds. The hoist cable runs
over guide pulleys placed at the top of the furnace, and the cable is
often manipulated by an electrically driven winch in a cabin below. The
descent of the empty skip in more modern installations is utilized to
effect an even distribution of the feed from the hopper to the furnace
by causing the hopper to revolve. To this end the latter is provided
with an ingenious mechanism which only comes into operation as the car
descends. After every charge shot into the hopper the latter is revolved
a few degrees, and this has the effect of giving the delivery of the
next load in another direction, so that the charges of the skip are in
turn distributed over the whole area of the surface. This is deemed a
most essential point in furnace-charging, and it is not one of the least
recommendations of this mechanical system of furnace-charging that it
can give an even feed without any hand labour whatever. A double hoist
has been designed which has the advantage that if one elevator breaks
down the work of the furnace is not interrupted. In this system two
furnaces are connected at the top by a gantry or bridge, against which,
between the furnaces, two inclined elevators are set, so that each can
serve either furnace. The skips are on wheels and detachable from the
elevator, and are loaded from the ore pockets at the lower terminal and
drawn up on a cradle; as this reaches the top where the rails on the
gantry correspond with the gauge of the skip or car, the latter is
carried by its own weight down a slight incline to either furnace,
discharging its contents as it passes over the conical mouth. Another
advantage claimed for this system is that the rails of the cradle, when
in its lowest position, correspond with the rails which lie parallel to
the furnaces and run right under the store bins from which the skip is
loaded. The economy to be realized from a furnace hoist will be in
direct proportion to the use made of mechanical means of feed
conveyance. For instance, the store bins in connexion with such
elevators might be economically fed by suitable conveyors, or the
material might be brought in self-unloading hoppered trucks into
conveniently placed bins, ready to be drawn into the skips.
_Ropeways._--A ropeway has been defined as that method of handling
material which consists of drawing buckets on ropes, and by means of
ropes, such buckets being filled with the material to be handled and
being automatically or otherwise discharged. At what period of history
ropeways were first used it is impossible to say, but the fact that
pulley blocks, and even wire ropes, were known to the ancients, renders
a pedigree of 2000 years at least possible. In more modern days, an old
engraving shows a single ropeway in working order in 1644 in the city of
Danzig. This, the work of Adam Wybe, a Dutch engineer, was a single
ropeway in its simplest form, consisting of an endless rope passing over
pulleys suspended on posts; to the rope were attached a number of small
buckets, which evidently carried earth from a hill outside the city to
the rampart inside the moat. The rope was probably of hemp. Modern
ropeways worked with wire ropes date from about 1860, when a ropeway was
erected in the Harz Mountains. Since then several systems have been
evolved, but in the main ropeways may be divided into the single and
double rope class.
The ropeway is essentially an intermittent conveyor, the material being
carried in buckets or skips, and practice has proved it an economical
means of handling heavy material. The prime cost of a ropeway is usually
moderate, though of course it varies with the ground and other local
conditions. Working expenses should be low, because under the
supervision of one competent engineer unskilled labour is quite
sufficient. A ropeway may be carried over ground over which rails could
only be laid at enormous cost. To a certain extent ropeways are
independent of weather conditions, because their working need not be
interrupted even by heavy snowfalls. Their construction is very simple,
and there is little gear to get out of order. Sound workmanship and good
material will ensure a relatively long life. As an instance, a certain
rope in a Spanish ropeway tested new to a breaking strain of 29½ tons
was shown after carrying 160,000 tons (in two years' incessant work)
still to possess a breaking strain of 27½ tons. The power absorbed by a
ropeway is relatively moderate, and under special conditions may be nil.
The only demand it makes on the superficial area of the ground traversed
is the small emplacements of the standards, which in modern ropeways are
few and far between. Wayleaves, or the permission to erect standards and
run the line over private land, may of course mean an item in the
capital outlay. This circumstance may have checked ropeway construction
in Great Britain, but it must also be borne in mind that a large portion
of that country is comparatively level and well provided with railways.
In building a ropeway it is essential to take as straight a line as
possible, because curves generally necessitate angle stations, which
mean extra capital and working cost. On the other hand, ground that
would be difficult for the railway engineer, such as steep hills, deep
valleys and turbulent streams, has no terror for the ropeway erector.
There is a case of a ropeway of a total length of 5400 ft. with a total
difference in altitude of 2000 ft.; it is claimed this ground could not
be covered by a railway with less than 15 m. of line graded at 1 in 40.
Perhaps the simplest type of a single rope system is an endless
running rope from which the carriers are suspended, and with which
they move by frictional contact. Or the carriers may be fixed to this
rope and move with it. The ropeway itself would consist of an endless
rope running between two drums, one, known as the driving drum, being
provided with power receiving and transmitting gear, while the drum at
the opposite terminal would be fitted with tightening gear. The
endless rope is carried on suitable pulleys which themselves are
supported on standards or trestles spaced at intervals varying with
the nature of the ground. The rope runs at an average speed of 4 m.
per hour, a speed at which the bucket or skip can automatically unload
itself. In the double ropeway the carrier runs on a fixed rope, which
takes the place of the rails of a railway. The carrier is fitted with
running heads furnished with grooved steel wheels. The load is borne
by a hanger pivoted from the carrier, and is conveyed along the rail
rope by an endless hauling rope at an average speed of 4 to 6 m. per
hour. The hauling is operated by driving gear at one end, and
controlled by tightening gear at the other end just as in the single
rope system. Double ropeways have been carried in one section over 18
to 20 m., and will transport single loads of 6 cwt. to a ton or more.
Broadly speaking, the single ropeway is not so suitable for heavy
loads and long distances as the double, but in this connexion the work
of Ropeways Limited should be noted, which favours a single rope
system. Their engineer, J. Pearce Roe, introduced multiple sheaves for
supporting the rope at each standard. Thus the rope may pass over one,
two or four sheaves, which are provided with balance beams that have
the advantage of adjusting themselves to the angle caused by the rope
passing over the sheaves, thus equalizing the pressure over a number
of sheaves. A ropeway erected on this system in Japan spans 4000 yds.
of very broken ground; yet only 17 trestles are used, and as each
support is placed as high as possible, no one is of great height. An
altitude of 1130 ft. is reached in a distance of 1200 yds. The ropeway
has a daily carrying capacity of 60 tons in one direction and of 30
tons in the other. Another installation on this system, which serves
an iron mine in Spain, spans 6500 yds. of very rough country, so steep
that in many places the sure-footed mule cannot keep on the track.
This ropeway can deal with 85 tons per hour. The greatest distance
covered by this system, on one section, is 7100 yds., or about 4 m.,
and the carrying capacity is 45 tons per hour.
The motive power required for a ropeway will vary with the conditions.
In cases of descending loads the power generated is sometimes so
considerable as to render it available for driving other machinery, or
it may have to be absorbed by some special brake device. In a ropeway
in Japan of 1800 yds., which runs mostly at an incline of 1 in 1½, the
force generated is absorbed by a hydraulic brake the revolving fan of
which drives the water against fixed vanes which repel and heat it. In
this way, 50 h.p. is absorbed and the speed brought under the control
of a hand brake.
_Aerial Cableways._--The aerial cableway is a development of the
ropeway, and is a conveyor capable of hoisting and dumping at any
desired point. The load is carried along a trackway consisting of a
single span of suspended cable, which covers a comparatively short
distance. The trackway may either run in a more or less horizontal
direction, i.e. the terminals may be on the same level, or it may be
inclined at such an angle that the load will descend by gravity. The
trackway or rail rope rests upon saddles of iron or hard wood on the
tops of terminal supports, usually known as towers. These towers may be
constructed either of wood or iron, and if the exigencies of the work
render it desirable, they may be mounted on trolleys and rails, in which
case the cableway is rendered portable, and can be moved about,
sometimes a great advantage in excavating work. The motive power may be
either steam, gas, or electricity. The motor is situated in what is
termed the head tower, which is sometimes a little higher than the other
or tail tower. Sometimes, but not frequently, the latter is also fitted
with a motor. The span between the two towers sometimes extends to 2000
ft., but this is exceptional. Very heavy loads are dealt with, sometimes
as much as 8 tons in a single load. The load, which may be carried in a
skip or a tray, is borne by an apparatus called the carrier, which is a
modification of a running head, consisting of pulleys and blocks and
running along the main cable or trackway. The carrier is also fitted
with pulleys or guides for the dump line. The carrier is drawn along the
main cable by an endless or hauling rope which passes from the carrier
over the head tower and is wound several times round the drum of the
winding engine to secure frictional hold, then back over the head tower,
to the tail tower, returning to the rear end of the carrier. The
hoisting rope passes from the engine to the fall block for raising the
load. The dump line comes from the other side of the winding engine drum
and passes to a smaller block attached to the rear end of the skip or
tray. The whole weight of the skip is borne by the hoisting rope, while
the dump line comes in slack, but at the same rate of speed. Whenever it
is desired to dump the load, the dump line is shifted to a section of
the drum having a slightly larger diameter, and being thus drawn in at a
higher rate of speed the load is discharged. The engine is then
reversed, and the carriage brought back for the next load.
This is in outline the mode of operating all cableways. This appliance
has rendered great service as a labour saver in navvying, quarrying and
mining work; in placer-mining, for instance, cableways have been found
very useful when fitted with a self-filling drag bucket, which will take
the place of a great number of hands. Cableways can be worked at a great
speed, but a good mean speed would be 500 to 750 ft. for conveying and
200 to 300 ft. for hoisting. A cableway used in excavating work in
Chicago was credited with a capacity of 400 to 600 cub. yds. per day at
a total cost of 2d. per yard, including labour, coal, oil, waste, &c.
_Coaling Ships at Sea._--In the coaling of ships at sea the cableway has
rendered great service. The conditions under which this operation has to
be carried out present many difficulties, especially in rough water. One
of the chief obstacles is the maintenance of the necessary tension on
the cable used in conveying the coal from the collier to the ship. The
first test in coaling ships at sea, made by the British admiralty, took
place in 1890 in the Atlantic at a point 500 m. south of the Azores in
water 2000 fathoms deep. Ten ships of war were coaled, each vessel
taking enough coal to enable it to steam back to Torbay, 1800 m. away.
In this case the collier was lashed alongside the battleship it was
feeding, thick fenders being interposed to prevent damage, but
nevertheless as the colliers got light they pitched considerably, and
one or two sustained dents in their sides. The ships did not roll, being
kept bows-on to the swell, which became heavy before the coaling was
completed. The coal was taken in by derricks at the main deck ports. It
is clear that had the sea been really rough coaling in this fashion
would have been impossible.
The most practicable method of coaling at sea yet devised is the marine
cableway of Spencer Miller, which has been tried with some success in
the American navy. It is intended for use between vessels 350 to 500 ft.
apart. The ship being coaled takes the collier in tow, steaming at the
rate of 4 to 8 knots; it has been found that a speed of five knots in
moderately rough water will keep the cableway taut and maintain a
sufficient distance between the crafts. The collier is fitted with an
engine having double cylinders and double friction drums, which is
placed just abaft the foremast. A steel rope ¾ in. in diameter is led
from one drum over a pulley at the mast head and thence to a pulley at
the head of shear-poles on the vessel being coaled, and brought back to
the other drum. The engine moves in the same direction all the time and
keeps on winding in both the strands of the conveying rope. Should the
two vessels increase the distance between them during the operation of
conveying the coal bags, of which two, weighing 420 lb each, may be
fastened to the carrier, the extra rope called for is obtained by
slipping the upper strand from the drum; this increases the speed of the
upper cable. On the other hand should the distance between the vessels
be reduced, this operation is reversed, the speed of the upper strand
being reduced. To keep the carriage steady on its return empty, a rope,
known as the sea-anchor line, is stretched above the two strands of the
conveyor line, and under a pulley on the carriage. This cable is
attached to the vessel, resting on a saddle on the shear head, whence it
leads through the carriage over pulleys at the head of the foremast and
mainmast of the collier, running on astern several hundred feet into the
sea. A drag or sea-anchor, usually made of canvas and cone-shaped, is
attached to the end of this rope. This anchor is used to support the
empty carriage on its return to the collier. The diameter of the cone's
base is graduated to the speed of the vessels. Thus in a smooth-water
test, with a ship steaming at 6 knots, one 7 ft. in diameter was used,
while the same anchor answered its purpose very well with a ship doing 5
knots in rough water.
The results given by this system of coaling at sea are relatively
satisfactory. Tests made in the United States navy showed that 20 to 25
tons of coal per hour could be delivered by a collier to a war-vessel
during a moderate gale. As the ship was under steam all the time and
consumed 3 to 4 tons of coal per hour, the balance of the coal bunkered
amounted to between 16 and 20 tons per hour, or say 384 tons in 24
hours. It has been suggested that under service conditions the speed of
the towing vessel might be increased to 8 or 10 knots an hour; this
would of course increase the coal consumption unless the collier
proceeded under her own steam. But in such a case the space between the
two crafts might be diminished, which would have the effect of causing
the cable to sag and of stopping the work, since the conveyor cable to
act properly must be kept taut. In Great Britain the Temperley
Transporter Company have taken up this method of coaling at sea, working
in collaboration with Spencer Miller, and have introduced several
improvements in detail. Their system has been tried by the British
admiralty.
The coaling of a large vessel by this appliance has the advantage of
economizing hand labour. One man is required to work the hoist on the
collier, while 20 men will be in the hold filling the bags and
delivering them to the deck, where 15 or so will transfer the bags to
the lift. One or two men suffice for the overhead work; their station is
in the trestle trees. On board the receiving ship a few men will be
stationed at the shear head to empty the bags into a canvas shoot, and
then return them, while there will be the usual force of bunker
trimmers. A ton of coal per minute has been transferred from the collier
to the vessel, but for this capacity the ships must not be too far
apart, else the rope would not remain taut under such loads. During the
Russo-Japanese War, many of the Russian battleships were coaled by means
of aerial cableways. The coaling of vessels in this manner seems a
success, but it would be desirable to increase the carrying capacity of
the cableway or to duplicate the installations.
_Telpherage._--A telpher ropeway or cableway may be defined as a ropeway
or cableway worked and controlled electrically, only a rail rope being
required besides the live rail or wire from which the electric current
is taken. Telpherage was devised by Professor Fleeming Jenkin in 1881,
and developed by him in conjunction with Professors W. E. Ayrton and J.
Perry. The telpher itself consists of a light two-wheeled truck,
carrying the driving motors, which, to avoid gearing or other
complicated mechanism, are usually coupled directly to the axles of the
telpher. Thus the telpher is a self-propelled electric carrier running
on a mono-rail, which, according to the conditions, may be a steel rail
or a steel cable. From the telpher are suspended carriers which can be
adapted to any kind of material. In many cases the whole load may be
suspended from the telpher, or the load, especially if of some length,
may be supported at one end by a telpher, and at the other end by what
is known as a trailer, or again, two telphers may be installed, one at
each end of the load. The telpher carries a small trolley sheave or bow
which serves to collect the current from a trolley wire stretched a
little above the rail. Frequently the telpher is accompanied by an
attendant who manipulates it, but by dividing the trolley wire into
sections any system of telpherage may be constructed to work
automatically, and by switching off the current from the section in
which the telpher is required to stop it can be brought to a standstill
at any required point. The speed of the telpher may be readily regulated
by the introduction of a resistance between any section of the line and
the supply of electricity. The speed may be high, as much as 1500 ft.
per minute over the straight portions of the line, but slackened at
curves and loading stations, or when approaching a terminus. The
required power may be obtained from the mains of an ordinary electric
supply with either direct or alternating current, but the former is
preferable. The mean expenditure of power in a working day is said to
average (including electrical hoisting) 1 H.P. per ton of average load.
The uses of telpherage are many and various. In factories and
warehouses, where the buildings are scattered, it has been installed
with excellent results. Being essentially an overhead system, there is a
saving of floor space, the ground not being obstructed by trucks or
trolleys. The same reasons which render ropeways an economical means of
handling such material as coal, ore, stone, slate, &c., between the mine
or quarry and the rail or barge, may be adduced in favour of telpherage.
For the unloading of railway trucks in a crowded goods-yard it is
undoubtedly applicable. Any kind of tipping or hoisting operations can
be automatically effected by its aid, and any sort of grab may be used
in dealing with such materials as sand, clay or gravel. Telpherage is
clearly a labour-saving method of handling materials, but of course the
exact conditions under which any system is to be used need careful
study, while the economy to be effected by the installation of a telpher
line must to a great extent depend upon the available supply of
electrical energy. (G. F. Z.)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] The illustrations in this article are taken, by kind permission,
from the _Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers_.
CONVOCATION (Lat. _convocatio_, a calling together), an assembly of
persons met together in answer to a summons. The term is more usually
applied in a restricted sense to assemblies of the clergy or of the
graduates of certain universities.
In the American Protestant Episcopal Church a convocation is a voluntary
deliberative conference of the clergy; it has no legislative function,
and like the convocation of a university, assembles primarily to discuss
matters of common interest.
In England the name "convocation" is specifically given to an assembly
of the spirituality of the realm of England, which is summoned by the
metropolitan archbishops of Canterbury and of York respectively, within
their ecclesiastical provinces, pursuant to a royal writ, whenever the
parliament of the realm is summoned, and which is also continued or
discharged, as the case may be, whenever the parliament is prorogued or
dissolved. These assemblies consist of two Houses, an upper and lower.
In the upper house sit the archbishops and bishops, and in the lower the
deans and archdeacons of every cathedral, the provost of Eton College,
with one proctor elected by each cathedral chapter and two by the
beneficed clergy in each diocese in the province of Canterbury (in the
province of York two proctors are elected by each archdeacon), with a
prolocutor at their head. When and how this convocation originated is
not historically clear. This much is known from authentic records, that
the present constitution of the convocation of the prelates and clergy
of the province of Canterbury was recognized as early as in the eleventh
year of the reign of Edward I. (1283) as its normal constitution; and
that in extorting that recognition from the crown, which the clergy
accomplished by refusing to attend unless summoned in lawful manner
(_debito modo_) through their metropolitan, the clergy of the province
of Canterbury taught the laity the possibility of maintaining the
freedom of the nation against the encroachments of the royal power. It
had been a provision of the Anglo-Saxon period, the origin of which is
generally referred to the council of Clovesho (747), that the
possessions of the church should be exempt from taxation by the secular
power, and that it should be left to the benevolence of the clergy to
grant such subsidies to the crown from the endowments of their churches
as they should agree to in their own assemblies. It may be inferred,
however, from the language of the various writs issued by the crown for
the collection of the "aids" voted by the _Commune Concilium_ of the
realm in the reign of Henry III., that the clergy were unable to
maintain the exemption of church property from being taxed to those
"aids" during that king's reign; and it was not until some years had
elapsed of the reign of Edward I. that the spirituality succeeded in
vindicating their constitutional privilege of voting in their own
assemblies their free gifts or "benevolences," and in insisting on the
crown observing the lawful form of convoking those assemblies through
the metropolitan of each province.
The form of the royal writ, which it is customary to issue in the
present day to the metropolitan of each province, is identical in its
purport with the writ issued by the crown in 1283 to the metropolitan of
the province of Canterbury, after the clergy of that province had
refused to meet at Northampton in the previous year, because they had
not been summoned in lawful manner; whilst the mandates issued by the
metropolitans in pursuance of the royal writs, and the citations issued
by the bishops in pursuance of the mandates of their respective
metropolitans, are identical in their purport and form with those used
in summoning the convocation of 1283, which met at the New Temple in the
city of London, and voted a "benevolence" to the crown, as having been
convoked in lawful manner. The existing constitution of the convocation
of the province of Canterbury--and the same observation will apply to
that of the province of York--in respect of its comprising
representatives of the chapters and of the beneficed clergy, in addition
to the bishops and other dignitaries of the church, would thus appear to
be of even more ancient date than the existing constitution of the
parliament of the realm.
Contest between spirituality and crown.
From this period down to the eleventh year of the reign of Edward III.
there were continual contests between the spirituality of the realm and
the crown,--the spirituality contending for their constitutional right
to vote their subsidies in their provincial convocations; the crown, on
the other hand, insisting on the immediate attendance of the clergy in
parliament. The resistance of the clergy to the innovation of the
"praemunientes" clause had so far prevailed in the reign of Edward II.
that the crown consented to summon the clergy to parliament through
their metropolitans, and a special form of provincial writ was for that
purpose framed; but the clergy protested against this writ, and the
struggle was maintained between the spirituality and the crown until
1337 (11 Edward III.), when the crown reverted to the ancient practice
of commanding the metropolitans to call together their clergy in their
provincial assemblies, where their subsidies were voted in the manner as
accustomed before the "praemunientes" clause was introduced. The
"praemunientes" clause, however, was continued in the parliamentary
writs issued to the several bishops of both provinces, whilst the
bishops were permitted to neglect at their pleasure the execution of the
writs.
Five characteristic periods.
The history of the convocation of the province of Canterbury, as at
present constituted, is full of stirring incidents, and it resolves
itself readily into five periods. The first period, by which is meant
the first period which dates from an epoch of authentic history, is the
period of its greatest freedom, but not of its greatest activity. It
extends from the reign of Edward I. (1283) to that of Henry VIII. The
second period is the period of its greatest activity and of its greatest
usefulness, and it extends from the twenty-fifth year of the reign of
Henry VIII. to the reign of Charles II. The third period extends from
the fifteenth year of the reign of Charles II. (1664) to the reign of
George I. This was a period of turbulent activity and little usefulness,
and the anarchy of the lower house of convocation during this period
created a strong prejudice against the revival of convocation in the
mind of the laity. The fourth period extends from the third year of the
reign of George I. (1716) to the fifteenth year of the reign of Queen
Victoria. This was a period of torpid inactivity, during which it was
customary for convocation to be summoned and to meet _pro forma_, and to
be continued and prorogued indefinitely. The fifth period may be
considered to have commenced in the fifteenth year of the reign of Queen
Victoria (1852).
First period.
During the first of the five periods above mentioned, it would appear
from the records preserved at Lambeth and at York that the metropolitans
frequently convened congregations (so called) of their clergy without
the authority of a royal writ, which were constituted precisely as the
convocations were constituted, when the metropolitans were commanded to
call their clergy together pursuant to a writ from the crown. As soon,
however, as King Henry VIII. had obtained from the clergy their
acknowledgment of the supremacy of the crown in all ecclesiastical
causes, he constrained the spirituality to declare, by what has been
termed the Act of Submission on behalf of the clergy, that the
convocation "is, always has been, and ought to be summoned by authority
of a royal writ"; and this declaration was embodied in a statute of the
realm (25 Henry VIII. c. 19), which further enacted that the convocation
"should thenceforth make no provincial canons, constitutions or
ordinances without the royal assent and licence." The spirituality was
thus more closely incorporated than heretofore in the body politic of
the realm, seeing that no deliberations on its part can take place
unless the crown has previously granted its licence for such
deliberations. It had been already provided during this period by 8
Henry VI. c. 1, that the prelates and other clergy, with their servants
and attendants, when called to the convocation pursuant to the king's
writ, should enjoy the same liberty and defence in coming, tarrying and
returning as the magnates and the commons of the realm enjoy when
summoned to the king's parliament.
Second period.
Sheldonian compact.
The second period, which dates from 1533 to 1664, has been distinguished
by four important assemblies of the spirituality of the realm in
pursuance of a royal writ--the two first of which occurred in the reign
of Edward VI., the third in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and the fourth
in the reign of Charles II. The two earliest of these convocations were
summoned to complete the work of the reformation of the Church of
England, which had been begun by Henry VIII.; the third was called
together to reconstruct that work, which had been marred on the
accession of Mary (the consort of Philip II. of Spain), whilst the
fourth was summoned to re-establish the Church of England, the framework
of which had been demolished during the great rebellion. On all of these
occasions the convocations worked hand in hand with the parliament of
the realm under a licence and with the assent of the crown. Meanwhile
the convocation of 1603 had framed a body of canons for the governance
of the clergy. Another convocation requires a passing notice, in which
certain canons were drawn up in 1640, but by reason of an irregularity
in the proceedings of this convocation (chiefly, on the ground that its
sessions were continued for some time after the parliament of the realm
had been dissolved), its canons are not held to have any binding
obligation on the clergy. The convocations had up to this time
maintained their liberty of voting the subsidies of the clergy in the
form of "benevolences" separate and apart from the "aids" granted by the
laity in parliament, and one of the objections taken to the proceedings
of the convocation of 1640 was that it had continued to sit and to vote
its subsidies to the crown after the parliament itself had been
dissolved. It is not, therefore, surprising on the restoration of the
monarchy in 1661 that the spirituality was not anxious to retain the
liberty of taxing itself apart from the laity, seeing that its ancient
liberty was likely to prove of questionable advantage to it. It voted,
however, a benevolence to the crown on the occasion of its first
assembling in 1661 after the restoration of King Charles II., and it
continued so to do until 1664, when an arrangement was made between
Archbishop Sheldon and Lord Chancellor Hyde, under which the
spirituality silently waived its long-asserted right of voting its own
subsidies to the crown, and submitted itself thenceforth to be assessed
to the "aids" directly granted to the crown by parliament. An act was
accordingly passed by the parliament in the following year 1665,
entitled An act to grant a Royal Aid unto the King's Majesty, to which
aid the clergy were assessed by the commissioners named in the statute
without any objection being raised on their part or behalf,[1] there
being a proviso that in so contributing the clergy should be relieved of
the liability to pay two subsidies out of four, which had been voted by
them in the convocation of a previous year. In consequence of this
practical renunciation of their separate _status_, as regards their
liability to taxation, the clergy have assumed and enjoyed in common
with the laity the right of voting at the election of members of the
House of Commons, in virtue of their ecclesiastical freeholds.
The most important and the last work of the convocation during this
second period of its activity was the revision of the Book of Common
Prayer which was completed in the latter part of 1661.
Third period.
Claim of Lower House to sit independently.
Bangorian controversy.
Fourth period.
Fifth period.
The Revolution in 1688 is the most important epoch in the third period
of the history of the synodical proceedings of the spirituality, when
the convocation of Canterbury, having met in 1689 in pursuance of a
royal writ, obtained a licence under the great seal, to prepare certain
alterations in the liturgy and in the canons, and to deliberate on the
reformation of the ecclesiastical courts. A feeling, however, of panic
seems to have come over the Lower House, which took up a position of
violent antagonism to the Upper House. This circumstance led to the
prorogation of the convocation and to its subsequent discharge without
any practical fruit resulting from the king's licence. Ten years elapsed
during which the convocation was prorogued from time to time without any
meeting of its members for business being allowed. The next convocation
which was permitted to meet for business, in 1700, was marked by great
turbulence and insubordination on the part of the members of the Lower
House, who refused to recognize the authority of the archbishop to
prorogue their sessions. This controversy was kept up until the
discharge of the convocation took place concurrently with the
dissolution of the parliament in the autumn of that year. The
proceedings of the Lower House in this convocation were disfigured by
excesses which were clearly violations of the constitutional order of
the convocation. The Lower House refused to take notice of the
archbishop's schedule of prorogation, and adjourned itself by its own
authority, and upon the demise of the crown it disputed the fact of its
sessions having expired, and as parliament was to continue for a short
time, prayed that its sessions might be continued as a part of the
parliament under the "praemunientes" clause. The next convocation was
summoned in the first year of Queen Anne, when the Lower House, under
the leadership of Dean Aldrich, its prolocutor, challenged the right of
the archbishop to prorogue it, and presented a petition to the queen,
praying her majesty to call the question into her own presence. The
question was thereupon examined by the queen's council, when the right
of the president to prorogue both houses of convocation by a schedule of
prorogation was held to be proved, and further, that it could not be
altered except by an act of parliament. During the remaining years of
the reign of Queen Anne the two Houses of convocation were engaged
either in internecine strife, or in censuring sermons or books, as
teaching latitudinarian or heretical doctrines; and, when it had been
assembled concurrently with parliament on the accession of King George
I., a great breach was before long created between the two houses by the
Bangorian controversy. Dr Hoadly, bishop of Bangor, having preached a
sermon before the king, in the Royal Chapel at St James's Palace in
1717, against the principles and practice of the nonjurors, which had
been printed by the king's command, the Lower House, which was offended
by the sermon and had also been offended by a treatise on the same
subject published by Dr Hoadly in the previous year, lost no time in
representing the sermon to the Upper House, and in calling for its
condemnation. A controversy thereupon arose between the two houses which
was kept up with untiring energy by the Lower House, until the
convocation was prorogued in 1717 in pursuance of a royal writ; from
which time until 1861 no licence from the crown was granted to
convocation to proceed to business. During this period, which may be
regarded as the fourth distinguishing period in the history of the
convocations of the Church of England, it was usual for a few members of
the convocation to meet when first summoned with every new parliament,
in pursuance of the royal writ, for the Lower House to elect a
prolocutor, and for both houses to vote an address to the crown, after
which the convocation was prorogued from time to time, pursuant to royal
writs, and ultimately discharged when the parliament was dissolved.
There were, however, several occasions between 1717 and 1741 when the
convocation of the province of Canterbury transacted certain matters, by
way of consultation, which did not require any licence from the crown,
and there was a short period in its session of 1741 when there was a
probability of its being allowed to resume its deliberative functions,
as the Lower House had consented to obey the president's schedule of
prorogation; but the Lower House having declined to receive a
communication from the Upper House, the convocation was forthwith
prorogued, from which time until the middle of the 19th century the
convocation was not permitted by the crown to enjoy any opportunity even
for consultation. The spirituality at last aroused itself from its long
repose in 1852, and on this occasion the Upper House took the lead. The
active spirit of the movement was Samuel Wilberforce, bishop of Oxford,
but the master mind was Henry Phillpotts, bishop of Exeter. On the
convocation assembling several petitions were presented to both houses,
praying them to take steps to procure from the crown the necessary
licence for their meeting for the despatch of business, and an address
to the Upper House was brought up from the Lower House, calling the
attention of the Upper House to the reasonableness of the prayer of the
various petitions. After some discussion the Upper House, influenced
mainly by the argument of Henry, bishop of Exeter, consented to receive
the address of the Lower House, and the convocation was thereupon
prorogued, shortly after which it was discharged concurrently with the
dissolution of parliament. On the assembling of the next convocation of
the province of Canterbury, no royal writ of exoneration having been
sent by the crown to the metropolitan, the sessions of the convocation
were continued for several days; and from this time forth convocation
may be considered to have resumed its action as a consultative body,
whilst it has also been permitted on more than one occasion to exercise
its functions as a deliberative body. In 1865, under licence from the
crown, the Convocations of Canterbury and York framed new canons in
place of the 36th, 37th, 38th and 40th canons of 1603, and amended the
62nd and 102nd canons in 1888. In 1872 convocation was empowered by
letters of business from the crown to frame resolutions on the subject
of public worship, which resolutions were afterwards incorporated in the
Act of Uniformity Amendment Act 1872.
As a deliberative body, convocation has done much useful work, but it
suffers considerably from its unrepresentative nature. The non-beneficed
clergy still remain without the franchise, but the establishment of
Houses of Laymen (see LAYMEN, HOUSES OF) for both provinces has, to a
certain extent, secured the co-operation of the lay element. Several
attempts have been made to promote legislation to enable the
convocations to reform their constitutions and to enable them to unite
for special purposes; in 1905 a bill was introduced into the House of
Lords. It did not, however, get beyond a first reading. In 1896 a
departure was made in holding joint sessions of both convocations, in
conjunction with the two Houses of Laymen, for consultative purposes.
This body is now termed the Representative Church Council, and it
adopted a Constitution in November 1905. All formal business is
transacted in the separate convocations. It is usual for convocation to
meet three times a year.
The order of convening the convocation of the province of Canterbury
is as follows. A writ issues from the crown, addressed to the
metropolitan archbishop of Canterbury, commanding him "by reason of
certain difficult and urgent affairs concerning us, the security and
defence of our Church of England, and the peace and tranquillity,
public good and defence of our kingdom, and our subjects of the same,
to call together with all convenient speed, and in lawful manner, the
several bishops of the province of Canterbury, and deans of the
cathedral churches, and also the archdeacons, chapters and colleges,
and the whole clergy of every diocese of the said province, to appear
before the said metropolitan in the cathedral church of St Paul,
London, on a certain day, or elsewhere, as shall seem most expedient,
to treat of, agree to and conclude upon the premises and other things,
which to them shall then at the same place be more clearly explained
on our behalf." In case the metropolitical see of Canterbury should be
vacant, the writ of the crown is addressed to the dean and chapter of
the metropolitical church of Canterbury in similar terms, as being the
guardians of the spiritualities of the see during a vacancy. Thereupon
the metropolitan, or, as the case may be, the dean and chapter of the
metropolitical church, issue a mandate to the bishop of London, as
dean of the province, and if the bishopric of London should be vacant,
then to the bishop of Winchester as subdean, which embodies the royal
writ, and directs the bishop to cause all the bishops of the province
to be cited, and through them the deans of the cathedral and
collegiate churches, and the archdeacons and other dignitaries of
churches, and each chapter by one, and the clergy of each diocese by
two sufficient proctors, to appear before the metropolitan or his
commissary, or, as the case may be, before the dean and chapter of the
metropolitical church or their commissary, in the chapter-house of the
cathedral church of St Paul, London, if that place be named in the
mandate, or elsewhere, with continuation and prorogation of days next
following, if that should be necessary, to treat upon arduous and
weighty affairs, which shall concern the state and welfare, public
good and defence of this kingdom and the subjects thereof, to be then
and there seriously laid before them, and to give their good counsel
and assistance on the said affairs, and to consent to such things as
shall happen to be wholesomely ordered and appointed by their common
advisement, for the honour of God and the good of the church.
The provincial dean, or the subdean, as the case may be, thereupon
issues a citation to the several bishops of the province, which
embodies the mandate of the metropolitan or of the dean and chapter of
the metropolitical church, as the case may be, and admonishes them to
appear, and to cite and admonish their clergy, as specified in the
metropolitical mandate, to appear at the time and place mentioned in
the mandate. The bishops thereupon either summon directly the clergy
of their respective dioceses to appear before them or their
commissaries to elect two proctors, or they send a citation to their
archdeacons, according to the custom of the diocese, directing them to
summon the clergy of their respective archdeaconries to elect a
proctor. The practice of each diocese in this matter is the law of the
convocation, and the practice varies indefinitely as regards the
election of proctors to represent the beneficed clergy. As regards the
deans, the bishops send special writs to them to appear in person, and
to cause their chapters to appear severally by one proctor. Writs also
go to every archdeacon, and on the day named in the royal writ, which
is always the day next following that named in the writ to summon the
parliament, the convocation assembles in the place named in the
archbishop's mandate. Thereupon, after the Litany has been sung or
said, and a Latin sermon preached by a preacher appointed by the
metropolitan, the clergy are praeconized or summoned by name to appear
before the metropolitan or his commissary; after which the clergy of
the Lower House are directed to withdraw and elect a prolocutor to be
presented to the metropolitan for his approbation. The convocation
thus constituted resolves itself at its next meeting into two houses,
and it is in a fit state to proceed to business.
The constitution of the convocation of the province of York differs
slightly from that of the convocation of the province of Canterbury,
as each archdeaconry is represented by two proctors, precisely as in
parliament formerly under the Praemunientes clause.
There are some anomalies in the diocesan returns of the two
convocations, but in all such matters the _consuetudo_ of the diocese
is the governing rule.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Wilkins, _Concilia Magnae Britannia et Hiberniae_ (4
vols. folio, 1737); Gibson, _Codex Juris Ecclesiastici Anglicani_ (2
vols. folio, 1713); Johnson, _A Collection of all the Ecclesiastical
Laws, Canons and Constitutions of the English Church_ (2 vols. 8vo,
1720); Gibson, _Synodus Anglicana_ (8vo, 1702, re-edited by Dr Edward
Cardwell, 8vo, 1854); Shower, _A Letter to a Convocation Man
concerning the Rights, Powers and Privileges of that Body_ (4to,
1697); Wake, _The Authority of Christian Princes over their
Ecclesiastical Synods asserted, occasioned by a late Pamphlet
intituled A Letter_ _to a Convocation Man_ (8vo, 1697); Atterbury,
_The Rights, Powers and Privileges of an English Convocation stated
and vindicated in answer to a late book of Dr Wake's_ (8vo, 1700);
Burnet, _Reflections on a Book intituled The Rights, Powers and
Privileges of an English Convocation stated and vindicated_ (4to,
1700); Kennet, _Ecclesiastical Synods and Parliamentary Convocations
of the Church of England historically stated and justly vindicated
from the Misrepresentation of Mr Atterbury_ (8vo, 1701); Atterbury,
_The Power of the Lower House of Convocation to adjourn itself_ (4to,
1701); Gibson, _The Right of the Archbishop to continue or prorogue
the whole Convocation_ (4to, 1701); Kennet, _The Case of the
Praemunientes_ (4to, 1701); Hooper, _The Narrative of the Lower House
vindicated from the Exceptions of a Letter, intituled The Right of the
Archbishop to continue or prorogue the Convocation_ (4to, 1702);
Atterbury, _The Case of the Schedule stated_ (4to, 1702); Gibson, _The
Schedule Reviewed, or the Right of the Archbishop to continue or
prorogue the whole Convocation, cleared from the Exception of a late
Vindication of the Narrative of the Lower House, and of a Book
intituled The Case of the Schedule stated_ (4to, 1702); Hody, _A
History of the English Councils and Convocation, and of the Clergy's
sitting in Parliament_ (8vo, 1702); Wake, _The State of the Church and
Clergy of England in their Councils, Synods, Convocations,
Conventions, and other Public Assemblies, occasioned by a book
intituled The Rights, Powers and Privileges of an English Convocation_
(fol., 1703); Burnet, _History of His Own Time_ (2 vols, folio, 1734),
re-edited by Dr Martin J. Routh (6 vols. 8vo, 1833); Hallam,
_Constitutional History of England_ (3 vols. 8vo, 1832); Cardwell,
_Documentary Annals of the Reformed Church of England_ (2 vols.,
1839); Cardwell, _A History of Conferences and other Proceedings
connected with the revision of the Common Prayer_ (8vo, 1841);
Cardwell, _Synodalia, a Collection of Articles of Religion, Canon and
Proceedings of Convocation in the Province of Canterbury_ (2 vols.
8vo, 1842); Lathbury, _A History of the Convocation of the Church of
England_ (2nd ed., 8vo, 1853); Trevor, _The Convocation of the two
Provinces_ (8vo, 1852); Pearce, _The Law relating to Convocations of
the Clergy_ (8vo, 1848); _Synodalia_, a Journal of Convocation,
commenced in 1852 (8vo); _The Chronicle of Convocation_, being a
record of the proceedings of the Convocation of Canterbury, commenced
in 1863 (8vo). (T. T.; T. A. I.)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] It had always been the practice, when the clergy voted their
subsidies in their convocation, for parliament to authorize the
collection of each subsidy by the same commissioners who collected
the parliamentary aid.
CONVOLVULACEAE, a botanical natural order belonging to the series
Tubiflorae of the sympetalous group of Dicotyledons. It contains about
40 genera with more than 1000 species, and is found in all parts of the
world except the coldest, but is especially well developed in tropical
Asia and tropical America. The most characteristic members of the order
are twining plants with generally smooth heart-shaped leaves and large
showy white or purple flowers, as, for instance, the greater bindweed of
English hedges, _Calystegia sepium_, and many species of the genus
_Ipomaea_, the largest of the order, including the "convolvulus major"
of gardens, and morning glory. The creeping or trailing type is a common
one, as in the English bindweed (_Convolvulus arvensis_), which has also
a tendency to climb, and _Calystegia Soldanella_, the sea-bindweed, the
long creeping stem of which forms a sand-binder on English seashores; a
widespread and efficient tropical sand-binder is _Ipomaea Pes-Caprae_.
One of the commonest tropical weeds, _Evolvulus alsinoides_, has
slender, long-trailing stems with small leaves and flowers. In hot dry
districts such as Arabia and north-east tropical Africa, genera have
been developed with a low, much-branched, dense, shrubby habit, with
small hairy leaves and very small flowers. An exceptional type in the
order is represented by _Humbertia_, a native of Madagascar, which forms
a large tree. The dodder (q.v.) is a genus (_Cuscuta_) of leafless
parasites with slender thread-like twining stems. The flowers stand
singly in the leaf-axils or form few or many flowered cymose
inflorescences; the flowers are sometimes crowded into small heads. The
bracts are usually scale-like, but sometimes foliaceous, as for instance
in _Calystegia_, where they are large and envelop the calyx.
The parts of the flower are in fives in calyx, corolla and stamens,
followed by two carpels which unite to form a superior ovary. The
sepals, which are generally free, show much variation in size, shape and
covering, and afford valuable characters for the distinction of genera
or sub-genera. The corolla is generally funnel-shaped, more rarely
bell-shaped or tubular; the outer face is often marked out in
longitudinal areas, five well-defined areas tapering from base to apex,
and marked with longitudinal striae corresponding to the middle of the
petals, and alternating with five non-striated weaker triangular areas;
in the bud the latter are folded inwards, the stronger areas being
exposed and showing a twist to the right. The slender filaments of the
stamens vary widely, often in the same flower; the anthers are linear
to ovate in shape, attached at the back to the filament, and open
lengthwise. Some importance attaches to the form of the pollen grains;
the two principal forms are ellipsoidal with longitudinal bands forming
the _Convolvulus_-type, and a spherical form with a spiny surface known
as the _Ipomaea_-type. The ovary is generally two-chambered, with two
inverted ovules standing side by side at the inner angle of each
chamber. The style is simple or branched, and the stigma is linear,
capitate or globose in form; these variations afford means for
distinguishing the different genera. The fruit is usually a capsule
opening by valves; the seeds, where four are developed, are each shaped
like the quadrant of a sphere; the seed-coat is smooth, or sometimes
warty or hairy; the embryo is large with generally broad, folded,
notched or bilobed cotyledons surrounded by a horny endosperm. _Cuscuta_
has a thread-like, spirally twisted embryo with no trace of cotyledons.
[Illustration: _Convolvulus sepium_, slightly reduced.
1. Flower cut vertically.
2. Fruit, slightly reduced.
3. Seed cut lengthwise showing embryo.
4. Embryo taken out of seed.
5. Horizontal plan of arrangement of flower.]
The large showy flowers are visited by insects for the honey which is
secreted by a ring-like disk below the ovary; large-flowered species of
_Ipomaea_ with narrow tubes are adapted for the visits of honey-seeking
birds.
The largest genus, _Ipomaea_, has about 400 species distributed
throughout the warmer parts of the earth. _Convolvulus_ has about 150 to
200 species, mainly in temperate climates; the genus is principally
developed in the Mediterranean area and western Asia. _Cuscuta_ contains
nearly 100 species in the warmer and temperate regions; two are native
in Britain.
The tubers of _Ipomaea Batatas_ are rich in starch and sugar, and, as
the "sweet potato," form one of the most widely distributed foods in the
warmer parts of the earth. Several members of the order are used
medicinally for the strong purging properties of the milky juice (latex)
which they contain; scammony is the dried latex from the underground
stem of _Convolvulus Scammonia_, a native of the Levant, while jalap is
the product of the tubercles of _Exogonium Purga_, a native of Mexico.
Species of _Ipomaea_ (morning glory), _Convolvulus_ and _Calystegia_ are
cultivated as ornamental plants. _Convolvulus arvensis_ (bindweed) is a
pest in fields and gardens on account of its wide-spreading underground
stem, and many of the dodders (_Cuscuta_) cause damage to crops.
CONVOY (through the Fr. from late Lat. _conviare_, to go along with,
from Lat. _cum_, with, and _via_, way; "convey" has the same ultimate
origin [see CONVEYANCE], neither word being connected, as has sometimes
been supposed, with Lat. _convehere_, to carry together), a verb and
noun now almost exclusively used in military and naval parlance. As a
verb it signifies in the first instance to accompany or to escort; and
in the 17th century we even hear of cavalry "convoying" infantry, but
its meaning was soon complicated by the growing use of the word "convey"
in the sense of "to carry," and as the usual task of an escort was that
of accompanying and protecting vehicles containing supplies, the noun
"convoy" (Fr. _convoi_) was introduced and has thenceforward in land
warfare meant a train of vehicles containing stores for the use of
troops and its guard or escort. Sometimes even the word is found in the
meaning of the train of vehicles without implying that there is an
escort, so far has the original meaning become obscured; but the idea of
military protection is always present, whether this protection is given
by a separate escort or provided by the weapons of the drivers
themselves.
In naval warfare the term is used to describe a method adopted for
defending merchant ships against capture. It was usually applied to the
vessels to be protected--as for example "the Baltic convoy," or "Captain
Montray's convoy." Until the 17th century the English term was "to waft"
and the warship employed to guard the traders on their way was called "a
wafter." The practice of sailing in convoy for mutual protection was
common in the middle ages, when all ships were more or less armed and
the war vessel was not entirely differentiated from the trader. Thus the
ships of the great German confederation of cities known as the Hanseatic
League were required to sail in convoy. So were the six trading
squadrons which sailed yearly from Venice. The masters of all the
vessels were required to obey the authority of an officer who had the
general command. In the 16th century the Spanish trade with America was
compelled by law to sail in convoys (_flotas_), in order to avoid the
danger of capture by pirates to which single ships were exposed. In the
17th and 18th centuries the use of convoy was universal. Dutch, French
or British ships were collected at a rendezvous, and were accompanied by
warships till they reached the point at which they were compelled to
separate in order to go to their various destinations. The main danger
was near the enemy's ports. An example of the way the duty was
discharged may be found in the Newfoundland convoy. They sailed from
England under the direction of a naval officer and the protection of his
ships, commonly a forty- or fifty-gun ship with a smaller vessel in
attendance. The convoy sailed to the banks of Newfoundland. When they
had filled up with stock fish, they were escorted across the Atlantic by
the same officer. He accompanied those of them bound to the
Mediterranean to the port of Leghorn, and, when they had unloaded and
reloaded, saw them home. All cases were not so simple. The ships engaged
in the East and West India trade, for instance, sailed together. In the
Channel they were protected by the main strength of the fleet. When
beyond the Scilly Islands they were left to the care of a smaller force,
and continued together till in the neighbourhood of Madeira, when they
separated. Convoys were subject to attack in two forms, by strong
squadrons which overpowered the guard, and by privateers, corsairs and
isolated cruisers. This latter peril was much increased in the case of
British commerce by the reluctance of the merchant captains to obey the
naval officers. They were very much inclined to separate from the convoy
as they approached their destination in the hope of forestalling rivals.
As a natural consequence they were frequently captured by hostile
privateers. French naval officers had authority and large powers of
punishment over merchant skippers. The British naval officers had not.
In 1803-34, on the renewal of the war with France, the British
government saw the necessity for regulating convoy more strictly than
had hitherto been the case. It therefore passed "an act for the better
protection of the trade of the United Kingdom during the present
hostilities with France." By this act (the 43rd Geo. III. Cap. 57) all
vessels not exempted by special licence were required to sail in convoy
and to conform to strict regulations, under penalties of £1000 (or, when
the goods included government stores, of £1500) and the loss of all
claim to insurance in case of capture. (D. H.)
The object of convoying is to attach an official public character to the
convoyed ships, i.e. a sort of assimilation of them to the escorting
ship or ships of war. Thus European states and jurists hold that the
declaration of the commander of the convoy, that there is no contraband
of war on board the convoyed ships, pledges the national good faith, and
must be assumed to be correct in the same way as it is assumed that the
convoy itself is carrying no contraband of war. Great Britain has never
taken this view. Down to 1907 she had maintained that it is materially
impossible for any neutral state to exercise the necessary supervision
to secure absolute accuracy of the ship's papers. Number 29, however, of
the instructions given by the government to the British
plenipotentiaries at the Hague Conference of 1907 stated that "H.M.
government would ... be glad to see the right of search limited in every
practicable way, e.g. by the adoption of a system of consular
certificates declaring the absence of contraband from the cargo...." As
the greater includes the smaller, we may assume that, if a consular
certificate might suffice to exempt from the exercise of search, the
state guarantee of a convoy would certainly suffice. The London
Convention on the Laws and Customs of Naval War has laid down the rules
as to convoys in the following terms:
Neutral vessels under national convoy are exempt from search. The
commander of a convoy gives, in writing, at the request of the
commander of a belligerent warship, all information as to the
character of the vessels and their cargoes, which could be obtained by
search.--Art. 61.
If the commander of the belligerent warship has reason to suspect that
the confidence of the commander of the convoy has been abused, he
communicates his suspicions to him. In such a case it is for the
commander of the convoy alone to investigate the matter. He must
record the result of such investigation in a report, of which a copy
is handed to the officer of the warship. If, in the opinion of the
commander of the convoy, the facts shown in the report justify the
capture of one or more vessels, the protection of the convoy must be
withdrawn from such vessels.--Art. 62. (T. BA.)
CONVULSIONS, the pathological condition of body associated with
abnormal, violent and spasmodic contractions and relaxations of the
muscles, taking the form of a fit. Convulsions may be a symptom
resulting from various diseases, but the term is commonly restricted to
the infantile variety, occurring in association with teething, or other
causes which upset the child's nervous system. The treatment (plunging
into a hot bath, or administration of chloroform) must be prompt, as
convulsions are responsible for a large part of infant mortality.
The name "Convulsionaries" (Fr. _Convulsionnaires_) was given to certain
Jansenist fanatics in France in the 18th century, owing to the
convulsions, regarded by them as proofs of divine inspiration, which
were the result of their religious ecstasies (see JANSENISM). The term
"Convulsionists" is sometimes applied to them, as also, more loosely, to
other religious enthusiasts who exhibit the same symptoms.
CONWAY, HENRY SEYMOUR (1721-1795), English field marshal and statesman,
was the second son of Francis Seymour, of Ragley, Warwickshire, who took
the name of Conway on succeeding to the estates of the earl of Conway in
1699 and was created Baron Conway in 1703 (see SEYMOUR or ST MAUR).
Henry Seymour Conway's elder brother, Francis, 2nd Baron Conway, was
created marquess of Hertford in 1793; his mother was a sister of Sir
Robert Walpole's wife, and he was therefore first cousin to Horace
Walpole, with whom he was on terms of intimate friendship throughout his
life. Having entered the army at an early age, Conway was elected to the
Irish parliament in 1741 as member for Antrim, which he continued to
represent for twenty years; in the same year he became a member of the
English House of Commons, sitting for Higham Ferrers in
Northamptonshire, and he remained in parliament, representing
successively a number of different constituencies, almost without
interruption for more than forty years. Meantime he saw much service in
the army abroad, where he served with conspicuous bravery and not
without distinction. In 1745 he became aide-de-camp to the duke of
Cumberland in Germany, and was present at Fontenoy; in the following
year he had command of a regiment at Culloden. In 1755 he went to
Ireland as secretary to the lord-lieutenant, a position which he held
for one year only; and on his return to England he received a court
appointment, having already been promoted major-general. In 1757 he was
associated with Sir John Mordaunt in command of an abortive expedition
against Rochfort, the complete failure of which brought Conway into
discredit and involved him in a pamphlet controversy. In 1759 he became
lieutenant-general, and served under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick in
the campaigns of 1761-1763. Returning to England he took part in the
debates in parliament on the Wilkes case, in which he opposed the views
of the court, speaking strongly against the legality of general
warrants. His conduct in this matter highly incensed the king, who
insisted on Conway being deprived of his military command as well as of
his appointment in the royal household. His dismissal along with other
officers was the occasion of another paper controversy in which Conway
was defended by Horace Walpole, and gave rise to much constitutional
dispute as to the right of the king to remove military officers for
their conduct in parliament--a right that was tacitly abandoned by the
Crown when the Rockingham ministry of 1765 reinstated the officers who
had been removed.
In this ministry Conway took office as secretary of state, with the
leadership of the House of Commons. In the dispute with the American
colonies his sympathies were with the latter, and in 1766 he carried the
repeal of the Stamp Act. When in July of that year Rockingham gave place
to Chatham, Conway retained his office; and when Chatham became
incapacitated by illness he tamely acquiesced in Townshend's reversal of
the American policy which he himself had so actively furthered in the
previous administration. In January 1768, offended by the growing
influence of the Bedford faction which joined the government, Conway
resigned the seals of office, though he was persuaded by the king to
remain a member of the cabinet and "Minister of the House of Commons."
When, however, Lord North became premier in 1770, Conway resigned from
the cabinet and was appointed to the command of the royal regiment of
horse guards; and in 1772 he became governor of Jersey, the island being
twice invaded by the French during his tenure of command. In 1780 and
1781 he took an active part in opposition to Lord North's American
policy, and it was largely as the result of his motion on the 22nd of
February in the latter year, demanding the cessation of the war against
the colonies, when the ministerial majority was reduced to one, that
Lord North resigned office. In the Rockingham government that followed
General Conway became commander-in-chief with a seat in the cabinet; and
he retained office under Shelburne when Rockingham died a few months
later. On Pitt's elevation to the premiership, Conway supported Fox in
opposition; but after the dissolution of parliament in 1784 he retired
from political life. He was made field marshal in 1793, and died at
Henley-on-Thames on the 9th of July 1795. Conway married in 1747
Caroline, daughter of General Campbell (afterwards duke of Argyll), and
widow of the earl of Aylesbury. He had one daughter, Anne, who married
John Darner, son of Lord Milton, and who inherited a life interest in
Strawberry Hill under the will of Horace Walpole.
Conway was personally one of the most popular men of his day. He was
handsome, conciliatory and agreeable, and a man of refined taste and
untarnished honour. As a soldier he was a dashing officer, but a poor
general. He was weak, vacillating and ineffective as a politician,
lacking in judgment and decision, and without any great parliamentary
talent. In his later years he dabbled in literature and the drama, and
interested himself in arboriculture in his retirement at
Henley-on-Thames.
See Horace Walpole, _Letters_, edited by P. Cunningham (9 vols.,
London, 1857), many of the letters being addressed to Conway; _Memoirs
of the Last Ten years of the Reign of George II._ (2 vols., London,
1822); _Memoirs of the Reign of George III._, edited by Sir D. le
Marchant (4 vols., London, 1845); _Journal of the Reign of George
III._, 1771-1783 (2 vols., London, 1859). See also the duke of
Buckingham and Chandos, _Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George
III._ (4 vols., London, 1853). Much information about Conway will also
be found in the biographies of his leading contemporaries, Rockingham,
Shelburne, Chatham, Pitt and Fox. (R. J. M.)
CONWAY, HUGH, the nom-de-plume of FREDERICK JOHN FARGUS (1847-1885),
English novelist, who was born at Bristol on the 26th of December 1847,
the son of an auctioneer. He was intended for his father's business, but
at the age of thirteen joined the training-ship "Conway" in the Mersey.
In deference to his father's wishes, however, he gave up the idea of
becoming a sailor, and returned to Bristol, where he was articled to a
firm of accountants till on his father's death in 1868 he took over the
family business. While a clerk he had written the words for various
songs, adopting the nom-de-plume Hugh Conway in memory of his days on
the training-ship. Mr Arrowsmith, the Bristol printer and publisher,
took an interest in his work, and Fargus's first short story appeared in
_Arrowsmith's Miscellany_. In 1883 Fargus published through Arrowsmith
his first long story, _Called Back_, of which over 350,000 copies were
sold within four years. A dramatic version of this book was produced in
London in 1884, and in this year Fargus published another story, _Dark
Days_. Ordered to the Riviera for his health, he caught typhoid fever,
and died at Monte Carlo on the 15th of May 1885. Several other books
from his pen appeared posthumously, notably _A Family Affair_.
CONWAY, MONCURE DANIEL (1832-1907), American clergyman and author, was
born of an old Virginia family in Stafford county, Virginia, on the 17th
of March 1832. He graduated at Dickinson College in 1849, studied law
for a year, and then became a Methodist minister in his native state. In
1852, owing largely to the influence of Ralph Waldo Emerson, his
religious and political views underwent a radical change, and he entered
the Harvard Divinity School, where he graduated in 1854. Here he fell
under the influence of "transcendentalism," and became an outspoken
abolitionist. On his return to Virginia this fact and his rumoured
connexion with the attempt to rescue the fugitive slave, Anthony Burns,
in Boston aroused the bitter hostility of his old neighbours and
friends, and in consequence he left the state. In 1854-1856 he was
pastor of a Unitarian church at Washington, D.C., but his anti-slavery
views brought about his dismissal. From 1856 to 1861 he was a Unitarian
minister in Cincinnati, Ohio, where, also, he edited a short-lived
liberal periodical called _The Dial_. Subsequently he was an editor of
the _Commonwealth_ in Boston, Mass., and wrote _The Rejected Stone_
(1861) and _The Golden Hour_ (1862), both powerful pleas for
emancipation. In 1862-1863, during the Civil War, he lectured in England
in behalf of the North. From 1863 to 1884 he was the minister of the
South Place chapel, Finsbury, London; and during this time wrote
frequently for the London press. In 1884 he returned to the United
States to devote himself to literary work. In addition to those above
mentioned, his publications include _Tracts for To-day_ (1858), _The
Natural History of the Devil_ (1859), _Testimonies Concerning Slavery_
(1864), _The Earthward Pilgrimage_ (1870), _Republican Superstitions_
(1872), _Idols and Ideals_ (1871), _Demonology and Devil Lore_ (2 vols.,
1878), _A Necklace of Stories_ (1879), _Thomas Carlyle_ (1881), _The
Wandering Jew_ (1881), _Emerson at Home and Abroad_ (1882), _Pine and
Palm_ (2 vols., 1887), _Life and Papers of Edmund Randolph_ (1888), _The
Life of Thomas Paine_ with an unpublished sketch of Paine by William
Cobbett (2 vols., 1892), _Solomon and Solomonic Literature_ (1899), his
_Autobiography_ (2 vols., 1900), and _My Pilgrimage to the Wise Men of
the East_ (1906). Conway died on the 15th of November 1907.
CONWAY, SIR WILLIAM MARTIN (1856- ), English art critic and mountaineer,
son of the Rev. William Conway, afterwards canon of Westminster, was
born at Rochester, and was educated at Repton and at Trinity College,
Cambridge. He became interested in early printing and engraving, and in
1880 made a tour of the principal libraries of Europe in pursuit of his
studies, the result appearing in 1884 as a _History of the Woodcutters
of the Netherlands in the Fifteenth Century_. His later works on art
included _Early Flemish Artists_ (1887); _The Literary Remains of
Albrecht Dürer_ (1889); _The Dawn of Art in the Ancient World_ (1891),
dealing with Chaldaean, Assyrian and Egyptian art; _Early Tuscan
Artists_ (1902). From 1884 to 1887 he was professor of art at University
College, Liverpool; and in 1901-1904 he was Slade professor of the fine
arts at Cambridge. He was knighted in 1895. Sir Martin Conway early
became a member of the Alpine Club, of which he was president from 1902
to 1904. In 1892 he beat the climbing record by ascending to a height of
23,000 ft. in the Himalayas in the course of an exploring and
mountaineering expedition undertaken under the auspices of the Royal
Society, the Royal Geographical Society and the British Association. In
1896-1897 he explored the interior of Spitsbergen, and in the next year
he explored and surveyed the Bolivian Andes, climbing Sorata (21,500
ft.) and Illimani (21,200 ft.). He also ascended Aconcagua (23,080 ft.)
and explored Tierra del Fuego. At the Paris exhibition of 1900 he
received the gold medal for mountain surveys, and the founder's medal of
the Royal Geographical Society in 1905. His expeditions are described in
his _Climbing and Exploration in the Kara-Koram Himalayas_ (1894), _The
Alps from End to End_ (1895), _The First Crossing of Spitsbergen_
(1897), _The Bolivian Andes_ (1901), &c.; _No Man's Land, a History of
Spitsbergen from ... 1596 ..._ was published in 1906.
CONWAY (_Conwy_, or _Aberconwy_), a municipal borough in the Arfon
parliamentary division of Carnarvonshire, N. Wales, 14 m. by the London
& North-Western railway from Bangor, and 225 m. N.W. from London. Pop.
(1901) 4681. The town is enclosed by a high wall, roughly triangular,
about 1 m. round, with twenty-one dilapidated round towers, pierced by
three principal gateways with two strong towers. The castle in the
south-east angle, built in 1284 by Edward I., was inhabited, in 1389, by
Richard II., who here agreed to abdicate. Held for Charles I. by
Archbishop Williams, it was taken by General Mytton in 1646. Dismantled
by the new proprietor, Earl Conway, it remains a ruin. It is oblong,
with eight massive towers, and has, within, a hall 130 ft. in length,
known as Llewelyn's. The parliamentary borough of Conway, returning,
with five other towns, one member, extends over to the right bank of the
stream Conwy (Conway). In 1885 the mayor of Conway was made a constable.
Llandudno with Great and Little Orme's Heads are at some 4 m. distance.
Two bridges, a tubular for the railway (40 ft. shorter than that of the
Menai) and a suspension, designed by Stephenson (1846-1848) and Telford
(1822-1826) respectively, cross the stream. St Mary's church is Gothic;
the Elizabethan Plâs Mawr is the _locale_ of the Royal Cambrian Academy
of Art. There are still some fragments of the 1185 Cistercian Abbey.
There are golf links here and at Llandudno. The Conwy stream, on which a
steamboat runs from Deganwy (2 m. below Conway town) to Trefriw,
opposite Llanrwst, in summer, has some coasting trade in sulphur and
slates. It is about 30 m. long, its valley (a haunt of artists)
containing the towns last mentioned and Bettws y coed. Its pearls are
mentioned in Drayton's _Polyolbion_ and Spenser's _Faerie Queene_. Pearl
fisheries existed at Conway for many centuries, dating back to the Roman
occupation. Tacitus, _Agricola_, 12, says of Britain "gignit et Oceanus
margarita, sed subfusca ac liventia," as are those found to-day.
Diganhwy (Dyganwy, Deganwy) is mentioned in the _Mabinogion_ (_Geraint
and Enid_), if the reading is sound; it is certainly mentioned in the
_Annales Cambriae_ (years 812-822) and in the _Black Book of
Caerfyrddin_ (Carmarthen), xxiii. 1. Caer-hyn, 4½ m. from Conway, is on
the highroad from London to Holyhead, and is the _Conovium_ of the
Romans. The site of the camp can still be traced, consisting of a
square, strengthened by four parallel walls, extending to a distance
from the main work. The camp is on a height, with the Conwy in front and
a wood on each flank. At the foot of the hill, near the stream, was a
Roman bath, with walls, pavement and pillars. Camden's _Britannia_
mentions tiles, with marks of the 10th or Antoninus's legion, as being
found here, perhaps mistakenly. _Gleini nadroedd_ (possibly amulets) and
_vitrum_ have been found here. In Bwlch y ddwy faen ("two rock ravine"),
on the way to Aber, are the remains of a Roman road and antiquities.
CONYBEARE, WILLIAM DANIEL (1787-1857), dean of Llandaff, one of the most
distinguished of English geologists, who was born in London on the 7th
of June 1787, was a grandson of John Conybeare, bishop of Bristol
(1692-1755), a notable preacher and divine, and son of Dr William
Conybeare, rector of Bishopsgate. Educated first at Westminster school,
he went in 1805 to Christ Church, Oxford, where in 1808 he took his
degree of B.A., with a first in classics and second in mathematics, and
proceeded to M.A. three years later. Having entered holy orders he
became in 1814 curate of Wardington, near Banbury, and he accepted also
a lectureship at Brislington near Bristol. During this period he was one
of the founders of the Bristol Philosophical Institution (1822). He was
rector of Sully in Glamorganshire from 1823 to 1836, and vicar of
Axminster from 1836 to 1844. He was appointed Bampton lecturer in 1839,
and was instituted to the deanery of Llandaff in 1845. Attracted to the
study of geology by the lectures of Dr John Kidd (q.v.) he pursued the
subject with ardour. As soon as he had left college he made extended
journeys in Britain and on the continent, and he became one of the early
members of the Geological Society. Both Buckland and Sedgwick
acknowledged their indebtedness to him for instruction received when
they first began to devote attention to geology. To the _Transactions of
the Geological Society_ as well as to the _Annals of Philosophy_ and
_Philosophical Magazine_ he contributed many geological memoirs. In 1821
he distinguished himself by the description of a skeleton of the
_Plesiosaurus_, discovered by Mary Anning, and his account has been
confirmed in all main points by subsequent researches. Among his most
important memoirs is that on the south-western coal district of England,
written in conjunction with Dr Buckland, and published in 1824. He wrote
also on the valley of the Thames, on Elie de Beaumont's theory of
mountain-chains, and on the great landslip which occurred near Lyme
Regis in 1839 when he was vicar of Axminster. His principal work,
however, is the _Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales_ (1822),
being a second edition of the small work issued by William Phillips
(q.v.) and written in co-operation with that author. The original
contributions of Conybeare formed the principal portion of this edition,
of which only Part I., dealing with the Carboniferous and newer strata,
was published. It affords evidence throughout of the extensive and
accurate knowledge possessed by Conybeare; and it exercised a marked
influence on the progress of geology in this country. He was a fellow of
the Royal Society and a corresponding member of the Institute of France.
In 1844 he was awarded the Wollaston medal by the Geological Society of
London. The loss of his eldest son, W. J. Conybeare, preyed on his mind
and hastened his end. He died at Itchenstoke, near Portsmouth, a few
months after his son, on the 12th of August 1857. (Obituary in _Gent.
Mag._ Sept. 1857, p. 335.)
His elder brother JOHN JOSIAS CONYBEARE (1779-1824), also educated at
Christ Church, Oxford, and an accomplished scholar, became vicar of
Batheaston, and was professor of Anglo-Saxon and afterwards of poetry at
Oxford. He likewise was an ardent student of geology and communicated
several important papers to the _Annals of Philosophy_ and the
_Transactions of the Geological Society_ of London. (Obituary in _Ann.
Phil._ vol. viii., Sept. 1824, p. 162.)
CONYBEARE, WILLIAM JOHN (1815-1857), English divine, son of Dean W. D.
Conybeare, was born on the 1st of August 1815, and was educated at
Westminster and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was elected
fellow in 1837. From 1842 to 1848 he was principal of the Liverpool
Collegiate Institution, which he left for the vicarage of Axminster. He
published _Essays, Ecclesiastical and Social_, in 1856, and a novel,
_Perversion, or the Causes and Consequences of Infidelity_, but is best
known as the joint author (with J. S. Howson) of _The Life and Epistles
of St Paul_ (1851). He died at Weybridge in 1857.
COODE, SIR JOHN (1816-1892), English engineer, was born at Bodmin,
Cornwall, on the 11th of November 1816, the son of a solicitor. After
considerable experience as an engineer in the west of England he came to
London, and from 1844-1847 had a consulting practice in Westminster. In
the latter year he was appointed resident engineer in charge of the
extensive national harbour works at Portland then in progress. In 1856
he was appointed engineer-in-chief of this undertaking, and this post he
retained till the completion of the works in 1872. His services at
Portland were rewarded with a knighthood. He was now recognized as the
leading authority on harbour construction, and his advice was sought by
many of the colonial governments, especially by those of South Africa
and Australia, and by the Indian government. After the Portland harbour
his best-known work is the harbour of Colombo, Ceylon. He was made a
K.C.M.G. in 1886. From 1884 till his death he was a member of the Suez
Canal Commission, and from 1889-1891 president of the Institution of
Civil Engineers. He died at Brighton on the 2nd of March 1892.
COOK, ALBERT STANBURROUGH (1853- ), American scholar, was born on the
6th of March 1853 in Montville, Morris county, New Jersey. He graduated
at Rutgers College in 1872, and also studied at Göttingen and Leipzig
(1877-1878), and, after spending the years 1879-1881 as associate in
English at Johns Hopkins University, in London, and under Sievers at
Jena, he became in 1882 professor of English in the University of
California, and in 1889 professor of English language and literature in
Yale University. He re-organized the teaching of English in the state of
California, and edited many texts for reading in secondary schools; but
he is best known for his work in Old English and in poetics. He
translated, edited, and revised Sievers' _Old English Grammar_ (1885),
edited _Judith_ (1888), _The Christ of Cynewulf_ (1900), _Asser's Life
of King Alfred_ (1905), and _The Dream of the Rood_ (1905), and prepared
_A First Book in Old English Grammar_ (1894). He also edited, with
annotations, _Sidney's Defense of Poesie_ (1890); _Shelley's Defense of
Poetry_ (1891); _Newman's Poetry_ (1891); _Addison's Criticisms on
Paradise Lost_ (1892); _The Art of Poetry_ (1892), being the essays of
Horace, Vida and Boileau; and _Leigh Hunt's What is Poetry_ (1893); and
published _Higher Study of English_ (1906).
COOK, EDWARD DUTTON (1829-1883), English dramatic critic and author, was
born in London on the 30th of January 1829, the son of a solicitor. He
was educated at King's College school, London, and, after four years in
his father's office, obtained a situation in the London office of a
railway company, at first utilizing only his spare time in literary
work, but eventually devoting himself entirely to literature. He was
dramatic critic of the _Pall Mall Gazette_ from 1867 to 1875, and of the
_World_ from 1875 till his death. He also wrote freely on art topics,
and was the author of several novels. He died in London on the 11th of
September 1883.
COOK, ELIZA (1818-1889), English author, was born on the 24th of
December 1818, in Southwark, being the daughter of a local tradesman.
She was self-taught, and began when a girl to write poetry for the
_Weekly Dispatch_ and _New Monthly_. In 1838 she published _Melaia and
other Poems_, and from 1849 to 1854 conducted a paper for family reading
called _Eliza Cook's Journal_. She also published _Jottings from my
Journal_ (1860), and _New Echoes_ (1864); and in 1863 she was given a
civil list pension of £100 a year. As the author of a single poem, "The
Old Armchair," Eliza Cook's name was for a generation after 1838 a
household word both in England and in America, her kindly domestic
sentiment making her a great favourite with the working-class and
middle-class public. She died at Wimbledon on the 23rd of September
1889.
COOK, JAMES (1728-1779), English naval captain and explorer, was born on
the 28th of October 1728, at Marton village, Cleveland, Yorkshire, where
his father was first an agricultural labourer and then a farm bailiff.
At twelve years of age he was apprenticed to a haberdasher at Staithes,
near Whitby, and afterwards to Messrs Walker, shipowners, of Whitby,
whom he served for years in the Norway, Baltic and Newcastle trades.
In 1755, having risen to be a mate, Cook joined the royal navy, and
after four years' service was, on the recommendation of Sir Hugh
Palliser, his commander, appointed master successively of the sloop
"Grampus," of the "Garland" and of the "Solebay," in the last of which
he served in the St Lawrence. He was employed also in sounding and
surveying the river, and he published a chart of the channel from Quebec
to the sea. In 1762 he was present at the recapture of Newfoundland, and
was employed in surveying portions of this coast (especially Placentia
Harbour); in 1763, on Palliser becoming governor of Newfoundland, Cook
was appointed "marine surveyor of the coast of Newfoundland and
Labrador"; this office he held till 1767; and the volumes of sailing
directions he now brought out (1766-1768) showed remarkable abilities.
At the same time he began to make his reputation as a mathematician and
astronomer by his observation of the solar eclipse of the 5th of August
1766, at one of the Burgeo Islands, near Cape Ray, and by his account of
the same in the _Philosophical Transactions_ (vol. lvii. pp. 215-216).
In 1768 Cook was appointed to conduct an expedition, suggested by the
revival of geographical interest now noticeable, and resolved on by the
English admiralty at the instance of the Royal Society, for observing
the impending transit of Venus, and prosecuting geographical researches
in the South Pacific Ocean. For these purposes he received a commission
as lieutenant (May 25th), and set sail in the "Endeavour," of 370 tons,
accompanied by several men of science, including Sir Joseph Banks
(August 25th). On the 13th of April 1769, he reached Tahiti, where he
observed the transit on the 3rd of June. From Tahiti he sailed in quest
of the great continent then supposed to exist in the South Pacific,
explored the Society Islands, and thence struck to New Zealand, whose
coasts he circumnavigated and examined with great care for six months,
charting them for the first time with fair accuracy, and especially
observing the channel ("Cook Strait") which divided the North and South
Islands. His attempts to penetrate to the interior, however, were
thwarted by native hostility. From New Zealand he proceeded to "New
Holland" or Australia, and surveyed with the same minuteness and
accuracy the whole east coast. New South Wales he named after a supposed
resemblance to Glamorganshire; Botany Bay, sighted on the 28th of April
1770, was so called by the naturalists of the expedition. On account of
the hostility of the natives his discoveries here also were confined to
the coast, of which he took possession for Great Britain. From Australia
Cook sailed to Batavia, satisfying himself upon the way that (as Torres
had first shown in 1607) New Guinea was in no way an outlying part of
the greater land mass to the south.
Arriving in England, by way of the Cape of Good Hope, on the 12th of
June, Cook was made a commander, and soon after was appointed to command
another expedition for examining and determining once for all the
question of the supposed great southern continent. With the "Resolution"
of 462 tons, the "Adventure" (Captain Furneaux) of 330 tons, and 193
men, he sailed from Plymouth on the 13th of July 1772; he touched at the
Cape of Good Hope, and striking thence south-east (November 22nd) passed
the Antarctic Circle (January 16th, 1773), repassed the same, and made
his way to New Zealand (March 26th) without discovering land. From New
Zealand he resumed his "search for a continent," working up and down
across the South Pacific, and penetrating to 67° 31' and again to 71°
10' S., with imminent risk of destruction from floating ice, but with
the satisfaction of disproving the possibility of the disputed continent
in the seas south-eastward of New Zealand. He then made for Easter
Island, whose exact position he determined, for the first time, with
accuracy; noticing and describing the gigantic statues which Roggewein,
the first discoverer of the island, had made known. In the same manner
he accomplished a better determination and examination of the Marquesas,
as well as of the Tonga or Friendly Islands, than had yet been made; and
after a stay at Tahiti to rest and refit, crossed the central Pacific to
the "New Hebrides," as he renamed Quiros's "Southern Land of the Holy
Spirit" (a name preserved in the modern island of _Espiritu Santo_),
called by Bougainville the "Great Cyclades" (_Grandes Cyclades_), whose
position, extent, divisions and character were now verified as never
before. Next followed the wholly new discoveries of New Caledonia,
Norfolk Island, and the Isle of Pines. Another visit to New Zealand, and
yet another examination of the far southern Pacific, which was crossed
from west to east through the whole of its extent, from south Australia
to Tierra del Fuego, were now undertaken by Cook before he finally
closed his work in refutation of the Antarctic continent, as previously
understood, on this side of the world. The voyage closed with a rapid
survey of the "Land of Fire," the rounding of Cape Horn, the rediscovery
of the island now named Southern Georgia, the discovery of Sandwich
Land, the crossing of the South Atlantic (here also exploding the great
_Terra Australis_ delusion), and visits to the Cape of Good Hope, St
Helena, Ascension, Fernando Noronha and the Azores. The voyage
(reckoning only from the Cape of Good Hope and back to the same) had
covered considerably more than 20,000 leagues, nearly three times the
equatorial circumference of the earth; it left the main outlines of the
southern portions of the globe substantially as they are known to-day;
and it showed a possibility of keeping a number of men for years at sea
without a heavy toll of lives. Cook only lost one man out of 118 in more
than 1000 days; he had conquered scurvy.
The discoverer reached Plymouth on the 25th of July 1775, and his
achievements were promptly, if meanly, rewarded. He was immediately
raised to the rank of post-captain, appointed a captain in Greenwich
hospital, and soon afterwards unanimously elected a member of the Royal
Society, from which he received the Copley gold medal for the best
experimental paper which had appeared during the year.
Cook's third and last voyage was primarily to settle the question of the
north-west passage, practically abandoned since before the middle of the
17th century, but now taken up again, as a matter of scientific
interest, by the British government. The explorer, who had volunteered
for this service, was instructed to sail first into the Pacific through
the chain of the newly discovered islands which he had recently visited,
and on reaching New Albion to proceed northward as far as latitude 65°
and endeavour to find a passage to the Atlantic. Several ships were at
the same time fitted out to attempt a passage on the other side from the
Atlantic to the Pacific. Sailing from the Nore on the 25th of June 1776
(Plymouth, July 12), with the "Resolution" and "Discovery," and touching
at the Cape of Good Hope, which he left on the 30th of November, Cook
next made Tasmania and thence passed on to New Zealand and the Tonga and
Society Islands, discovering on his way several of the larger members of
the Hervey or Cook Archipelago, especially Mangaia and Aitutaki (March
30th-April 4th, 1777); some smaller isles of this group he had already
sighted on his second voyage, September 23rd, 1773. From Tahiti, as he
moved north towards the main object of his expedition, he made a far
more important discovery, or rather rediscovery, that of the Hawaiian or
Sandwich Islands, the greatest and most remarkable of the Polynesian
archipelagos (early February 1778). These had perhaps first been seen by
the Spanish navigator Gaetano in 1555; but their existence had been kept
a close secret by Spain at the time, and had long been forgotten.
Striking the west American coast in 44° 55' N. on the 7th of March
following, he made an almost continuous survey of the same up to Bering
Straits and beyond, as far as 70° 41', where he found the passage barred
by a wall, or rather continent, of ice, rising 12 ft. above water, and
stretching as far as the eye could reach. The farthest point visible on
the American shore (in the extreme north-west of Alaska) he called Icy
Cape. On his way towards Bering Straits he discovered and named King
George's ("Nootka") and Prince William's Sound, as well as Cape Prince
of Wales, the westernmost extremity of North America, never yet seen by
English navigators, but well known to Russian explorers, who probably
first sighted it in 1648; he also penetrated into the bay afterwards
known as Cook's Inlet or River, which at first seemed to promise a
passage to the Arctic Seas, to the south-east of the Alaska peninsula.
Cook next visited the Asiatic shores of Bering Straits (the extreme
north-east of Siberia); returning to America, he explored Norton Sound,
north of the Yukon; touched at (Aleutian) Unalaska, where he met with
some Russian-American settlers; and thence made his way back to the
Hawaiian group, which he had christened after his friend and patron Lord
Sandwich, then head of the British admiralty (January 17th, 1779). Here
he visited Maui and Hawaii itself, whose size and importance he now
first realized, and in one of whose bays (Kealakekua) he met his death
early in the morning of the 14th of February 1779. During the night of
the 13th, one of the "Discovery's" boats was stolen by the natives; and
Cook, in order to recover it, made trial of his favourite expedient of
seizing the king's person until reparation should be made. Having landed
on the following day with some marines, a scuffle ensued which compelled
the party to retreat to their boats. Cook was the last to retire; and as
he was nearing the shore he received a blow from behind which felled him
to the ground. He rose immediately, and vigorously resisted the crowds
that pressed upon him, but was soon overpowered.
Had Cook returned from his third voyage, there is ground for believing
King George would have made him a baronet. Distinguished honours were
paid to his memory, both at home and by foreign courts, and a pension
was settled upon his widow. But in his life a very inadequate share of
official reward was dealt out to the man who not only may be placed
first among British maritime discoverers, but also gave his country her
title, and so her colonies, in Australasia. As a commander, an observer
and a practical physician, his merits were equally great. Reference has
been made to his survey work and to his victory over scurvy; it must not
be forgotten that along with a commanding personal presence, and with
sagacity, decision and perseverance quite extraordinary, went other
qualities not less useful to his work. He won the affection of those who
served under him by sympathy, kindness and unselfish care of others as
noteworthy as his gifts of intellect.
See the _Account of a Voyage round the World in 1769-1771, by Lieut.
James Cook_, in vols. ii. and iii. of Hawkesworth's Voyages (1773);
the _Voyage towards the South Pole and round the World ... in ...
1772-1775, written by James Cook_ ... (1777); a _Voyage to the Pacific
Ocean ... in 1776-1780_, vols. i. and ii. written by Cook (1784); also
the _Narrative of the Voyages round the World performed by Captain
James Cook_, by A. Kippis, D.D., F.R.S. (1788), long the standard life
of the navigator, but now superseded by Arthur Kitson's _Captain James
Cook, the Circumnavigator_ (1907). (C. R. B.)
COOK, THOMAS (1808-1892), English travelling agent, was born at
Melbourne in Derbyshire on the 22nd of November 1808. Beginning work at
the age of ten, he was successively a gardener's help and a wood-turner
at Melbourne, and a printer at Loughborough. At the age of twenty he
became a Bible-reader and village missionary for the county of Rutland;
but in 1832, on his marriage, combined his wood-turning business with
that occupation. In 1836 he became a total abstainer, and subsequently
became actively associated with the temperance movement, and printed at
his own expense various publications in its interest, notably the
_Children's Temperance Magazine_ (1840), the first of its kind to appear
in England. In June 1841 a large meeting was to be held at Loughborough
in connexion with this movement, and Cook was struck with the idea of
getting the Midland Counties Railway Company to run a special train from
Leicester to the meeting. The company consented, and on the 5th of July
there were carried 570 passengers from Leicester to Loughborough and
back at a shilling a head. This is believed to be the first
publicly-advertised excursion train ever run in England--private
"specials," reserved for members of institutes and similar bodies, were
already in use. The event caused great excitement, and Cook received so
many applications to organize similar parties that he henceforward
deserted wood-turning, while continuing his printing and publishing. The
summers of the next three years were occupied with excursions like the
first; but in 1845 Cook advertised a pleasure-trip on a more extensive
scale, from Leicester to Liverpool and back, with opportunities for
visiting the Isle of Man, Dublin and Welsh coast. A _Handbook of the
Trip to Liverpool_ was supplied for the use of travellers. In the
previous year Cook had entered into a permanent arrangement with the
Midland Railway Company to place trains at his disposal, for which he
should provide the passengers. A trip to Scotland followed, and the
excursionists were received in Glasgow with music and salute of guns.
The next great impetus to popular travel was given by the Great
Exhibition of 1851, which Cook helped 165,000 visitors to attend. On the
occasion of the Paris exhibition of 1855 there was a Cook's excursion
from Leicester to Calais and back for £1:10s. The following year saw the
first grand circular tour in Europe. This part of Cook's activity
largely increased after 1863, when the Scottish railway managers broke
off their engagements with him, and left him free for more distant
enterprise. Switzerland was opened up in 1863, and Italy in 1864. Up to
this time "Cook's tourists" had been personally conducted, but now he
began to be an agent for the sale of English and foreign tickets, the
holders of which travelled independently. Switzerland was the first
foreign country accessible under these conditions, and in 1865 nearly
the whole of Europe was included in the scheme. Its extension to the
United States followed in 1866. For the benefit of visitors to the Paris
exhibition, Cook made a fresh departure and leased a hotel there. In the
same year began his system of "hotel-coupons," providing accommodation
at a fixed charge. The year 1869 was marked by an extension of Cook's
tours to Palestine, followed by further developments of travel in the
East, his son, John Mason Cook, (1834-1899), being appointed in 1870
agent of the khedivial government for passenger traffic on the Nile. The
Franco-German War of 1870-1871 was expected to damage the tourist
system, but, as a matter of fact, encouraged it, through the demand for
combination, international tickets enabling travellers to reach the
south of Europe without crossing the belligerent countries. At the
termination of the war a party of American freemasons visited Paris
under J. M. Cook's guidance, and became the precursors of the present
vast American tourist traffic. At the beginning of 1872 J. M. Cook
entered into formal partnership with his father, and the firm first took
the name of Thomas Cook & Son. In 1882, on the outbreak of Arabi Pasha's
rebellion, Thomas Cook & Son were commissioned to convey Sir Garnet
Wolseley and his suite to Egypt, and to transport the wounded and sick
up the Nile by water, for which they received the thanks of the war
office. The firm was again employed in 1884 to convey General Gordon to
the Sudan, and the whole of the men (18,000) and stores necessary for
the expedition afterwards sent to relieve him. In 1889 Thomas Cook & Son
acquired the exclusive right of carrying the mails, specie, soldiers and
officials of the Egyptian government along the Nile. In 1891 the firm
celebrated its jubilee, and on the 19th of July of the following year
Thomas Cook died. He had been afflicted with blindness in his declining
years. His son, J. M. Cook, died in 1899, leaving three sons, all
actively engaged in the business.
COOK or HERVEY ISLANDS, an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, lying
mainly between 155° and 160° E., and about 20° S.; a dependency of the
British colony of New Zealand. It comprises nine partly volcanic, partly
coralline, islands, the more important of which are Rarotonga, hilly,
fertile and well watered, with several cones 300 to 400 ft. high, above
which towers the majestic Rarotonga volcano (2920 ft.), the culminating
point of the archipelago; Mangaia (Mangia); Aitutaki, with luxuriant
cocoa-nut palm groves; Atui (Vatui); Mitiero; Mauki; Fenuaiti; and the
two Hervey Islets, which give an alternative name to the group. The
total land area is 111 sq. m. Owing to its healthy, equable climate, the
archipelago is well suited for European settlement; but the dangerous
fringing coral reefs render it difficult of access, and it suffers also
from the absence of good harbours. The natives, who are of Polynesian
stock and speech, have legends of their emigration from Samoa. They say
their ancestors found black people on the islands, and the strongly
Melanesian type which is found, especially on Mangaia, supports the
statement. The Cook Islanders were formerly man-hunters and cannibals,
but they now are nearly all Protestants, wear European dress and live in
stone houses. The total population is about 6200. Since 1890 the islands
have enjoyed a general legislature and an executive council of which the
_Arikis_ ("kings" and "queens") are members. But all enactments are
subject to the approval of the British resident at Rarotonga, and a
British protectorate, proclaimed in 1888, was followed by the annexation
of the whole archipelago by the governor of New Zealand, by proclamation
of June 10th, 1901. The archipelago was discovered by Captain Cook in
1777, and in 1823 became the scene of the remarkable missionary labours
of John Williams, of the London Missionary Society. The chief products
of the group are cocoanuts, fruits, coffee and copra. Lime-juice and
hats are made.
COOKE, GEORGE FREDERICK (1756-1811), English actor, was born in London,
and made his first appearance on the stage in Brentford at the age of
twenty as Dumont in _Jane Shore_. His first London appearance was at the
Haymarket in 1778, but it was not until 1794 in Dublin, as Othello, that
he attained high rank in his profession. In 1801 he appeared in London
as Richard III., Iago, Shylock and Sir Giles Overreach, and became the
rival of Kemble, with whom, however, and with Mrs Siddons, he acted from
1803. His intemperate habits unfortunately grew more and more notorious,
and on at least one occasion the curtain had to be rung down owing to
the audience hissing his drunken condition. He visited the United States
in 1810, and died in New York on the 26th of September 1811. A monument
to his memory was erected in St Paul's churchyard there by Edmund Kean.
COOKE, JAY (1821-1905), American financier, was born at Sandusky, Ohio,
on the 10th of August 1821, the son of Eleutheros Cooke (1787-1864), a
pioneer Ohio lawyer, and Whig member of Congress from that state in
1831-1833. Being destined for a commercial career, Jay Cooke received a
preliminary training in a trading house in St Louis, and in the booking
office of a transportation company in Philadelphia, and at the age of
eighteen entered the Philadelphia house of E.W. Clark & Company, one of
the largest private banking firms in the country. He showed such
aptitude for business that three years later he was admitted to
membership in the firm, and before he was thirty he was also a partner
in the New York and St Louis branches of the Clarks. In 1858 he retired
from the firm, and for the next three years he devoted himself to
reorganizing some of the abandoned Pennsylvania railways and canals and
placing them again in operation. On the 1st of January 1861 he opened in
Philadelphia the private banking house of Jay Cooke & Company, and soon
achieved signal success in floating at par a war loan of $3,000,000 for
the state of Pennsylvania, whose credit had become notoriously bad. In
the early months of the Civil War Cooke co-operated with the secretary
of the treasury, Salmon P. Chase, in securing loans from the leading
bankers in the Northern cities, and his own firm was so successful in
distributing treasury notes that Chase engaged him as special agent for
the sale of the $500,000,000 of so-called "five-twenty" bonds authorized
by the act of the 25th of February 1862. To dispose of these bonds the
treasury department had already tried every regular means at its command
and had failed. Cooke secured the influence of the American press,
appointed 2500 sub-agents, and before the machinery he set in motion
could be stopped he had sold $11,000,000 more of bonds than had been
authorized, an excess which Congress immediately sanctioned. At the same
time he used all his influence in favour of the establishment of
national banks, and organized a national bank at Washington and another
at Philadelphia almost as soon as such institutions were authorized by
Congress. In the early months of 1865, when the needs of the government
were pressing, and the sale of the new "seven-thirty" notes by the
national banks had been very disappointing, Cooke's services were again
secured. He sent agents into the remotest villages and hamlets, and even
into the isolated mining camps of the West, and caused the rural
newspapers to praise the loan. As a result, between February and July
1865 he had disposed of three series of the notes, reaching a total of
$830,000,000. Through these efforts the Union soldiers were well
supplied and well paid while dealing the final blows of the war; and,
later, with money in their pockets, they were disbanded without
difficulty.
After the war Cooke became interested in the development of the
North-west, and in 1870 his firm undertook to finance the construction
of the Northern Pacific railway. In advancing the money for the work,
the firm over-estimated the possibilities of its capital, and at the
approach of the financial crisis of 1873 it was forced to suspend. By
1880 Cooke had discharged all his obligations, and through an
investment in a silver mine in Utah had again become wealthy. He died at
Ogontz, Pennsylvania, on the 18th of February 1905. Cooke was noted for
his piety, and gave regularly a tenth of his income for religious and
charitable purposes. His handsome estate at Ogontz, which he had been
compelled to give up during his bankruptcy, he later repurchased and
converted into a school for girls.
See E. P. Oberholtzer, _Jay Cooke, Financier of the Civil War_
(Philadelphia, 1907).
COOKE, ROSE TERRY (1827-1892), American writer, _née_ Terry, was born at
West Hartford, Connecticut, on the 17th of February 1827. She published
in 1860 a volume of _Poems_, but after her marriage in 1873 to Rollin H.
Cooke she was best known for her fresh and humorous stories, though in
1888 she published more verse in her _Complete Poems_. The chief volumes
of fiction dealing mainly with New England country life, produced by
Rose Terry Cooke, were _Happy Dodd_ (1878), _Somebody's Neighbors_
(1881), _Root-bound_ (1885), _The Sphinx's Children_ (1886), _Steadfast_
(1889) and _Huckleberries_ (1891). She died at Pittsfield,
Massachusetts, on the 18th of July 1892.
COOKERY (Lat. _coquus_, a cook), the art of preparing and dressing food
of all sorts for human consumption, of converting the raw materials, by
the application of heat or otherwise, into a digestible and pleasing
condition, and generally ministering to the satisfaction of the appetite
and the delight of the palate. We may take it that some form of cookery
has existed from the earliest times, and its progress has been from the
simple to the elaborate, dominated partly by the foods accessible to
man, partly by the stage of civilization he has attained, and partly by
the appliances at his command for the purpose either of treating the
food, or of consuming it when served.
The developed art of cookery is necessarily a late addition--if it may
be considered to be included at all--to the list of "fine arts."
Originally it is a purely industrial and useful art. Man, says a French
writer, was born a roaster, and "_pour être cuisinier, il a besoin de le
devenir._" The ancients were great eaters, but strangers to the subtler
refinements of the palate. The gods were supposed to love the smell of
fried meat, while their nectar and ambrosia represented an ideal, which,
though preserved as a phrase, would hardly satisfy a modern epicure. The
ancients were poorly provided with pots and pans, except of a simple
order, or with the appurtenances of a kitchen, and they were sadly to
seek in the requisites of a modern table. So long as men ate with their
hands no dainty confection was suitable; the viands were set forth in a
straightforward style fit for their requirements. "Plain cooking,"
which, after all, can never become obsolete, was the only sort.
Oddities, no doubt, were the luxuries; and we can see to-day in the
ethnological accounts of contemporary savages and backward
civilizations, a fair representation of the cookeries of the ancients.
The luxuries of the Chinese are, in their way, a survival of long ages
of a cookery which to western civilization is grotesque. Even if it is
an historic impertinence, it is impossible for the countries of western
civilization to regard the fine flower of their own evolution as other
than the highest pitch of progress. _Autres temps, autres moeurs._ To
the Chinaman French cooking may possibly be as grotesque as to an
Englishman the Chinaman's hundred-year-old buried egg, black and
tasteless. The history of comparative cookery is bound up with the
physical possibilities of each country and its products; and if we
attempt to mark out stages in the evolution of cookery as a fine art, it
is necessarily as understood by the so-called civilized peoples of the
West in their culmination at the present day.
It is obvious that opportunity has dominated its history, for the art of
cookery is to some extent the product of an increased refinement of
taste, consequent on culture and increase of wealth. To this extent it
is a decadent art, ministering to the luxury of man, and to his
progressive inclination to be pampered and have his appetite tickled. It
is thus only remotely connected with the mere necessities of nutrition
(q.v.), or the science of dietetics (q.v.). Mere hunger, though the best
sauce, will not produce cookery, which is the art of sauces. For
centuries its elaboration consisted mainly of a progressive variety of
foods, the richest and rarest being sought out; and their nature
depended on what was most difficult to obtain. The Greeks learnt by
contact with Asia to increase the sumptuous character of their banquets,
but we know little enough of their ideas of gastronomy. Athens was the
centre of luxury. According to our chief authority Athenaeus,
Archestratus of Gela, the friend of the son of Pericles, the guide of
Epicurus, and author of the _Heduphagetica_, was a great traveller, and
took pains to get information as to how the delicacies of the table were
prepared in different parts. His lost work was versified by Ennius.
Other connoisseurs seem to have been Numenius of Heraclea, Hegemon of
Thasos, Philogenes of Leucas, Simonaclides of Chios, and Tyndarides of
Sicyon. The Romans, emerging from their pristine simplicity, borrowed
from the Greeks their achievements in gastronomic pleasure. We read of
this or that Roman gourmet, such as Lucullus, his extravagances and his
luxury. The name of the connoisseur Apicius, after whom a work of the
time of Heliogabalus is called, comes down to us in association with a
manual of cookery. And from Macrobius and Petronius we can gather very
interesting glimpses of the Roman idea of a menu. In the later empire,
tradition still centred round the Roman cookery favoured by the
geographical position of Italy; while the customs and natural products
of the remoter parts of Europe gradually begin to assert themselves as
the middle ages progress.
It is, however, not till the Renaissance, and then too with Italy as the
starting-point, that the history of modern cookery really begins.
Meanwhile cookery may be studied rather in the architecture of kitchens,
and the development of their appurtenances and personnel, than in any
increase in the subtleties of the art; the ideal was inevitably gross;
the end was feeding--inextricably associated in all ages with cooking,
but as distinct from its _fine fleur_ as gluttony from gastronomy.
Montaigne's references to the revival of cookery in France by Catherine
de' Medici indicate that the new attention paid to the art was really
novel. She brought Italian cooks to Paris and introduced there a
cultured simplicity which was unknown in France before. It is to the
Italians apparently that later developments are originally due. It is
clearly established, for instance (says Abraham Hayward in his _Art of
Dining_), that the Italians introduced ices into France. Fricandeaus
were invented by the _chef_ of Leo X. And Coryate in his _Crudities_,
writing in the time of James I., says that he was called "furcifer"
(evidently in contemptuous jest) by his friends, from his using those
"Italian neatnesses called forks." The use of the fork and spoon marked
an epoch in the progress of dining, and consequently of cookery.
Under Louis XIV. further advances were made. His _maître d'hôtel_,
Béchamel, is famous for his sauce; and Vatel, the great Condé's cook,
was a celebrated artist, of whose suicide in despair at the tardy
arrival of the fish which he had ordered, Madame de Sévigné relates a
moving story. The prince de Soubise, immortalized by his onion sauce,
also had a famous chef.
In England the names of certain cookery-books may be noted, such as Sir
J. Elliott's (1539), Abraham Veale's (1575), and the _Widdowe's
Treasure_ (1625). The _Accomplisht Cook_, by Robert May, appeared in
1665, and from its preface we learn that the author (who speaks
disparagingly of French cookery, but more gratefully of Italian and
Spanish) was the son of a cook, and had studied abroad and under his
father (c. 1610) at Lady Dormer's, and he speaks of that time as "the
days wherein were produced the triumphs and trophies of cookery." From
his description they consisted of most fantastic and elaborately built
up dishes, intended to amuse and startle, no less than to satisfy the
appetite and palate.
Louis XV. was a great gourmet; and his reign saw many developments in
the culinary art. The mayonnaise (originally _mahonnaise_) is ascribed
to the duc de Richelieu. Such dishes as "_potage à la Xavier_,"
"_cailles à la Mirepoix_," "_chartreuses à la Mauconseil_," "_poulets à
la Villeroy_," "_potage à la Condé_," "_gigot à la Mailly_," owe their
titles to celebrities of the day, and the Pompadour gave her name to
various others. The Jesuits Brunoy and Bougeant, who wrote a preface to
a contemporary treatise on cookery (1739), described the modern art as
"more simple, more appropriate, and more cunning, than that of old
days," giving the ingredients the same union as painters give to
colours, and harmonizing all the tastes. The very phrase "_cordon bleu_"
(strictly applied only to a woman cook) arose from an enthusiastic
recognition of female merit by the king himself. Madame du Barry, piqued
at his opinion that only a man could cook to perfection, had a dinner
prepared for him by a _cuisinière_ with such success that the delighted
monarch demanded that the artist should be named, in order that so
precious a _cuisinier_ might be engaged for the royal household.
"_Allons donc, la France!_" retorted the ex-grisette, "have I caught you
at last? It is no _cuisinier_ at all, but a _cuisinière_, and I demand a
recompense for her worthy both of her and of your majesty. Your royal
bounty has made my negro, Zamore, governor of Luciennes, and I cannot
accept less than a _cordon bleu_" (the Royal Order of the _Saint
Esprit_) "for my _cuisinière_."
The French Revolution was temporarily a blow to Parisian cookery, as to
everything else of the _ancien régime_. "Not a single turbot in the
market," was the lament of Grimod de la Reynière, the great gourmet, and
author of the _Manuel des amphitryons_ (1808). But while it fell heavily
on the class of noble amphitryons it had one remarkable effect on the
art which was epoch-making. It is from that time that we notice the rise
of the Parisian restaurants. To 1770 is ascribed the first of these, the
_Champ d'oiseau_ in the rue des Poulies. In 1789 there were a hundred.
In 1804 (when the _Almanach des gourmands_, the first sustained effort
at investing gastronomy with the dignity of an art, was started) there
were between 500 and 600. And in 1814, to such an extent had the
restaurants attracted the culinary talent of Paris, that the allied
monarchs, on arriving there, had to contract with the two brothers Véry
for the supply of their table. Among the great gastronomic names of
Napoleon's day was that of his chancellor Cambacérès, of whose dinners
many stories are told. Robert (the eponym of the _sauce Robert_),
Rechaud and Mérillion were at this period esteemed the Raphael,
Michelangelo and Rubens of cookery; while A. Beauvilliers (author of
_Art des cuisines_) and Carême (author of the _Maître d'hôtel français_,
and chef at different times to the Tsar Alexander I., Talleyrand, George
IV. and Baron Rothschild) were no less celebrated.[1] Perhaps the
greatest name of all in the history of the literature of cookery is that
of Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826), the French judge and author of
the _Physiologie du goût_ (1825), the classic of gastronomy.
In England Louis Eustache Ude, Charles Elmé Francatelli, and Alexis
Soyer carried on the tradition, all being not only cooks but authors of
treatises on the art. The _Original_ (1835) of Thomas Walker, the
Lambeth police magistrate, is another work which has inspired later
pens. Like the _Physiologie du goût_, it is no mere cookery-book, but a
compound of observation and philosophy. Among simple hand-books, Mrs
Glasse's, Dr Kitchener's and Mrs Rundell's were standard English works
in the 18th and early 19th centuries; and in France the _Cuisinière de
la campagne_ (1818) went through edition after edition. An interesting
old English work is Dr Pegge's _Forme of Cury_ (1780), which includes
some historical reflections on the subject. "We have some good families
in England," he says, "of the name of Cook or Coke.... Depend upon it,
they all originally sprang from real professional cooks, and they need
not be ashamed of their extraction any more than Porters, Butlers, &c."
He points out that cooks in early days were of some importance; William
the Conqueror bestowed land on his _coquorum praepositus_ and _coquus
regius_; and Domesday Book records the bestowal of a manor on Robert
Argyllon, by the service of a dish called "de la Groute" on the king's
coronation day.
At the present time, whatever the local varieties of cooking, and the
difference of national custom, French cooking is admittedly the ideal of
the culinary art, directly we leave the plain roast and boiled. And the
spread of cosmopolitan hotels and restaurants over England, America and
the European continent, has largely accustomed the whole civilized world
to the Parisian type. The improvements in the appliances and
appurtenances of the kitchen have made the whole world kin in the arts
of dining, but the French chef remains the typical master of his craft.
Schools of cookery have been added to the educational machine. The
literature of the subject has passed beyond enumeration.
It is unnecessary here to pursue so vast a practical subject into
detail; but the following notes on broiling, roasting, baking, boiling,
stewing and frying may be useful.
_Broiling._--The earliest method of cooking was probably burying seeds
and flesh in hot ashes, a kind of broiling on all the surfaces at the
same time, which when properly done is the most delicate kind of
cooking. Broiling is now done over a clear fire extending at least 2
in. beyond the edges of the gridiron, which should slightly incline
towards the cook. It is usual to rub the bars with a piece of suet for
meat, and chalk for fish, to prevent the thing broiled from being
marked with the bars of the gridiron. In this kind of cookery the
object is to coagulate as quickly as possible all the albumen on the
surface, and seal up the pores of the meat so as to keep in all the
juices and flavour. It is, therefore, necessary thoroughly to warm the
gridiron before putting on the meat, or the heat of the fire is
conducted away while the juices and flavour of the meat run into the
fire. Broiling is a simple kind of cookery, and one well suited to
invalids and persons of delicate appetites. There is no other way in
which small quantities of meat can be so well and so quickly cooked.
Broiling cannot be well done in front of an open fire, because one
side of the meat is exposed to a current of cold air. A pair of tongs
should be used instead of a fork for turning all broiled meat and
fish.
_Roasting._--Two conditions are necessary for good roasting--a clear
bright fire and frequent basting. Next to boiling or stewing it is the
most economical method of cooking. The meat at first should be placed
close to a brisk fire for five minutes to coagulate the albumen. It
should then be drawn back a short distance and roasted slowly. If a
meat screen be used, it should be placed before the fire to be
moderately heated before the meat is put to roast. The centre of
gravity of the fire should be a little above the centre of gravity of
the joint. No kitchen can be complete without an open range, for it is
almost impossible to have a properly roasted joint in closed
kitcheners. The heat radiated from a good open fire quickly coagulates
the albumen on the surface, and thus to a large extent prevents that
which is fluid in the interior from solidifying. The connective tissue
which unites the fibres is gradually converted into gelatin, and
rendered easily soluble. The fibrin and albumen appear to undergo a
higher oxidation and are more readily dissolved. The fat cells are
gradually broken, and the liquid fat unites to a small extent with the
chloride of sodium and the tribasic phosphate of sodium contained in
the serum of the blood. It is easily seen that roasting by coagulating
the external albumen keeps together the most valuable parts of the
meat, till they have gradually and slowly undergone the desired
change. This surface coagulation is not sufficient to prevent the free
access of the oxygen of the surrounding air. The empyreumatic oils
generated on the surface are neither wholesome nor agreeable, and
these are perhaps better removed by roasting than any other method
except broiling. The chief object is to retain as much as possible all
the sapid juicy properties of the meat, so that at the first cut the
gravy flows out of a rich reddish colour, and this can only be
accomplished by a quick coagulation of the surface albumen. The time
for roasting varies slightly with the kind of meat and the size of the
joint. As a rule beef and mutton require a quarter of an hour to the
pound; veal and pork about 17 minutes to the pound. To tell whether
the joint is done, press the fleshy part with a spoon; if the meat
yield easily it is done.
_Baking_ meat is in many respects objectionable, and should never be
done if any other method is available. The gradual disuse of open
grates for roasting has led to a practice of first baking and then
browning before the fire. This method completely reverses the true
order of cooking by beginning with the lowest temperature and
finishing with the highest. Baked meat has never the delicate flavour
of roast meat, nor is it so digestible. The vapours given off by the
charring of the surface cannot freely escape, and the meat is cooked
in an atmosphere charged with empyreumatic oil. A brick or earthenware
oven is preferable to iron, because the porous nature of the bricks
absorbs a good deal of the vapour. When potatoes are baked with meat,
they should always be first parboiled, because they take a longer time
to bake, and the moisture rising from the potatoes retards the process
of baking, and makes the meat sodden. A baked meat pie, though not
always very digestible, is far less objectionable than plain baked
meat. In the case of a meat pie the surfaces of the meat are protected
by a bad conductor of heat from that charring of the surface which
generates empyreumatic vapours, and the fat and gravy, gradually
rising in temperature, assist the cooking, and such cooking more
nearly resembles stewing than baking. The process may go on for a long
time after the removal of the meat from the oven, if surrounded with
flannel, or some bad conductor of heat. The Cornish pasty is the best
example of this kind of cooking. Meat, fish, game, parboiled
vegetables, apples or anything that fancy suggests, are surrounded
with a thick flour and water crust and slowly baked. When removed from
the oven, and packed in layers of flannel, the pasty will keep hot for
hours. When baked dishes contain eggs, it should be remembered that
the albumen becomes harder and more insoluble, according to the time
occupied in cooking. About the same time is required for baking as
roasting.
_Boiling_ is one of the easiest methods of cooking, but a successful
result depends on a number of conditions which, though they appear
trifling, are nevertheless necessary. The fire must be watched so as
properly to regulate the heat. The saucepan should be scrupulously
clean and have a closely-fitting lid, and be large enough to hold
sufficient water to well cover and surround the meat, and all scum
should be removed as it comes to the surface; the addition of small
quantities of cold water will assist the rising of the scum. For all
cooking purposes clean rain water is to be preferred. Among cooks a
great difference of opinion exists as to whether meat should be put
into cold water and gradually brought to the boiling point, or should
be put into boiling water. This, like many other unsettled questions
in cookery, is best decided by careful scientific experiment and
observation. If a piece of meat be put into water at a temperature of
60°, and gradually raised to 212°, the meat is undergoing a gradual
loss of its soluble and nutritious properties, which are dissolved in
the water. From the surface to the interior the albumen is partially
dissolved out of the meat, the fibres become hard and stringy, and the
thinner the piece of meat the greater the loss of all those sapid
constituents which make boiled meat savoury, juicy and palatable. To
put meat into cold water is clearly the best method for making soups
and broth; it is the French method of preparing the _pot au feu_; but
the meat at the end of the operation has lost much of that juicy sapid
property which makes boiled meat so acceptable. The practice of
soaking fresh meat in cold water before cooking is for the same
reasons highly objectionable; if necessary, wipe it with a clean
cloth. But in the case of salted, smoked and dried meats soaking for
several hours is indispensable, and the water should be occasionally
changed. The other method of boiling meat has the authority of Baron
Liebig, who recommends putting the meat into water when in a state of
ebullition, and after five minutes the saucepan is to be drawn aside,
and the contents kept at a temperature of 162° (50° below boiling).
The effect of boiling water is to coagulate the albumen on the surface
of the meat, which prevents, but not entirely, the juices from passing
into the water, and meat thus boiled has more flavour and has lost
much less in weight. To obtain well-flavoured boiled meat the idea of
soups or broth must be a secondary consideration. It is, however,
impossible to cook a piece of meat in water without extracting some of
its juices and nutriment, and the liquor should in both cases be made
into a soup.
_Stewing._--When meat is slowly cooked in a close vessel it is said to
be stewed; this method is generally adopted in the preparation of made
dishes. Different kinds of meat may be used, or only one kind
according to taste. The better the meat the better the stew; but by
carefully stewing the coarsest and roughest parts will become soft,
tender and digestible, which would not be possible by any other kind
of cooking. Odd pieces of meat and trimmings and bones can often be
purchased cheaply, and may be turned into good food by stewing. Bones,
although containing little meat, contain from 39 to 49% of gelatin.
The large bones should be broken into small pieces, and allowed to
simmer till every piece is white and dry. Gelatin is largely used both
in the form of jellies and soups. Lean meat, free from blood, is best
for stewing, and, when cut into convenient pieces, it should be
slightly browned in a little butter or dripping. Constant attention is
necessary during this process, to prevent burning. The meat should be
covered with soft water or, better, a little stock, and set aside to
simmer for four or five hours, according to the nature of the
material. When vegetables are used, these should also be slightly
browned and added at intervals, so as not materially to lower the
temperature. Stews may be thickened by the addition of pearl barley,
sago, rice, potatoes, oatmeal, flour, &c., and flavoured with herbs
and condiments according to taste. Although stewing is usually done in
a stewpan or saucepan with a close-fitting cover, a good stone jar,
with a well-fitting lid, is preferable in the homes of working people.
This is better than a metal saucepan, and can be more easily kept
clean; it retains the heat longer, and can be placed in the oven or
covered with hot ashes. The common red jar is not suitable; it does
not stand the heat so well as a grey jar; and the red glaze inside
often gives way in the presence of salt. The lid of a vessel used for
stewing should be removed as little as possible. An occasional shake
will prevent the meat from sticking. At the end of the operation all
the fat should be carefully removed.
_Frying._--Lard, oil, butter, or dripping may be used for frying.
There are two methods of frying--the dry method, as in frying a
pancake, and the wet method, as when the thing fried is immersed in a
bath of hot fat. In the former case a frying pan is used, in the other
a frying kettle or stewpan. It is usual for most things to have a wire
frying basket; the things to be fried are placed in the basket and
immersed at the proper temperature in the hot fat. The fat should
gradually rise in temperature over a slow fire till it attains nearly
400° Fahr. Great care is required to fry properly. If the temperature
is too low the things immersed in the fat are not fried, but soddened;
if, on the other hand, the temperature is too high, they are charred.
The temperature of the fat varies slightly with the nature of things
to be fried. Fish, cutlets, croquets, rissoles and fritters are well
fried at a temperature of 380° Fahr. Potatoes, chops and white bait
are better fried at a temperature of 400° Fahr. Care must be taken not
to lower the temperature too much by introducing too many things. The
most successful frying is when the fat rises two or three degrees
during the frying. Fried things should be of a golden brown colour,
crisp and free from fat. When fat or oil has been used for fish it
must be kept for fish. It is customary first to use fat for croquets,
rissoles, fritters and other delicate things, and then to take it for
fish. Everything fried in fat should be placed on bibulous paper to
absorb any fat on the surfaces.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] See Lady S. O. Morgan's _France_, 1829-1830, ii. 414, for an
account of a dinner by Carême.
COOKSTOWN, a market town of Co. Tyrone, Ireland, in the east
parliamentary division, 54 m. W. by N. of Belfast, on branches of the
Great Northern and the Northern Counties (Midland) railways. Pop. of
urban district (1901) 3531. It consists principally of a single street
of great length, and lies in a pleasant, well-wooded district, near the
Ballinderry river. It has important manufactures of linen, and some
agricultural trade. It was founded in 1609, the landlord, Allan Cook,
giving name to it. The mansion of Killymoon Castle, in the vicinity, is
a notable example of the work of a celebrated architect, John Nash (c.
1800).
COOKTOWN, a seaport of Banks county, Queensland, Australia, at the mouth
of the Endeavour river, about 1050 m. direct N.N.W. of Brisbane. It is
visited by the ocean steamers of several lines, and is the centre of a
very extensive _bêche-de-mer_ and pearl fishery. Tin and gold are worked
in the district, in which also good coffee and rice are grown. Cooktown
is the port of the Palmer gold-fields, and a railway runs to Laura on
the gold-fields, 67 m. W. by S. of Cooktown. It is the chief port of
Queensland for the New Guinea trade; and is also the seat of a Roman
Catholic vicariate apostolic whose bishop has jurisdiction over the
whole of Queensland north of lat. 18° 50'. In 1770 Captain Cook here
beached his ship the "Endeavour," to repair the damage caused by her
striking a reef in the neighbourhood of the estuary, which he could only
clear by throwing his guns overboard. Cooktown became a municipality in
1876. The population of the town and district in 1901 was 1936.
COOKWORTHY, WILLIAM (1705-1780), English potter, famous for his
discovery of the existence of china-clay and china-stone in Cornwall,
and as the first manufacturer of a porcelain similar in nature to the
Chinese, from English materials, was born at Kingsbridge, Devon, of
Quaker parents who were in humble circumstances. At the age of fourteen
he was apprenticed to a London apothecary named Bevans, and he
afterwards returned to the neighbourhood of his birthplace, and carried
on business at Plymouth with the co-operation of his master, under the
title of Bevans & Cookworthy. The manufacture of porcelain was at the
time attracting great attention in England, and while the factories at
Bow, Chelsea, Worcester and Derby were introducing the artificial glassy
porcelain, Cookworthy, following the accounts of Père d'Entrecolles,
spent many years in searching for English materials similar to those
used by the Chinese. From 1745 onwards he seems to have travelled over
the greater portion of Cornwall and Devon in search of these minerals,
and he finally located them in the parish of St Stephen's near to St
Austell. With a certain amount of financial assistance from Mr Thomas
Pitt of Boconnoc (afterwards Lord Camelford) he established the Plymouth
China Factory at least as early as 1768. The factory was removed to
Bristol about 1770, and the business was afterwards sold to Richard
Champion and others and became the well-known Bristol Porcelain
Manufactory. Apart from its historic interest there is little to be said
for the Plymouth porcelain. Technically it was often imperfect, and its
artistic treatment was never of a high order. But Cookworthy deserves to
be remembered for his discovery of those abundant supplies of English
clay and rocks which form the foundation of English porcelain and fine
earthenware (see CERAMICS).
COOLGARDIE, a municipal town in Western Australia, 310 m. by rail E. by
N. of Perth, and 528 m. by rail N.E. of Albany. Pop. (1901) 4249. Its
gold-fields were discovered in 1891 and are among the richest in the
colony. Lignite, copper, graphite and silver are also found. Toorak and
Montana are small residential suburbs. A remarkable engineering work by
which a full supply of water was brought to the town from Fremantle (a
distance exceeding 330 m. direct) was completed in 1903.
COOLIE, or COOLY (from Koli or Kuli, an aboriginal race of western
India; or perhaps from Tamil _k[=u]li_, hire, i.e. one hired), a term
generally applied to Asiatic labourers belonging to the unskilled class
as opposed to the artisan, and employed in a special sense to designate
those natives of India and China who leave their country under contracts
of service to work as labourers abroad. After the abolition of slavery
much difficulty was found in obtaining cheap labour for tropical
plantations. The emancipated black was unwilling to engage in field
labour, while the white man was physically incapable of so doing.
Recourse was had to the overpeopled empires of China and India, as the
most likely sources from which to obtain that supply of workers upon
which the very existence of some colonies, notably in the West Indies,
depended.
Chinese coolies.
The first public recognition of the coolie traffic was in 1844, when the
British colony of Guiana made provision for the encouragement of Chinese
immigration. About the same time both Peru and Cuba began to look to
China as likely to furnish an efficient substitute for the negro
bondsman. Agents armed with consular commissions from Peru appeared in
Chinese ports, where they collected and sent away shiploads of coolies.
Each one was bound to serve the Peruvian planter to whom he might be
assigned for seven or eight years, at fixed wages, generally about 17s.
a month, food, clothes and lodging being provided. From 1847 to 1854
coolie emigration went on briskly without attracting much notice, but it
gradually came to light that circumstances of great cruelty attended the
trade. The transport ships were badly equipped and overcrowded, and many
coolies died before the end of the voyage. On arrival in Cuba or Peru
the survivors were sold by auction in the open market to the highest
bidders, who held them virtually as slaves for seven years instead of
for life. Particularly terrible was the lot of those who, contrary to
their agreements, had been sent to labour in the foul guano pits of the
Chincha islands, where they were forced to toil in gangs, each under the
charge of an overseer armed with a cowhide lash. In 1860 it was
calculated that of the four thousand coolies who had been fraudulently
consigned to the guano pits of Peru not one had survived. The greater
number of them had committed suicide. In 1854 the British governor of
Hong-Kong issued a proclamation forbidding British subjects or vessels
to engage in the transport of coolies to the Chinchas. Technically this
was _ultra vires_ on his part, but his policy was confirmed by the
Chinese Passengers' Act 1855, which put an end to the more abominable
phase of the traffic. After that no British ship was allowed to sail on
more than a week's voyage with more than twenty coolies on board, unless
her master had complied with certain very stringent regulations.
The consequence of this was that the business of shipping coolies for
Peru was transferred to the Portuguese settlement of Macao. There the
Peruvian and Cuban "labour-agents" established depôts, which they
unblushingly called "barracoons," the very term used in the West African
slave trade. In these places coolies were "received," or in plain words,
imprisoned and kept under close guard until a sufficient number were
collected for export. Some of these were decoyed by fraudulent promises
of profitable employment. Others were kidnapped by piratical junks hired
to scour the neighbouring coasts. Many were bought from leaders of
turbulent native factions, only too glad to sell the prisoners they
captured whilst waging their internecine wars. The procurador or
registrar-general of Macao went through the form of certifying the
contracts; but his inspection was practically useless. After the war of
1856-1857 this masked slave trade pushed its agencies into Whampoa and
Canton. In April 1859, however, the whole mercantile community of the
latter port rose up in indignation against it, and transmitted such
strong representations to the British embassy in China, that steps were
taken to mitigate the evil. New regulations were from time to time
passed by the Portuguese authorities for the purpose of minimizing the
horrors of the Macao trade. They seem, however, to have been
systematically evaded, and to have been practically inoperative. At
Canton and Hong-Kong the coolie trade was put under various regulations,
which in the latter port worked well only when the profits of
"head-money" were ruined. In March 1866 the representatives of the
governments of France, England and China drew up a convention for the
regulation of the Canton trade, which had an unfortunate effect. It left
head-money, the source of most of the abuses, comparatively untouched.
It enacted that every coolie must at the end of a five years' engagement
have his return passage-money paid to him. The West Indian colonies at
once objected to this. They wanted permanent not temporary settlers.
They could not afford to burden the coolie's expensive contract with
return passage-money, so they declined to accept emigrants on these
terms. Thus a legalized coolie trade between the West Indies and China
was extinguished. Thereafter the coolie supply for British colonies was
drawn exclusively from India, until 1904, when an exception was made in
the case of the Transvaal. Under a convention drawn up in that year
between the United Kingdom and China over fifty thousand indentured
Chinese labourers were engaged on three years' contracts to work in the
Witwatersrand gold mines (see TRANSVAAL). To the Malay states and other
parts of eastern Asia there is an extensive yearly migration of Chinese
coolies. This migration, however, is not under contract. From Amoy alone
some seventy-five thousand coolies yearly migrate to Singapore and the
Straits Settlements, whence they are drafted for labour purposes in
every direction.
Indian coolies.
It is scarcely possible to say when the Indian coolie trade began.
Before the end of the 18th century Tamil labourers from southern India
were wont to emigrate to the Straits Settlements, and they also flocked
to Tenasserim from the other side of the Bay of Bengal after the
conquest had produced a demand for labour. The first regularly recorded
attempt at organizing coolie emigration from India took place in 1834,
when forty coolies were exported to Mauritius; but it was not until 1836
that the Indian government decided to put the trade under official
regulations. In 1837 an emigration law was passed for all the
territories of the East India Company, providing that a permit must be
obtained from government for every shipment of coolies, that all
contracts should terminate in five years, that a return passage should
be guaranteed, that the terms of his contract should be carefully
explained to each coolie, and that the emigrant ship should only carry
one coolie for every ton and a half of burden. Then as now the Indian
government watched the deportation of labour from their dominions with
jealous and anxious care, and when in 1838 it was found that upwards of
twenty-five thousand natives had, up to that year, gone from all parts
of India to Mauritius, the government became somewhat alarmed at the
dimensions which the traffic was assuming. Brougham and the anti-slavery
party denounced the trade as a revival of slavery, and the Bengal
government suspended it in order to investigate its alleged abuses. The
nature of these may be guessed when it is said that the inquiry
condemned the fraudulent methods of recruiting then in vogue, and the
brutal treatment which coolies often received from ship captains and
masters. In 1842 steps were taken formally to reopen the coolie trade
with Mauritius, and in 1844 emigration to the West Indies was sanctioned
by the Indian government. In 1847 Ceylon was separated from India, and
her labour supply was cut off; but this accident was soon remedied, the
Ceylon government adopting protective regulations for the coolies.
Modern regulations.
Emigration of coolies under contract to labour outside India is now
regulated by the Emigration Act of 1883 and the rules issued under its
provisions, the only exceptions being in respect of emigrants to Ceylon
and the Straits Settlements and adjoining states, or those engaged by
the British government for employment in east and central Africa. By
section 8 of this act natives of India are permitted to emigrate under
labour contracts only to such countries as have satisfied the government
of India that sufficient provision is made for the protection of the
emigrants. A country which is duly empowered under the act to receive
emigrants may appoint an agent, residing in India, who is responsible
for the due observance of the provisions of the law. These agents are
under the general supervision of the protector of emigrants. As
emigrants have to be recruited at great distances from the port of
embarkation, recruiters are appointed by the agents and licensed by the
protector. The conduct of these subordinates is minutely regulated.
Every precaution is taken to let the emigrant know the exact terms on
which he is hired, and to ensure good treatment in the interval between
registration and embarkation. Coolies are shipped for the most part from
Calcutta and Madras, but of recent years large numbers bound for Mombasa
and the Seychelles left from Bombay and Karachi. Both the coolies
themselves and the depôt are medically inspected. Only those physically
fit are allowed to embark. The vessels for their conveyance are licensed
and inspected by the local government. The terms on which emigrants are
recruited are settled beforehand by convention with the colonies
concerned, and are embodied in ordinances passed by the local
legislatures. They vary in detail, but their main provisions relate to
the rights and obligations of the emigrants, including the grant of a
return passage on the expiry of a specified period, usually ten years.
The British colonies to which coolies were exported in the decade
1891-1901 were British Guiana, Trinidad, St Lucia, Jamaica, Mauritius,
the Seychelles Islands, Fiji, East Africa and Natal; the only
non-British country was Dutch Guiana. Emigration to the French colonies,
including Réunion has been forbidden by the government of India since
1886, but there still remain in those colonies some of the former
emigrants, and the questions of their treatment and repatriation have
frequently formed the subject of representations to the French
authorities.
The British colonies.
The number of Indian coolies resident in the various British colonies in
1900 was 625,000, of which the largest numbers were 265,000 in Mauritius
and 125,000 in British Guiana. There were still 13,800 in Réunion. The
regulations governing coolie labour in British Guiana may be taken as
typical for the British colonies generally. They are contained in the
Labour Ordinance of 1873, which was amended by the ordinances of 1875,
1876, 1886 and 1887. Under these ordinances an immigration agent-general
is appointed, to whom medical officers and recruiting agents are
responsible, and the emigrants are allotted by him to the separate
estates. They regulate the hours of work, the rate of wages, and the
general treatment of the coolies, the nature of house and hospital
accommodation, the terms of re-enlistment and the conditions of marriage
amongst the coolies themselves. The coolies returning from the British
colonies to India in 1901 possessed average savings of £19.
British East and South Africa.
During the construction of the Uganda railway large numbers of coolies
were recruited in the Punjab and exported from Karachi to Mombasa.
During the decade 1891-1901 the number of these emigrants was 33,000;
but on the completion of the line the emigration practically stopped,
while in 1901-1902 there were over 6000 emigrants who returned to India.
Some, however, settled in East Africa. Coolies are also exported for
government employment in Nyasaland. In Natal the Indian population had
by 1904 reached over 100,000 and slightly outnumbered the whites. Many
of the coolies had become permanent residents in the colony (see NATAL).
Assam, Ceylon and Burma.
According to the census of 1901 there were 775,844 foreigners in Assam,
of whom no fewer than 645,000 or 83% were brought into the province as
garden coolies. The recruiting of these coolies is regulated by Act VI.
of 1901, which provides that a labour agreement may be entered into for
four years, and includes a penal clause, under which a coolie deserting
or refusing to work may be punished with imprisonment. The coolies can
also give an agreement under Act XIII. of 1859, by which they are only
liable to civil action for breach of contract. The latter are called
non-act coolies. This system of immigration has made tea-planting the
most important industry in Assam, and has greatly increased the
prosperity of the province. Migration to Ceylon and Burma takes place
chiefly from the Madras ports, and is of a seasonal and temporary
character. The tea estates and pearl fisheries of Ceylon, and the town
work and harvesting in Burma attract large numbers of Tamil labourers.
The respective numbers embarking in 1901 were 117,000 for Ceylon, 84,000
for Burma and 27,000 for the Straits Settlements. In Ceylon there is no
system of recruitment like that for the Assam tea-gardens. The coolies
come in gangs, each under its own headman, with whom the planter deals
exclusively, leaving him to make his own arrangements with the
individual coolies. The coolies are mostly carried in small sailing
vessels from the ports of Madura and Tanjore, and the number who
permanently settle in Ceylon is not very great.
See E. Jenkins, _The Coolie; his Rights and Wrongs_ (1871); J. L. A.
Hope, _In Quest of Coolies_ (1872); and C. B. Grose, _The Labour
Ordinances_ (Georgetown, 1890). (C. L.)
COOMA, a town of Beresford county, New South Wales, Australia, 264 m. by
rail S.S.W. of Sydney. Pop. (1901) 1938. The town is the centre of a
pastoral district and has a large trade in furs, while at Bushy Hill, a
mile from the town, is a small gold-field. Cooma, which is pleasantly
situated at an elevation of 2657 ft., is the tourist centre for visitors
to the Yarrangobilly Caves and Mount Kosciusko and its observatory. The
caves are distant 65 m. from the town, situated in the side of a hill,
overlooking the Yarrangobilly river; they are seven in number and of
remarkable beauty and extent.
COOPER, ABRAHAM (1787-1868), English animal and battle painter, the son
of a tobacconist, was born in London. At the age of thirteen he became
an employé at Astley's amphitheatre, and was afterwards groom in the
service of Sir Henry Meux. When he was twenty-two, wishing to possess a
portrait of a favourite horse under his care, he bought a manual of
painting, learned something of the use of oil-colours, and painted the
picture on a canvas hung against the stable wall. His master bought it
and encouraged him to continue in his efforts. He accordingly began to
copy prints of horses, and was introduced to Benjamin Marshall, the
animal painter, who took him into his studio, and seems to have
introduced him to the _Sporting Magazine_, an illustrated periodical to
which he was himself a contributor. In 1814 he exhibited his "Tam
O'Shanter," and in 1816 he won a prize of £100 for his "Battle of
Ligny." In 1817 he exhibited his "Battle of Marston Moor" and was made
associate of the Academy, and in 1820 he was elected Academician.
Cooper, although ill educated, was a clever and conscientious artist;
his colouring was somewhat flat and dead, but he was a master of equine
portraiture and anatomy, and had some antiquarian knowledge. He had a
special fondness for Cavalier and Roundhead pictures.
COOPER, ALEXANDER (d. 1660), English miniature painter. His works are of
great rarity, and the chief are a series representing the king and queen
of Bohemia and their children, in the possession of the German emperor;
some very remarkable portraits belonging to the queen of Holland, and
others in the possession of the king of Sweden and in various Swedish
galleries. He was the brother of Samuel Cooper, but whether senior or
junior to him is not known, although, according to certain Swedish
authorities, he is stated, upon very slight evidence, to have been born
in 1605, four years before his more famous brother. He came to Sweden in
1646, and the Swedish documents declare that he was a Jew, and that his
full name was Abraham Alexander Cooper. He had previously been residing
in Holland, but on reaching Sweden entered the service of Queen
Christina, and continued to be her miniature painter until 1654, when
she resigned the crown. Two years later, Cooper was in Denmark, carrying
out some commissions for Christian IV., but in 1657 was back again in
Stockholm, where he died in the early part of 1660. The date of his
birth is not known, but he is believed to have been born in London.
For full information regarding his career, and for various documents
bearing his signature, see _The History of Portrait Miniatures_, by G.
C. Williamson, chap. vi. page 78, and an article in the _Nineteenth
Century_ for October 1905. (G. C. W.)
COOPER, SIR ASTLEY PASTON (1768-1841), English surgeon, was born at the
village of Brooke in Norfolk on the 23rd of August 1768. His father, Dr
Samuel Cooper, was a clergyman of the Church of England; his mother was
the author of several novels. At the age of sixteen he was sent to
London and placed under Henry Cline (1750-1827), surgeon to St Thomas's
hospital. From the first he devoted himself to the study of anatomy, and
had the privilege of attending the lectures of John Hunter. In 1789 he
was appointed demonstrator of anatomy at St Thomas's hospital, where in
1791 he became joint lecturer with Cline in anatomy and surgery, and in
1800 he was appointed surgeon to Guy's hospital, on the death of his
uncle, William Cooper. In 1802 he received the Copley medal for two
papers read before the Royal Society of London on the destruction of the
_membrana tympani_; and in 1805 he was elected a fellow of that society.
In the same year he took an active part in the formation of the
Medico-Chirurgical Society, and published in the first volume of its
_Transactions_ an account of an attempt to tie the common carotid artery
for aneurism. In 1804 he brought out the first, and in 1807 the second,
part of his great work on hernia, which added so largely to his
reputation that in 1813 his annual professional income rose to £21,000
sterling. In the same year he was appointed professor of comparative
anatomy to the Royal College of Surgeons and was very popular as a
lecturer. In 1817 he performed his famous operation of tying the
abdominal aorta for aneurism; and in 1820 he removed a wen from the head
of George IV., and about six months afterwards received a baronetcy,
which, as he had no son, was to descend to his nephew and adopted son,
Astley Cooper. He served as president of the Royal College of Surgeons
in 1827 and again in 1836, and he was elected a vice-president of the
Royal Society in 1830. He died on the 12th of February 1841 in London,
and was interred, by his own desire, beneath the chapel of Guy's
hospital. A statue by E. H. Baily was erected in St Paul's.
His chief works are _Anatomy and Surgical Treatment of Hernia_
(1804-1807); _Dislocations and Fractures_ (1822); _Lectures on
Surgery_ (1824-1827); _Illustrations of Diseases of the Breast_
(1829); _Anatomy of the Thymus Gland_ (1832); _Anatomy of the Breast_
(1840).
See _Life of Sir A. Cooper_, by B. B. Cooper (1843).
COOPER, CHARLES HENRY (1808-1866), English antiquary, was born at Great
Marlow, on the 20th of March 1808, being descended from a family
formerly settled at Bray, Berkshire. He received his education at a
private school in Reading. In 1826 he fixed his residence at Cambridge,
and in 1836 was elected coroner of the borough. Four years later he was
admitted a solicitor, and in course of time he acquired an extensive
practice, but his taste and inclination ultimately led him to devote
almost the whole of his time to literary research, and especially the
elucidation of the history of the university of Cambridge. In 1849 he
resigned the office of borough coroner on being elected to the
town-clerkship, which he retained till his death on the 21st of March
1866. His earliest production, _A New Guide to the University and Town
of Cambridge_, was published anonymously in 1831. _The Annals of
Cambridge_ followed (1842-1853) containing a chronological history of
the university and town from the earliest period to 1853. His most
important work, the _Athenae Cantabrigienses_ (1858, 1861), a companion
work to the famous _Athenae Oxonienses_ of Anthony à Wood, contains
biographical memoirs of the authors and other men of eminence who were
educated at the university of Cambridge from 1500 to 1609. Cooper's
other works are _The Memorials of Cambridge_, (1858-1866) and a _Memoir
of Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby_ (1874). He was a constant
contributor to _Notes and Queries_, the _Gentleman's Magazine_ and other
antiquarian publications, and left an immense collection of MS.
materials for a biographical history of Great Britain and Ireland.
COOPER, JAMES FENIMORE (1789-1851), American novelist, was born at
Burlington, New Jersey, on the 15th of September 1789. Reared in the
wild country round Otsego Lake, N.Y., on the yet unsettled estates of
his father, a judge and member of Congress, he was sent to school at
Albany and at New Haven, and entered Yale College in his fourteenth
year, remaining for some time the youngest student on the rolls. Three
years afterwards he joined the United States navy; but after making a
voyage or two in a merchant vessel, to perfect himself in seamanship,
and obtaining his lieutenancy, he married and resigned his commission
(1811). He settled in Westchester county, N.Y., the "Neutral Ground" of
his earliest American romance, and produced anonymously (1820) his first
book, _Precaution_, a novel of the fashionable school. This was followed
(1821) by _The Spy_, which was very successful at the date of issue;
_The Pioneers_ (1823), the first of the "Leatherstocking" series; and
_The Pilot_ (1824), a bold and dashing sea-story. The next was _Lionel
Lincoln_ (1825), a feeble and unattractive work; and this was succeeded
in 1826 by the famous _Last of the Mohicans_, a book that is often
quoted as its author's masterpiece. Quitting America for Europe he
published at Paris _The Prairie_ (1826), the best of his books in nearly
all respects, and _The Red Rover_, (1828), by no means his worst.
At this period the unequal and uncertain talent of Cooper would seem to
have been at its best. These excellent novels were, however, succeeded
by one very inferior, _The Wept of Wish-ton-Wish_ (1829); by _The
Notions of a Travelling Bachelor_ (1828), an uninteresting book; and by
_The Waterwitch_ (1830), one of the poorest of his many sea-stories. In
1830 he entered the lists as a party writer, defending in a series of
letters to the _National_, a Parisian journal, the United States against
a string of charges brought against them by the _Revue Britannique_; and
for the rest of his life he continued skirmishing in print, sometimes
for the national interest, sometimes for that of the individual, and not
infrequently for both at once. This opportunity of making a political
confession of faith appears not only to have fortified him in his own
convictions, but to have inspired him with the idea of imposing them on
the public through the medium of his art. His next three novels, _The
Bravo_ (1831), _The Heidenmauer_ (1832) and _The Headsman: or the Abbaye
of Vigneron_ (1833), were designed to exalt the people at the expense of
the aristocracy. Of these the first is by no means a bad story, but the
others are among the dullest ever written; all were widely read on both
sides of the Atlantic.
In 1833 Cooper returned to America, and immediately published _A Letter
to my Countrymen_, in which he gave his own version of the controversy
he had been engaged in, and passed some sharp censure on his compatriots
for their share in it. This attack he followed up with _The Monikins_
(1835) and _The American Democrat_ (1835); with several sets of notes on
his travels and experiences in Europe, among which may be remarked his
_England_ (1837), in three volumes, a burst of vanity and ill-temper;
and with _Homeward Bound_, and _Home as Found_ (1838), noticeable as
containing a highly idealized portrait of himself. All these books
tended to increase the ill-feeling between author and public; the Whig
press was virulent and scandalous in its comments, and Cooper plunged
into a series of actions for libel. Victorious in all of them, he
returned to his old occupation with something of his old vigour and
success. A _History of the Navy of the United States_ (1839),
supplemented (1846) by a set of _Lives of Distinguished American Naval
Officers_, was succeeded by _The Pathfinder_ (1840), a good
"Leatherstocking" novel; by _Mercedes of Castile_ (1840); _The
Deerslayer_ (1841); by _The Two Admirals_ and by _Wing and Wing_ (1842);
by _Wyandotte, The History of a Pocket Handkerchief_, and _Ned Myers_
(1843); and by _Afloat and Ashore, or the Adventures of Miles
Wallingford_ (1844). From pure fiction, however, he turned again to the
combination of art and controversy in which he had achieved distinction,
and in the two _Littlepage Manuscripts_ (1845-1846) he fought with a
great deal of vigour. His next novel was _The Crater, or Vulcan's Peak_
(1847), in which he attempted to introduce supernatural machinery with
indifferent success; and this was succeeded by _Oak Openings_ and _Jack
Tier_ (1848), the latter a curious _rifacimento_ of _The Red Rover_; by
_The Sea Lions_ (1849); and finally by _The Ways of the Hour_ (1850),
another novel with a purpose, and his last book. He died of dropsy on
the 14th of September 1851 at Cooperstown, New York. His daughter, Susan
Fenimore Cooper (1813-1894), was known as an author and philanthropist.
Cooper was certainly one of the most popular authors that have ever
written. His stories have been translated into nearly all the languages
of Europe and into some of those of Asia. Balzac admired him greatly,
but with discrimination; Victor Hugo pronounced him greater than the
great master of modern romance, and this verdict was echoed by a
multitude of inferior readers, who were satisfied with no title for
their favourite less than that of "the American Scott." As a satirist
and observer he is simply the "Cooper who's written six volumes to prove
he's as good as a Lord" of Lowell's clever portrait; his enormous vanity
and his irritability find vent in a sort of dull violence, which is
exceedingly tiresome. It is only as a novelist that he deserves
consideration. His qualities are not those of the great masters of
fiction; but he had an inexhaustible imagination, some faculty for
simple combination of incident, a homely tragic force which is very
genuine and effective, and up to a certain point a fine narrative power.
His literary training was inadequate; his vocabulary is limited and his
style awkward and pretentious; and he had a fondness for moralizing
tritely and obviously, which mars his best passages. In point of
conception, each of his three-and-thirty novels is either absolutely
good or is possessed of a certain amount of merit; but hitches occur in
all, so that every one of them is remarkable rather in its episodes than
as a whole. Nothing can be more vividly told than the escape of the
Yankee man-of-war through the shoals and from the English cruisers in
_The Pilot_, but there are few things flatter in the range of fiction
than the other incidents of the novel. It is therefore with some show of
reason that _The Last of the Mohicans_, which as a chain of brilliantly
narrated episodes is certainly the least faulty in this matter of
sustained excellence of execution, should be held to be the best of his
works.
The personages of his drama are rather to be accounted as so much
painted cloth and cardboard, than as anything approaching the nature of
men and women. As a creator of aught but romantic incident, indeed,
Cooper's claims to renown must rest on the fine figure of the
Leatherstocking, and, in a less degree, on that of his friend and
companion, the Big Serpent. The latter has many and obvious merits, not
the least of which is the pathos shed about him in his last incarnation
as the Indian John of _The Pioneers_. Natty Bumpo, however, is a
creation of no common unity and consistency. There are lapses and flaws,
and Natty is made to say things which only Cooper, in his most verbosely
didactic vein, could have uttered. But on the whole the impression left
is good and true. In the dignity and simplicity of the old backwoodsman
there is something almost Hebraic. With his naïve vanity and strong
reverent piety, his valiant wariness, his discriminating cruelty, his
fine natural sense of right and wrong, his rough limpid honesty, his
kindly humour, his picturesque dialect, and his rare skill in woodcraft,
he has all the breadth and roundness of a type and all the
eccentricities and peculiarities of a portrait.
See _James Fenimore Cooper_ (Boston, 1883), by Thomas R. Lounsbury in
the "American Men of Letters" series; Griswold, _Prose Writers of
America_ (Philadelphia, 1847); J. R. Lowell, _Fable for Critics_; M.
A. de Wolfe Howe, _American Bookmen_ (New York, 1898); and the
introduction by Mowbray Morris to Macmillan's uniform edition of
Cooper's novels (London, 1900). (W. E. H.)
COOPER, PETER (1791-1883), American manufacturer, inventor and
philanthropist, was born in New York city on the 12th of February 1791.
His grandfathers and his father served in the War of American
Independence. He received practically no schooling, but worked with his
father at hat-making in New York city, at brewing in Peekskill, at
brick-making in Catskill, and again at brewing in Newburgh. At seventeen
he was apprenticed to a coach-builder in New York city. On coming of age
he got employment at Hempstead, Long Island, making machines for
shearing cloth; three years afterwards he set up in this business for
himself, having bought the sole right to manufacture such machinery in
the state of New York. Business prospered during the War of 1812, but
fell off after the peace. He turned his shop into a furniture factory;
soon sold this and for a short time was engaged in the grocery business
on the site of the present Bible House, opposite Cooper Union; and then
invested in a glue and isinglass factory, situated for twenty-one years
in Manhattan (where the Park Avenue Hotel was built later) and then in
Brooklyn. About 1828 he built the Canton Iron Works in Baltimore,
Maryland, the foundation of his great fortune. The Baltimore & Ohio
railway was to cross his property, and, after various inventions aiming
to do away with the locomotive crank and thus save two-fifths of the
steam, in 1830 he designed and constructed (largely after plans made two
years before) the first steam locomotive built in America; though only a
small model it proved the practicability of using steam power for
working that line. The "Tom Thumb," as Cooper called the locomotive, was
about the size of a modern hand-car; as the natural draft was far from
sufficient, Cooper devised a blowing apparatus. Selling his Baltimore
works, he built, in 1836, in partnership with his brother Thomas, a
rolling mill in New York; in 1845 he removed it to Trenton, New Jersey,
where iron structural beams were first made in 1854 and the Bessemer
process first tried in America in 1856; and at Philippsburg, New Jersey,
he built the largest blast furnace in the country at that time. He built
other foundries at Ringwood, New Jersey, and at Durham, Pennsylvania;
bought iron mines in northern New Jersey, and carried the ore thence by
railways to his mills. Actively interested with Cyrus Field in the
laying of the first Atlantic cable, he was president of the New York,
Newfoundland & London Telegraph Company, and his frequent cash advances
made the success of the company possible; he was president of the North
American Telegraph Company also, which controlled more than one-half of
the telegraph lines of the United States. For his work in advancing the
iron trade he received the Bessemer gold medal from the Iron and Steel
Institute of Great Britain in 1879. He took a prominent part in
educational affairs, strongly opposed the Roman Catholic claims for
public funds for parochial schools, and conducted the campaign of the
Free School Society to its successful issue in 1842, when a state law
was passed forbidding the support from public funds of any "religious
sectarian doctrine." He is probably best known, however, as the founder
of the Cooper Union (q.v.). Cooper was an early advocate of the
emancipation and the enlistment in the Union army of Southern negroes,
and he upheld the administration of Lincoln. Though he had been a
hard-money Democrat, he joined the Greenback party after the Civil War,
and in 1876 was its candidate for the presidency, but received only
81,740 out of the 8,412,833 votes cast. He died in New York city on the
4th of April 1883. He published _The Political and Financial Opinions of
Peter Cooper, with an Autobiography of his Early Life_ (1877), and
_Ideas for a Science of Good Government, in Addresses, Letters and
Articles on a Strictly National Currency, Tariff and Civil Service_
(1883).
There is a brief biography by R. W. Raymond, _Peter Cooper_ (Boston,
1900).
COOPER, SAMUEL (1609-1672), English miniature painter. This artist was
undoubtedly the greatest painter of miniatures who ever lived. He is
believed to have been born in London, and was a nephew of John Hoskins,
the miniature painter, by whom he was educated. He lived in Henrietta
St., Covent Garden, and frequented the Covent Garden Coffee-House.
Pepys, who makes many references to him, tells us he was an excellent
musician, playing well upon the lute, and also a good linguist, speaking
French with ease. According to other contemporary writers, he was a
short, stout man, of a ruddy countenance. He married one Christiana,
whose portrait is at Welbeck Abbey, and he had one daughter. In 1668 he
was instructed by Pepys to paint a portrait of Mrs Pepys, for which he
charged £30. He is known to have painted also the portrait of John
Aubrey, which was presented in 1691 to the Ashmolean Museum, as we
learn from his correspondence with John Ray, the naturalist. Evelyn
refers to him in 1662, when, on the occasion of the visit that the
diarist paid to the king, Cooper was drawing the royal face and head for
the new coinage.
Magnificent examples of his work are to be found at Windsor Castle,
Belvoir Castle, Montague House, Welbeck Abbey, Ham House, the Rijks
Museum at Amsterdam and in the collection of Mr J. Pierpont Morgan. His
largest miniature is in the possession of the duke of Richmond and
Gordon at Goodwood. A piece of the artist's handwriting is to be seen at
the back of one of his miniatures in the Welbeck Abbey collection, and
one of his drawings in black chalk is in the University Gallery at
Oxford. His own portrait of himself is in the collection of Mr J.
Pierpont Morgan.
The date of his death has been handed down by a record in the diary of
Mary Beale, the miniature painter; and in some letters from Mr Charles
Manners, addressed to Lord Roos, dated 1672, now amongst the duke of
Rutland's papers at Belvoir, the writer refers to Cooper's serious
illness on the 4th of May, and to his doubt as to whether the artist
would ever recover. Mary Beale's reference to his decease is in the
following words: "Sunday, May 5, 1672--Mr Samuel Cooper, the most famous
limner of the world for a face, dyed."
For a fuller account see the _History of Portrait Miniatures_, by G.
C. Williamson, vol. i. p. 64. (G. C. W.)
COOPER (or COUPER), THOMAS (c. 1517-1594), English bishop and writer,
was born in Oxford, where he was educated at Magdalen College. He became
master of Magdalen College school, and afterwards practised as a
physician in Oxford. His literary career began in 1548, when he
compiled, or rather edited, a Latin dictionary _Bibliotheca Eliotae_,
and in 1549 he published a continuation of Thomas Lanquet's _Chronicle
of the World_. This work, known as _Cooper's Chronicle_, covers the
period from A.D. 17 to the time of writing, and was reprinted in 1560
and 1565. In 1565 appeared the first edition of his greatest work,
_Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et Britannicae_, and this was followed by
three other editions. Queen Elizabeth was greatly pleased with the
_Thesaurus_, generally known as _Cooper's Dictionary_; and its author,
who had been ordained about 1559, was made dean of Christ Church,
Oxford, in 1567. Two years later he became dean of Gloucester, in 1571
bishop of Lincoln and in 1584 bishop of Winchester. Cooper was a stout
controversialist; he defended the practice and precept of the Church of
England against the Roman Catholics on the one hand and against the
Martin Marprelate writings and the Puritans on the other. He took some
part, the exact extent of which is disputed, in the persecution of
religious recusants in his diocese, and died at Winchester on the 29th
of April 1594.
Cooper's _Admonition against Martin Marprelate_ was reprinted in 1847,
and his _Answer in Defence of the Truth against the Apology of Private
Mass_ in 1850.
COOPER, THOMAS (1759-1840), American educationalist and political
philosopher, was born in London, England, on the 22nd of October 1759,
and educated at Oxford. Threatened with prosecution at home because of
his active sympathy with the French Revolution, he emigrated to America
about 1793, and began the practice of law in Northumberland county,
Pennsylvania. He was president-judge of the Fourth District of
Pennsylvania in 1806-1811. Like his friend Joseph Priestley, who was
then living in Northumberland, he sympathized with the Anti-Federalists,
and took part in the agitation against the Sedition Act, and for a
newspaper attack in 1799 on President John Adams, Cooper was convicted,
fined and imprisoned for libel. Like Priestley, Cooper was very highly
esteemed by Thomas Jefferson, who secured for him the appointment as
first professor of natural science and law in the University of
Virginia--a position which Cooper was forced to resign under the fierce
attack made on him by the Virginia clergy. After filling the chair of
chemistry in Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa. (1811-1814), and in the
University of Pennsylvania (1818-1819), he became professor of chemistry
in South Carolina College, at Columbia, in 1819, and afterwards gave
instruction in political economy also. In 1820 he became acting
president of this institution, and was president from 1821 until 1833,
when he resigned owing to the opposition within the state to his liberal
religious views. In December 1834, owing to continued opposition, he
resigned his professorship. He had been formally tried for infidelity in
1832. He was a born agitator: John Adams described him as "a learned,
ingenious, scientific and talented madcap." Before his college classes,
in public lectures, and in numerous pamphlets, he constantly preached
the doctrine of free trade, and tried to show that the protective system
was especially burdensome to the South. His remedy was state action.
Each state, he contended, was a sovereign power and was in duty bound to
protest against the tyrannical acts of the Federal government. He
exercised considerable influence in preparing the people of South
Carolina for nullification and secession; in fact he preceded Calhoun in
advocating a practical application of the state sovereignty principle.
The last years of his life were spent in preparing an edition of the
Statutes at Large of the state, which was completed by David James
McCord (1797-1855) and published in ten volumes (1836-1841). Dr Cooper
died in Columbia on the 11th of May 1840. As a philosopher he was a
follower of Hartley, Erasmus Darwin, Priestley and Broussais; he was a
physiological materialist, and a severe critic of Scotch metaphysics.
Among his publications are _Political Essays_ (1800); _An English
Version of the Institutes of Justinian_ (1812); _Lectures on the
Elements of Political Economy_ (1826); _A Treatise on the Law of Libel
and the Liberty of the Press_ (1830); and a translation of Broussais'
_On Irritation and Insanity_ (1831), with which were printed his own
essays, "The Scripture Doctrine of Materialism," "View of the
Metaphysical and Physiological Arguments in favour of Materialism," and
"Outline of the Doctrine of the Association of Ideas."
See I. Woodbridge Riley, _American Philosophy: the Early Schools_ (New
York, 1907).
COOPER, THOMAS (1805-1892), English Chartist and writer, the son of a
working dyer, was born at Leicester on the 20th of March 1805. After his
father's death his mother began business as a dyer and fancy box-maker
at Gainsborough. Young Cooper was apprenticed to a shoemaker. He had a
passion for knowledge; studied Greek, Latin and Hebrew in his spare
time; and in 1827 gave up cobbling to become a schoolmaster, and, later,
a Methodist preacher. His affairs did not prosper, and after going to
Lincoln, where he obtained work on a local newspaper, he came to London
in 1839. Here he became assistant to a second-hand bookseller, but in
1840 he joined the staff of the _Leicestershire Mercury_. His support of
the Chartist movement obliged him to resign his position, but he
undertook to edit _The Midland Counties Illuminator_, a Chartist
journal, in 1841. He became a leader of the extreme Chartist party, and
for his action in urging on the strike of 1842 he was imprisoned in
Stafford gaol for two years. Here he produced _The Purgatory of
Suicides_, a political epic in ten books, embodying the radical ideas of
the time. In his efforts to publish this work after his liberation he
came under the notice of Benjamin Disraeli and Douglas Jerrold. Through
Jerrold's help it appeared in 1845, and Cooper then turned his attention
to lecturing upon historical and educational subjects. In 1856 he
suddenly renounced the free-thinking doctrines which he had held for
many years, and became a lecturer on Christian evidences. He died at
Lincoln on the 15th of July 1892. Among his other works may be mentioned
the _Bridge of History over the Gulf of Time_ (1871) and the _Life of
Thomas Cooper, written by Himself_ (1872).
COOPER, THOMAS SIDNEY (1803-1902), English painter, was born at
Canterbury on the 20th of September 1803. In very early childhood he
showed in many ways the strength of his artistic inclinations, but as
the circumstances of his family did not admit of his receiving any
systematic training, he began before he was twelve years old to work in
the shop of a coach painter. A little later he obtained employment as a
scene painter; and he alternated between these two occupations for about
eight years. But the desire to become an artist continued to influence
him, and all his spare moments were given up to drawing and painting
from nature. At the age of twenty he went to London, drew for a while in
the British Museum, and was admitted as a student of the Royal Academy.
He then returned to Canterbury, where he was able to earn a living as a
drawing-master and by the sale of sketches and drawings. In 1827 he
settled in Brussels; but four years later he returned to London to live,
and by showing his first picture at the Royal Academy (1833) began an
unprecedentedly prolonged career as an exhibitor. Cooper's name is
mainly associated with pictures of cattle or sheep, and the most notable
of the many hundred he produced are: "A Summer's Noon" (1836), "A
Drover's Halt on the Fells" (1838), "A Group in the Meadows" (1845),
"The Half-past One o'Clock Charge at Waterloo" (1847), "The Shepherd's
Sabbath" (1866), "The Monarch of the Meadows" (1873), "Separated but not
Divorced" (1874), "Isaac's Substitute" (1880), "Pushing off for Tilbury
Fort" (1884), "On a Farm in East Kent" (1889), "Return to the Farm,
Milking Time" (1897). He was elected A.R.A. in 1845 and R.A. in 1867. He
presented to his native place, in 1882, the Sidney Cooper Art Gallery,
built on the site of the house in which he was born. He wrote his
reminiscences, under the title of _My Life_, in 1890; and died on the
7th of February 1902.
COOPERAGE, or COPERAGE (Flemish and Dutch _kooper_, a trader, dealer), a
system of traffic in spirituous liquors, tobacco and other articles
amongst the fishermen in the North Sea. The practice began in the middle
of the 19th century, when Flemish and Dutch _koopers_ frequented the
fishing fleets for the purpose of barter. Trading first in tobacco, they
extended their operations, and soon became practically floating
grog-shops.
The demoralizing nature of the traffic was brought to the public notice
in 1881, and a convention was held at the Hague in 1882 to consider
means of remedying the abuses. In 1887 Great Britain, Germany, Belgium,
Denmark, France and the Netherlands signed an agreement to prevent the
sale or purchase of spirituous liquors among fishermen at sea. In Great
Britain an act (the North Sea Fisheries Act 1888) was passed to carry
into effect the terms of the convention. The act (now repealed and
replaced by the North Sea Fisheries Act 1893, with which it is identical
but for some slight verbal modifications) imposes a fine not exceeding
£50 or a term of imprisonment not exceeding three months for supplying,
exchanging or otherwise selling spirits. It imposes a like penalty for
purchasing spirits by exchange or otherwise, and requires every British
vessel dealing in provisions or other articles to have a licence and to
carry a special mark. In 1882 Mr E. J. Mather started a mission to deep
sea fishermen, which sends out mission ships and supplies the fishermen
with good clothing, literature, tobacco, &c., at a fair price. This
mission, now the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen, is
registered by the Board of Trade.
See E. J. Mather, _Nor'ard of the Dogger_ (1888), and publications of
the Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen.
COOPERAGE (from "cooper," a maker of casks, derived from such forms as
Mid. Dutch _cuper_, Ger. _Küfer_, Lat. _cuparius_; the same root is seen
in various Teut. words for a basket, such as Dutch _kuip_ and Eng.
"kipe" and "coop," but cooper is apparently not formed directly from
"coop," which never means a "cask" but always a basket-cage for poultry,
&c.), the art of making casks, barrels and other rounded vessels, the
sides of which are composed of separate staves, held together by hoops
surrounding them. The art is one of great antiquity; Pliny ascribes its
invention to the inhabitants of the Alpine valleys. The trade is one in
which there are numerous subdivisions, the chief of which are tight or
wet and dry or slack cask manufacture. To these may be added white
cooperage, a department which embraces the construction of wooden tubs,
pails, churns and other even-staved vessels. Of all departments, the
manufacture of tight casks or barrels for holding liquids is that which
demands the greatest care and skill since, in addition to being
perfectly tight when filled with liquid, the vessels must bear the
strain of transportation to great distances, and in many cases have to
resist considerable internal pressure when they contain fermenting
liquors. The staves are best made of well-seasoned oak. Since a cask is
a double conoid, usually having its greatest diameter (technically the
bulge or belly) at the centre, each stave must be properly curved to
form a segment of the whole, and must be so cut as to have a suitable
bilge or increase of width from the ends to the middle; it must also
have its edges bevelled to such an angle that it will form tight joints
with its neighbours. The staves being prepared, the next operation is to
set up or raise the barrel. For this purpose as many staves as are
necessary are arranged upright in a circular frame, and round their
lower halves are fitted truss hoops which serve to keep them together
for the permanent hooping. The upper ends are then drawn together by
means of a rope which is passed round them and tightened by a windlass,
and other truss hoops are dropped over them, the wood being steamed or
heated to enable it to bend freely to shape. The two ends of the cask
are next finished to receive the heads by forming the chime, or bevel on
the extremity of the staves, and the croze or groove into which the
heads fit. Finally the heads and permanent hoops are put in place. The
heads, when made of two or more pieces, are jointed by wooden dowel
pins, and after being cut to size are chamfered or bevelled round the
edge to fit into the croze grooves. The hoops are generally of iron. The
manufacture of slack casks proceeds on the same general lines, but is
simpler in various respects, both because less accurate workmanship is
required, and because softer woods, largely fir, may be employed.
Machinery of the most elaborate and specialized character has been
devised to perform most of the operations in making both slack and tight
casks, and though it involves considerable capital outlay it effects so
great an economy of time that it has largely superseded hand labour.
(For an account of such machinery see L. H. Ransome, "Cask-making
Machinery," _Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng._ vol. 115; also an article in
_Engineering_, 1908, 85, p. 845.) Barrels without separate staves are
made by bending a sheet of wood, sawn from a log in a continuous strip,
into the required circular shape, the bulge at the centre being obtained
by cutting out V gores from the ends. Barrels are also sometimes made of
steel, either of the ordinary bulging form or consisting of
straight-sided drums provided near the middle with rings on which they
may be rolled. Immense numbers of casks of different shapes and sizes
are employed in various industries. Tight barrels are a necessity to the
wine and cider maker, brewer and distiller, and are largely used for the
transport of oils and liquid chemicals, while slack barrels are utilized
by the million for packing cement, alkali, china, fruit, fish and
numerous other products.
CO-OPERATION, a term used particularly both for a theory of life, and
for a system of business, with the general sense of "working together"
(_con_, with, and _opus_, work). In its narrowest usage it means a
combination of individuals to economize by buying in common, or increase
their profits by selling in common. In its widest usage it means the
creed that life may best be ordered not by the competition of
individuals, where each seeks the interest of himself and his family,
but by mutual help; by each individual consciously striving for the good
of the social body of which he forms part, and the social body in return
caring for each individual: "each for all, and all for each" is its
accepted motto. Thus it proposes to replace among rational and moral
beings the struggle for existence by voluntary combination for life.
More or less imperfectly embodying this theory, we have co-operation in
the concrete, or "the co-operative movement," meaning those forms of
voluntary association where individuals unite for mutual aid in the
production of wealth, which they will devote to common purposes, or
share among them upon principles of equity, reason and the common good,
agreed upon beforehand. Not that a co-operative society can begin by
saying absolutely what those principles in their purity would dictate.
It begins with current prices, current rates of wages and interest,
current hours of labour, and modifies them as soon as it can wherever
they seem least conformable to equity, reason and the common good.
In the industrial world there is everywhere much working together for
the production of wealth, but this is not included in co-operation if
the shares of those concerned are determined by competition, i.e. by a
struggle and the relative ability of each to secure a large share. Nor
do co-operators regard the association as truly voluntary, though it may
depend on contract, if that contract be one of service only, without an
opportunity for all concerned to share in the ultimate control.
Co-operation in fact is essentially a democratic association. On the
other hand, there is some working together for the production of wealth
which without being competitive, or based on service, is not strictly
voluntary: thus in primitive societies there is much customary help,
combined with customary division of the produce; and in advanced
societies we have state and municipal socialism. These are indeed
sometimes included in co-operation, but at least they are not voluntary
co-operation, since the individual has no choice but to take part in
them; they depend on the power of the ruler to coerce the ruled, or of
the majority to coerce the minority. In co-operation, meaning voluntary
co-operation, there may also, it is true, be frequent overruling of the
minority by the majority, but only so far as the minority have, when
joining the association, voluntarily agreed to permit, and subject
always to an effective ultimate right of secession.
Thus co-operation occupies the middle ground between competition and
state or municipal socialism. In its technical sense, however, it does
not cover the whole of this ground: it does not cover associations which
are primarily for social, provident, or religious purposes, but only
those closely connected with the production of wealth. We speak of
co-operative societies for agriculture, for manufacturing, for retail,
or wholesale distribution, for building or house-owning, for raising
capital and so forth; while the great Friendly Societies (q.v.), though
a part of co-operation as a theory of life, are not part of the
co-operative movement. The line is somewhat hard to draw, and
consequently is drawn somewhat arbitrarily. Thus while a society for
building, or for the collective ownership of houses, is counted a
co-operative society, a Building Society (as we ordinarily understand
the term), though it be purely mutual in its basis, is not so counted in
Great Britain, but is in the United States (see BUILDING SOCIETIES).
Robert Owen.
For the early history of the co-operative movement we have to look
chiefly to Great Britain, and British co-operation acknowledges as its
founder Robert Owen (q.v.). In every age and every country the origins
of co-operation may no doubt be traced, where men have helped one
another in the creation of wealth and agreed as brothers as to its
division. In England long before the days of Owen there was much
co-operation of miners and fishermen which, though scarcely obligatory on
the individuals taking part in it, was largely regulated by custom.
Coming to more purely voluntary associations, co-operative workshops are
recorded, retail co-operation was practised in Scotland from the middle
of the 18th century, while in England shops not unlike co-operative
stores, but without the democratic element, were in one or two instances
set up by benevolent individuals. It does not seem, however, that there
was any theory of co-operation until Owen in England, and almost
simultaneously Fourier (q.v.) in France, formulated their gospels, not
identical, yet having much in common. Of these two Owen and his teaching
are by far the more important.
The end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries were the
culminating days of the industrial revolution, when the old organization
of domestic industry had given way before the factory system, and the
population of the factory districts was suffering a martyrdom, with ruin
of body and degradation of character, from unbridled competition, long
hours, women's and children's labour, pauper apprenticeship, great
fluctuations of trade and employment, dearness and adulteration of
provisions, the truck system and insanitary homes. Owen, having himself
become a great employer of labour, after starting as a draper's
assistant, saw that this was in every sense waste, and that as it paid
the manufacturer to have the best machinery and not to overdrive it, but
to tend it well and keep it in the best repair, so it would pay him, and
abundantly pay the nation, to have the human machines well cared for,
not overworked, and kept in the best condition. The popular
individualistic philosophy of that day taught that the good of society
would be achieved by each individual seeking in his business relations
the interest of himself and his family; but Owen maintained that the
well-being of the social body could only be served if each individual
made that his conscious aim. For this reason he and his disciples were
called Socialists. He taught further that a man's character depended
mainly upon the circumstances which influenced his life; he emphasized
environment, and all but denied heredity. At New Lanark, from 1799, he
carried out these ideas among the workers in the cotton mills of which
he was managing partner.[1] "For twenty-nine years," he wrote, "we did
without the necessity for magistrates or lawyers; without a single legal
punishment; without any known poors' rate; without intemperance or
religious animosities. We reduced the hours of labour, well educated all
the children from infancy, greatly improved the condition of the adults,
diminished their daily labour, paid interest on capital, and cleared
upwards of £300,000 of profit." So wonderful were the results upon the
population, that New Lanark became a show-place of world-wide renown,
and was visited by many of the greatest and most exalted people of the
period.
While thus using his own power Owen not only advocated legislation to
limit the hours of factory labour, but appealed to the public
authorities to establish industrial communities, where the poor might be
set to work, and be managed paternally on the principles of New Lanark.
So great was his repute, and so influential the royal and other
personages who gave him their support, that this appeal might probably
have been successful had not Owen, in reply to complaints as to his
religious views--which were deistic--and that his system was not founded
on religion, made a public attack upon all accepted religions.
Failing to get the required support from the Government and magistrates,
he still sought it from wealthy believers in his teaching, and a number
of "communities" (see COMMUNISM) were founded in England and Scotland,
and in the United States. These were intended to be self-supporting, the
land and other means of producing wealth being owned in common, and work
and education being regulated on Owen's principles. Owen well knew that
most of them lacked the large amount of capital necessary, but his hand
was forced by enthusiastic followers, and even the most hopeful of the
experiments, that of Queenwood in Hampshire (1839-1844), was made
prematurely and failed.
His connexion with New Lanark also came to an end, not from any want of
success, but through differences with some of his partners who objected
to such matters as dancing, military drill for the children, and the
wearing of kilts, but above all feared lest Owen's "infidelity" should
undermine the people's faith.
Thus it might have seemed that Owen's life and fortune had been spent in
vain, and resulted only in unsuccessful experiments; but this was far
from being so. His teaching, and in particular his doctrines of
circumstance, and of the conscious seeking after the social good, his
belief in self-supporting communities, and his vision of a new moral and
industrial world, had powerfully affected the working classes, indeed,
all classes. Workmen in many parts of the country had formed groups with
the ultimate object of founding self-supporting communities. If the
government and the rich would not provide capital enough to start
communities, the workers would start them themselves. Thus was the
democratic basis given to co-operation. As a means they had been
founding co-operative societies, which are sometimes called "union
shops" to distinguish them from the later growth of societies of the
Rochdale type. The members began by buying provisions wholesale and
retailing them to themselves at current prices; the difference became
capital, and as soon as possible one member was set to work to make
boots and another clothes, and so forth, until ultimately the society
should have capital enough to take land and form a community. Education
also was prominent among their objects. These co-operative societies
reached some 400 or 500 between 1828 and 1834, but the movement then
collapsed. As the original enthusiasm died out, or members left the
neighbourhood, or capital accumulated in the hands of the original
shareholders, they almost all either failed or became private property.
In those early days, moreover, the law gave no protection to the
property of co-operative societies. This remained so until 1852, when
the Christian Socialists (see SOCIALISM) among their many great services
to the working classes secured such protection. In 1862 they secured
also limited liability for the members.
Rochdale pioneers.
Before 1844 a co-operative society had already been formed and failed at
Rochdale in Lancashire, yet some ardent spirits planned to form another.
Twenty-eight poor men, flannel weavers and such like, got together a
capital of £28 by twopenny and threepenny subscriptions, and in December
1844 opened in Toad Lane, Rochdale, a little shop from which, speaking
broadly, the whole of British co-operation, and very much of that of
other lands, has grown. Their objects were those of other co-operative
societies of the time, including the ultimate aim of a self-supporting
community. In this last they never succeeded, nor indeed did they
attempt it; but they did succeed in vastly improving the position of
millions of the working classes by enabling them to obtain their
provisions cheap and pure, to avoid the millstone of debt, to save
money, to pass from retail to wholesale trade, and from distribution to
manufacturing, building and house-owning, ship-owning and banking; above
all to educate themselves, and to live with an ideal.
The Rochdale Equitable Pioneers began their trading in the smallest way,
the members taking turns to serve in the shop; yet where so many other
Union shops had failed Rochdale succeeded, and it has steadily grown to
an institution with some 14,000 members, doing a trade of £300,000,
owning shops and workshops, a library and reading-rooms, making large
profits, and devoting a substantial part of them to education and to
charitable purposes. What was the reason of this difference? Chiefly it
would seem a different method of dealing with the profits. Earlier
"Stores" had divided these according to the capital contributed by each
member, or else equally among the members: the Rochdale Pioneers
determined that, after paying 5% interest on the share capital, all
profit should be allotted to the purchasing members in proportion to
their purchases, and be capitalized in the name of the member entitled,
until his shares amounted to £5. Thus each member found it his interest
to purchase at the store and to introduce new purchasers. The ownership
of the store remained always with the purchasers, and each came under
the magic influence of a little capital saved.
Growth of co-operative stores.
Not only did Rochdale store grow amazingly, but its example spread far
and near. New stores were founded on the "Rochdale plan" and old stores
adopted it; soon they were numbered by hundreds. In spite of many
failures there were in 1906 more than fourteen hundred such stores in
the United Kingdom, with nearly two and a quarter million members, over
£33,000,000 capital, and sales exceeding £63,000,000 in the year. The
number of societies does not increase of late years, the tendency being
rather for established societies to open branches, but all the other
figures increase rapidly from year to year.
These workmen's Co-operative Stores, or Distributive Societies, flourish
chiefly in the north and midlands of England and in Scotland, but are
found more or less all over the country. They, and practically all other
British co-operative societies, are registered under the Industrial and
Provident Societies Act, which constitutes them corporate bodies, with
limited liability, and fixes £200 as the maximum that any member may
hold in the share capital. Their government is democratic, based on one
vote each, for man or woman; and their members or shareholders, and
their committee-men or directors, are almost exclusively the more
provident of the working classes, or belong to the class just above.
Store societies are of various sizes, from the small village shop to the
greatest of them all, the Leeds Society, with nearly 30,000 members,
sales exceeding a million and a half sterling, and an elaborate
organization of branches and manufacturing departments. Their method,
the "Rochdale system," is as follows, subject to occasional variations.
Membership is open to all who pay a shilling entrance fee and sign for a
£1 share, which can be paid up out of profit. For the most part members
may at any time withdraw their shares in cash at par. A record of each
member's purchases is kept by means of metal tokens or otherwise, and at
the end of each quarter, after paying a limited interest (never more
than 5%, and in very many societies less) on shares, and, in some
societies, paying a proportion of profit to the employees, the surplus
is divided to the members in proportion to their purchases: non-members
also usually receiving half dividends on theirs. Thus the members in
effect obtain their necessaries at cost price. The dividend on members'
purchases averages about 2s. 6d. in the £. In many successful societies
even more is paid, but the average is falling. Where dividend is high,
prices are often fixed above those current in the neighbourhood, so that
the members, in addition to saving the retailer's profit, use their
Society as a sort of savings bank, where they put away a halfpenny or so
for every shilling they spend. In addition to retailing, a store often
manufactures bread, clothes, boots and millinery, sometimes farms land,
or grinds corn; usually for its own members only, but occasionally for
sale to other societies also. Their productions in this way exceed
£5,000,000 a year. They also invest large and increasing sums in
building cottages, to let or sell to their members; and they lend still
more largely to their members, to enable them to buy cottages.
Outwardly these stores may look like mere shops, but they are really
much more. First, they are managed with a view not to a proprietor's
profit, but to cheap and good commodities. Secondly they have done an
immense work for thrift and the material prosperity of the working
classes, and as teachers of business and self-government. But further,
they have a distinct social and economic aim, namely, to correct the
present inequalities of wealth, and substitute for the competitive
system an industry controlled by all in the common interest, and
distributing on principles of equity and reason, mutually agreed on, the
wealth produced. With this view they acknowledge the duties of fair pay
and good conditions for their own employees, and of not buying goods
made under bad conditions. The best societies further set aside a small
proportion of their profits for educational purposes, including
concerts, social gatherings, classes, lectures, reading-rooms and
libraries, and often make grants to causes with which they sympathize.
Their members are prominent in local government affairs; co-operative
candidates are occasionally run for town councils, and often talked of
for parliament. Though the societies are non-political, and have refused
to join the labour representation movement, they are usually centres of
"progressive" ideas. There are of course many defects, and of their two
million members a large, and many fear an increasing, proportion,
attracted by the prosperity of the societies, think chiefly of what they
themselves gain; but the government of the movement has, hitherto at
least, been largely in the hands of men of ideas, who believe that
stores are but a step to co-operative production, and on to the
"co-operative commonwealth."
It is indeed only when we come to federations of co-operative societies,
and above all to production, with its large number of employees, that
the educational side of the movement and its power to promote industrial
reform are most seen. The Co-operative Union, Limited, for instance, is
a propagandist federation of all the chief co-operative societies in
Great Britain, and some in Ireland. Its income of £10,000 a year is
contributed by the Co-operative Societies. It looks after their legal
and parliamentary interests, carries on much educational work by means
of literature, lectures, classes, scholarships, summer meetings at the
universities, and so on; organizes numerous local conferences for
discussion, and once a year a great national co-operative congress, and
exhibition of productions, in some chief centre of population. The
Co-operative Wholesale Society, Limited, is a trading federation of the
great majority of the English stores. Founded in 1863 on a small scale,
it now counts its employees by thousands, its capital by millions, and
its yearly sales by tens of millions. Besides its merchant trade, it
manufactures to the value of £4,500,000, owning factories, warehouses
and land in many districts. It imports largely, and runs its own
steamships. It is also the bank of the co-operative societies, and the
chief outlet for the always redundant capital of the well-established
stores. The Scottish stores also have their Wholesale Society, not less
important relatively. For many purposes these two are in partnership. In
each of them the net profits are returned to the stores as a dividend on
purchases, and thence to the whole body of members; but in the Scottish
Wholesale a part is also paid to its employees as a dividend upon their
wages. There are also a few local federations of stores, mostly for
corn-milling and baking.
Co-partnership.
Strongly contrasting with this production by associations of consumers,
or "consumers' production," is the co-partnership, or labour
co-partnership, branch of co-operation. Its simplest form is an
association of producers formed to carry on their own industry.
Originally such societies were intended to consist solely of the workers
employed; the ideal was the "self-governing workshop," introduced from
France by the Christian Socialists of 1850; but membership is now open
to the distributive societies, which are the chief customers, and
usually, to all sympathizers. Shares are transferable, not withdrawable.
Profits first pay the agreed "wages of capital," usually 5%, and of what
remains the main part goes to the employees as a dividend on their
wages, and to the customers as a dividend on their purchases. In
well-established societies the dividend on wages averages about 1s. on
the £. This is not usually paid in cash, but credited to the employees
as share capital, whereby all may become members. Besides other
producers' associations, more or less co-operative, there are over a
hundred co-partnership societies at work in England, against a dozen or
fifteen in 1883. They are engaged in boot-making, printing, building,
weaving, clothing, wood-working, metal-working, and so on. Some of them
are very small, while others have businesses of £50,000 a year or more,
the average being about £10,000. The majority show fair, sometimes large
profits. Each is governed by a committee, which is elected by the
members and appoints the manager. A minority of them sell in the open,
i.e. the non-co-operative, market, and a few sell largely for export.
Rival theories.
We constantly hear that co-operative production is a failure. There have
no doubt been failures, especially of big experiments attempted among
men totally unprepared. But many of the failures counted were not truly
co-operative. At the present day consumers' production is successful
beyond all question, while the net growth of producers' associations in
the last twenty years has been marked both in number and importance.
These two forms of production best illustrate the two rival theories
which divide British co-operation, and between whose partisans the
conflict has at times been sharp. The consumers' theory maintains that
all profit on price is abstracted from the consumer, and must be
returned to him; while to him should also belong all capital and
control, subject to such regulations as the state and the trade unions
enforce. This theory is fully exemplified in the English Wholesale
Society, and in some of the smaller federations for production, which
employ workmen, whether co-operators or not, for wages only, and admit
no individual, but only co-operative societies, to membership. It is
also exemplified by the great majority of the stores, though in their
case the employee may become a member in his capacity as a consumer. The
co-partnership theory, on the other hand, maintains that the workers
actually employed in any industry, whether distributive or productive,
should be partners with those who find the capital, and those who buy
the produce, and should share with them the profit, responsibilities and
control. The consumers' party contend that societies of producers make a
profit out of the consumers, and thus are never truly co-operative,
while as they multiply they must compete against each other. The
co-partnership party answer that labour at least helps to make the
profit, and that competition, as yet almost insignificant between their
societies, can be avoided by federating them (a process long ago begun)
for buying and selling in common, and for other common purposes, while
leaving each the control and responsibility of its own internal affairs.
They further advocate the eventual federation of the productive wing of
co-operation with the distributive, for settling prices and all matters
in which their interests might conflict. In this way they say the
co-operative system may extend indefinitely without sacrificing either
individual responsibility and freedom, or a general unity and control,
so far as these are necessary to secure the common interest. On the
other hand they hold that the opposing system tends more and more to
centralization and bureaucracy, and divorces the individual workman from
all personal interest in his work, and from any control over its
conditions. They contend, moreover, and it is indeed admitted that, in
spite of the great advantages which consumers' production has in its
command of a market and of abundant capital, only a small part of
industry can ever be carried on by associations of the persons who
actually consume the produce. Outside this small part, therefore,
voluntary co-operation is impossible except as some form of
co-partnership.
On the working-out of these two principles depends the future of
co-operation. The example of Scotland probably throws light on the
problem. There co-operative production, amounting to some millions
sterling, is nearly all carried on by federations of consumers'
societies, including the Scottish Wholesale, which apply more or less
successfully the co-partnership principle--i.e. their employees are
admitted to share in profits, and may become members, whereby they are
further admitted to share in capital and control. The type of
organization hence resulting is very much the same as where a society of
producers admits consumers' societies to membership, and sets aside a
proportion of the profits to be returned to them as dividend upon their
purchases. To this combined type, we have seen, English productive
societies, started by producers, have come; and it would appear that
those started by consumers must ultimately tend to it. However, in spite
of honoured leaders of the early days, the consumers' party is at
present greatly in the ascendant in English co-operation, and even in
the Scottish federations it is almost strong enough to abolish
co-partnership, and allow no one to share in capital, profit or control
except in his capacity as a consumer.
An association of co-operative societies and individuals, called the
Labour Co-partnership Association, exists to maintain the principle of
co-partnership in co-operation, and also to promote its gradual adoption
in ordinary businesses. Some progress in this latter direction is being
made, there being a tendency to improve upon simple profit-sharing by
capitalizing the workman's "bonus," whereby he becomes a shareholder,
and the business is gradually modified in a co-operative direction.
There are remarkable instances of such modification abroad, notably that
of the great iron foundry and _Familistère_ at Guise in France. The most
noteworthy, among several, in England is that of the South Metropolitan
Gas Company, where after eighteen years of the system 5000 odd employees
had in 1907 more than £320,000 invested in the company; they also elect
three of themselves directors of the company, this being one-third of
the board. Unfortunately this example is, or at least was, marred by a
feud with the trade unions, whereas there is friendship between trade
unionism and co-partnership, as indeed between trade unionism and
co-operation generally.
Tenants' co-partnership societies.
One of the most recent and promising developments of English
co-operation is the tenants' co-partnership movement for the common
ownership of groups of houses, which the society owning them lets out to
its members. These societies are but few as yet, but they have sprung up
rapidly and promise great usefulness and extension. Somewhat similar
societies have long been a recognized branch of co-operation on the
continent of Europe.
The movement outside Britain.
Such, then, are the history and present extent of co-operation in Great
Britain. Turning abroad we find in almost all civilized countries,
besides other forms of co-operation, important and growing movements
roughly similar to those above described, but on the whole less
identified with the working classes and less coloured by their social
and economic ideals. In France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and
elsewhere, there are very important co-operative distributive movements
looking to Rochdale as their prototype; and in the United States of
America there are at least continual attempts to spread Rochdale
co-operation. Of these foreign stores, however, many exhibit important
modifications, such as unlimited liability, and selling at cost price,
or between that and market prices. On the whole we may say that Rochdale
Co-operation is the most extended and the most typical. It, and the
workshop movement springing from Fourier, and the socialist co-operation
of Belgium and elsewhere, are certainly the forms which have most of the
ideal of democratic equality and social reconstruction. Other forms look
more to the money benefits accruing to the members, seeking to
supplement the present order of society, rather than to bring in a new
order. Among these other forms--separate in origin, in methods, and
largely in spirit--the most important are credit co-operation, or
people's banking, and agricultural co-operation, two forms until
recently unknown in the British Islands.
Germany and credit co-operation.
Confusion has sometimes arisen from the fact that while Rochdale
Co-operation sets itself against "credit," continental co-operation is
more concerned with obtaining credit for its members than with anything
else. But credit is used in two senses. The English workman employed for
wages is against the credit which means spending them before they are
earned: continental co-operation seeks by collective credit to put into
the hands of working peasants, craftsmen and traders, the stock and the
tools without which their labour is vain. Credit for consumption is the
road to poverty; credit for production the road to well-being.
Just as with co-operation in labour and in purchase, so mutual help in
obtaining credit may doubtless be traced in primitive forms far back
into history. It was certainly more or less "in the air" in Germany and
France about 1848 and even earlier; but the beginning of systematic
organized credit co-operation may be definitely fixed in the year 1849,
when Raiffeisen began his _Darlehnscasse_, or loan bank, in Rhenish
Prussia. Curiously enough it had also a second and entirely independent
origin. For in the following year Schulze-Delitzsch, in a distant part
of the same kingdom, established his Credit Society based on an entirely
different system. As this second system spread much more rapidly than
the other and attained, as indeed it retains, much greater commercial
magnitude, it came to be regarded as the beginning of credit
co-operation, of which for a long time it was the only important form.
These two remain the two distinct types in every land. Thus Germany,
which has innumerable co-operative societies of every form and of great
importance, is in particular the mother of credit co-operation.
Raiffeisen loan banks.
In the famine years of 1846 and 1847 and for some years after, Friedrich
Wilhelm Raiffeisen was a burgomaster in the barren Westerwald. The
people were hopelessly ground down by debt to money-lenders for small
doles of capital, advanced to purchase stock, or meet times of special
difficulty. It occurred to Raiffeisen that by combining to borrow a
moderate sum of money on their joint responsibility, and afterwards to
lend it out among themselves in small sums at a slightly greater rate of
interest, the peasants might obtain relief from their burden of usury,
and at the same time get the capital necessary to make their labour
productive. Accordingly in 1849 at the little town of Flammersfeld, he
set up a "Loan Bank." Despite its success, it remained the only one of
its kind for five years, when Raiffeisen founded a second. There was no
third for eight years more: it was only in 1880 that they began really
to spread, but now they are found in many lands and are counted by
thousands.
Such a bank is essentially an association of neighbours. Besides
borrowing, it also receives savings deposits, which often produce a
large part of, or even all, the capital it needs. Usually a few of the
members are comparatively well to do people, who join to help their
neighbours by increasing the society's credit. This Raiffeisen
considered essential. They have no actual privilege, but by common
consent they take a leading part. In the true Raiffeisen bank the
liability of each member is unlimited, but limited liability has been
introduced in some of its modifications. The Society confines its
operations strictly to a small area, say a parish, where everyone knows
everyone. Each borrower must specify the purpose for which he wants a
loan, say to buy a cow or drain a field, or pay off a money-lender, and
this is rigorously inquired into. Only members can borrow. Any member,
however poor, can borrow for a profitable approved purpose, and no one,
however rich, for any other. Practically all the members see that the
money is applied as agreed; and, while the loan is often made for a long
period, a year or two--even for ten or more--so as to repay itself out
of the profit, power is reserved to call it in at short notice if
misapplied. Loans are repayable by periodical instalments, but
repayments must be made with absolute punctuality. No bills, mortgages
or other securities are taken, except a note of hand either alone or
with one or two sureties. There are two committees, one to lend and do
the work of the society, and the other to supervise the first; and on
both of these it is understood that the richer members are to be in a
majority. No committeeman or officer receives any remuneration for his
services, except that the accountant gets a small salary. Originally
there were no shares, and when in 1889 the legislature ordained that
there must be shares, the Raiffeisen banks made theirs as small as
possible, generally ten or twelve shillings. Nothing is paid on the
shares as interest or dividend, all profit being voted once for all to
the ordinary reserve and the indivisible reserve, the latter the
backbone of the system. In every large district the Raiffeisen banks are
federated in a Union, and these Unions culminate in a General Agency. As
an intermediary among themselves, and between them and the money market,
the banks have also a central bank with a capital of £500,000, and with
ten provincial branches. A great deal of agricultural co-operation has
arisen from these banks as centres, and with the money they have
supplied.
Raiffeisen banks boast that neither member nor creditor has ever lost a
penny by them, and while this is denied it seems at least near the
truth. Their credit is so good that they can obtain money at very low
rates, and as their expenses are trifling they can re-lend to their
members at rates but little higher. In Germany they usually lend at
about 5%. Only men of good character can obtain membership: thus,
besides spreading prosperity, they have everywhere been great promoters
of sobriety and good conduct. They were only intended to meet the needs
of the peasants, especially of the very poorest, and for this purpose
they have proved admirably suited.
Schulze-Delitzch banks.
Very different were the people among whom Schulze-Delitzsch established
his form of co-operative credit; and very different the organization he
adopted and the results which have flowed from it. In 1850 Franz Hermann
Schulze was a judge in his native town of Delitzsch, almost at the
middle point of the southern edge of Prussia, and established there his
first _Vorschussverein_, or Advance-Union. He had been in England and
knew something of our co-operative movement, but he scarcely seems to
have derived any part of his inspiration from it. The people he desired
to help were townsmen, especially the small craftsmen working on their
own account, the joiners, shoemakers and so forth; and his ideal was to
do this merely by stimulating their thrift.
In a Schulze-Delitzsch bank, a number of such men combine together to
raise a capital of guarantee: to do this every member takes up one share
and one only, which is of large value, say £30 or £50 or even much more,
but can be paid up by small instalments. Thus every member is committed
to a long course of saving. On the strength of this capital in course of
formation, and the unlimited liability of the members, the bank is able
to borrow, or to receive as savings and deposits from members and
others, a much larger capital. The funds so constituted it lends out at
the highest rates it can command, originally 12% or 14%, but now very
much less, and varying, of course, with the market. It lends to members
only, but to any amount, for any purpose and on any good and sufficient
security, whether acceptance, promissory note, overdraft, discount,
mortgage, pledge, surety or what not. The loans, however, are always for
a short period, usually three months, renewable for another three
months, and sometimes further than that. The committee of management are
elected by the general meetings; they decide on all loans, and receive a
salary, plus a commission on the business done. The council of
supervision are also paid, or at least entitled to pay. The great
objects which a bank keeps in view are security and a good return on
capital. It is not confined to a small area, but works for as large and
as varied a constituency as possible. With such a constitution the
Schulze-Delitzsch banks grow big and accumulate a large capital of their
own. On an average each bank has nearly 600 members and lends about
£150,000 per annum, including loans renewed. Losses are sometimes made,
but they are not heavy on the whole. All the profits are divided upon
capital, or put to reserve, except some, usually small, sums given to
charitable or educational purposes. Dividends average about 5%, but have
been known to reach and even exceed 30%.
It may therefore justly be said that for co-operative institutions these
banks smack too much of joint-stockism: they are in fact co-operative
not much more than in the same sense that the Oldham cotton mills, and
other "working-class limiteds," have sometimes been loosely called
co-operative. They seem constituted to make the lender's interest
supreme, but they have, nevertheless, conferred enormous benefits on the
handicraftsmen, small traders, small cultivators and others who borrow
from them. They have put capital within their reach at reasonable rates.
These banks also have their central point. In 1864 the German
Co-operative Societies' Bank was founded to centralize the work of the
local Schulze-Delitzsch banks and to bring the money market within their
reach. It was not itself co-operative, and never confined its business
to the co-operative banks. Beginning in a very small way, by 1903 it had
attained a capital of a million and a half sterling and a yearly
business of £154,000,000, of which £28,000,000 was specifically with
co-operative credit societies. It was then amalgamated with another
banking business, the _Dresdner Bank_, esteemed one of the most
important and successful in Germany.
Thus these two types of credit co-operation agree in being founded on
unlimited liability, but speaking broadly they are contrasted in that
the Schulze-Delitzsch banks work primarily, though by no means solely,
among townsmen, are based on share capital, work for profit, which they
divide on shares, are conducted by paid directors, and confer their
benefits not on the very poorest but rather, as their own friends say,
on the middle classes: the Raiffeisen banks are designed for the
peasantry, are not based upon share capital, neither divide, nor work
for, profit, are conducted by unpaid directors, and confer their
benefits especially on the very poor. The Schulze-Delitzsch type is
strong in self-help, but tends to commercialism as it grows; the other
needs the help of the well-to-do to back up the self-help of the poor,
but it tends to altruism and the union of classes.
The world has 30,000 co-operative credit societies, not counting
building societies; and though they are organized in many groups,
especially in their native Germany, for local reasons, or because of
some modification, or some compromise between the two systems, the two
types really include them all. There is, however, a strong tendency to
introduce limited liability into various offshoots of the one type and
the other; even into the orthodox Schulze-Delitzsch banks themselves,
when they grow big. From Germany co-operative banks have spread into
almost all European countries--even at last to Ireland and England--and
to America and Asia. In Germany there are some fifteen thousand local,
and no less than sixty central, co-operative credit associations, which
lend out £180,000,000 a year including renewals. In Italy, Austria and
Hungary they are also strong. In 1896 it was estimated that £150,000,000
a year must be very well within the total amount lent by money
co-operation on the continent of Europe; eight years later it could not
well fall short of £250,000,000, and the amount keeps constantly
increasing. Of this total only a small percentage represents loans by
banks of the Raiffeisen type, which, though very numerous, often lend
only a few hundred pounds each in the year.
Great controversy has prevailed as to the state subsidies given to
co-operative credit. While governments are sometimes rather inclined to
hinder co-operative distribution, they have shown a marked tendency to
foster, whether for political or economic reasons, co-operative credit.
The Prussian government in response to popular demand, vigorously
supported by the agricultural interest, has founded and endowed with
£2,500,000 of public money, the Central Co-operative Bank, whose object
is to bring capital within the reach of the various groups of
co-operative banks. The Schulze-Delitzsch Union was the only one to
dispute the need of this, and though the bank has given a stimulus to
the formation of co-operative societies, it still denies that this is a
healthy propagation. Nevertheless, some even of the Schulze-Delitzsch
societies resort to this state bank for money. It is under government
administration and lends immense sums each year. In France the Bank of
France has been compelled to lend £1,600,000 free of interest, and to
give about £120,000 per annum out of its profits to assist agriculture;
this money is being lent free to "regional" banks, and by them at about
3% to local societies. State help has also been given to the
co-operative bank of the French workmen's productive societies. In
Austria and in many other countries a great deal of similar help has
been given.
Denmark and agricultural co-operation.
Closely connected with certain developments of credit, and deserving to
rank as the third, if not the second, great subdivision of co-operation,
is agricultural co-operation, a movement in the main of the last twenty
years, but amounting now to a great force, almost everywhere except in
Great Britain, and in some countries almost to a revolution. It is
important to say agricultural co-operation and not co-operative
agriculture, for in spite of some customary mutual help in farm work, in
spite of several attempts, and some small successes, in co-operative
farming, the actual cultivation is almost everywhere individualistic.
The farmer or peasant cultivates alone, or with his family, or servants;
when he co-operates with his fellows, it is to manufacture, or to
market, the products of his farm, or more often to obtain the things he
needs for his farming, to raise stock, to own expensive machinery in
common, or insure against risks. By these means the small farmer,
without sacrificing his own peculiar advantages, obtains most of the
advantages of the big farmer, to the immense improvement of his
position.
At almost every point agricultural and credit co-operation touch; yet
the most perfect example of agricultural co-operation is not concerned
with credit co-operation in any form. The farmers of Denmark practise
co-operation in almost every variety, except for raising capital. The
commercial banks have provided money to start dairies and other
co-operative societies; so that, it would appear, the need of credit
co-operation has not been felt.
The Danish farmer is almost always a freeholder: it is little more than
a century since his ancestors were serfs. It is little more than a
generation since a few men, turning to account the strong national
feeling aroused by the defeat of 1864, started a great educational
movement which has left its mark on all strata of Danish society. After
the People's High School, technical schools arose in various places; and
to these, and to the excellent continuation schools in the country
districts, the Danes are beholden for the regeneration of their
agriculture. From 1867 co-operative distributive societies on the
Rochdale plan had been spreading in Denmark; but it was not till 1882
that co-operation in agriculture began, and the first co-operative dairy
was formed; ten years later there were about a thousand such, a number
which has slightly increased since. These dairies are productive
societies in which the cow-owners are the shareholders, and all
shareholders have equal rights and equal voting power, whether they own
one cow or one hundred. Almost every village has its co-operative dairy,
fitted to deal with the milk of from 400 to 1400, or even 2000 cows.
They far exceed all the other dairies of Denmark. More than four-fifths
of all the milk of Denmark is used in them, and they produce butter
worth more than nine millions sterling. The profits are divided among
those who supply the cream, in proportion to the value of their
supplies--a method of dividing profits characteristic of agricultural
co-operation. The village dairies are united in federations to export
their produce.
Side by side with the dairies are other co-operative societies, quite
independent but largely composed of the same members, for buying
collectively fodder, manures and other agricultural or household
requisites, for collecting and exporting eggs, slaughtering hogs and
curing bacon, improving the breed of stock, for bee-keeping,
fruit-growing and so forth. By means of these societies the country has
been greatly enriched. The farmer not uncommonly belongs to ten
co-operative societies, besides probably a farmers' club. The work of
starting and administrating the societies is seldom paid, and many
farmers give much time to it gratuitously. They are in the main
organized on the same principles as the dairies, but with variations;
the largest egg export society, for instance, has over 30,000 members.
It is not a federation of village societies, but a centralized body with
many branches.
The growth of the bacon-curing societies has been remarkable. The first
of them was not founded until 1887, but they spread rapidly, and in
seven years there were twenty, killing more than half the country's then
produce of hogs. The movement has greatly increased since then, and
multiplied its output about fourfold. Co-operation in collecting,
grading and exporting eggs only began in 1895, and in eight years 65,000
members had joined the various egg societies, and the value of eggs
exported had reached £436,000. Taken as a whole, the effect of
agricultural co-operation in Denmark has amounted to little less than a
revolution. It has brought the results of science within the peasant's
reach, and he has been quick to avail himself of them: it has
transformed a great part of farm work into a factory industry, increased
the yield of the soil, improved the material position of the peasants,
and drawn rich and poor together. Denmark, once so poor, is now, except
England, probably the richest country in Europe in proportion to its
population. Besides Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Holland,
Finland, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Ireland and
many other countries have important developments of agricultural
co-operation. In Germany, where it is closely connected with credit
co-operation, it seems to date from 1866 only, yet in forty years
agricultural co-operative societies have come to number six thousand,
without counting the agricultural banks, which exceed twice that number.
There are dairies, societies to purchase farm requisites, societies of
grape-growers, hop-growers and beetroot-growers, distilleries, labour
societies, insurance societies, societies to own warehouses and
granaries and to sell produce, to purchase land and resell it in small
holdings, and even several societies which purchase land to cultivate it
in common. The close connexion between credit-societies and other
agricultural co-operation is exemplified in the Central Union of
orthodox Raiffeisen credit societies at Neuwied. Through a central bank
and a trading department allied to it, it has negotiated the joint
purchase of coal, feeding-stuffs, manures, machinery and so forth to
large amounts, as well as the difficult business of the combined sale of
agricultural produce. Moreover, several local centres connected with
this union have granaries and warehouses for the storage of agricultural
produce, and negotiate joint sales, while within the union facilities
have been found for selling the products of one district to members in
another.
Irish agriculture.
In Ireland stores have not hitherto flourished, though a few exist.
Irish co-operation is agricultural, and dates from the foundation of one
co-operative dairy in 1889. Thence has grown a movement already of great
importance, still advancing and comprising from eighty to ninety
thousand members, belonging to some hundreds of societies--dairies,
agricultural supply societies, banks and so forth, formed on the Danish
model. To form a dairy the small working farmers of a district register
a society and take up shares of £1 each, in proportion to the number of
their cows. Each brings his milk to be separated, is paid for the
butter-making material it contains, and receives back skim milk. If any
profit is divided, it belongs nine-tenths to the suppliers of milk in
proportion to the value of their supplies, and one-tenth to the dairy
employees as dividend on wages in pursuance of the co-partnership
principle. These dairies produce butter worth more than £1,000,000.
Their rapid spread is due to their great influence in improving the
quality of butter, and hence increasing the farmer's gains. The
co-operative banks are of the Raiffeisen type, though a few have limited
liability. They aim at providing the peasants with necessary capital
("the lucky money" they have christened it) and expelling the usurer.
They are increasing rapidly. Among other objects of Irish co-operation
are selling eggs, poultry, barley and pigs, joint-grazing,
potato-spraying, scutching flax, bacon curing, home industries, and of
course supplying farm requisites. The movement promises much further
growth in magnitude and variety. The dairy societies have federated into
an agency for reaching the English market, and the supply societies into
an Irish Wholesale for purchasing to the best advantage. Besides the
direct profits and economies of these societies, they have greatly
benefited Ireland by teaching men of all classes, parties and religions
to act together for peaceful progress; they have led to a wide diffusion
of better agricultural knowledge, and to the establishment by government
of the Agricultural Department. (See IRELAND.)
Co-operative agriculture in France and other countries.
In France, which Englishmen are apt to speak of as preeminently the
country of co-operative production, the agricultural is the most
important branch of co-operation; and the source and mainstay of
agricultural co-operation are the _Syndicats Agricoles_. These are not
technically co-operative societies; they are rather trade unions, not
indeed of wage-earners only, or mainly, but of cultivators. They cannot
legally trade, being constituted for the study and protection of the
general interests of the members, the spread of information, and so
forth. Their principal object however, seems in many cases to be to
combine their members for the purchase of all farm requisites and
especially of chemical manures. This they do by collecting, sorting and
passing on orders. They cannot usually manage selling in common without
the intervention of a society specially registered for that object.
Beginning only in 1893, their number long ago ran into thousands and
their membership into hundreds of thousands, drawn from all classes of
cultivators and landowners, great and little. Among much other good work
they have led to the formation of a large number of strictly
co-operative societies for all the purposes of agriculture, except
cultivation in common. Thus there are two thousand agricultural banks,
besides butter factories, distilleries, associations for threshing, for
sale of fruit and vegetables, for wine-making, oil-pressing, and so on,
amounting altogether to some hundreds. There are also societies, mostly
of ancient date, engaged in making Gruyère cheese: a few years ago these
numbered 2000, but they are dwindling. Lastly, there are some eight
thousand mutual insurance societies organized as agricultural
syndicates.
Everywhere the main features of this agricultural movement are similar
to those we have seen in Denmark and Ireland; it is supplementary to
individual cultivation; hardly ever does it appear as associations for
cultivating in common, and, speaking with certain important exceptions,
it has no very ideal aims, but seeks chiefly to give the farmer a better
profit. In England there are a number of farms worked by stores, and
several large associations for the supply of farm requisites; but the
typical agricultural co-operation, based on small village societies and
federations of such societies, has only recently been made known and
begun to take root.
France and co-operative production.
It is notable that while the _Syndicats agricoles_ are almost exactly
what Fourier, the Robert Owen of France, foresaw as the next stage of
social development, the other great branch of French co-operation, the
workshop movement of the _Associations_ _ouvrières de production_, is
directly due to his teaching, which led in 1848 to the starting of a
large number of co-operative workshops. The suppression of association
after the advent of Napoleon III. killed most of them, but with the
return of liberty they revived and they have steadily increased ever
since. They vary somewhat among themselves, but are in the main
combinations of workmen to carry on their industries with their own
capital or that of their trade unions. Their chief difference from
English co-partnership societies is that they very rarely admit to
membership any persons not belonging to the trade. They are engaged in a
great variety of industries, selling comparatively little to
co-operative distributive societies, as English co-partnership societies
do, but taking contracts from government departments and the
municipalities, and supplying the general public. Complete statistics of
their total trade are not available, but it exceeds £2,000,000, and the
separate societies seem to vary, like the majority of English
co-partnership societies, from about £40,000 a year downwards, a few
being larger but the great majority small. From about 140 societies in
1896 they have grown to between two and three times that number, and the
increase continues with rapidity. More than two hundred of them are
federated in the _Chambre consultative des associations ouvières de
production_, which looks after certain business interests of the
societies, and also assists the formation of new ones by propaganda and
advice. In Paris alone about a third of these societies are found.
It has been objected that their growth is artificial inasmuch as the
government gives them certain advantages, such as preference over the
private contractor at an equal price, exemption from the deposit of
security, and special concessions as to payments on account. It also
grants a subvention (recently about £7000 per annum), which was formerly
all given to the societies in grants, but is now largely lent to them at
not more than 2% interest through their own special bank. This bank was
founded in 1893 to help the societies with loans and discounts, and was
soon after endowed by a disciple of Fourier with £20,000. The societies
have also benefited by other private beneficence and public help. As to
the Government aid, it must be remembered that in France the state helps
all forms of industry in ways unknown to us, and the French co-operative
producers always declare that what is done for them is a trifle compared
to what is done for other manufacturers. Moreover, they get many large
contracts in open and unaided competition. In these societies the
_auxiliaires_, or workers who are not members, are often numerous; but
no society is now admitted to their federation which does not share
profits with the _auxiliaires_ and facilitate their admission to
membership.
Consumers' co-operation, credit co-operation, agricultural co-operation,
and workshop co-operation, as exemplified in Great Britain, Germany,
Denmark and France, are found in most advanced countries, some in one
and some in another, in forms roughly similar to those above described.
Of co-operation for production it might have been said, a few years ago,
that outside Great Britain it everywhere meant associations of
producers. Except bakeries, there was but little consumers' production;
that, however, seems now to be spreading in foreign countries also. The
most important developments of co-operation not yet described are the
socialist co-operation of Belgium, the co-operative building societies
of the United States, the labour societies of Italy and Russia, the
co-operation of German craftsmen to provide themselves with raw
material, and the letting out of railway construction to temporary
co-operative groups of workmen by the New Zealand and Victorian
governments.
In Belgium co-operation is mostly socialist in the towns and Catholic in
the country. In all the principal industrial centres are very important
co-operative bakeries and distributive societies, owned by co-operative
groups, numbering thousands of workmen of every calling. These _Maisons
du peuple_ are admitted to be well managed, even by those who dislike
their politics. The socialist party look upon them chiefly as a means
of organizing and educating the working classes for political and
economic emancipation, and of providing funds for political warfare.
Like the English stores, and allied societies, they are based on the
consumer, but unlike them they pay no interest on share capital, though
they do on deposits. A much larger part of the profit than in England is
devoted to propaganda and common purposes, though a part is also paid to
the consumers individually in the form of checks exchangeable for bread
or other goods. The workers employed also receive a share of profit as a
dividend on their wages, and elect their representatives on the
committee of management. By means of these societies the party has a
press, buildings, and the funds to fight elections and support members
in parliament. In France, where the store movement has been of an
individualistic, and often middle class, tendency, the socialists have
lately imitated the example of Belgium, and seem to be winning more
success than the older French stores.
In the United States there has long been much important agricultural
co-operation, and there have been many much-advertised attempts to
establish Rochdale co-operation, but there have so often been failures
and even dishonesties that co-operation has had a bad odour in the
country, and the developments come and go with such rapidity that it is
difficult to speak with confidence of its stability. The branch of
co-operation which has been a great success in the United States
consists of the great co-operative building societies, but building
societies are not considered part of the co-operative movement in Great
Britain.
Co-operation of all kinds is greatly developed in Italy, but one form is
specially notable. The _Società di lavoro_ are co-operative labour gangs
of great importance. They are counted by hundreds, and are found among
navvies, builders, masons, carriers, stevedores, agricultural labourers
and other workmen, and have carried out very great works in Italy and in
foreign countries. They have, for instance, drained lands in the
Campagna and made a railway in Greece. They differ from productive
societies markedly in that they have comparatively little to do with
capital or material, but contract mainly for labour.
The Slavonic races seem to have a special aptitude for grouping together
co-operatively: it is said that men meeting casually on a journey will
do so for the brief time they are together. In countries like Servia we
see this ancient, and more or less customary, loose and unstable
co-operation meeting the modern contractual, permanent co-operation of
banks and other registered societies. So in Russia, where so large a
part in the national organization is played by the _Artel_ (see RUSSIA),
which may be a transitory co-operative group of workmen undertaking a
particular piece of work, e.g. to build a house, or a permanent
association like that of the bank porters combined together to guarantee
one another's honesty.
State help.
While English and some other forms of co-operation have always
repudiated state help, and probably rightly, so far as their own work is
concerned, the state in almost all countries, and conspicuously in
England, has in fact helped to the extent of providing special
legislation, and waiving fees, so as to encourage the formation of
co-operative societies. A second form of state help is very noticeable
in the modern development of agriculture, as in Denmark, Canada, New
Zealand, Ireland and very many countries, where the state has played a
great part in performing or assisting functions which neither voluntary
association nor individual enterprise could well perform alone; in
providing technical education, expert advisers, exhibitions and prizes;
in distributing information in all forms; in finding out markets,
controlling railway rates, subsidizing steamboats, and even grading,
branding, warehousing and freezing produce, and maintaining trade agents
abroad. These things have not been done for co-operative societies
alone, but for agriculture in general; but co-operation has chiefly
benefited, and much has been done expressly to encourage the formation
of associations of cultivators, and provincial and national federations
of such associations; and government departments of agriculture are
found acting through such bodies, and with their advice and assistance.
The third and most questionable form of state help is by direct
subventions, and we have seen how much has been done in this way for
credit co-operation and particularly agricultural credit. Harm has
undoubtedly been done in certain cases by forcing co-operative
societies, whether from political motives or merely mistaken policy. Yet
even as to money subventions, good authorities, while admitting the
great dangers, remain convinced that the advantages overbalance them,
self-help being evoked, and helped over initial difficulties which would
otherwise be insuperable. Experience in fact shows that governments can
do a very great deal, at least for agricultural co-operation, but only
on condition that they encourage, and do not undermine, self-help and
private initiative. Thus while voluntary association is sometimes
advocated as a step towards, and sometimes on the other hand as a
substitute for, and bulwark against, state socialism, we find in
practice these two forces working each in its own sphere, and in ways
complementary one to the other, while underlying and essential to both
is the force of individual action and self-help.
Conclusion.
We have now surveyed co-operation in its chief forms and in some of the
countries where it is chiefly found. Some years ago it was roughly
estimated that the members of one or other of its branches numbered six
millions, representing with their families a population of 25,000,000
people. This must be much within the truth to-day. In no other country
so much as in Great Britain do we find the tendency for all branches of
co-operation to federate in one union and to help one another by mutual
trade. Yet everywhere the instinct of co-operative societies is to
federate with others--at least with others of their own particular
shade; so that Wholesales and other federations are found more and more
in many countries. Since 1895 the co-operators and co-operative
societies of many far-distant lands--almost of the whole world--have
been drawn together by the International Co-operative Alliance, a body
which, without attempting to interfere in their differences, collects
information from all, and distributes it to all, keeps them all in
touch, and every few years calls their delegates together in congress,
to discuss their problems, and to remember their common ideals.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--International Co-operative Alliance, _International
Co-operative Bibliography_ (London, 1906); G. J. Holyoake, _History of
Co-operation_ (London, 1875-1879, new ed., 1906), _History of the
Rochdale Pioneers_ (London, 1893, new ed., 1900), _Self-Help a Hundred
Years Ago_ (London, 3rd ed., 1891), _Co-operative Movement of To-day_
(London, 1891, new ed., 1896); Lloyd Jones, _Life and Times and
Labours of Robert Owen_ (London, 1890, new ed., 1895); F. Podmore,
_Robert Owen_ (London, 1906); E. T. Craig, _History of Ralahine_
(London, 1882, new ed., 1893); Thomas Hughes and E. V. Neale, _A
Manual for Co-operators_ (Manchester, 1881, 1888); Catherine Webb
(editor), _Industrial Co-operation_ (Manchester, 1904); Beatrice
Potter (Mrs Sidney Webb), _Co-operative Movement in Great Britain_
(London, 1891, 1893, 1904); A. H. D. Acland and B. Jones, _Working Men
Co-operators_ (1898); Benjamin Jones, _Co-operative Production_
(London, 1894); C. R. Fay, _Co-operation at Home and Abroad_ (London,
1908); H. D. Lloyd, _Labour Co-partnership_ (London and New York,
1898); D. F. Schloss, _Methods of Industrial Remuneration_ (London,
2nd ed., 1894); N. P. Gilman, _Profit Sharing_ (London, 1892); C.
Robert, _Guide pratique de la participation_ (Paris, 1892); Aneurin
Williams, _Twenty-eight Years of Co-partnership at Guise_ (Letchworth,
1908), _Relations of Co-operative Movement to National and
International Commerce_ (Manchester, 1896); Dallet-Fabre-Prudhommeaux,
_Le Familistère illustré_ (Paris, 1901); Bernadot, _Le Familistère de
Guise_ (Guise, 1892); E. O. Greening, _The Co-operative Traveller
Abroad_ (London, 1888); H. W. Wolff, _People's Banks_ (London, 1893,
1896), _Co-operative Banking, its Principles and Practice, with a
chapter on Co-operative Mortgage Credit_ (London, 1907); de Rocquigny,
_La Co-opération de production dans l'agriculture_ (Paris, 1896);
Merlin, _Les Associations ouvrières et patronales_, &c. (Paris, 1900);
Mabilleau and others, _La Prévoyance sociale en Italie_ (Paris, 1898);
Fr. Müller, _Wesen, Grundsätze und Nutzen der Consumvereine_ (Basel,
1900). See also the annual Reports of the Government Labour
Departments, and the _Monthly Bulletin_ of the Internat. Co-op.
Alliance. (A. Wi.*)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Holyoake, _History of Co-operation_ (1906 edition), i. 34.
COOPERSTOWN, a village and the county-seat of Otsego county, New York,
U.S.A., where the Susquehanna river emerges from Otsego Lake; about 92
m. (by rail) W. of Albany. Pop. (1890) 2657; (1900) 2368; (1905) 2446;
(1910) 2484. It is served by the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley railway
(owned and controlled by the Delaware & Hudson), and is on the line of
the Oneonta & Mohawk Valley electric railway. The village lies in the
midst of a hop-growing and dairying region, and has cheese factories and
creameries. It has a public library, Thanksgiving hospital, a Y.M.C.A.
hall, and the Diocesan orphanage (Protestant Episcopal). Cooperstown is
a summer resort, Otsego Lake (9 m. long and with an average width of
about 1 m.), the "Glimmerglass" of Cooper's novels, being one of the
most picturesque of the New York lakes. Cooperstown occupies the site of
an old Indian town. In 1785 the site became the property of Judge
William Cooper, who in the following year founded there a village which
took his name and was incorporated in 1807. Judge Cooper himself settled
here with his family in 1790. His son, James Fenimore Cooper, who lived
here for many years and is buried in the Episcopal cemetery here, made
the region famous in his novels.
See J. Fenimore Cooper, _The Chronicles of Cooperstown_ (Cooperstown,
1838).
COOPER UNION, a unique educational and charitable institution "for the
advancement of science and art" in New York city. It is housed in a
brownstone building in Astor Place, between 3rd and 4th Avenues
immediately N. of the Bowery, and was founded in 1857-1859 by Peter
Cooper, and chartered in 1859. In a letter to the trustees accompanying
the trust-deed to the property, Cooper said that he wished the endowment
to be "for ever devoted to the advancement of science and art, in their
application to the varied and useful purposes of life"; provided for a
reading-room, a school of art for women, and an office in the Union,
"where persons may apply ... for the services of young men and women of
known character and qualifications to fill the various situations";
expressed the desire that students have monthly meetings held in due
form, "as I believe it to be a very important part of the education of an
American citizen to know how to preside with propriety over a
deliberative assembly"; urged lectures and debates exclusive of
theological and party questions; and required that no religious test
should ever be made for admission to the Union. Cooper's most efficient
assistant in the Union was Abram S. Hewitt. In 1900 Andrew Carnegie put
the finances of the Union on a sure footing by gifts aggregating
$600,000. For the year 1907 its revenue was $161,228 (including
extraordinary receipts of $25,565, from bequests, &c.), its expenditures
$161,390; at the same time its assets were $3,870,520, of which
$1,070,877 was general endowment, building and equipment, and $2,797,728
was special endowments ($205,000 being various endowments by Peter
Cooper; $340,000, the William Cooper Foundation; $600,000, the
Cooper-Hewitt Foundation; $391,656, the John Halstead Bequest; $217,820,
the Hewitt Memorial Endowment). The work has been very successful, the
instruction is excellent, and the interest of the pupils is eager. All
courses are free. The reading-room and library contain full files of
current journals and magazines; the library has the rare complete old and
new series of patent office reports, and in 1907 had 45,760 volumes; in
the same year there were 578,582 readers. There is an excellent museum
for the arts of decoration. Apart from valuable lecture courses, the
principal departments of the Union, with their attendance in 1907, were:
a night school of science--a five-year course in general science (667)
and in chemistry (154), a three-year course in electricity (114), and a
night school of art (1333); a day school of technical science--four years
in civil, mechanical or electrical engineering--(237); a woman's art
school (282); a school of stenography and typewriting for women (55); a
school of telegraphy for women (31); a class in elocution (96); and
classes in oratory and debate (146). During the year 2505 was the highest
number in attendance at any time, and then 3000 were on the waiting list.
In the great hall of the Union free lectures for the people are given
throughout the winter; one course, the Hewitt lectures, in co-operation
with Columbia University, "of a very high grade, corresponding more
nearly to those given by the Lowell Institute in Boston"; six (in 1907)
courses in co-operation with the Board of Education of New York city,
which, upon Mayor Hewitt's suggestion, made an appropriation for this
work in 1887-1888, and extended such lecture courses to different parts
of the city, all under the direction (after 1890) of Henry M. Leipziger
(b. 1854), and several courses dealing especially with social and
political subjects, and including, besides lectures and recitals, public
meetings for the discussion of current problems.
CO-OPTATION (from Lat. _co-optare_; less correctly "co-option"), the
election to vacancies on a legislative, administrative or other body by
the votes of the existing members of the body, instead of by an outside
constituency. Such bodies may be purely co-optative, as the Royal
Academy, or may be elective with power to add to the numbers by
co-optation, as municipal corporations in England.
COORG (an anglicized corruption of _Kodagu_, said to be derived from the
Kanarese _Kudu_, "steep," "hilly"), a province of India, administered by
a commissioner, subordinate to the governor-general through the resident
of Mysore, who is officially also chief commissioner of Coorg. It lies
in the south of the peninsula, on the plateau of the Western Ghats,
sloping inland towards Mysore. It is an attractive field of coffee
cultivation, though the greater part is still under forest, but the
prosperity of the industry has declined since 1891. The administrative
headquarters are at Mercara (pop. 6732). Coorg is the smallest province
in India, its area being only 1582 sq. m. Of this amount about 1000 sq.
m. consist of ghat, reserved and other forests. Coorg was constituted a
province not on account of its size, but on account of its isolation. It
lies at the top of the Western Ghats, and is cut off by them from easy
communication with the British districts of South Kanara and Malabar,
which form its western and southern boundaries, while on its other sides
it is surrounded by the native state of Mysore. It is a mountainous
district, presenting throughout a series of wooded hills and deep
valleys; the lowest elevations are 3000 ft. above sea-level. The
loftiest peak, Tadiandamol, has an altitude of 5729 ft.; Pushpagiri,
another peak, is 5626 ft. high. The principal river is the Cauvery,
which rises on the eastern side of the Western Ghats, and with its
tributaries drains the greater part of Coorg. Besides these there are
several large streams that take their rise in Coorg. In the rainy
season, which lasts during the continuance of the southwest monsoon, or
from June to the end of September, the rivers flow with violence and
great rapidity. In July and August the rainfall is excessive, and the
month of November is often showery. The yearly rainfall may exceed 160
in.; in the dense jungle tract it reaches from 120 to 150; in the bamboo
district in the west from 60 to 100 in. The climate, though humid, is on
the whole healthy; it is believed to have been rendered hotter and drier
by the clearing of forest land. Coorg has an average temperature of
about 60° F., the extremes being 52° and 82°. The hottest season is in
April and May. In the direction of Mysore the whole country is thickly
wooded; but to the westward the forests are more open. The flora of the
jungle includes _Michelia_ (Chumpak), _Mesua_ (Ironwood), _Diospyros_
(Ebony and other species), _Cedrela toona_ (White cedar), _Chickrassia
tubularis_ (Red cedar), _Calophyllum angustifolium_ (Poon spar),
_Canarium strictum_ (Black Dammar tree), _Artocarpus_, _Dipterocarpus_,
_Garcinia_, _Euonymus_, _Cinnamomum iners_, _Myristica_, _Vaccinium_,
_Myrtaceae_, _Melastomaceae_, _Rubus_ (three species), and a rose. In
the undergrowth are found cardamom, areca, plantain, canes, wild pepper,
tree and other ferns, and arums. In the forest of the less
thickly-wooded bamboo country in the west of Coorg the trees most common
are the _Dalbergia latifolia_ (Black wood), _Pterocarpus marsupium_
(Kino tree), _Terminalia coriacea_ (Mutti), _Lagerströmia parviflora_
(Benteak), _Conocarpus lalifolius_ (Dindul), _Bassia latifolia_, _Butea
frondosa_, _Nauclea parviflora_, and several acacias, with which, in the
eastern part of the district, teak and sandalwood occur. Among the fauna
may be mentioned the elephant, tiger, tiger-cat, cheetah or hunting
leopard, wild dog, elk, bison, wild boar, several species of deer,
hares, monkeys, the buceros and various other birds, the cobra di
capello, and a few alligators. The most interesting antiquities of Coorg
are the earth redoubts or war-trenches (_kadangas_), which are from 15
to 25 ft. high, and provided with a ditch 10 ft. deep by 8 or 10 ft.
wide. Their linear extent is reckoned at between 500 and 600 m. They
are mentioned in inscriptions of the 9th and 10th centuries. The exports
of Coorg are mainly rice, coffee and cardamoms; and the only important
manufacture is a kind of coarse blanket. Fruits of many descriptions,
especially oranges, are produced in abundance, and are of excellent
quality.
In 1901 the population was 180,607, showing an increase of 4.4% in the
decade. Of the various tribes inhabiting Coorg, the Coorgs proper, or
Kodagas, and the Yeravas, or Eravas, both special to the country, are
the most numerous. The Kodagas (36,091) are a light-coloured race of
unknown origin. They constitute a highland clan, free from the trammels
of caste, and they have the manly bearing and independent spirit natural
in men who have been from time immemorial the lords of the soil. Their
religion consists of ancestor- and demon-worship, with a certain
admixture of Brahman cults. The men are by tradition warriors and
hunters, and while they will plough the fields and reap the rice, they
leave all menial work to the women and servants. They speak Kodagu, a
dialect of Hala Kannada or old Kanarese, midway between that and
Malay[=a]lam. It has been asserted that the institution of polyandry was
prevalent among them, according to which the brothers of a family had
their wives in common. But if this institution ever existed it no longer
does so. The Yeravas (14,586) are a race of an altogether inferior type,
dark-skinned and thick-lipped, resembling the Australian aborigines who
possibly, according to one theory, may have sprung from the same
Dravidian stock (see AUSTRALIA: ABORIGINES). Though now nominally free,
they were, before the establishment of British rule, the hereditary
praedial slaves of the Kodagas. Some of them live a primitive life in
the jungle, but the majority earn a livelihood as coolies. They are
demon-worshippers, their favourite deity being Karingali (black Kali).
Their language, a dialect of Malay[=a]lam, is peculiar to them. Among
the other tribes or castes special to Coorg are the Heggades (1503 in
1901), cultivators from Malabar; the Ayiri (898), who constitute the
artisan caste; the Medas (584), who are basket-and mat-makers, and act
as drummers at feasts; the Binepatta (98), originally wandering
musicians from Malabar, now agriculturists; the Kavadi (49), cultivators
from Yeden[=a]lkn[=a]d; all these speak the Coorg language, wear the
Coorg dress, and conform, more or less, to Coorg customs. Other tribes
are not special to Coorg. Of these the Holeyas (27,000) are the most
numerous. They are divided into four sections: Badagas from Mysore,
Kembattis and M[=a]ringis from Malabar, Kukkas from S. Kanara. They were
formerly the slaves of the Kodagas and now act as their menials. The
Lingayats (8700) are rather a religious sect than a tribe. Of the Tulu
(farmer) class the Gaudas (11,900), who live principally along the
western boundary, are the most important; they speak Tulu and wear the
Coorg dress. Other castes and tribes are the Tiyas (1500) and Nayars
(1400), immigrants from Malay[=a]lam; the Vellala (1300), who are
Tamils; the Mahrattas (2400) and Brahmans (1100). Of the Mussulmans the
most numerous are the Moplahs (6700) and the Shaikhs (4400), both
chiefly traders. Of native Christians there are upwards of 3000. The
official language of Coorg, which is that spoken by 45% of the
population, is Kanarese (Kannada), the Coorg language (Kodagu) coming
next. The Coorg dress is very picturesque, its characteristics being a
long coat (Kupasa), of dark-coloured cloth, reaching below the knees,
folded across and confined at the waist by a red or blue girdle. The
sleeves are cut off below the elbow, showing the arms of a white shirt.
The head-dress is a red kerchief, or a peculiar large, flat turban,
covering the back of the neck. The Coorg also carries a short knife,
with an ivory or silver hilt, fastened with silver chains and stuck into
the girdle. A large, broad-bladed waist knife, akin to the _kukri_ of
the Gurkhas, worn at the back, point upwards, was formerly a formidable
weapon in hand-to-hand fighting, but is now used only for exhibitions of
strength and skill on festive occasions.
The chief crops are rice and coffee. Some abandoned coffee land has been
planted with tea as an experiment. The cultivation of cinchona has
proved unprofitable. There is no railway. There are no colleges, but
twenty-four scholarships are given to maintain Coorg students at
colleges in Madras and Mysore. There are secondary schools at Mercara
and Virarajendrapet.
The early accounts of Coorg are purely legendary, and it was not till
the 9th and 10th centuries that its history became the subject of
authentic record. At this period, according to inscriptions, the country
was ruled by the Gangas of Talak[=a]d, under whom the Changalvas, kings
of Changa-n[=a]d, styled later kings of Nanjarayapatna or
Nanjarajapatna, held the east and part of the north of Coorg, together
with the Hunsur _tal[=u]k_ in Mysore. After the overthrow, in the 11th
century, of the Ganga power by the Cholas, the Changalvas became
tributary to the latter. When the Cholas in their turn were driven from
the Mysore country by the Hoysalas, in the 12th century, the Changalvas
held out for independence; but after a severe struggle they were subdued
and became vassals of the Hoysala kings. In the 14th century, after the
fall of the Hoysala rule, they passed under the supremacy of the
Vijayanagar empire. During this period, at the beginning of the 16th
century, Nanja Raja founded the new Changalva capital Nanjarajapatna. In
1589 Piriya Raja or Rudragana rebuilt Singapatna and renamed it
Piriyapatna (Periapatam). The power of the Vijayanagar empire had,
however, been broken in 1565 by the Mahommedans; in 1610 the Vijayanagar
viceroy of Seringapatam was ousted by the raja of Mysore, who in 1644
captured Piriyapatna. Vira Raja, the last of the Changalva kings, fell
in the defence of his capital, after putting to death his wives and
children.
Coorg, however, was not absorbed in Mysore, which was hard pressed by
other enemies, and a prince of the Ikkeri or Bednur family (perhaps
related to the Changalvas) succeeded in bringing the whole country under
his sway, his descendants continuing to be rajas of Coorg till 1834. The
capital was removed in 1681 by Muddu Raja to Madikeri or Mercara. In
1770 a disputed succession led to the intervention of Hyder Ali of
Mysore in favour of Linga Raja, who had fled to him for help, and whom
he placed on the throne on his consenting to cede certain territories
and to pay tribute. On Linga Raja's death in 1780 Hyder Ali interned his
sons, who were minors, in a fort in Mysore, and, under pretence of
acting as their guardian, installed a Brahman governor at Mercara with a
Mussulman garrison. In 1782, however, the Coorgs rose in rebellion and
drove out the Mahommedans. Two years later Tippoo Sultan reduced the
country; but the Coorgs having again rebelled in 1785 he vowed their
destruction. Having secured some 70,000 of them by treachery, he drove
them to Seringapatam, where he had them circumcised by force. Coorg was
partitioned among Mussulman proprietors, and held down by garrisons in
four forts. In 1788, however, Vira Raja (or Vira Rajendra Wodeyar), with
his wife and his brothers Linga Raja and Appaji, succeeded in escaping
from his captivity, at Periapatam and, placing himself at the head of a
Coorg rebellion, succeeded in driving the forces of Tippoo out of the
country. The British, who were about to enter on the struggle with
Tippoo, now made a treaty with Vira Raja; and during the war that
followed the Coorgs proved invaluable allies. By the treaty of peace
Coorg, though not adjacent to the East India Company's territories, was
included in the cessions forced upon Tippoo. On the spot where he had
first met the British commander, General Abercromby, the raja founded
the city of Virarajendrapet.
Vira Raja, who, in consequence of his mind becoming unhinged, was guilty
towards the end of his reign of hideous atrocities, died in 1809 without
male heirs, leaving his favourite daughter Devamm[=a]ji as rani. His
brother Linga Raja, however, after acting as regent for his niece,
announced in 1811 his own assumption of the government. He died in 1820,
and was succeeded by his son Vira Raja, a youth of twenty, and a monster
of sensuality and cruelty. Among his victims were all the members of the
families of his predecessors, including Devamm[=a]ji. At last, in 1832,
evidence of treasonable designs on the raja's part led to inquiries on
the spot by the British resident at Mysore, as the result of which, and
of the raja's refusal to amend his ways, a British force marched into
Coorg in 1834. On the 11th of April the raja was deposed by Colonel
Fraser, the political agent with the force, and on the 7th of May the
state was formally annexed to the East India Company's territory. In
1852 the raja, who had been deported to Vellore, obtained leave to visit
England with his favourite daughter Gauramma, to whom he wished to give
a European education. On the 30th of June she was baptized, Queen
Victoria being one of her sponsors; she afterwards married a British
officer who, after her death in 1864, mysteriously disappeared together
with their child. Vira Raja himself died in 1863, and was buried in
Kensal Green cemetery.
The so-called Coorg rebellion of 1837 was really a rising of the Gaudas,
due to the grievance felt in having to pay taxes in money instead of in
kind. A man named Virappa, who pretended to have escaped from the
massacre of 1820, tried to take advantage of this to assert his claim to
be raja, but the Coorgs remained loyal to the British and the attempt
failed. In 1861, after the Mutiny, the loyalty of the Coorgs was
rewarded by their being exempted from the Disarmament Act.
See "The Coorgs and Yeravas," by T. H. Holland in the _Journal of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal_, vol. lxx. part iii. No. 2 (1901); Rev. G.
Richter, _Castes and Tribes found in the Province of Coorg_
(Bangalore, 1887); _Imperial Gazetteer of India_ (Oxford, 1908), vol.
xi. s.v., where, besides an admirable account of the country and its
inhabitants, the history of Coorg is dealt with in some detail.
COORNHERT, DIRCK VOLCKERTSZOON (1522-1590), Dutch politician and
theologian, youngest son of Volckert Coornhert, cloth merchant, was born
at Amsterdam in 1522. As a child he spent some years in Spain and
Portugal. Returning home, he was disinherited by his father's will, for
his marriage with Cornelia (Neeltje) Simons, a portionless gentlewoman.
He took for a time the post of major-domo to Reginald (Reinoud), count
of Brederode. Soon he settled in Haarlem, as engraver on copper, and
produced works which retain high values. Learning Latin, he published
Dutch translations from Cicero, Seneca and Boetius. He was appointed
secretary to the city (1562) and secretary to the burgomasters (1564).
Throwing himself into the struggle with Spanish rule, he drew up the
manifesto of William of Orange (1566). Imprisoned at the Hague (1568),
he escaped to Cleves, where he maintained himself by his art. Recalled
in 1572, he was secretary of state for a short time; his aversion to
military violence led him to return to Cleves, where William continued
to employ his services and his pen. As a religious man, he wrote and
strove in favour of tolerance, being decidedly against capital
punishment for heretics. He had no party views; the Heidelberg
catechism, authoritative in Holland, he criticized. The great Arminius,
employed to refute him, was won over by his arguments. He died at Gouda
on the 29th of October 1590. His Dutch version of the New Testament,
following the Latin of Erasmus, was never completed. His works, in prose
and verse, were published in 1630, 3 vols.
See F. D. J. Moorrees, _Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert_ (1887); N.
Delvenne, _Biog. des Pays-Bas_ (1829); A. J. van der Aa, _Biog.
Woordenboek der Nederlanden_ (1855). (A. Go.*)
COOT, a well-known water-fowl, the _Fulica atra_ of Linnaeus, belonging
to the family _Rallidae_ or rails. The word coot, in some parts of
England pronounced cute, or scute, is of uncertain origin, but perhaps
cognate with scout and scoter--both names of aquatic birds--a
possibility which seems to be more likely since the name "macreuse," by
which the coot is known in the south of France, being in the north of
that country applied to the scoter (_Oedemia nigra_) shows that, though
belonging to very different families, there is in popular estimation
some connexion between the two birds.[1] The Latin _Fulica_ (in polite
French, _Foulque_) is probably allied to _fuligo_, and has reference to
the bird's dark colour.[2] The coot breeds abundantly in many of the
larger inland waters of the northern parts of the Old World, in winter
commonly resorting, and often in great numbers, to the mouth of rivers
or shallow bays of the sea, where it becomes a general object of pursuit
by gunners whether for sport or gain. At other times of the year it is
comparatively unmolested, and being very prolific its abundance is
easily understood. The nest is a large mass of flags, reeds or sedge,
piled together among rushes in the water or on the margin, and not
unfrequently contains as many as ten eggs. The young, when first
hatched, are beautiful little creatures, clothed in jet-black down, with
their heads of a bright orange-scarlet, varied with purplish-blue. This
brilliant colouring is soon lost, and they begin to assume the almost
uniform sooty-black plumage which is worn for the rest of their life;
but a characteristic of the adult is a bare patch or callosity on the
forehead, which being nearly white gives rise to the epithet "bald"
often prefixed to the bird's name. The coot is about 18 in. in length,
and will sometimes weigh over 2 lb. Though its wings appear to be short
in proportion to its size, and it seems to rise with difficulty from the
water, it is capable of long-sustained and rather rapid flight, which is
performed with the legs stretched out behind the stumpy tail. It swims
buoyantly, and looks a much larger bird in the water than it really is.
It dives with ease, and when wounded is said frequently to clutch the
weeds at the bottom with a grasp so firm as not even to be loosened by
death. It does not often come on dry land, but when there, marches
leisurely and not without a certain degree of grace. The feet of the
coot are very remarkable, the toes being fringed by a lobed membrane,
which must be of considerable assistance in swimming as well as in
walking over the ooze--acting as they do like mud-boards.
In England the sport of coot-shooting is pursued to some extent on the
broads and back-waters of the eastern counties--in Southampton Water and
Christchurch Bay--and is often conducted battue-fashion by a number of
guns. But even in these cases the numbers killed in a day seldom reach
more than a few hundreds, and come very short of those that fall in the
officially-organized _chasses_ of the lakes near the coast of Languedoc
and Provence, of which an excellent description is given by the Vicomte
Louis de Dax (_Nouveaux Souvenirs de chasse_, &c., pp. 53-65; Paris,
1860). The flesh of the coot is very variously regarded as food. To
prepare the bird for the table, the feathers should be stripped, and the
down, which is very close, thick and hard to pluck, be rubbed with
powdered resin; the body is then to be dipped in boiling water, which
dissolving the resin causes it to mix with the down, and then both can
be removed together with tolerable ease. After this the bird should be
left to soak for the night in cold spring-water, which will make it look
as white and delicate as a chicken. Without this process the skin after
roasting is found to be very oily, with a fishy flavour, and if the skin
be taken off the flesh becomes dry and good for nothing (Hawker's
_Instructions to Young Sportsmen_; Hele's _Notes about Aldeburgh_).
The coot is found throughout the Palaearctic region from Iceland to
Japan, and in most other parts of the world is represented by nearly
allied species, having almost the same habits. An African species (_F.
cristata_), easily distinguished by two red knobs on its forehead, is of
rare appearance in the south of Europe. The Australian and North
American species (_F. australis_ and _F. americana_) have very great
resemblance to the English bird; but in South America half-a-dozen or
more additional species are found which range to Patagonia, and vary
much in size, one (_F. gigantea_) being of considerable magnitude. The
remains of a very large species (_F. newtoni_) were discovered in
Mauritius, where it must have been a contemporary of the dodo, but like
that bird is now extinct. (A. N.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] It is owing to this interchange of their names that Yarrell in his
_British Birds_ refers Victor Hugo's description of the "chasse aux
macreuses" to the scoter instead of the coot.
[2] Hence also we have _Fulix_ or _Fuligula_ applied to a duck of
dingy appearance, and thus forming another parallel case.
COOTE, SIR EYRE (1726-1783), British soldier, the son of a clergyman,
was born near Limerick, and entered the 27th regiment. He saw active
service in the Jacobite rising of 1745, and some years later obtained a
captaincy in the 39th regiment, which was the first British regiment
sent to India. In 1756 a part of the regiment, then quartered at Madras,
was sent forward to join Clive in his operations against Calcutta, which
was reoccupied without difficulty, and Coote was soon given the local
rank of major for his good conduct in the surprise of the Nawab's camp.
Soon afterwards came the battle of Plassey, which would in all
probability not have taken place but for Coote's soldierly advice at
the council of war; and after the defeat of the Nawab he led a
detachment in pursuit of the French for 400 m. under extraordinary
difficulties. His conduct won him the rank of lieutenant-colonel and the
command of the 84th regiment, newly-raised for Indian service, but his
exertions seriously injured his health. In October 1759 Coote's regiment
arrived to take part in the decisive struggle between French and English
in the Carnatic. He took command of the forces at Madras, and in 1760
led them in the decisive victory of Wandiwash (January 22). After a time
the remnants of Lally's forces were shut up in Pondicherry. For some
reason Coote was not entrusted with the siege operations, but he
cheerfully and loyally supported Monson, who brought the siege to a
successful end on the 15th of January 1761. Soon afterwards Coote was
given the command of the East India Company's forces in Bengal, and
conducted the settlement of a serious dispute between the Nawab Mir
Cassim and a powerful subordinate, and in 1762 he returned to England,
receiving a jewelled sword of honour from the Company and other rewards
for his great services. In 1771 he was made a K.B. In 1779 he returned
to India as lieutenant-general commanding in chief. Following generally
the policy of Warren Hastings, he nevertheless refused to take sides in
the quarrels of the council, and made a firm stand in all matters
affecting the forces. Hyder Ali's progress in southern India called him
again into the field, but his difficulties were very great and it was
not until the 1st of June 1781 that the crushing and decisive defeat of
Porto Novo struck the first heavy blow at Hyder's schemes. The battle
was won by Coote under most unfavourable conditions against odds of five
to one, and is justly ranked as one of the greatest feats of the British
in India. It was followed up by another hard-fought battle at Pollilur
(the scene of an earlier triumph of Hyder over a British force) on the
27th of August, in which the British won another success, and by the
rout of the Mysore troops at Sholingarh a month later. His last service
was the arduous campaign of 1782, which finally shattered a constitution
already gravely impaired by hardship and exertions. Sir Eyre Coote died
at Madras on the 28th of April 1783. A monument was erected to him in
Westminster Abbey.
For a short biography of Coote see _Twelve British Soldiers_ (ed.
Wilkinson, London, 1899), and for the battles of Wandewash and Porto
Novo, consult Malleson, _Decisive Battles of India_ (London, 1883). An
account of Coote may be found in Wilk's _Historical Sketches of
Mysore_ (1810).
COPAIBA, or COPAIVA (from Brazilian _cupauba_), an oleo-resin--sometimes
termed a balsam--obtained from the trunk of the _Copaifera Lansdorfii_
(natural order Leguminosae) and from other species of _Copaifera_ found
in the West Indies and in the valley of the Amazon. It is a somewhat
viscous transparent liquid, occasionally fluorescent and of a light
yellow to pale golden colour. The odour is aromatic and very
characteristic, the taste acrid and bitter. It is insoluble in water,
but soluble in absolute alcohol, ether and the fixed and volatile oils.
Its approximate composition is more than 50% of a volatile oil and less
than 50% of a resin. The pharmacopoeias contain the oleo-resin itself,
which is given in doses of from a half to one drachm, and the _oleum
copaibae_, which is given in doses of from five to twenty minims, but
which is inferior, as a medicinal agent, to the oleo-resin. Copaiba
shares the pharmacological characters of volatile oils generally. Its
distinctive features are its disagreeable taste and the unpleasant
eructations to which it may give rise, its irritant action on the
intestine in any but small doses, its irritant action on the skin, often
giving rise to an erythematous eruption which may be mistaken for that
of scarlet fever, and its exceptionally marked stimulant action on the
kidneys. In large doses this last action may lead to renal inflammation.
The resin is excreted in the urine and is continually mistaken for
albumin since it is precipitated by nitric acid, but the precipitate is
re-dissolved, unlike albumin, on heating. Its nasty taste, its irritant
action on the bowel, and its characteristic odour in the breath,
prohibit its use--despite its other advantages--in all diseases but
gonorrhoea. For this disease it is a valuable remedy, but it must not
be administered until the acute symptoms have subsided, else it will
often increase them. It is best given in cachets or in three times its
own bulk of mucilage of acacia. Various devices are adopted to disguise
its odour in the breath. The clinical evidence clearly shows that none
of the numerous vegetable rivals to copaiba is equal to it in
therapeutic value.
COPAL (Mexican _copalli_, incense), a hard lustrous resin, varying in
hue from an almost colourless transparent mass to a bright
yellowish-brown, having a conchoidal fracture, and, when dissolved in
alcohol, spirit of turpentine, or any other suitable menstruum, forming
one of the most valuable varnishes. Copal is obtained from a variety of
sources; the term is not uniformly applied or restricted to the products
of any particular region or series of plants, but is vaguely used for
resins which, though very similar in their physical properties, differ
somewhat in their constitution, and are altogether distinct as to their
source. Thus the resin obtained from _Trachylobium Hornemannianum_ is
known in commerce as Zanzibar copal, or gum animé. Madagascar copal is
the produce of _T. verrucosum_. From _Guibourtia copallifera_ is
obtained Sierra Leone copal, and another variety of the same resin is
found in a fossil state on the west coast of Africa, probably the
produce of a tree now extinct. From Brazil and other South American
countries, again, copal is obtained which is yielded by _Trachylobium
Martianum_, _Hymenaea Courbaril_, and various other species, while the
dammar resins and the piney varnish of India are occasionally classed
and spoken of as copal. Of the varieties above enumerated by far the
most important from a commercial point of view is the Zanzibar or East
African copal, yielded by _Trachylobium Hornemannianum_. The resin is
found in two distinct conditions: (1) raw or recent, called by the
inhabitants of the coast sandarusiza miti or chakazi, the latter name
being corrupted by Zanzibar traders into "jackass" copal; and (2) ripe
or true copal, the sandarusi inti of the natives. The raw copal, which
is obtained direct from the trees, or found at their roots or near the
surface of the ground, is not regarded by the natives as of much value,
and does not enter into European commerce. It is sent to India and
China, where it is manufactured into a coarse kind of varnish. The true
or fossil copal is found embedded in the earth over a wide belt of the
mainland coast of Zanzibar, on tracts where not a single tree is now
visible. The copal is not found at a greater depth in the ground than 4
ft., and it is seldom the diggers go deeper than about 3 ft. It occurs
in pieces varying from the size of small pebbles up to masses of several
ounces in weight, and occasionally lumps weighing 4 or 5 lb have been
obtained. After being freed from foreign matter, the resin is submitted
to various chemical operations for the purpose of clearing the
"goose-skin," the name given to the peculiar pitted-like surface
possessed by fossil copal. The goose-skin was formerly supposed to be
caused by the impression of the small stones and sand of the soil into
which the soft resin fell in its raw condition; but it appears that the
copal when first dug up presents no trace of the goose-skin, the
subsequent appearance of which is due to oxidation or inter-molecular
change.
COPALITE, or COPALINE, also termed "fossil resin" and "Highgate resin,"
a naturally occurring organic substance found as irregular pieces of
pale-yellow colour in the London clay at Highgate Hill. It has a
resinous aromatic odour when freshly broken, volatilizes at a moderate
temperature, and burns readily with a yellow, smoky flame, leaving
scarcely any ash.
COPÁN, an ancient ruined city of western Honduras, near the Guatemalan
frontier, and on the right bank of the Río Copán, a tributary of the
Motagua. For an account of its elaborately sculptured stone buildings,
which rank among the most celebrated monuments of Mayan civilization,
see CENTRAL AMERICA: ARCHAEOLOGY. The city is sometimes regarded as
identical with the Indian stronghold which, after a heroic resistance,
was stormed by the Spaniards, under Hernando de Chaves, in 1530. It has
given its name to the department in which it is situated.
COPARCENARY (_co-_, with, and _parcener_, i.e. sharer; from O. Fr.
_parçonier_, Lat. _partitio_, division), in law, the descent of lands
of inheritance from an ancestor to two or more persons possessing an
equal title to them. It arises either by common law, as where an
ancestor dies intestate, leaving two or more females as his
co-heiresses, who then take as coparceners or parceners; or, by
particular custom, as in the case of gavelkind lands, which descend to
all males in equal degrees, or in default of males, to all the daughters
equally. These co-heirs, or parceners, have been so called, says
Littleton (§ 241), "because by writ the law will constrain them, that
partition shall be made among them." Coparcenary so far resembles joint
tenancy in that there is unity of title, interest and possession, but
whereas joint tenants always claim by purchase, parceners claim by
descent, and although there is unity of interest there is no entirety,
for there is no _jus accrescendi_ or survivorship. Coparcenary may be
dissolved (a) by partition; (b) by alienation by one coparcener; (c) by
all the estate at last descending to one coparcener, who thenceforth
holds in severalty; (d) by a compulsory partition or sale under the
Partition Acts.
The term "coparcenary" is not in use in the United States, joint
heirship being considered as _tenancy in common_.
COPE, EDWARD DRINKER (1840-1897), American palaeontologist, descended
from a Wiltshire family who emigrated about 1687, was born in
Philadelphia on the 28th of July 1840. At an early age he became
interested in natural history, and in 1859 communicated a paper on the
Salamandridae to the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia. He was
educated partly in the University of Pennsylvania, and after further
study and travel in Europe was in 1865 appointed curator to the Academy
of Natural Sciences, a post which he held till 1873. In 1864-67 he was
professor of natural science in Haverford College, and in 1889 he was
appointed professor of geology and palaeontology in the University of
Pennsylvania. To the study of the American fossil vertebrata he gave his
special attention. From 1871 to 1877 he carried on explorations in the
Cretaceous strata of Kansas, the Tertiary of Wyoming and Colorado; and
in course of time he made known at least 600 species and many genera of
extinct vertebrata new to science. Among these were some of the oldest
known mammalia, obtained in New Mexico. He served on the U.S. Geological
Survey in 1874 in New Mexico, in 1875 in Montana, and in 1877 in Oregon
and Texas. He was also one of the editors of the _American Naturalist_.
He died in Philadelphia on the 12th of April 1897.
PUBLICATIONS.--Reports for U.S. Geological Survey on _Eocene
Vertebrata of Wyoming_ (1872); on _Vertebrata of Cretaceous Formations
of the West_ (1875); _Vertebrata of the Tertiary Formations of the
West_ (1884); _The Origin of the Fittest: Essays on Evolution_ (New
York, 1887); _The Primary Factors of Organic Evolution_ (Chicago,
1896). Memoir by Miss Helen D. King, _American Geologist_, Jan. 1899
(with portrait and bibliography); also memoir by P. Frazer, _American
Geologist_, Aug. 1900 (with portrait).
COPE, EDWARD MEREDITH (1818-1873), English classical scholar, was born
in Birmingham on the 28th of July 1818. He was educated at Ludlow and
Shrewsbury schools and Trinity College, Cambridge, of which society he
was elected fellow in 1842, having taken his degree in 1841 as senior
classic. He was for many years lecturer at Trinity, his favourite
subjects being the Greek tragedians, Plato and Aristotle. When the
professorship of Greek became vacant, the votes were equally divided
between Cope and B. H. Kennedy, and the latter was appointed by the
chancellor. It is said that the keenness of Cope's disappointment was
partly responsible for the mental affliction by which he was attacked in
1869, and from which he never recovered. He died on the 5th of August
1873. As his published works show, Cope was a thoroughly sound scholar,
with perhaps a tendency to over-minuteness. He was the author of _An
Introduction to Aristotle's Rhetoric_ (1867), a standard work; _The
Rhetoric of Aristotle_, with a commentary, revised and edited by J. E.
Sandys (1877); translations of Plato's _Gorgias_ (2nd ed ., 1884) and
_Phaedo_ (revised by H. Jackson, 1875). Mention may also be made of his
criticism of Grote's account of the Sophists, in the _Cambridge Journal
of Classical Philology_, vols. i., ii., iii. (1854-1857).
The chief authority for the facts of Cope's life is the memoir
prefixed to vol. i. of his edition of _The Rhetoric of Aristotle_.
COPE (M.E. _cape_, _cope_, from Med. Lat. _capa_, _cappa_), a liturgical
vestment of the Western Church. The word "cope," now confined to this
sense, was in its origin identical with "cape" and "cap," and was used
until comparatively modern times also for an out-door cloak, whether
worn by clergy or laity. This, indeed, was its original meaning, the
_cappa_ having been an outer garment common to men and women whether
clerical or lay (see Du Cange, _Glossarium_, s.v.). The word _pluviale_
(rain-cloak), which the cope bears in the Roman Church, is exactly
parallel so far as change of meaning is concerned. In both words the
etymology reveals the origin of the vestment, which is no more than a
glorified survival of an article of clothing worn by all and sundry in
ordinary life, the type of which survives, e.g. in the ample hooded
cloak of Italian military officers. This origin is clearly traceable in
the shape and details of the cope. When spread out this forms an almost
complete semicircle. Along the straight edge there is usually a broad
band, and at the neck is attached the "hood" (in Latin, the _clypeus_ or
shield), i.e. a shield-shaped piece of stuff which hangs down over the
back. The vestment is secured in front by a broad tab sewn on to one
side and fastening to the other with hooks, sometimes also by a brooch
(called the morse, Lat. _morsus_). Sometimes the morse is attached as a
mere ornament to the cross-piece. The cope thus preserves the essential
shape of its secular original, and even the hood, though now a mere
ornamental appendage, is a survival of an actual hood. The evolution of
this latter into its present form was gradual; first the hood became too
small for use, then it was transformed into a small triangular piece of
stuff (13th century), which in its turn grew (14th and 15th centuries)
into the shape of a shield (see Plate II., fig. 4), and this again,
losing its pointed tip in the 17th century, expanded in the 18th into a
flap which was sometimes enlarged so as to cover the whole back down to
the waist. In its general effect, however, a cope now no longer suggests
a "waterproof." It is sometimes elaborately embroidered all over; more
usually it is of some rich material, with the borders in front and the
hood embroidered, while the morse has given occasion for some of the
most beautiful examples of the goldsmith's and jeweller's craft (see
Plate II., figs, 5, 6).
The use of the cope as a liturgical vestment can be traced to the end of
the 8th century: a _pluviale_ is mentioned in the foundation charter of
the monastery of Obona in Spain. Before this the so-called _cappa
choralis_, a black, bell-shaped, hooded vestment with no liturgical
significance, had been worn by the secular and regular clergy at choir
services, processions, &c. This was in its origin identical with the
chasuble (q.v.), and if, as Father Braun seems to prove, the cope
developed out of this, cope and chasuble have a common source.[1] Father
Braun cites numerous inventories and the like to show that the cope
(_pluviale_) was originally no more than a more elaborate _cappa_ worn
on high festivals or other ceremonial occasions, sometimes by the whole
religious community, sometimes--if the stock were limited--by those,
e.g. the cantors, &c., who were most conspicuous in the ceremony. In the
10th century, partly under the influence of the wealthy and
splendour-loving community of Cluny, the use of the cope became very
widespread; in the 11th century it was universally worn, though the
rules for its ritual use had not yet been fixed. It was at this time,
however, _par excellence_ the vestment proper to the cantors,
choirmaster and singers, whose duty it was to sing the _invitatorium_,
_responses_, &c., at office, and the _introitus_, _graduale_, &c., at
Mass. This use survived in the ritual of the pre-Reformation Church in
England, and has been introduced in certain Anglican churches, e.g. St
Mary Magdalen's, Munster Square, in London.
By the beginning of the 13th century the liturgical use of the cope had
become finally fixed, and the rules for this use included by Pope Pius
V. in the Roman Missal and by Clement VIII. in the _Pontificale_ and
_Caeremoniale_ were consequently not new, but in accordance with ancient
and universal custom. The substitution of the cope for the chasuble in
many of the functions for which the latter had been formerly used was
primarily due to the comparative convenience of a vestment opened at the
front, and so leaving the arms free. A natural conservatism preserved
the chasuble, which by the 9th century had acquired a symbolical
significance, as the vestment proper to the celebration of Mass; but the
cope took its place in lesser functions, i.e. the censing of the altar
during the Magnificat and at Mattins (whence the German name
_Rauchmantel_, smoke-mantel), processions, solemn consecrations, and as
the dress of bishops attending synods.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Seventeenth Century Coronation Cope at
Westminster Abbey.]
It is clear from this that the cope, though a liturgical, was never a
sacerdotal vestment. If it was worn by priests, it could also be worn by
laymen, and it was never worn by priests in their sacerdotal, i.e. their
sacrificial, capacity. For this reason it was not rejected with the
"Mass vestments" by the English Church at the Reformation, in spite of
the fact that it was in no ecclesiastical sense "primitive." By the
First Prayer-book of Edward VI., which represented a compromise, it was
directed to be worn as an alternative to the "vestment" (i.e. chasuble)
at the celebration of the Communion; this at least seems the plain
meaning of the words "vestment or cope," though they have been otherwise
interpreted. In the Second Prayer-book vestment and cope alike
disappear; but a cope was worn by the prelate who consecrated Archbishop
Parker, and by the "gentlemen" as well as the priests of Queen
Elizabeth's chapel; and, finally, by the 24th canon (of 1603) a "decent
cope" was prescribed for the "principal minister" at the celebration of
Holy Communion in cathedral churches as well as for the "gospeller and
epistler." Except at royal coronations, however, the use of the cope,
even in cathedrals, had practically ceased in England before the ritual
revival of the 19th century restored its popularity. The disuse implied
no doctrinal change; the main motive was that the stiff vestment, high
in the neck, was incompatible with a full-bottomed wig. Scarlet copes
with white fur hoods have been in continuous use on ceremonial occasions
in the universities, and are worn by bishops at the opening of
parliament.
The Papal mantum.
With the liturgical cope may be classed the red mantle (_mantum_), which
from the 11th century to the close of the middle ages formed, with the
tiara, the special symbol of the papal dignity. The _immantatio_ was the
solemn investiture of the new pope immediately after his election, by
means of the _cappa rubea_, with the papal powers. This ceremony was of
great importance. In the contested election of 1159, for instance,
though a majority of the cardinals had elected Cardinal Roland
(Alexander III.), the defeated candidate Cardinal Octavian (Victor IV.),
while his rival was modestly hesitating to accept the honour, seized the
_pluviale_ and put it on his own shoulders hastily, upside down; and it
was on this ground that the council of Pavia in 1160 based their
declaration in favour of Victor, and anathematized Alexander. The
_immantatio_ fell out of use during the papal exile at Avignon and was
never restored.
The cappa magna.
It will be convenient here to note other vestments that have developed
out of the _cappa_. The _cappa choralis_ has already been mentioned; it
survived as a choir vestment that in winter took the place of the
surplice, rochet or almuce. In the 12th century it was provided with
arms (_cappa manicata_), but the use of this form was forbidden at choir
services and other liturgical functions. From the hood of the _cappa_
was developed the almuce (q.v.). At what date the _cappa choralis_
developed into the _cappa magna_, a non-liturgical vestment peculiar to
the pope, cardinals, bishops and certain privileged prelates, is not
known; but mention of it is found as early as the 15th century. This
vestment is a loose robe, with a large hood (lined with fur in winter
and red silk in summer) and a long train, which is carried by a cleric
called the _caudatarius_. Its colour varies with the hierarchical rank
of the wearer:--red for cardinals, purple for bishops, &c.; or, if the
dignitary belong to a religious order, it follows the colour of the
habit of the order. The right to wear a violet _cappa magna_ is conceded
by the popes to the chapters of certain important cathedrals, but the
train in this case is worn folded over the left arm or tied under it. It
may only be worn by them, moreover, in their own church, or when the
chapter appears elsewhere in its corporate capacity.
The mozzetta.
Lastly, from the _cappa_ is probably derived the _mozzetta_, a short
cape with a miniature hood, fastened down the front with buttons. The
name is derived from the Italian _mozzare_, to cut off, and points to
its being an abbreviated _cappa_, as the episcopal "apron" is a
shortened cassock. It is worn over the rochet by the pope, cardinals,
bishops and prelates, the colours varying as in the case of the _cappa
magna_. Its use as confined to bishops can be traced to the 16th
century.
See Joseph Braun, S. J., _Die liturgische Gewandung_ (Freiburg im
Breisgau, 1907); also the bibliography to the article VESTMENTS.
(W. A. P.)
Plate I
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--THE SYON COPE. (ENGLISH, 13TH CENTURY.)
The medallions with which it is embroidered contain representations of
Christ on the Cross, Christ and St Mary Magdalene, Christ and Thomas,
the death of the Virgin, the burial and coronation of the Virgin, St
Michael and the twelve Apostles. Of the latter, four survive only in
tiny fragments. The spaces between the four rows of medallions are
filled with six-winged cherubim. The ground-work of the vestment is
green silk embroidery, that of the medallions red. The figures are
worked in silver and gold thread and coloured silks. The lower border
and the orphrey with coats of arms do not belong to the original cope
and are of somewhat later date. The cope belonged to the convent of Syon
near Isleworth, was taken to Portugal at the Reformation, brought back
early in the 19th century to England by exiled nuns and given by them to
the Earl of Shrewsbury. In 1864 it was bought by the South Kensington
Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--COPE OF BLUE SILK VELVET, WITH APPLIQUÉ WORK AND
EMBROIDERY.
In the middle of the orphrey is a figure of Our Lord holding the orb in
His left hand and with His right hand raised in benediction. To the
right are figures of St Peter, St Bartholomew and St Ursula; and to the
left, St Paul, St John the Evangelist and St Andrew. On the hood is a
seated figure of the Virgin Mary holding the Infant Saviour. GERMAN:
early 16th century. (In the Victoria and Albert Museum, No. 91. 1904.)]
Plate II
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--COPE OF EMBROIDERED PURPLE SILK VELVET.
In the middle is represented the Assumption of the Virgin, on the hood
is a seated figure of the Almighty bearing three souls in a napkin.
ENGLISH, about 1500. (In the Victoria and Albert Museum.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--COPE MORSE (GERMAN, 14TH CENTURY) IN THE
CATHEDRAL AT AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.
(_From a photograph by Father Joseph Braun, S. J._)]
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--COPE MORSE (GERMAN, EARLY 14TH CENTURY), IN THE
PARISH CHURCH AT ELTEN.
(_From a photograph by Father Joseph Braun, S. J._)]
FOOTNOTE:
[1] This derivation, suggested also by Dr Legg (_Archaeol. Journal_,
51, p. 39, 1894), is rejected by the five bishops in their report to
Convocation (1908). Their statement, however, that it is "pretty
clear" that the cope is derived from the Roman _lacerna_ or _birrus_
is very much open to criticism. We do not even know what the
appearance and form of the _birrus_ were; and the question of the
origin of the cope is not whether it was derived from any garment of
the time of the Roman Empire, and if so from which, but what garment
in use in the 8th and 9th centuries it represents.
COPELAND, HENRY, an 18th century English cabinet-maker and furniture
designer. He appears to have been the first manufacturing cabinet-maker
who published designs for furniture. _A New Book of Ornaments_ appeared
in 1746, but it is not clear whether the engravings with this title
formed part of a book, or were issued only in separate plates; a few of
the latter are all that are known to exist. Between 1752 and 1769
several collections of designs were produced by Copeland in conjunction
with Matthias Lock; in one of them Copeland is described as of
Cheapside. Some of the original drawings are in the National Art library
at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Copeland was probably the originator
of a peculiar type of chairback, popular for a few years in the middle
of the 18th century, consisting of a series of interlaced circles. Much
of his work has been attributed to Thomas Chippendale, and it is certain
that one derived many ideas from the other, but which was the originator
and which the copyist is by no means clear. The dates of Copeland's
birth and death are unknown, but he was still living in 1768.
COPENHAGEN (Danish _Kjöbenhavn_), the capital of the kingdom of Denmark,
on the east coast of the island of Zealand (_Sjaelland_) at the southern
end of the Sound. Pop. (1901) 400,575. The latitude is approximately
that of Moscow, Berwick-on-Tweed and Hopedale in Labrador. The nucleus
of the city is built on low-lying ground on the east coast of the island
of Zealand, between the sea and a series of small freshwater lakes,
known respectively as St Jörgens Sö, Peblings Sö and Sortedams Sö, a
southern portion occupying the northern part of the island of Amager. An
excellent harbour is furnished by the natural channel between the two
islands; and communication from one division to the other is afforded by
two bridges--the Langebro and the Knippelsbro, which replaced the wooden
drawbridge built by Christian IV. in 1620. The older city, including
both the Zealand and Amager portions, was formerly surrounded by a
complete line of ramparts and moats; but pleasant boulevards and gardens
now occupy the westward or landward site of fortifications. Outside the
lines of the original city (about 5 m. in circuit), there are extensive
suburbs, especially on the Zealand side (Österbro, Nörrebro and
Vesterbro or Österfölled, &c., and Frederiksberg), and Amagerbro to the
south of Christianshavn.
The area occupied by the inner city is known as Gammelsholm (old
island). The main artery is the Gothersgade, running from Kongens Nytorv
to the western boulevards, and separating a district of regular
thoroughfares and rectangular blocks to the north from one of irregular,
narrow and picturesque streets to the south. The Kongens Nytorv, the
focus of the life of the city and the centre of road communications, is
an irregular open space at the head of a narrow arm of the harbour
(Nyhavn) inland from the steamer quays, with an equestrian statue of
Christian V. (d. 1699) in the centre. The statue is familiarly known as
_Hesten_ (the horse) and is surrounded by noteworthy buildings. The
Palace of Charlottenborg, on the east side, which takes its name from
Charlotte, the wife of Christian V., is a huge sombre building, built in
1672. Frederick V. made a grant of it to the Academy of Arts, which
holds its annual exhibition of paintings and sculpture in April and May,
in the adjacent _Kunstudstilling_ (1883). On the south is the principal
theatre, the Royal, a beautiful modern Renaissance building (1874), on
the site of a former theatre of the same name, which dated from 1748.
Statues of the poets Ludvig Holberg (d. 1754), and Adam Öhlenschläger
(d. 1850), the former by Stein and the latter by H. V. Bissen, stand on
either side of the entrance, and the front is crowned by a group by
King, representing Apollo and Pegasus, and the Fountain of Hippocrene.
Within, among other sculptures, is a relief figure of Ophelia, executed
by Sarah Bernhardt. Other buildings in Kongens Nytorv are the foreign
office, several great commercial houses, the commercial bank, and the
Thotts Palais of c. 1685. The quays of the Nyhavn are lined with old
gabled houses.
From the south end of Kongens Nytorv, a street called Holmens Kanal
winds past the National Bank to the Holmens Kirke, or church for the
royal navy, originally erected as an anchor-smithy by Frederick II., but
consecrated by Christian IV., with a chapel containing the tombs of the
great admirals Niels Juel and Peder Tordenskjöld, and wood-carving of
the 17th century. The street then crosses a bridge on to the Slottsholm,
an island divided from the mainland by a narrow arm of the harbour,
occupied mainly by the Christiansborg and adjacent buildings. The royal
palace of Christiansborg, originally built (1731-1745) by Christian VI.,
destroyed by fire in 1794, and rebuilt, again fell in flames in 1884.
Fortunately most of the art treasures which the palace contained were
saved. A decision was arrived at in 1903, in commemoration of the
jubilee of the reign of Christian IX., to rebuild the palace for use on
occasions of state, and to house the parliament. On the Slottsplads
(Palace Square) which faces east, is an equestrian statue of Frederick
VII. There are also preserved the bronze statues which stood over the
portal of the palace before the fire--figures of Strength, Wisdom,
Health and Justice, designed by Thorvaldsen. The palace chapel, adorned
with works by Thorvaldsen and Bissen, was preserved from the fire, as
was the royal library of about 540,000 volumes and 20,000 manuscripts,
for which a new building in Christiansgade was designed about 1900.
The exchange (_Börsen_), on the quay to the east, is an ornate gabled
building erected in 1619-1640, surmounted by a remarkable spire, formed
of four dragons, with their heads directed to the four points of the
compass, and their bodies entwining each other till their tails come to
a point at the top. To the south is the arsenal (_Töjhus_) with a
collection of ancient armour.
The Thorvaldsen museum (1839-1848), a sombre building in a combination
of the Egyptian and Etruscan styles, consists of two storeys. In the
centre is an open court, containing the artist's tomb. The exterior
walls are decorated with groups of figures of coloured stucco,
illustrative of events connected with Thorvaldsen's life. Over the
principal entrance is the chariot of Victory drawn by four horses,
executed in bronze from a model by Bissen. The front hall, corridors and
apartments are painted in the Pompeian style, with brilliant colours and
with great artistic skill. The museum contains about 300 of
Thorvaldsen's works; and in one apartment is his sitting-room furniture
arranged as it was found at the time of his death in 1844.
On the mainland, immediately west of the Slottsholm, is the Prinsens
Palais, once the residence of Christian V. and Frederick VI. when crown
princes, containing the national museum. This consists of four sections,
the Danish, ethnographical, antique and numismatic. It was founded in
1807 by Professor Nyerup, and extended between 1815 and 1885 by C. J.
Thomsen and J. J. A. Worsaae, and the ethnographical collection is among
the finest in the world. From this point the Raadhusgade leads
north-west to the combined Nytorv-og-Gammeltorv, where is the old
townhall (_Raadhus_, 1815), and continues as the Nörregade to the Vor
Frue Kirke (Church of our Lady), the cathedral church of Copenhagen.
This church, the site of which has been similarly occupied since the
12th century, was almost entirely destroyed in the bombardment of 1807,
but was completely restored in 1811-1829. The works of Thorvaldsen which
it contains constitute its chief attraction. In the pediment is a group
of sixteen figures by Thorvaldsen, representing John the Baptist
preaching in the wilderness; over the entrance within the portico is a
bas-relief of Christ's entry into Jerusalem; on one side of the entrance
is a statue of Moses by Bissen, and on the other a statue of David by
Jerichau. In a niche behind the altar stands a colossal marble statue of
Christ, and marble statues of the twelve apostles adorn both sides of
the church.
Immediately north of Vor Frue Kirke is the university, founded by
Christian I. in 1479; though its existing constitution dates from 1788.
The building dates from 1836. There are five faculties--theological,
juridical, medical, philosophical and mathematical. In 1851 an English
and in 1852 an Anglo-Saxon lectureship were established. All the
professors are bound to give a series of lectures open to the public
free of charge. The university possesses considerable endowments and has
several foundations for the assistance of poor students; the "regent's
charity," for instance, founded by Christian, affords free residence and
a small allowance to one hundred bursars. There are about 2000 students.
In connexion with the university are the observatory, the chemical
laboratory in Ny Vester Gade, the surgical academy in Bredgade, founded
in 1786, and the botanic garden. The university library, incorporated
with the former Classen library, collected by the famous merchants of
that name, contains about 200,000 volumes, besides about 4000
manuscripts, which include Rask's valuable Oriental collection and the
Arne-Magnean series of Scandinavian documents. It shares with the royal
library the right of receiving a copy of every book published in
Denmark. There is also a zoological museum. Adjacent is St Peter's
church, built in a quasi-Gothic style, with a spire 256 ft. high, and
appropriated since 1585 as a parish church for the German residents in
Copenhagen. A short distance along the Krystalgade is Trinity church.
Its round tower is 111 ft. high, and is considered to be unique in
Europe. It was constructed from a plan of Tycho Brahe's favourite
disciple Longomontanus, and was formerly used as an observatory. It is
ascended by a broad inclined spiral way, up which Peter the Great is
said to have driven in a carriage and four. From this church the
Kjöbermayergade runs south, a populous street of shops, giving upon the
Höibro-plads, with its fine equestrian statue of Bishop Absalon, the
city's founder. This square is connected by a bridge with the
Slottsholm.
The quarter north-east of Kongens Nytorv and Gothersgaden is the richest
in the city, including the palaces of Amalienborg, the castle and gardens
of Rosenborg and several mansions of the nobility. The quarter extends to
the strong moated citadel, which guards the harbour on the north-east. It
is a regular polygon with five bastions, founded by Frederick III. about
1662-1663. One of the mansions, the Moltkes Palais, has a collection of
Dutch paintings formed in the 18th century. This is in the principal
thoroughfare of the quarter, Bredgaden, and close at hand the palace of
King George of Greece faces the Frederikskirke or Marble church. This
church, intended to have been an edifice of great extent and
magnificence, was begun in the reign of Frederick V. (1749), but after
twenty years was left unfinished. It remained a ruin until 1874, when it
was purchased by a wealthy banker, M. Tietgen, at whose expense the work
was resumed. The edifice was not carried up to the height originally
intended, but the magnificent dome, which recalls the finest examples in
Italy, is conspicuous far and wide. The diameter is only a few feet less
than that of St Peter's in Rome. As the church stands it is one of the
principal works of the architect, F. Meldahl. Behind King George's palace
from the Bredgade lies the Amalienborg-plads, having in the centre an
equestrian statue of Frederick V., erected in 1768 at the cost of the
former Asiatic Company. The four palaces, of uniform design, encircling
this _plads_, were built for the residence of four noble families; but on
the destruction of Christiansborg in 1794 they became the residence of
the king and court, and so continued till the death of Christian VIII. in
1848. One of the four is inhabited by the king, the second and third by
the crown prince and other members of the royal family, while the fourth
is occupied by the coronation and state rooms. The Ameliegade crosses the
_plads_ and, with the Bredgade, terminates at the esplanade outside the
citadel, prolonged in the pleasant promenade of Lange Linie skirting the
Sound.
To the west of the citadel is the Ostbanegaard, or eastern railway
station, from which start the local trains on the coast line to
Klampenborg and Helsingör. South-west from this point extends the line
of gardens which occupy the site of former landward fortifications,
pleasantly diversified by water and plantations, skirted on the inner
side by three wide boulevards, Östervold, Nörrevold and Vestervold Gade,
and containing noteworthy public buildings, mostly modern. In the Östre
Anlaeg is the art museum (1895) containing pictures, sculptures and
engravings. In front of it is the Denmark monument (1896), commemorating
the golden wedding (1892) of Christian IX. and Queen Louisa. Among
various scenes in relief, the marriage of King Edward VII. of England
and Queen Alexandra is depicted. The botanical garden (1874) contains an
observatory with a statue of Tycho Brahe, and the chemical laboratory,
mineralogical museum, polytechnic academy (1829) and communal hospital
adjoin it. On the inner side of Östevold Gade is Rosenborg Park, with
the palace of Rosenborg erected in 1610-1617. It is an irregular
building in Gothic style, with a high pointed roof, and flanked by four
towers of unequal dimensions. It contains the chronological collection
of Danish monarchs, including a coin and medal cabinet, a fine
collection of Venetian glass, the famous silver drinking-horn of
Oldenburg (1474), the regalia and other objects of interest as
illustrating the history of Denmark. The Riddersal, a spacious room, is
covered with tapestry representing the various battles of Christian V.,
and has at one end a massive silver throne. The Nörrevold Gade leads
through the Nörretorv past the Folke-teatre and the technical school to
the Örsteds park, and from its southern end the Vestervold Gade
continues through the Raadhus Plads, a centre of tramways, flanked by
the modern Renaissance town hall (1901), ornamented with bronze figures,
with a tower at the eastern angle. Here is also the museum of industrial
art, and the Ny-Carlsberg Glyptotek, with its collection of sculpture,
is on this boulevard, which skirts the pleasure garden called Tivoli.
From the Raadhus-plads the Vesterbro Gade runs towards the western
quarter of the city, skirting the Tivoli. Here is the Dansk Folke
museum, a collection illustrating the domestic life of the nation,
particularly that of the peasantry since 1600. A column of Liberty
(_Friheds-Stötte_) rises in an open space, erected in 1798 to
commemorate the abolition of serfdom. Immediately north is the main
railway station (_Banegaard_), and the North and Klampenborg stations
near at hand. The western (residential) quarter contains the park of
Frederiksberg, with its palace erected under Frederick IV. (d. 1730),
used as a military school. The park contains a zoological garden, and is
continued south in the pleasant Söndermarken, near which lies the old
Glyptotek, which contained the splendid collection of sculptures, &c.,
made by H. C. Jacobsen since 1887, until their removal to the new
Glyptotek founded by him in the Vestre Boulevard.
The quarter of Christianshavn is that portion of the city which skirts
the harbour to the south, and lies within the fortifications. It
contains the Vor Frelsers Kirke (Church of Our Saviour), dedicated in
1696, with a curious steeple 282 ft. high, ascended by an external
spiral staircase. The lower part of the altar is composed of Italian
marble, with a representation of Christ's sufferings in the garden of
Gethsemane; and the organ is considered the finest in Copenhagen. The
city does not extend much farther south, though the Amagerbro quarter
lies without the walls. The island of Amager is fertile, producing
vegetables for the markets of the capital. It was peopled by a Dutch
colony planted by Christian II. in 1516, and many old peculiarities of
dress, manners and languages are retained.
The environs of Copenhagen to the north and west are interesting, and
the country, both along the coast northward and inland westward is
pleasant, though in no way remarkable. The railway along the coast
northward passes the seaside resorts of Klampenborg (6 m.) and Skodsborg
(10 m.). Near Klampenborg is the Dyrehave (Deer park) or Skoven (the
forest), a beautiful forest of beeches. The Zealand Northern railway
passes Lyngby, on the lake of the same name, a favourite summer
residence, and Hilleröd (21 m.), a considerable town, capital of the
_amt_ (county) of Frederiksberg, and close to the palace of
Frederiksberg. This was erected in 1602-1620 by Christian IV., embodying
two towers of an earlier building, and partly occupying islands in a
small lake. It suffered seriously from fire in 1859, but was carefully
restored under the direction of F. Meldahl. It contains a national
historical museum, including furniture and pictures. The palace church
is an interesting medley of Gothic and Renaissance detail. The villa of
Hvidöre was acquired by Queen Alexandra in 1907.
Among the literary and scientific associations of Copenhagen may be
mentioned the Danish Royal Society, founded in 1742, for the advancement
of the sciences of mathematics, astronomy, natural philosophy, &c., by
the publication of papers and essays; the Royal Antiquarian Society,
founded in 1825, for diffusing a knowledge of Northern and Icelandic
archaeology; the Society for the Promotion of Danish Literature, for the
publication of works chiefly connected with the history of Danish
literature; the Natural Philosophy Society; the Royal Agricultural
Society; the Danish Church History Society; the Industrial Association,
founded in 1838; the Royal Geographical Society, established in 1876;
and several musical and other societies. The Academy of Arts was founded
by Frederick V. in 1754 for the instruction of artists, and for
disseminating a taste for the fine arts among manufacturers and
operatives. Attached to it are schools for the study of architecture,
ornamental drawing and modelling. An Art Union was founded in 1826, and
a musical conservatorium in 1870 under the direction of the composers N.
W. Gade and J. P. E. Hartmann.
Among educational institutions, other than the university, may be
mentioned the veterinary and agricultural college, established in 1773
and adopted by the state in 1776, the military academy and the school of
navigation. Technical instruction is provided by the polytechnic school
(1829), which is a state institution, and the school of the Technical
Society, which, though a private foundation, enjoys public subvention.
The schools which prepare for the university, &c., are nearly all
private, but are all under the control of the state. Elementary
instruction is mostly provided by the communal schools.
The churches already mentioned belong to the national Lutheran Church;
the most important of those belonging to other denominations are the
Reformed church, founded in 1688, and rebuilt in 1731, the Catholic
church of St Ansgarius, consecrated in 1842, and the Jewish synagogue in
Krystalgade, which dates from 1853. Of the monastic buildings of
medieval Copenhagen various traces are preserved in the present
nomenclature of the streets. The Franciscan establishment gives its name
to the Graabrödretorv or Grey Friars' market; and St Clara's Monastery,
the largest of all, which was founded by Queen Christina, is still
commemorated by the Klareboder or Clara buildings, near the present
post-office. The Duebrödre Kloster occupied the site of the hospital of
the Holy Ghost.
Among the hospitals of Copenhagen, besides many modern institutions,
there may be mentioned Frederick's hospital, erected in 1752-1757 by
Frederick V., the Communal Hospital, erected in 1859-1863, on the
eastern side of the Sortedamssö, the general hospital in Ameliegade,
founded in 1769, and the garrison hospital, in Rigensgade, established
in 1816 by Frederick VI. After the cholera epidemic of 1853, which
carried off more than 4000 of the inhabitants, the medical association
built several ranges of workmen's houses, and their example was followed
by various private capitalists, among whom may be mentioned the Classen
trustees, whose buildings occupy an open site on the western outskirts
of the city.
Copenhagen is by far the most important commercial town in Denmark, and
exemplifies the steady increase in the trade of the country. The harbour
is mainly comprised in the narrow strait between the outer Sound and its
inlet the Kalvebod or Kallebo Strand. The trading capabilities were
aided by the construction in 1894 of the Frihavn (free port) at the
northern extremity of the town, well supplied with warehouses and other
conveniences. It is connected with the main railway station by means of
a circular railway, while a short branch connects it with the ordinary
custom-house quay. The commercial harbour is separated from the harbour
for warships (_Orlogshavn_) by a barrier. The sea approaches are guarded
by ten coast batteries besides the old citadel. The Middelgrund is a
powerful defensive work completed in 1896 and most of the rest are
modern. The landward defences of Copenhagen, it may be added, were left
unprovided for after the Napoleonic wars until the patriotism of Danish
women, who subscribed sufficient funds for the first fort, shamed
parliament into granting the necessary money for others (1886-1895).
Copenhagen is not an industrial town. The manufactures carried on are
mostly only such as exist in every large town, and the export of
manufactured goods is inconsiderable. The royal china factory is
celebrated for models of Thorvaldsen's works in biscuit china. The only
very large establishment is one for the construction of iron steamers,
engines, &c., but some factories have been erected within the area of
the free port for the purpose of working up imported raw materials duty
free.
_History._--Copenhagen (i.e. Merchant's Harbour, originally simply Havn,
latinized as _Hafnia_) is first mentioned in history in 1043. It was
then only a fishing village, and remained so until about the middle of
the 12th century, when Valdemar I. presented that part of the island to
Axel Hvide, renowned in Danish history as Absalon (q.v.), bishop of
Roskilde, and afterwards archbishop of Lund. In 1167 this prelate
erected a castle on the spot where the Christiansborg palace now stands,
and the building was called after him Axel-huus. The settlement
gradually became a great resort for merchants, and thus acquired the
name which, in a corrupted form, it still bears, of Kaupmannahöfn,
Kjöbmannshavn, or _Portus Mercatorum_ as it is translated by Saxo
Grammaticus. In 1186, Bishop Absalon bestowed the castle and village,
with the lands of Amager, on the see of Roskilde; but, as the place grew
in importance, the Danish kings became anxious to regain it, and in 1245
King Eric IV. drove out Bishop Niels Stigson. On the king's death
(1250), however, Bishop Jacob Erlandsen obtained the town, and, in 1254,
gave to the burghers their first municipal privileges, which were
confirmed by Pope Urban III. in 1286. In the charter of 1254, while
there is mention of a _communitas_ capable of making a compact with the
bishop, there is nothing said of any trade or craft gilds. These are,
indeed, expressly prohibited in the later charter of Bishop Johann Kvag
(1294); and the distinctive character of the constitution of Copenhagen
during the middle ages consisted in the absence of the free gild system,
and the right of any burgher to pursue a craft under license from the
_Vogt_ (_advocatus_) of the overlord and the city authorities. Later on,
gilds were established, in spite of the prohibition of the old charters;
but they were strictly subordinate to the town authorities, who
appointed their aldermen and suppressed them when they considered them
useless or dangerous. The prosperity of Copenhagen was checked by an
attack by the people of Lübeck in 1248, and by another on the part of
Prince Jaromir of Rügen in 1259. In 1306 it managed to repel the
Norwegians, but in 1362, and again in 1368, it was captured by the
opponents of Valdemar Atterdag. In the following century a new enemy
appeared in the Hanseatic league, which was jealous of its rivalry, but
their invasion was frustrated by Queen Philippa. Various attempts were
made by successive kings to obtain the town from the see of Roskilde, as
the most suitable for the royal residence; but it was not till 1443 that
the transference was finally effected and Copenhagen became the capital
of the kingdom. From 1523 to 1524 it held out for Christian II. against
Frederick I., who captured it at length and strengthened its defensive
works; and it was only after a year's siege that it yielded in 1536 to
Christian III. From 1658 to 1660 it was unsuccessfully beleaguered by
Charles Gustavus of Sweden; and in the following year it was rewarded by
various privileges for its gallant defence. In 1660 it gave its name to
the treaty which concluded the Swedish war of Frederick III. In 1700 it
was bombarded by the united fleets of England, Holland and Sweden; in
1728 a conflagration destroyed 1640 houses and five churches; another in
1795 laid waste 943 houses, the church of St Nicolas, and the _Raadhus_.
In 1801 the Danish fleet was destroyed in the roadstead by the English
(see below, § _Battle of Copenhagen_); and in 1807 the city was
bombarded by the British under Lord Cathcart, and saw the destruction of
the university buildings, its principal church and numerous other
edifices.
See O. Nielsen, _Köbenhavns Historie oz Beskrivelse_ (Copenhagen,
1877-1892); C. Bruun and P. Munch, _Köbenhavn, Skrilding af dets
Historie_, &c. (ibid. 1887-1901); Bering-Lüsberg, _Köbenhavn i gamle
Dage_ (ibid. 1898 et seq.). (O. J. R. H.)
BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN
The formation of a league between the northern powers, Russia, Prussia,
Denmark and Sweden, on the 16th of December 1800, nominally to protect
neutral trade at sea from the enforcement by Great Britain of her
belligerent claims, led to the despatch of a British fleet to the Baltic
on the 12th of March 1801. It consisted of fifty-three sail in all, of
which eighteen were of the line. Prussia possessed no fleet. The nominal
strength of the Russian fleet was eighty-three sail of the line, of the
Danish twenty-three, and of the Swedish eighteen. But this force was for
the most part only on paper. Some of the Russian ships were at
Archangel, others in the Mediterranean. Of those actually in the Baltic
and fit to go to sea, twelve were at Reval shut in by the ice, and the
others were at Kronstadt. The Swedes could equip only eleven of the line
for sea, and Denmark only seven or eight. It is highly doubtful whether
the three powers could have collected more than forty ships of the
line--and they would have been hastily manned, destitute of experience,
and without confidence. A rapid British attack would in any case
forestall the concentration of these heterogeneous squadrons. The
superior quality of the veteran British crews was more than enough to
counterbalance a mere superiority in numbers. The command of the British
fleet was given to Sir Hyde Parker, an amiable man of no energy and
little ability. He had Nelson with him as second in command--then a
junior admiral but without rival in capacity and in his hold on the
confidence of the fleet. Parker's orders were to give Denmark
twenty-four hours in which to withdraw from the coalition, and on her
refusal to destroy or neutralize her strength and then proceed against
the Russians before the breaking up of the ice allowed the ships at
Reval to join the squadron at Kronstadt.
On the 21st of March the British fleet, after a somewhat stormy passage,
was at the entrance to the Sound. Nicholas Vansittart, afterwards Lord
Bexley, the British diplomatic agent entrusted with the message to the
Danish government, was landed, and left for Copenhagen. On the 23rd he
returned with the refusal of the Danes. The British fleet then passed
the Danish fort at Cronenburg, unhurt by its distant fire, and without
being molested by the forts on the Swedish shore. Nelson urged immediate
attack, and recommended, as an alternative, that part of the British
fleet should watch the Danes while the remainder advanced up the Baltic
to prevent the junction of the Russian Reval squadron with the ships in
Kronstadt. Sir Hyde Parker was, however, unwilling to go up the Baltic
with the Danes unsubdued behind him, or to divide his force. It was
therefore resolved that an attack should be made on the Danish capital
with the whole fleet in two divisions. Copenhagen lies on the east side
of the island of Zealand; opposite it is the shoal known as the Middle
Ground. To the east of the Middle Ground is another shoal known as
Saltholm Flat, and there is a passage available for large ships between
them. The main fortification of Copenhagen was the powerful Trekroner
(Three Crown) battery at the northern end of the sea-front. Here the
Danes had placed their strongest ships. The southern part of the city
front was covered by hulks and gun-vessels or bomb-vessels. There were
in all eighteen hulks or ships of the line in the Danish defence. To
have made the attack from the northern end would in Nelson's words have
been "to take the bull by the horns." He therefore proposed that he
should be detached with ten sail of the line, and the frigates and small
craft, to pass between the Middle Ground and Saltholm Flat, and assail
the Danish line at the southern end while the remainder of the fleet
engaged the Trekroner battery from the north. Sir Hyde Parker accepted
his offer, and added two ships of the line to the ten asked for by
Nelson.
During the nights of the 30th and 31st of March the channel between the
Middle Ground and Saltholm Flat was sounded by the boats of the British
fleet, the Danes making no attempt to interfere with them. On the 1st of
April Nelson brought his ships through. He had transferred his flag from
his own ship the "St George" (98) to the "Elephant" (74), commanded by
Captain Foley, because the water was too shallow for a three-decker. On
the morning of the 2nd of April the wind was fair from the south-east,
and at 9.30 A.M. the British squadron weighed anchor, led by the
"Amazon" frigate, commanded by Captain Riou, and began to pass along the
front of the Danish line. The Danes could bring into action 375 guns in
all. Their hulks and bomb-vessels were supported by batteries on
Zealand; but, as the water is shallow for a long distance from the
shore, these defences were too far off to render them effectual aid on
the south end of their line. Nelson disposed of a greater number of
guns, 1058 in all, but some did not come into action. The "Agamemnon"
(64), commanded by Captain Fancourt, was unable to round the south point
of the Middle Ground. The "Bellona" (74), commanded by Captain Thompson,
and the "Russel" (74), commanded by Captain Cuming, ran ashore on the
Middle Ground, but within range though at too great a distance for fully
effective fire. Captain Thompson lost his leg in the battle. The other
ships passed between the "Bellona" and "Russel" and the Danes. The
leading British ship, the "Defiance" (74), carrying the flag of
Rear-Admiral Graves, anchored just south of the Trekroner. As the wind
was from the south-east Sir Hyde Parker was unable to make the proposed
attack from the north. The place opposite the Danish fort which was to
have been taken by him was occupied by Captain Riou and the frigates.
The "Elephant" anchored almost in the middle of the line. Fire was
opened about 10 A.M., and at 11.30 the action was at its height.
Until 1 o'clock there was no diminution of the Danish fire. Sir Hyde
Parker, who saw the danger of Nelson's position, became anxious, and
sent his second, Captain Robert Waller Ottway, to him with a message
authorizing him to retire if he thought fit. Before Ottway, who had to
go in a row-boat, reached the "Elephant," Sir Hyde Parker had reflected
that it would be more magnanimous in him to take the responsibility of
ordering the retreat. He therefore hoisted the signal of recall. It was
a well-meant but ill-judged order. Nelson could only have retreated
before the south-easterly wind by going past the Trekroner fort, where
the passage is narrow, and the navigation difficult. He therefore
disregarded the signal, and amused himself and the few officers about
him by putting his glass to his blind eye and saying that he could not
see it. The frigates opposite the Trekroner did retreat, Captain Riou
being slain as they drew off.
At about 2.30 the fire from the Danish hulks had been much beaten down,
but as their crews fell, fresh men were sent from the shore and the fire
was resumed. Nelson astutely and legitimately seized the opportunity to
open negotiations with the Danes. He sent a flag of truce carried by Sir
F. Thesiger ashore to the crown prince of Denmark (then regent of the
kingdom), to say that unless he was allowed to take possession of the
hulks which had surrendered he would be compelled to burn them, a course
which he deprecated on the ground of humanity and his tenderness of "the
brothers of the English the Danes." The crown prince, who was shaken by
the spectacle of the battle, allowed himself to be drawn into a reply,
and to be referred to Sir Hyde Parker. Fire was suspended by the Danes
to allow of time to receive Sir Hyde Parker's answer. Nelson with
intelligent promptitude availed himself of the interval to withdraw his
squadron past the Trekroner. The difficulty found in getting the ships
out--one of them grounded--showed how disastrous an attempt to draw off
under fire of the forts must have been.
The Danish government, which had entered the coalition largely from fear
of Russia, was not prepared to make very great sacrifices, and now
entered into negotiations for an armistice. It was the more ready to do
so because it received news of the assassination of the tsar Paul, which
had happened on the 24th of March. An armistice was made for fourteen
weeks, which left the British fleet free to proceed up the Baltic. On
the 12th of April, after lightening the three-deckers of their guns, the
fleet passed over the shallows. But its presence had now lost all
military significance. Sir Hyde Parker was assured by the Russian
minister at Copenhagen that the new tsar Alexander I. would not continue
the policy of hostility with England and alliance with France which had
proved fatal to his father. The Swedes, who like the Danes had entered
the coalition under pressure from Russia, did not send their ships to
sea. The government of the new tsar was prepared for an arrangement with
England. The date of the final settlement was in all probability delayed
by the activity of Nelson, and his belief that a British fleet was the
best negotiator in Europe. The British government learnt of the tsar's
death on the 15th of April. On the 17th it instructed Sir Hyde Parker to
agree to a suspension of hostilities, and not to take active measures
against Russia so long as the Reval squadron did not put to sea. On the
21st of April, having now received a full account of the battle at
Copenhagen, it recalled Sir Hyde Parker, whose vacillating conduct and
want of enterprise had become manifest. He received the news of his
recall on the 5th of May. Nelson, to whom the command passed, at once
put to sea, and hastened with a part of his fleet to Reval, which he
reached on the 12th of May. The Russian squadron had, however, cut a
passage through the ice in the harbour on the 3rd, and had sailed for
Kronstadt. Nelson was received with formal civility by the Russian
officers, with whom he exchanged visits. He wrote a letter to Mr
Garlike, secretary of the British embassy at St Petersburg, saying that
he had come with a small squadron as the best way of paying "the very
highest compliment" to the tsar.
The Russian government, which not unnaturally wished to avoid any
appearance of acting under dictation, and was now in no anxiety for the
Reval squadron, treated his presence as a menace. On the 13th of May
Count Pahlen answered in a most peremptory letter informing Nelson that
negotiations would be suspended while he remained at Reval. This retort
caused Nelson annoyance which he did not attempt to conceal, but he
justly concluded that he had nothing further to do at Reval, and
therefore returned down the Baltic. Nelson remained with the fleet till
he was relieved at his own request, and was able to sail for England on
the 18th of June. He gave a proof of his regard for the service of the
country by taking his passage home in a small brig rather than withdraw
a line of battle ship from the squadron, which his rank entitled him to
do, and as other admirals of the time generally did. The British sailors
and ships embargoed in Russia were released on the 17th of May. Great
Britain released her prisoners on the 4th of June, and on the 17th of
June was signed the convention which terminated the Baltic campaign.
See _Dispatches and Letters of Vice-Admiral Nelson_, by Sir N. Harris
Nicolas (1845); _Life of Nelson_, by Capt. A. T. Mahan (London, 1899).
(D. H.)
COPERNICUS (or KOPPERNIGK), NICOLAUS (1473-1543), Polish astronomer, was
born on the 19th of February 1473, at Thorn in Prussian Poland, where
his father, a native of Cracow, had settled as a wholesale trader. His
mother, Barbara Watzelrode, belonged to a family of high mercantile and
civic standing. After the death of his father in 1483, Nicolaus was
virtually adopted by his uncle Lucas Watzelrode, later (in 1489) bishop
of Ermeland. Placed at the university of Cracow in 1491, he devoted
himself, during three years, to mathematical science under Albert
Brudzewski (1445-1497), and incidentally acquired some skill in
painting. At the age of twenty-three he repaired to Bologna, and there
varied his studies of canon law by attending the astronomical lectures
of Domenico Maria Novara (1454-1504). At Rome, in the Jubilee year 1500,
he himself lectured with applause; but having been nominated in 1497
canon of the cathedral of Frauenburg, he recrossed the Alps in 1501 with
the purpose of obtaining further leave of absence for the completion of
his academic career. Late in the same year, accordingly, he entered the
medical school of Padua, where he remained until 1505, having taken
meanwhile a doctor's degree in canon law at Ferrara on the 31st of May
1503. After his return to his native country he resided at the episcopal
palace of Heilsberg as his uncle's physician until the latter's death on
the 29th of March 1512. He then retired to Frauenburg, and vigorously
attended to his capitular duties. He never took orders, but acted
continually as the representative of the chapter under harassing
conditions, administrative and political; he was besides commissary of
the diocese of Ermeland; his medical skill, always at the service of the
poor, was frequently in demand by the rich; and he laid a scheme for the
reform of the currency before the Diet of Graudenz in 1522. Yet he found
time, amid these multifarious occupations, to elaborate an entirely new
system of astronomy, by the adoption of which man's outlook on the
universe was fundamentally changed.
The main lines of his great work were laid down at Heilsberg; at
Frauenburg, from 1513, he sought, with scanty instrumental means, to
test by observation the truth of the views it embodied (see ASTRONOMY:
HISTORY). His dissatisfaction with Ptolemaic doctrines was of early
date; and he returned from Italy, where so-called Pythagorean opinions
were then freely discussed, in strong and irrevocable possession of the
heliocentric theory. The epoch-making treatise in which it was set
forth, virtually finished in 1530, began to be known through the
circulation in manuscript of a _Commentariolus_, or brief popular
account of its purport written by Copernicus in that year. Johann
Albrecht Widmanstadt lectured upon it in Rome; Clement VII. approved,
and Cardinal Schönberg transmitted to the author a formal demand for
full publication. But his assent to this was only extracted from him in
1540 by the importunities of his friends, especially of his enthusiastic
disciple George Joachim Rheticus (1514-1576), who printed, in the
_Narratio prima_ (Danzig, 1540), a preliminary account of the Copernican
theory, and simultaneously sent to the press at Nuremberg his master's
complete exposition of it in the treatise entitled _De revolutionibus
orbium coelestium_ (1543). But the first printed copy reached Frauenburg
barely in time to be laid on the writer's death-bed. Copernicus was
seized with apoplexy and paralysis towards the close of 1542, and died
on the 24th of May 1543, happily unconscious that the fine Epistle, in
which he had dedicated his life's work to Paul III., was marred of its
effect by an anonymous preface, slipt in by Andreas Osiander
(1498-1552), with a view to disarming prejudice by insisting upon the
purely hypothetical character of the reasonings it introduced. The
trigonometrical section of the book had been issued as a separate
treatise (Wittenberg, 1542) under the care of Rheticus. The only work
published by Copernicus on his own initiative was a Latin version of the
Greek Epistles of Theophylact (Cracow, 1509). His treatise _De monetae
cudendae ratione_, 1526 (first printed in 1816), written by order of
King Sigismund I., is an exposition of the principles on which it was
proposed to reform the currency of the Prussian provinces of Poland. It
advocates unity of the monetary system throughout the entire state, with
strict integrity in the quality of the coin, and the charge of a
seigniorage sufficient to cover the expenses of mintage.
AUTHORITIES.--Rheticus was the only contemporary biographer of
Copernicus, and his narrative perished irretrievably. Gassendi's
jejune Life (Paris, 1654) is thus the earliest extant of any note. It
was supplemented, during the 19th century, by the various publications
of J. Sniadecki (Warsaw, 1803-1818); of J. H. W. Westphal, J. Czynski,
M. Curtze, H. A. Wolynski, F. Hipler, and others, but their efforts
were overshadowed by Dr Leopold Prowe's exhaustive _Nicolaus
Coppernicus_ (Berlin, 1883-1884), embodying the outcome of researches
indefatigably prosecuted for over thirty years. The first volume (in
two parts) is a detailed biography of the great astronomer; the second
includes some of his minor writings and correspondence, family
records, and historical documents of local interest. The effects of
his Italian sojourn upon the nascent ideas of Copernicus may be
profitably studied in Domenico Berti's _Copernico e le vicende del
sistema Copernicano in Italia_ (Roma, 1876), and in G. V.
Schiaparelli's _I Precursori del Copernico nell' antichità_ (Milano,
1873). A centenary edition of _De revolutionibus orbium coelestium_
was issued at Thorn in 1873, and a German translation by C. L. Menzzer
in 1879. (A. M. C.)
COPIAPÓ, a city of northern Chile, capital of the province of Atacama,
about 35 m. from the coast on the Copiapó river, in lat. 27° 36' S.,
long. 70° 23' W. Pop. (1895) 9301. The Caldera & Copiapó railway (built
1848-1851 and one of the first in South America) extends beyond Copiapó
to the Chañarcillo mines (50 m.) and other mining districts. Copiapó
stands 1300 ft. above sea-level and has a mean temperature of about 67°
in summer and 51° in winter. Its port, Caldera, 50 m. distant by rail,
is situated on a well-sheltered bay with good shipping facilities about
6 m. N. of the mouth of the Copiapó river. Copiapó is perhaps the best
built and most attractive of the desert region cities. The river brings
down from the mountains enough water to supply the town and irrigate a
considerable area in its vicinity. Beyond the small fertile valley in
which it stands is the barren desert, on which rain rarely falls and
which has no economic value apart from its minerals (especially saline
compounds). Copiapó was founded in 1742 by José de Manso (afterwards
Conde de Superunda, viceroy of Peru) and took its name from the Copayapu
Indians who occupied that region. It was primarily a military station
and transport post on the road to Peru, but after the discovery of the
rich silver deposits near Chañarcillo by Juan Godoy in 1832 it became an
important mining centre. It has a good mining school and reduction
works, and is the supply station for an extensive mining district. For
many years the Famatina mines of Argentina received supplies from this
point by way of the Come-Caballo pass.
COPING (from "cope," Lat. _capa_), in architecture, the capping or
covering of a wall. This may be made of stone, brick, tile, slate,
metal, wood or thatch. In all cases it should be weathered to throw off
the wet. In Romanesque work it was plain and flat, and projected over
the wall with a throating to form a drip. In later work a steep slope
was given to the weathering (mainly on the outer side), and began at the
top with an astragal; in the Decorated style there were two or three
sets off; and in the later Perpendicular period these assumed a wavy
section, and the coping mouldings were continued round the sides, as
well as at top and bottom, mitreing at the angles, as in many of the
colleges at Oxford. The cheapest type of coping is that which caps the
ordinary 9 in. brick wall, and consists of brick on edge above a double
tile creasing, all in cement; the creasing consisting of one or two rows
of tiles laid horizontally on the wall and projecting on each side about
2 in. to throw off the water (see also MASONRY).
COPLAND, ROBERT (fl. 1515), English printer and author, is said to have
been a servant of William Caxton, and certainly worked for Wynkyn de
Worde. The first book to which his name is affixed as a printer is _The
Boke of Justices of Peace_ (1515), at the sign of the Rose Garland, in
Fleet Street, London. Anthony à Wood supposed, on the ground that he was
more educated than was usual in his trade, that he had been a poor
scholar of Oxford. His best known works are _The hye way to the Spyttell
hous_, a dialogue in verse between Copland and the porter of St
Bartholomew's hospital, containing much information about the vagabonds
who found their way there; and _Jyl of Breyntfords Testament_, dismissed
in _Athenae Oxonienses_ (ed. Bliss) as "a poem devoid of wit or decency,
and totally unworthy of further notice." He translated from the French
the romances of _Kynge Appolyne of Thyre_ (W. de Worde, 1510), _The
History of Helyas Knyght of the Swanne_ (W. de Worde, 1513), and _The
Life of Ipomydon_ (_Hue of Rotelande_), not dated. Among his other works
is _The Complaynte of them that ben too late maryed_, an undated tract
printed by W. de Worde.
William Copland, the printer, supposed to have been his brother,
published three editions of _Howleglas_, perhaps by Robert, which in any
case represent the earliest English version of _Till Eulenspiegel_.
The _Knyght of the Swanne_ was reprinted in Thom's _Early Prose
Romances_, vol. iii., and by the Grolier Club (1901); the _Hye Way_ in
W. C. Hazlitt's _Remains of the Early Popular Poetry of England_, vol.
iv. (1866). See further the "Forewords" to Dr F. J. Furnivall's
reprint of _Jyl of Breyntford_ (for private circulation, 1871) and J.
P. Collier, _Bibliographical and Critical Account of the Rarest Books
in the English Language_, vol. i. p. 153 (1865). For the books issued
from his press see _Hand-Lists of English Printers_ (1501-1556),
printed for the Bibliographical Society in 1896.
COPLESTON, EDWARD (1776-1849), English bishop, was born at Offwell in
Devonshire, and educated at Oxford. He was elected to a tutorship at
Oriel College in 1797, and in 1800 was appointed vicar of St Mary's,
Oxford. As university professor of poetry (1802-1812) he gained a
considerable reputation by his clever literary criticism and sound
latinity. After holding the office of dean at Oriel for some years, he
succeeded to the provostship in 1814, and owing largely to his influence
the college reached a remarkable degree of prosperity during the first
quarter of the 19th century. In 1826 he was appointed dean of Chester,
and in the next year he was consecrated bishop of Llandaff. Here he gave
his support to the new movement for church restoration in Wales, and
during his occupation of the see more than twenty new churches were
built in the diocese. The political problems of the time interested him
greatly, and his writings include two able letters to Sir Robert Peel,
one dealing with the _Variable Standard of Value_, the other with the
_Increase of Pauperism_ (Oxford, 1819).
COPLEY, JOHN SINGLETON (1737-1815), English historical painter, was born
of Irish parents at Boston, Massachusetts. He was self-educated, and
commenced his career as a portrait-painter in his native city. The germ
of his reputation in England was a little picture of a boy and squirrel,
exhibited at the Society of Arts in 1760. In 1774 he went to Rome, and
thence in 1775 came to England. In 1777 he was admitted associate of the
Royal Academy; in 1783 he was made Academician on the exhibition of his
most famous picture, the "Death of Chatham," popularized immediately by
Bartolozzi's elaborate engraving; and in 1790 he was commissioned to
paint a portrait picture of the defence of Gibraltar. The "Death of
Major Pierson," in the National Gallery, also deserves mention. Copley's
powers appear to greatest advantage in his portraits. He was the father
of Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst.
COPPÉE, FRANÇOIS ÉDOUARD JOACHIM (1842-1908), French poet and novelist,
was born in Paris on the 12th of January 1842. His father held a small
post in the civil service, and he owed much to the care of an admirable
mother. After passing through the Lycée Saint-Louis he became a clerk in
the ministry of war, and soon sprang into public favour as a poet of the
young "Parnassian" school. His first printed verses date from 1864. They
were republished with others in 1866 in a collected form (_Le
Reliquaire_), followed (1867) by _Les Intimités_ and _Poèmes modernes_
(1867-1869). In 1869 his first play, _Le Passant_, was received with
marked approval at the Odéon theatre, and later _Fais ce que dois_
(1871) and _Les Bijoux de la délivrance_ (1872), short metrical dramas
inspired by the war, were warmly applauded.
After filling a post in the library of the senate, Coppée was chosen in
1878 as archivist of the Comédie-Française, an office which he held till
1884. In that year his election to the Academy caused him to retire
altogether from his public appointments. He continued to publish volumes
of poetry at frequent intervals, including _Les Humbles_ (1872), _Le
Cahier rouge_ (1874), _Olivier_ (1875), _L'Exilée_ (1876), _Contes en
vers_, &c. (1881), _Poèmes et récits_ (1886), _Arrière-saison_ (1887),
_Paroles sincères_ (1890). In his later years his output of verse
declined, but he published two more volumes, _Dans la prière et la
lutte_ and _Vers français_. He had established his fame as "le poète des
humbles." Besides the plays mentioned above, two others written in
collaboration with Armand d'Artois, and some light pieces of little
importance, Coppée produced _Madame de Maintenon_ (1881), _Severo
Torelli_ (1883), _Les Jacobites_ (1885), and other serious dramas in
verse, including _Pour la couronne_ (1895), which was translated into
English (_For the Crown_) by John Davidson, and produced at the Lyceum
Theatre in 1896. The performance of a short episode of the Commune, _Le
Pater_, was prohibited by the government (1889). Coppée's first story in
prose, _Une Idylle pendant le siège_, appeared in 1875. It was followed
by various volumes of short tales, by _Toute une jeunesse_ (1890)--an
attempt to reproduce the feelings, if not the actual wants, of the
writer's youth,--_Les Vrais Riches_ (1892), _Le Coupable_ (1896), &c. He
was made an officer of the Legion of Honour in 1888. A series of
reprinted short articles on miscellaneous subjects, styled _Mon Franc
Parler_, appeared from 1893 to 1896; and in 1898 was published _La Bonne
Souffrance_, the outcome of Coppée's reconversion to the Roman Catholic
Church, which gained very wide popularity. The immediate cause of his
return to the faith was a severe illness which twice brought him to the
verge of the grave. Hitherto he had taken little open interest in public
affairs, but he now joined the most violent section of Nationalist
politicians, while retaining contempt for the whole apparatus of
democracy. He took a leading part against the prisoner in the Dreyfus
case, and was one of the originators of the notorious Ligue de la Patrie
Française. He died on the 23rd of May 1908.
Alike in verse and prose Coppée concerned himself with the plainest
expressions of human emotion, with elemental patriotism, and the joy of
young love, and the pitifulness of the poor, bringing to bear on each a
singular gift of sympathy and insight. The lyric and idyllic poetry, by
which he will chiefly be remembered, is animated by musical charm, and
in some instances, such as _La Bénédiction_ and _La Grève des
forgerons_, displays a vivid, though not a sustained, power of
expression. There is force, too, in the gloomy tale, _Le Coupable_. But
he exhibits all the defects of his qualities. In prose especially, his
sentiment often degenerates into sentimentality, and he continually
approaches, and sometimes oversteps, the verge of the trivial.
Nevertheless, by neglecting that canon of contemporary art which would
reduce the deepest tragedies of life to mere subjects for dissection, he
won those common suffrages which are the prize of exquisite literature.
See M. de Lescure's _François Coppée, l'homme, la vie, l'oeuvre_
(1889), and G. Druilhet, _Un Poète français_ (1902).
COPPÉE, HENRY (1821-1895), American educationalist and author, was born
in Savannah, Georgia, on the 13th of October 1821, of a French family
formerly settled in Haiti. He studied at Yale for two years, worked as a
civil engineer, graduated at West Point in 1845, served in the Mexican
War as a lieutenant and was breveted captain for gallantry at Contreras
and Churubusco, was professor of English at West Point from 1850 to 1855
(when he resigned from the army), was professor of English literature
and history in the University of Pennsylvania 1855-1866, and on the 1st
of April 1866 was chosen first president of Lehigh University. In 1875
he was succeeded by John McD. Leavitt and became professor of history
and English literature, but was president pro tem. from the death of
Robert A. Lamberton (b. 1824) in September 1893 to his own death in
Bethlehem on the 22nd of March 1895. He published elementary text-books
of logic (1857), of rhetoric (1859), and of English literature (1872);
various manuals of drill; _Grant, a Military Biography_ (1866); _General
Thomas_ (1893), in the "Great Commanders" Series; _History of the
Conquest of Spain by the Arab-Moors_ (1881); and in 1862 a translation
of Marmont's _Esprit des institutions militaires_, besides editing the
Comte de Paris's _Civil War in America_.
COPPER (symbol Cu, atomic weight 63.1, H = 1, or 63.6, O = 16), a metal
which has been known to and used by the human race from the most remote
periods. Its alloy with tin (bronze) was the first metallic compound in
common use by mankind, and so extensive and characteristic was its
employment in prehistoric times that the epoch is known as the Bronze
Age. By the Greeks and Romans both the metal and its alloys were
indifferently known as [Greek: chalkos] and _aes_. As, according to
Pliny, the Roman supply was chiefly drawn from Cyprus, it came to be
termed _aes cyprium_, which was gradually shortened to _cyprium_, and
corrupted into _cuprum_, whence comes the English word copper, the
French _cuivre_, and the German _Kupfer_.
Copper is a brilliant metal of a peculiar red colour which assumes a
pinkish or yellowish tinge on a freshly fractured surface of the pure
metal, and is purplish when the metal contains cuprous oxide. Its
specific gravity varies between 8.91 and 8.95, according to the
treatment to which it may have been subjected; J. F. W. Hampe gives
8.945 (0°/4°) for perfectly pure and compact copper. Ordinary commercial
copper is somewhat porous and has a specific gravity ranging from 8.2 to
8.5. It takes a brilliant polish, is in a high degree malleable and
ductile, and in tenacity it only falls short of iron, exceeding in that
quality both silver and gold. By different authorities its melting-point
is stated at from 1000° to 1200° C.; C. T. Heycock and F. H. Neville
give 1080°.5; P. Dejean gives 1085° as the freezing-point. The molten
metal is sea-green in colour, and at higher temperatures (in the
electric arc) it vaporizes and burns with a green flame. G. W. A.
Kahlbaum succeeded in subliming the metal in a vacuum, and H. Moissan
(_Compt. rend._, 1905, 141, p. 853) distilled it in the electric
furnace. Molten copper absorbs carbon monoxide, hydrogen and sulphur
dioxide; it also appears to decompose hydrocarbons (methane, ethane),
absorbing the hydrogen and the carbon separating out. These occluded
gases are all liberated when the copper cools, and so give rise to
porous castings, unless special precautions are taken. The gases are
also expelled from the molten metal by lead, carbon dioxide, or water
vapour. Its specific heat is 0.0899 at 0° C. and 0.0942 at 100°; the
coefficient of linear expansion per 1° C. is 0.001869. In electric
conductivity it stands next to silver; the conducting power of silver
being equal to 100, that of perfectly pure copper is given by A.
Matthiessen as 96.4 at 13° C.
Copper is not affected by exposure in dry air, but in a moist
atmosphere, containing carbonic acid, it becomes coated with a green
basic carbonate. When heated or rubbed it emits a peculiar disagreeable
odour. Sulphuric and hydrochloric acids have little or no action upon it
at ordinary temperatures, even when in a fine state of division; but on
heating, copper sulphate and sulphur dioxide are formed in the first
case, and cuprous chloride and hydrogen in the second. Concentrated
nitric acid has also very little action, but with the dilute acid a
vigorous action ensues. The first products of this reaction are copper
nitrate and nitric oxide, but, as the concentration of the copper
nitrate increases, nitrous oxide and, eventually, free nitrogen are
liberated.
Many colloidal solutions of copper have been obtained. A reddish-brown
solution is obtained from solutions of copper chloride, stannous
chloride and an alkaline tartrate (Lottermoser, _Anorganische Colloïde_,
1901).
_Occurrence._--Copper is widely distributed in nature, occurring in most
soils, ferruginous mineral waters, and ores. It has been discovered in
seaweed; in the blood of certain Cephalopoda and Ascidia as haemocyanin,
a substance resembling the ferruginous haemoglobin, and of a species of
_Limulus_; in straw, hay, eggs, cheese, meat, and other food-stuffs; in
the liver and kidneys, and, in traces, in the blood of man and other
animals (as an entirely adventitious constituent, however); it has also
been shown by A. H. Church to exist to the extent of 5.9% in turacin,
the colouring-matter of the wing-feathers of the Turaco.
Native copper, sometimes termed by miners malleable or virgin copper,
occurs as a mineral having all the properties of the smelted metal. It
crystallizes in the cubic system, but the crystals are often flattened,
elongated, rounded or otherwise distorted. Twins are common. Usually the
metal is arborescent, dendritic, filiform, moss-like or laminar. Native
copper is found in most copper-mines, usually in the upper workings,
where the deposit has been exposed to atmospheric influences. The metal
seems to have been reduced from solutions of its salts, and deposits may
be formed around mine-timber or on iron objects. It often fills cracks
and fissures in the rock. It is not infrequently found in serpentine,
and in basic eruptive rocks, where it occurs as veins and in amygdales.
The largest known deposits are those in the Lake Superior region, near
Keweenaw Point, Michigan, where masses upwards of 400 tons in weight
have been discovered. The metal was formerly worked by the Indians for
implements and ornaments. It occurs in a series of amygdaloidal
dolerites or diabases, and in the associated sandstones and
conglomerates. Native silver occurs with the copper, in some cases
embedded in it, like crystals in a porphyry. The copper is also
accompanied by epidote, calcite, prehnite, analcite and other zeolitic
minerals. Pseudomorphs after calcite are known; and it is notable that
native copper occurs pseudomorphous after aragonite at Corocoro, in
Bolivia, where the copper is disseminated through sandstone.
_Ores._--The principal ores of copper are the oxides cuprite and
melaconite, the carbonates malachite and chessylite, the basic chloride
atacamite, the silicate chrysocolla, the sulphides chalcocite,
chalcopyrite, erubescite and tetrahedrite. Cuprite (q.v.) occurs in most
cupriferous mines, but never by itself in large quantities. Melaconite
(q.v.) was formerly largely worked in the Lake Superior region, and is
abundant in some of the mines of Tennessee and the Mississippi valley.
Malachite is a valuable ore containing about 56% of the metal; it is
obtained in very large quantities from South Australia, Siberia and
other localities. Frequently intermixed with the green malachite is the
blue carbonate chessylite or azurite (q.v.), an ore containing when pure
55.16% of the metal. Atacamite (q.v.) occurs chiefly in Chile and Peru.
Chrysocolla (q.v.) contains in the pure state 30% of the metal; it is an
abundant ore in Chile, Wisconsin and Missouri. The sulphur compounds of
copper are, however, the most valuable from the economic point of view.
Chalcocite, redruthite, copper-glance (q.v.) or vitreous copper (Cu2S)
contains about 80% of copper. Copper pyrites, or chalcopyrite, contains
34.6% of copper when pure; but many of the ores, such as those worked
specially by wet processes on account of the presence of a large
proportion of iron sulphide, contain less than 5% of copper. Cornish
ores are almost entirely pyritic; and indeed it is from such ores that
by far the largest proportion of copper is extracted throughout the
world. In Cornwall copper lodes usually run east and west. They occur
both in the "killas" or clay-slate, and in the "growan" or granite.
Erubescite (q.v.), bornite, or horseflesh ore is much richer in copper
than the ordinary pyrites, and contains 56 or 57% of copper.
Tetrahedrite (q.v.), fahlerz, or grey copper, contains from 30 to 48% of
copper, with arsenic, antimony, iron and sometimes zinc, silver or
mercury. Other copper minerals are percylite (PbCuCl2(OH)2), boleite
(3PbCuCl2(OH)2, AgCl), stromeyerite {(Cu, Ag)2S}, cubanite (CuS, Fe2S3),
stannite (Cu2S, FeSnS3), tennantite (3Cu2S, As2S3), emplectite (Cu2S,
Bi2S3), wolfsbergite (Cu2S, Sb2S3), famatinite (3Cu2S, Sb2S5) and
enargite (3Cu2S, As2S5). For other minerals, see COMPOUNDS OF COPPER
below.
_Metallurgy._--Copper is obtained from its ores by three principal
methods, which may be denominated--(1) the pyro-metallurgical or dry
method, (2) the hydro-metallurgical or wet method, and (3) the
electro-metallurgical method.
The methods of working vary according to the nature of the ores treated
and local circumstances. The dry method, or ordinary smelting, cannot be
profitably practised with ores containing less than 4% of copper, for
which and for still poorer ores the wet process is preferred.
_Copper Smelting._--We shall first give the general principles which
underlie the methods for the dry extraction of copper, and then proceed
to a more detailed discussion of the plant used. Since all sulphuretted
copper ores (and these are of the most economic importance) are
invariably contaminated with arsenic and antimony, it is necessary to
eliminate these impurities, as far as possible, at a very early stage.
This is effected by calcination or roasting. The roasted ore is then
smelted to a mixture of copper and iron sulphides, known as copper
"matte" or "coarse-metal," which contains little or no arsenic, antimony
or silica. The coarse-metal is now smelted, with coke and siliceous
fluxes (in order to slag off the iron), and the product, consisting of
an impure copper sulphide, is variously known as "blue-metal," when more
or less iron is still present, "pimple-metal," when free copper and more
or less copper oxide is present, or "fine" or "white-metal," which is a
fairly pure copper sulphide, containing about 75% of the metal. This
product is re-smelted to form "coarse-copper," containing about 95% of
the metal, which is then refined. Roasted ores may be smelted in
reverberatory furnaces (English process), or in blast-furnaces (German
or Swedish process). The matte is treated either in reverberatory
furnaces (English process), in blast furnaces (German process), or in
converters (Bessemer process). The "American process" or "Pyritic
smelting" consists in the direct smelting of raw ores to matte in blast
furnaces. The plant in which the operations are conducted varies in
different countries. But though this or that process takes its name from
the country in which it has been mainly developed, this does not mean
that only that process is there followed.
The "English process" is made up of the following operations: (1)
calcination; (2) smelting in reverberatory furnaces to form the matte;
(3) roasting the matte; and (4) subsequent smelting in reverberatory
furnaces to fine- or white-metal; (5) treating the fine-metal in
reverberatory furnaces to coarse- or blister-copper, either with or
without previous calcination; (6) refining of the coarse-copper. A
shorter process (the so-called "direct process") converts the fine-metal
into refined copper directly. The "Welsh process" closely resembles the
English method; the main difference consists in the enrichment of the
matte by smelting with the rich copper-bearing slags obtained in
subsequent operations. The "German or Swedish process" is characterized
by the introduction of blast-furnaces. It is made up of the following
operations: (1) calcination, (2) smelting in blast-furnaces to form the
matte, (3) roasting the matte, (4) smelting in blast-furnaces with coke
and fluxes to "black-" or "coarse-metal," (5) refining the coarse-metal.
The "Anglo-German Process" is a combination of the two preceding, and
consists in smelting the calcined ores in shaft furnaces, concentrating
the matte in reverberatory furnaces, and smelting to coarse-metal in
either.
The impurities contained in coarse-copper are mainly iron, lead, zinc,
cobalt, nickel, bismuth, arsenic, antimony, sulphur, selenium and
tellurium. These can be eliminated by an oxidizing fusion, and slagging
or volatilizing the products resulting from this operation, or by
electrolysis (see below). In the process of oxidation, a certain amount
of cuprous oxide is always formed, which melts in with the copper and
diminishes its softness and tenacity. It is, therefore, necessary to
reconvert the oxide into the metal. This is effected by stirring the
molten metal with a pole of green wood ("poling"); the products which
arise from the combustion and distillation of the wood reduce the oxide
to metal, and if the operation be properly conducted "tough-pitch"
copper, soft, malleable and exhibiting a lustrous silky fracture, is
obtained. The surface of the molten metal is protected from oxidation by
a layer of anthracite or charcoal. "Bean-shot" copper is obtained by
throwing the molten metal into hot water; if cold water be used,
"feathered-shot" copper is formed. "Rosette" copper is obtained as thin
plates of a characteristic dark-red colour, by pouring water upon the
surface of the molten metal, and removing the crust formed. "Japan"
copper is purple-red in colour, and is formed by casting into ingots,
weighing from six ounces to a pound, and rapidly cooling by immersion in
water. The colour of these two varieties is due to a layer of oxide.
"Tile" copper is an impure copper, and is obtained by refining the first
tappings. "Best-selected" copper is a purer variety.
_Calcination or Roasting and Calcining Furnaces._--The roasting should
be conducted so as to eliminate as much of the arsenic and antimony as
possible, and to leave just enough sulphur as is necessary to combine
with all the copper present when the calcined ore is smelted. The
process is effected either in heaps, stalls, shaft furnaces,
reverberatory furnaces or muffle furnaces. Stall and heap roasting
require considerable time, and can only be economically employed when
the loss of the sulphur is of no consequence; they also occupy much
space, but they have the advantage of requiring little fuel and
handling. Shaft furnaces are in use for ores rich in sulphur, and where
it is desirable to convert the waste gases into sulphuric acid.
Reverberatory roasting does not admit of the utilization of the waste
gases, and requires fine ores and much labour and fuel; it has, however,
the advantage of being rapid. Muffle furnaces are suitable for fine ores
which are liable to decrepitate or sinter. They involve high cost in
fuel and labour, but permit the utilization of the waste gases.
Reverberatory furnaces of three types are employed in calcining copper
ores: (1) fixed furnaces, with either hand or mechanical rabbling; (2)
furnaces with movable beds; (3) furnaces with rotating working chambers.
Hand rabbling in fixed furnaces has been largely superseded by
mechanical rabbling. Of mechanically rabbling furnaces we may mention
the O'Harra modified by Allen-Brown, the Hixon, the Keller-Gaylord-Cole,
the Ropp, the Spence, the Wethey, the Parkes, Pearce's "Turret" and
Brown's "Horseshoe" furnaces. Blake's and Brunton's furnaces are
reverberatory furnaces with a movable bed. Furnaces with rotating
working chambers admit of continuous working; the fuel and labour costs
are both low.
In the White-Howell revolving furnace with lifters--a modification of
the Oxland--the ore is fed and discharged in a continuous stream. The
Brückner cylinder resembles the Elliot and Russell black ash furnace;
its cylinder tapers slightly towards each end, and is generally 18 ft.
long by 8 ft. 6 in. in its greatest diameter. Its charge of from 8 to 12
tons of ore or concentrates is slowly agitated at a rate of three
revolutions a minute, and in from 24 to 36 hours it is reduced from say
40 or 35% to 7% of sulphur. The ore is under better control than is
possible with the continuous feed and discharge, and when sufficiently
roasted can be passed red-hot to the reverberatory furnace. These
advantages compensate for the wear and tear and the cost of moving the
heavy dead-weight.
Shaft calcining furnaces are available for fine ores and permit the
recovery of the sulphur. They are square, oblong or circular in section,
and the interior is fitted with horizontal or inclined plates or prisms,
which regulate the fall of the ore. In the Gerstenhoffer and
Hasenclever-Helbig furnaces the fall is retarded by prisms and inclined
plates. In other furnaces the ore rests on a series of horizontal
plates, and either remains on the same plate throughout the operation
(Ollivier and Perret furnace), or is passed from plate to plate by hand
(Malétra), or by mechanical means (Spence and M'Dougall).
The M'Dougall furnace is turret-shaped, and consists of a series of
circular hearths, on which the ore is agitated by rakes attached to
revolving arms and made to fall from hearth to hearth. It has been
modified by Herreshoff, who uses a large hollow revolving central shaft
cooled by a current of air. The shaft is provided with sockets, into
which movable arms with their rakes are readily dropped. The Peter
Spence type of calcining furnace has been followed in a large number of
inventions. In some the rakes are attached to rigid frames, with a
reciprocating motion, in others to cross-bars moved by revolving chains.
Some of these furnaces are straight, others circular. Some have only
one hearth, others three. This and the previous type of furnace, owing
to their large capacity, are at present in greatest favour. The
M'Dougall-Herreshoff, working on ores of over 30% of sulphur, requires
no fuel; but in furnaces of the reverberatory type fuel must be used, as
an excess of air enters through the slotted sides and the hinged doors
which open and shut frequently to permit of the passage of the rakes.
The consumption of fuel, however, does not exceed 1 of coal to 10 of
ore. The quantity of ore which these large furnaces, with a hearth area
as great as 2000 ft. and over, will roast varies from 40 to 60 tons a
day. Shaft calcining furnaces like the Gerstenhoffer, Hasenclever, and
others designed for burning pyrites fines have not found favour in
modern copper works.
_The Fusion of Ores in Reverberatory and Cupola Furnaces._--After the
ore has been partially calcined, it is smelted to extract its earthy
matter and to concentrate the copper with part of its iron and sulphur
into a matte. In reverberatory furnaces it is smelted by fuel in a
fireplace, separate from the ore, and in cupolas the fuel, generally
coke, is in direct contact with the ore. When Swansea was the centre of
the copper-smelting industry in Europe, many varieties of ores from
different mines were smelted in the same furnaces, and the Welsh
reverberatory furnaces were used. To-day more than eight-tenths of the
copper ores of the world are reduced to impure copper bars or to fine
copper at the mines; and where the character of the ore permits, the
cupola furnace is found more economical in both fuel and labour than the
reverberatory.
The Welsh method finds adherents only in Wales and Chile. In America the
usual method is to roast ores or concentrates so that the matte yielded
by either the reverberatory or cupola furnace will run from 45 to 50% in
copper, and then to transfer to the Bessemer converter, which blows it
up to 99%. In Butte, Montana, reverberatories have in the past been
preferred to cupola furnaces, as the charge has consisted mainly of fine
roasted concentrates; but the cupola is gaining ground there. At the
Boston and Great Falls (Montana) works tilting reverberatories, modelled
after open hearth steel furnaces, were first erected; but they were
found to possess objectionable features. Now both these and the
egg-shaped reverberatories are being abandoned for furnaces as long as
43 ft. 6 in. from bridge to bridge and of a width of 15 ft. 9 in. heated
by gas, with regenerative checker work at each end, and fed with ore or
concentrates, red-hot from the calciners, through a line of hoppers
suspended above the roof. Furnaces of this size smelt 200 tons of charge
a day. But even when the old type of reverberatory is preferred, as at
the Argo works, at Denver, where rich gold-and silver-bearing copper
matte is made, the growth of the furnace in size has been steady.
Richard Pearce's reverberatories in 1878 had an area of hearth of 15 ft.
by 9 ft. 8 in., and smelted 12 tons of cold charge daily, with a
consumption of 1 ton of coal to 2.4 tons of ore. In 1900 the furnaces
were 35 ft. by 16 ft., and smelt 50 tons daily of hot ore, with the
consumption of 1 ton of coal to 3.7 tons of ore.
The home of cupola smelting was Germany, where it has never ceased to
make steady progress. In Mansfeld brick cupola furnaces are without a
rival in size, equipment and performance. They are round stacks,
designed on the model of iron blast furnaces, 29 ft. high, fed
mechanically, and provided with stoves to heat the blast by the furnace
gases. The low percentage of sulphur in the roasted ore is little more
than enough to produce a matte of 40 to 45%, and therefore the escaping
gases are better fitted than those of most copper cupola furnaces for
burning in a stove. But as the slag carries on an average 46% of silica,
it is only through the utmost skill that it can be made to run as low on
an average as 0.3% in copper oxide. As the matte contains on an average
0.2% of silver, it is still treated by the Ziervogel wet method of
extraction, the management dreading the loss which might occur in the
Bessemer process of concentration, applied as preliminary to
electrolytic separation. Blast furnaces of large size, built of brick,
have been constructed for treating the richest and more silicious ores
of Rio Tinto, and the Rio Tinto Company has introduced converters at
the mine. This method of extraction contrasts favourably in time with
the leaching process, which is so slow that over 10,000,000 tons of ore
are always under treatment on the immense leaching floors of the
company's works in Spain. In the United States the cupola has undergone
a radical modification in being built of water-jacketed sections. The
first water-jacketed cupola which came into general use was a circular
inverted cone, with a slight taper, of 36 inches diameter at the
tuyeres, and composed of an outer and an inner metal shell, between
which water circulated. As greater size has been demanded, oval and
rectangular furnaces--as large as 180 in. by 56 in. at the tuyeres--have
been built in sections of cast or sheet iron or steel. A single section
can be removed and replaced without entirely emptying the stack, as a
shell of congealed slag always coats the inner surface of the jacket.
The largest furnaces are those of the Boston & Montana Company at Great
Falls, Montana, which have put through 500 tons of charge daily, pouring
their melted slag and matte into large wells of 10 ft. in diameter. A
combined brick- and water-cooled furnace has been adopted by the Iron
Mountain Company at Keswick, Cal., for matte concentration. In it the
cooling is effected by water pipes, interposed horizontally between the
layers of bricks. The Mt. Lyell smelting works in Tasmania, which are of
special interest, will be referred to later. (See PYRITIC SMELTING
below.)
_Concentrating Matte to Copper in the Bessemer Converter._--As soon as
the pneumatic method of decarburizing pig iron was accepted as
practicable, experiments were made with a view to Bessemerizing copper
ores and mattes. One of the earliest and most exhaustive series of
experiments was made on Rio Tinto ores at the John Brown works by John
Hollway, with the aim of both smelting the ore and concentrating the
matte in the same furnace, by the heat evolved through the oxidation of
their sulphur and iron. Experiments along the same lines were made by
Francis Bawden at Rio Tinto and Claude Vautin in Australia. The
difficulty of effecting this double object in one operation was so great
that in subsequent experiments the aim was merely to concentrate the
matte to metallic copper in converters of the Bessemer type. The
concentration was effected without any embarrassment till metallic
copper commenced to separate and chill in the bottom tuyeres. To meet
this obstacle P. Manhès proposed elevated side tuyeres, which could be
kept clear by punching through gates in a wind box. His invention was
adopted by the Vivians, at the Eguilles works near Sargues, Vaucluse,
France, and at Leghorn in Italy. But the greatest expansion of this
method has been in the United States, where more than 400,000,000 lb.
of copper are annually made in Bessemer converters. Vessels of several
designs are used--some modelled exactly after steel converters, others
barrel-shaped, but all with side tuyeres elevated about 10 in. above the
level of the bottom lining. Practice, however, in treating copper matte
differs essentially from the treatment of pig iron, inasmuch as from 20
to 30% of iron must be eliminated as slag and an equivalent quantity of
silica must be supplied. The only practical mode of doing this, as yet
devised, is by lining the converter with a silicious mixture. This is so
rapidly consumed that the converters must be cooled and partially
relined after 3 to 6 charges, dependent on the iron contents of the
matte. When available, a silicious rock containing copper or the
precious metals is of course preferred to barren lining. The material
for lining, and the frequent replacement thereof, constitute the
principal expense of the method. The other items of cost are _labour_,
the quantity of which depends on the mechanical appliances provided for
handling the converter shells and inserting the lining; and the _blast_,
which in barrel-shaped converters is low and in vertical converters is
high, and which varies therefore from 3 to 15 lb. to the square inch.
The quantity of air consumed in a converter which will blow up about 35
tons of matte per day is about 3000 cub. ft. per minute. The operation
of raising a charge of 50% matte to copper usually consists of two
blows. The first blow occupies about 25 minutes, and oxidizes all but a
small quantity of the iron and some of the sulphur, raising the product
to white metal. The slag is then poured and skimmed, the blast turned on
and converter retilted. During the second blow the sulphur is rapidly
oxidized, and the charge reduced to metal of 99% in from 30 to 40
minutes. Little or no slag results from the second blow. That from the
first blow contains between 1% and 2% of copper, and is usually poured
from ladles operated by an electric crane into a reverberatory, or into
the settling well of the cupola. The matte also, in all economically
planned works, is conveyed, still molten, by electric cranes from the
furnace to the converters. When lead or zinc is not present in notable
quantity, the loss of the precious metals by volatilization is slight,
but more than 5% of these metals in the matte is prohibitive. Under
favourable conditions in the larger works of the United States the cost
of converting a 50% matte to metallic copper is generally understood to
be only about 5/10 to 6/10 of a cent per lb.. of refined copper.
_Pyritic Smelting._--The heat generated by the oxidation of iron and
sulphur has always been used to maintain combustion in the kilns or
stalls for roasting pyrites. Pyritic smelting is a development of the
Russian engineer Semenikov's treatment (proposed in 1866) of copper
matte in a Bessemer converter. Since John Hollway's and other early
experiments of Lawrence Austin and Robert Sticht, no serious attempts
have been made to utilize the heat escaping from a converting vessel in
smelting ore and matte either in the same apparatus or in a separate
furnace. But considerable progress has been made in smelting highly
sulphuretted ores by the heat of their own oxidizable constituents. At
Tilt Cove, Newfoundland, the Cape Copper Company smelted copper ore,
with just the proper proportion of sulphur, iron and silica,
successfully without any fuel, when once the initial charge had been
fused with coke. The furnaces used were of ordinary design and built of
brick. Lump ore alone was fed, and the resulting matte showed a
concentration of only 3 into 1. When, however, a hot blast is used on
highly sulphuretted copper ores, a concentration of 8 of ore into 1 of
matte is obtained, with a consumption of less than one-third the fuel
which would be consumed in smelting the charge had the ore been
previously calcined. A great impetus to pyritic smelting was given by
the investigations of W. L. Austin, of Denver, Colorado, and both at
Leadville and Silverton raw ores are successfully smelted with as low a
fuel consumption as 3 of coke to 100 of charge.
Two types of pyritic smelting may be distinguished: one, in which the
operation is solely sustained by the combustion of the sulphur in the
ores, without the assistance of fuel or a hot blast; the other in which
the operation is accelerated by fuel, or a hot blast, or both. The
largest establishment in which advantage is taken of the self-contained
fuel is at the smelting works of the Mt. Lyell Company, Tasmania. There
the blast is raised from 600° to 700° F. in stoves heated by extraneous
fuel, and the raw ore smelted with only 3% of coke. The ore is a compact
iron pyrites containing copper 2.5%, silver 3.83 oz., gold 0.139 oz. It
is smelted raw with hot blast in cupola furnaces, the largest being 210
in. by 40 in. The resulting matte runs 25%. This is reconcentrated raw
in hot-blast cupolas to 55%, and blown directly into copper in
converters. Thus these ores, as heavily charged with sulphur as those of
the Rio Tinto, are speedily reduced by three operations and without
roasting, with a saving of 97.6% of the copper, 93.2% of the silver and
93.6% of the gold.
Pyritic smelting has met with a varying economic success. According to
Herbert Lang, its most prominent chance of success is in localities
where fuel is dear, and the ores contain precious metals and sufficient
sulphides and arsenides to render profitable dressing unnecessary.
_The Nicholls and James Process._--Nicholls and James have applied, very
ingeniously, well-known reactions to the refining of copper, raised to
the grade of white metal. This process is practised by the Cape Copper
and Elliot Metal Company. A portion of the white metal is calcined to
such a degree of oxidation that when fused with the unroasted portion,
the reaction between the oxygen in the roasted matte and the sulphur in
the raw material liberates the metallic copper. The metal is so pure
that it can be refined by a continuous operation in the same furnace.
_Wet Methods for Copper Extraction._--Wet methods are only employed for
low grade ores (under favourable circumstances ore containing from ¼ to
1% of copper has admitted of economic treatment), and for gold and
silver bearing metallurgical products.
The fundamental principle consists in getting the ore into a solution,
from which the metal can be precipitated. The ores of any economic
importance contain the copper either as oxide, carbonate, sulphate or
sulphide. These compounds are got into solution either as chlorides or
sulphates, and from either of these salts the metal can be readily
obtained. Ores in which the copper is present as oxide or carbonate are
soluble in sulphuric or hydrochloric acids, ferrous chloride, ferric
sulphate, ammoniacal compounds and sodium thiosulphate. Of these
solvents, only the first three are of economic importance. The choice of
sulphuric or hydrochloric acid depends mainly upon the cost, both acting
with about the same rapidity; thus if a Leblanc soda factory is near at
hand, then hydrochloric acid would most certainly be employed. Ferrous
chloride is not much used; the Douglas-Hunt process uses a mixture of
salt and ferrous sulphate which involves the formation of ferrous
chloride, and the new Douglas-Hunt process employs sulphuric acid in
which ferrous chloride is added after leaching.
Sulphuric acid may be applied as such on the ores placed in lead, brick,
or stone chambers; or as a mixture of sulphur dioxide, nitrous fumes
(generated from Chile saltpetre and sulphuric acid), and steam, which
permeates the ore resting on the false bottom of a brick chamber. When
most of the copper has been converted into the sulphate, the ore is
lixiviated. Hydrochloric acid is applied in the same way as sulphuric
acid; it has certain advantages of which the most important is that it
does not admit the formation of basic salts; its chief disadvantage is
that it dissolves the oxides of iron, and accordingly must not be used
for highly ferriferous ores. The solubility of copper carbonate in
ferrous chloride solution was pointed out by Max Schaffner in 1862, and
the subsequent recognition of the solubility of the oxide in the same
solvent by James Douglas and Sterry Hunt resulted in the "Douglas-Hunt"
process for the wet extraction of copper. Ferrous chloride decomposes
the copper oxide and carbonate with the formation of cuprous and cupric
chlorides (which remain in solution), and the precipitation of ferrous
oxide, carbon dioxide being simultaneously liberated from the carbonate.
In the original form of the Douglas-Hunt process, ferrous chloride was
formed by the interaction of sodium chloride (common salt) with ferrous
sulphate (green vitriol), the sodium sulphate formed at the same time
being removed by crystallization. The ground ore was stirred with this
solution at 70° C. in wooden tubs until all the copper was dissolved.
The liquor was then filtered from the iron oxides, and the filtrate
treated with scrap iron, which precipitated the copper and reformed
ferrous chloride, which could be used in the first stage of the process.
The advantage of this method rests chiefly on the small amount of iron
required; but its disadvantages are that any silver present in the ores
goes into solution, the formation of basic salts, and the difficulty of
filtering from the iron oxides. A modification of the method was
designed to remedy these defects. The ore is first treated with dilute
sulphuric acid, and then ferrous or calcium chloride added, thus forming
copper chlorides. If calcium chloride be used the precipitated calcium
sulphate must be removed by filtration. Sulphur dioxide is then blown
in, and the precipitate is treated with iron, which produces metallic
copper, or milk of lime, which produces cuprous oxide. Hot air is blown
into the filtrate, which contains ferrous or calcium chlorides, to expel
the excess of sulphur dioxide, and the liquid can then be used again. In
this process ("new Douglas-Hunt") there are no iron oxides formed, the
silver is not dissolved, and the quantity of iron necessary is
relatively small, since all the copper is in the cuprous condition. It
is not used in the treatment of ores, but finds application in the case
of calcined argentiferous lead and copper mattes.
The precipitation of the copper from the solution, in which it is
present as sulphate, or as cuprous and cupric chlorides, is generally
effected by metallic iron. Either wrought, pig, iron sponge or iron bars
are employed, and it is important to notice that the form in which the
copper is precipitated, and also the time taken for the separation,
largely depend upon the condition in which the iron is applied. Spongy
iron acts most rapidly, and after this follow iron turnings and then
sheet clippings. Other precipitants such as sulphuretted hydrogen and
solutions of sulphides, which precipitate the copper as sulphides, and
milk of lime, which gives copper oxides, have not met with commercial
success. When using iron as the precipitant, it is desirable that the
solution should be as neutral as possible, and the quantity of ferric
salts present should be reduced to a minimum; otherwise, a certain
amount of iron would be used up by the free acid and in reducing the
ferric salts. Ores in which the copper is present as sulphate are
directly lixiviated and treated with iron. Mine waters generally contain
the copper in this form, and it is extracted by conducting the waters
along troughs fitted with iron gratings.
The wet extraction of metallic copper from ores in which it occurs as
the sulphide, may be considered to involve the following operations: (1)
conversion of the copper into a soluble form, (2) dissolving out the
soluble copper salt, (3) the precipitation of the copper. Copper
sulphide may be converted either into the sulphate, which is soluble in
water; the oxide, soluble in sulphuric or hydrochloric acid; cupric
chloride, soluble in water; or cuprous chloride, which is soluble in
solutions of metallic chlorides.
The conversion into sulphate is generally effected by the oxidizing
processes of weathering, calcination, heating with iron nitrate or
ferric sulphate. It may also be accomplished by calcination with ferrous
sulphate, or other easily decomposable sulphates, such as aluminium
sulphate. Weathering is a very slow, and, therefore, an expensive
process; moreover, the entire conversion is only accomplished after a
number of years. Calcination is only advisable for ores which contain
relatively much iron pyrites and little copper pyrites. Also, however
slowly the calcination may be conducted, there is always more or less
copper sulphide left unchanged, and some copper oxide formed.
Calcination with ferrous sulphate converts all the copper sulphide into
sulphate. Heap roasting has been successfully employed at Agordo, in the
Venetian Alps, and at Majdanpek in Servia. Josef Perino's process, which
consists in heating the ore with iron nitrate to 50°-150° C., is said to
possess several advantages, but it has not been applied commercially.
Ferric sulphate is only used as an auxiliary to the weathering process
and in an electrolytic process.
The conversion of the sulphide into oxide is adopted where the
Douglas-Hunt process is employed, or where hydrochloric or sulphuric
acids are cheap. The calcination is effected in reverberatory furnaces,
or in muffle furnaces, if the sulphur is to be recovered. Heap, stall or
shaft furnace roasting is not very satisfactory, as it is very difficult
to transform all the sulphide into oxide.
The conversion of copper sulphide into the chlorides may be accomplished
by calcining with common salt, or by treating the ores with ferrous
chloride and hydrochloric acid or with ferric chloride. The dry way is
best; the wet way is only employed when fuel is very dear, or when it is
absolutely necessary that no noxious vapours should escape into the
atmosphere. The dry method consists in an oxidizing roasting of the
ores, and a subsequent chloridizing roasting with either common salt or
_Abraumsalz_ in reverberatory or muffle furnaces. The bulk of the copper
is thus transformed into cupric chloride, little cuprous chloride being
obtained. This method had been long proposed by William Longmaid, Max
Schaffner, Becchi and Haupt, but was only introduced into England by the
labours of William Henderson, J. A. Phillips and others. The wet method
is employed at Rio Tinto, the particular variant being known as the
"Dötsch" process. This consists in stacking the broken ore in heaps and
adding a mixture of sodium sulphate and ferric chloride in the
proportions necessary for the entire conversion of the iron into ferric
sulphate. The heaps are moistened with ferric chloride solution, and the
reaction is maintained by the liquid percolating through the heap. The
liquid is run off at the base of the heaps into the precipitating tanks,
where the copper is thrown down by means of metallic iron. The ferrous
chloride formed at the same time is converted into ferric chloride which
can be used to moisten the heaps. This conversion is effected by
allowing the ferrous chloride liquors slowly to descend a tower, filled
with pieces of wood, coke or quartz, where it meets an ascending current
of chlorine.
The sulphate, oxide or chlorides, which are obtained from the
sulphuretted ores, are lixiviated and the metal precipitated in the same
manner as we have previously described.
The metal so obtained is known as "cement" copper. If it contains more
than 55% of copper it is directly refined, while if it contains a lower
percentage it is smelted with matte or calcined copper pyrites. The
chief impurities are basic salts of iron, free iron, graphite, and
sometimes silica, antimony and iron arsenates. Washing removes some of
these impurities, but some copper always passes into the slimes. If much
carbonaceous matter be present (and this is generally so when iron
sponge is used as the precipitant) the crude product is heated to
redness in the air; this burns out the carbon, and, at the same time,
oxidizes a little of the copper, which must be subsequently reduced. A
similar operation is conducted when arsenic is present; basic-lined
reverberatory furnaces have been used for the same purpose.
_Electrolytic Refining._--The principles have long been known on which
is based the electrolytic separation of copper from the certain elements
which generally accompany it, whether these, like silver and gold, are
valuable, or, like arsenic, antimony, bismuth, selenium and tellurium,
are merely impurities. But it was not until the dynamo was improved as a
machine for generating large quantities of electricity at a very low
cost that the electrolysis of copper could be practised on a commercial
scale. To-day, by reason of other uses to which electricity is applied,
electrically deposited copper of high conductivity is in ever-increasing
demand, and commands a higher price than copper refined by fusion. This
increase in value permits of copper with not over £2 or $10 worth of the
precious metals being profitably subjected to electrolytic treatment.
Thus many million ounces of silver and a great deal of gold are
recovered which formerly were lost.
The earliest serious attempt to refine copper industrially was made by
G. R. Elkington, whose first patent is dated 1865. He cast crude copper,
as obtained from the ore, into plates which were used as anodes, sheets
of electro-deposited copper forming the cathodes. Six anodes were
suspended, alternately with four cathodes, in a saturated solution of
copper sulphate in a cylindrical fire-clay trough, all the anodes being
connected in one parallel group, and all the cathodes in another. A
hundred or more jars were coupled in series, the cathodes of one to the
anodes of the next, and were so arranged that with the aid of side-pipes
with leaden connexions and india-rubber joints the electrolyte could,
once daily, be made to circulate through them all from the top of one
jar to the bottom of the next. The current from a Wilde's dynamo was
passed, apparently with a current density of 5 or 6 amperes per sq. ft.,
until the anodes were too crippled for further use. The cathodes, when
thick enough, were either cast and rolled or sent into the market
direct. Silver and other insoluble impurities collected at the bottom of
the trough up to the level of the lower side-tube, and were then run off
through a plug in the bottom into settling tanks, from which they were
removed for metallurgical treatment. The electrolyte was used until the
accumulation of iron in it was too great, but was mixed from time to
time with a little water acidulated by sulphuric acid. This process is
of historic interest, and in principle it is identical with that now
used. The modifications introduced have been chiefly in details, in
order to economize materials and labour, to ensure purity of product,
and to increase the rate of deposition.
The chemistry of the process has been studied by Martin Kiliani
(_Berg- und Hüttenmännische Zeitung_, 1885, p. 249), who found that,
using the (low) current-density of 1.8 ampere per sq. ft. of cathode,
and an electrolyte containing 1½ lb. of copper sulphate and ½ lb. of
sulphuric acid per gallon, all the gold, platinum and silver present
in the crude copper anode remain as metals, undissolved, in the anode
slime or mud, and all the lead remains there as sulphate, formed by
the action of the sulphuric acid (or SO4 ions); he found also that
arsenic forms arsenious oxide, which dissolves until the solution is
saturated, and then remains in the slime, from which on long standing
it gradually dissolves, after conversion by secondary reactions into
arsenic oxide; antimony forms a basic sulphate which in part
dissolves; bismuth partly dissolves and partly remains, but the
dissolved portion tends slowly to separate out as a basic salt which
becomes added to the slime; cuprous oxide, sulphide and selenides
remain in the slime, and very slowly pass into solution by simple
chemical action; tin partly dissolves (but in part separates again as
basic salt) and partly remains as basic sulphate and stannic oxide;
zinc, iron, nickel and cobalt pass into solution--more readily indeed
than does the copper. Of the metals which dissolve, none (except
bismuth, which is rarely present in any quantity) deposits at the
anode so long as the solution retains its proper proportion of copper
and acid, and the current-density is not too great. Neutral solutions
are to be avoided because in them silver dissolves from the anode and,
being more electro-negative than copper, is deposited at the cathode,
while antimony and arsenic are also deposited, imparting a dark colour
to the copper. Electrolytic copper should contain at least 99.92% of
metallic copper, the balance consisting mainly of oxygen with not more
than 0.01% in all of lead, arsenic, antimony, bismuth and silver. Such
a degree of purity is, however, unattainable unless the conditions of
electrolysis are rigidly adhered to. It should be observed that the
free acid is gradually neutralized, partly by chemical action on
certain constituents of the slime, partly by local action between
different metals of the anode, both of which effect solution
independently of the current, and partly by the peroxidation (or
aëration) of ferrous sulphate formed from the iron in the anode. At
the same time there is a gradual substitution of other metals for
copper in the solution, because although copper _plus_ other (more
electro-positive) metals are constantly dissolving at the anode, only
copper is deposited at the cathode. Hence the composition and acidity
of the solution, on which so much depends, must be constantly watched.
The dependence of the mechanical qualities of the copper upon the
current-density employed is well known. A very weak current gives a
pale and brittle deposit, but as the current-density is increased up
to a certain point, the properties of the metal improve; beyond this
point they deteriorate, the colour becoming darker and the deposit
less coherent, until at last it is dark brown and spongy or
pulverulent. The presence of even a small proportion of hydrochloric
acid imparts a brown tint to the deposit. Baron H. v. Hübl (_Mittheil.
des k. k. militär-geograph. Inst._, 1886, vol. vi. p. 51) has found
that with neutral solutions a 5% solution of copper sulphate gave no
good result, while with a 20% solution the best deposit was obtained
with a current-density of 28 amperes per sq. ft.; with solutions
containing 2% of sulphuric acid, the 5% solution gave good deposits
with current-densities of 4 to 7.5 amperes, and the 20% solution with
11.5 to 37 amperes, per sq. ft. The maximum current-densities for a
_pure_ acid solution at rest were: for 15% pure copper sulphate
solutions 14 to 21 amperes, and for 20% solutions 18.5 to 28 amperes,
per sq. ft.; but when the solutions were kept in gentle motion these
maxima could be increased to 21-28 and 28-37 amperes per sq. ft.
respectively. The necessity for adjusting the current-density to the
composition and treatment of the electrolyte is thus apparent. The
advantage of keeping the solution in motion is due partly to the
renewal of solution thus effected in the neighbourhood of the
electrodes, and partly to the neutralization of the tendency of
liquids undergoing electrolysis to separate into layers, due to the
different specific gravities of the solutions flowing from the
opposing electrodes. Such an irregular distribution of the bath, with
strong copper sulphate solution from the anode at the bottom and acid
solution from the cathode at the top, not only alters the conductivity
in different strata and so causes irregular current-distribution, but
may lead to the current-density in the upper layers being too great
for the proportion of copper there present. Irregular and defective
deposits are therefore obtained. Provision for circulation of solution
is made in the systems of copper-refining now in use. Henry Wilde, in
1875, in depositing copper on iron printing-rollers, recognized this
principle and rotated the rollers during electrolysis, thereby
renewing the surfaces of metal and liquid in mutual contact, and
imparting sufficient motion to the solution to prevent stratification;
as an alternative he imparted motion to the electrolyte by means of
propeller blades. Other workers have followed more or less on the same
lines; reference may be made to the patents of F. E. and A. S. Elmore,
who sought to improve the character of the deposit by burnishing
during electrolysis, of E. Dumoulin, and Sherard Cowper-Coles
(_Engineering Review_, 1905, vol. xiii. p. 392), who prefers to rotate
the cathode at a speed that maintains a peripheral velocity of at
least 1000 ft. per minute. Certain other inventors have applied the
same principle in a different way. H. Thofehrn in America and J. C.
Graham in England have patented processes by which jets of the
electrolyte are caused to impinge with considerable force upon the
surface of the cathode, so that the renewal of the liquid at this
point takes place very rapidly, and current-densities per sq. ft. of
50 to 100 amperes are recommended by the former, and of 300 amperes by
the latter. Graham has described experiments in this direction, using
a jet of electrolyte forced (beneath the surface of the bath) through
a hole in the anode upon the surface of the cathode. Whilst the jet
was playing, a good deposit was formed with so high a current-density
as 280 amperes per sq. ft., but if the jet was checked, the deposit
(now in a still liquid) was instantaneously ruined. When two or more
jets were used side by side the deposit was good opposite the centre
of each, but bad at the point where two currents met, because the rate
of flow was reduced. By introducing perforated shields of ebonite
between the electrodes, so that the full current-density was only
attained at the centres of the jets, these ill effects could be
prevented. One of the chief troubles met with was the formation of
arborescent growths around the edges of the cathode, due to the
greater current-density in this region; this, however, was also
obviated by the use of screens. By means of a very brisk rotation of
cathode, combined with a rapid current of electrolyte, J. W. Swan has
succeeded in depositing excellent copper at current-densities
exceeding 1000 amperes per sq. ft. The methods by which such results
are to be obtained cannot, however, as yet be practised economically
on a working scale; one great difficulty in applying them to the
refining of metals is that the jets of liquid would be liable to carry
with them articles of anode mud, and Swan has shown that the presence
of solid particles in the electrolyte is one of the most fruitful
causes of the well-known nodular growths on electro-deposited copper.
Experiments on a working scale with one of the jet processes in
America have, it is reported, been given up after a full trial.
In copper-refining practice, the current-density commonly ranges from
7.5 to 12 or 15, and occasionally to 18, amperes per sq. ft. The
electrical pressure required to force a current of this intensity
through the solution, and to overcome a certain opposing electromotive
force arising from the more electro-negative impurities of the anode,
depends upon the composition of the bath and of the anodes, the
distance between the electrodes, and the temperature, but under the
usual working conditions averages 0.3 volt for every pair of
electrodes in series. In nearly all the processes now used, the
solution contains about 1½ to 2 lb. of copper sulphate and from 5 to
10 oz. of sulphuric acid per gallon of water, and the space between
the electrodes is from 1½ to 2 in., whilst the total area of cathode
surface in each tank may be 200 sq. ft., more or less. The anodes are
usually cast copper plates about (say) 3 ft. by 2 ft. by ¾ or 1 in.
The cathodes are frequently of electro-deposited copper, deposited to
a thickness of about 1/32 in. on black-leaded copper plates, from
which they are stripped before use. The tanks are commonly constructed
of wood lined with lead, or tarred inside, and are placed in terrace
fashion each a little higher than the next in series, to facilitate
the flow of solution through them all from a cistern at one end to a
well at the other. Gangways are left between adjoining rows of tanks,
and an overhead travelling-crane facilitates the removal of the
electrodes. The arrangement of the tanks depends largely upon the
voltage available from the electric generator selected; commonly they
are divided into groups, all the baths in each group being in series.
In the huge Anaconda plant, for example, in which 150 tons of refined
copper can be produced daily by the Thofehrn multiple system (not the
jet system alluded to above), there are 600 tanks about 8¼ ft. by 4½
ft. by 3¼ ft. deep, arranged in three groups of 200 tanks in series.
The connexions are made by copper rods, each of which, in length, is
twice the width of the tank, with a bayonet-bend in the middle, and
serves to support the cathodes in the one and the anodes in the next
tank. Self-registering voltmeters indicate at any moment the potential
difference in every tank, and therefore give notice of short circuits
occurring at any part of the installation. The chief differences
between the commercial systems of refining lie in the arrangement of
the baths, in the disposition and manner of supporting the electrodes
in each, in the method of circulating the solution, and in the
current-density employed. The various systems are often classed in two
groups, known respectively as the _Multiple_ and _Series_ systems,
depending upon the arrangement of the electrodes in each tank. Under
the multiple system anodes and cathodes are placed alternately, all
the anodes in one tank being connected to one rod, and all the
cathodes to another, and the potential difference between the
terminals of each tank is that between a single pair of plates. Under
the series system only the first anode and the last cathode are
connected to the conductors; between these are suspended, isolated
from one another, a number of intermediate bi-polar electrode plates
of raw copper, each of these plates acting on one side as a cathode,
receiving a deposit of copper, and on the other as an anode, passing
into solution; the voltage between the terminals of the tank will be
as many times as great as that between a single pair of plates as
there are spaces between electrodes in the tank. In time the original
impure copper of the plates becomes replaced by refined copper, but if
the plates are initially very impure and dissolve irregularly, it may
happen that much residual scrap may have to be remelted, or that some
of the metal may be twice refined, thus involving a waste of energy.
Moreover, the high potential difference between the terminals of the
series tank introduces a greater danger of short-circuiting through
scraps of metal at the bottom of the bath; for this reason, also,
lead-lined vats are inadmissible, and tarred slate tanks are often
used instead. A valuable comparison of the multiple and series systems
has been published by E. Keller (see _The Mineral Industry_, New York,
1899, vol. vii. p. 229). G. Kroupa has calculated that the cost of
refining is 8s. per ton of copper higher under the series than it is
under the multiple system; but against this, it must be remembered
that the new works of the Baltimore Copper Smelting and Rolling
Company, which are as large as those of the Anaconda Copper Mining
Company, are using the Hayden process, which is the chief
representative of the several series systems. In this system rolled
copper anodes are used; these, being purer than many cast anodes,
having flat surfaces, and being held in place by guides, dissolve with
great regularity and require a space of only 5/8 in. between the
electrodes, so that the potential difference between each pair of
plates may be reduced to 0.15-0.2 volt.
J. A. W. Borchers, in Germany, and A. E. Schneider and O. Szontagh, in
America, have introduced a method of circulating the solution in each
vat by forcing air into a vertical pipe communicating between the
bottom and top of a tank, with the result that the bubbling of the air
upward aspirates solution through the vertical pipe from below, at the
same time aërating it, and causing it to overflow into the top of the
tank. Obviously this slow circulation has but little effect on the
rate at which the copper may be deposited. The electrolyte, when too
impure for further use, is commonly recrystallized, or electrolysed
with insoluble anodes to recover the copper.
The yield of copper per ampere (in round numbers, 1 oz. of copper per
ampere per diem) by Faraday's law is never attained in practice; and
although 98% may with care be obtained, from 94 to 96% represents the
more usual current-efficiency. With 100% current-efficiency and a
potential difference of 0.3 volt between the electrodes, 1 lb. of
copper should require about 0.154 electrical horse-power hours as the
amount of energy to be expended in the tank for its production. In
practice the expenditure is somewhat greater than this; in large works
the gross horse-power required for the refining itself and for power
and lighting in the factory may not exceed 0.19 to 0.2 (or in smaller
works 0.25) horse-power hours per pound of copper refined.
Many attempts have been made to use crude sulphide of copper or matte
as an anode, and recover the copper at the cathode, the sulphur and
other insoluble constituents being left at the anode. The best known
of these is the Marchese process, which was tested on a working scale
at Genoa and Stolberg in Rhenish Prussia. As the operation proceeded,
it was found that the voltage had to be raised until it became
prohibitive, while the anodes rapidly became honeycombed through and,
crumbling away, filled up the space at the bottom of the vat. The
process was abandoned, but in a modified form appears to be now in use
in Nijni-Novgorod in Russia. Siemens and Halske introduced a combined
process in which the ore, after being part-roasted, is leached by
solutions from a previous electrolytic operation, and the resulting
copper solution electrolysed. In this process the anode solution had
to be kept separate from the cathode solution, and the membrane which
had in consequence to be used, was liable to become torn, and so to
cause trouble by permitting the two solutions to mix. Modifications of
the process have therefore been tried.
Modern methods in copper smelting and refining have effected enormous
economy in time, space, and labour, and have consequently increased the
world's output. With pyritic smelting a sulphuretted copper ore, fed
into a cupola in the morning, can be passed directly to the converter,
blown up to metal, and shipped as 99% bars by evening--an operation
which formerly, with heap roasting of the ore and repeated roasting of
the mattes in stalls, would have occupied not less than four months. A
large furnace and a Bessemer converter, the pair capable of making a
million pounds of copper a month from a low-grade sulphuretted ore, will
not occupy a space of more than 25ft. by 100ft.; and whereas, in making
metallic copper out of a low-grade sulphuretted ore, one day's labour
used to be expended on every ton of ore treated, to-day one day's labour
will carry at least four tons of ore through the different mechanical
and metallurgical processes necessary to reduce them to metal. About 70%
of the world's annual copper output is refined electrolytically, and
from the 461,583 tons refined in the United States in 1907, there were
recovered 13,995,436 oz. of silver and 272,150 oz. of gold. The recovery
of these valuable metals has contributed in no small degree to the
expansion of electrolytic refining.
_Production._--The sources of copper, its applications and its
metallurgy, have undergone great changes. Chile was the largest producer
in 1869 with 54,867 tons; but in 1899 her production had fallen off to
25,000 tons. Great Britain, though she had made half the world's copper
in 1830, held second place in 1860, making from native ores 15,968 tons;
in 1900 her production was 777 tons, and in 1907, 711 tons. The United
States made only 572 tons in 1850, and 12,600 tons in 1870; but she
to-day makes more than 60% of the world's total. In 1879, Spain was the
largest producer, but now ranks third.
The estimated total production for each decade of the 19th century in
metric tons is here shown:--
1801-1810 91,000
1811-1820 96,000
1821-1830 135,000
1831-1840 218,400
1841-1850 291,000
1851-1860 506,999
1861-1870 900,000
1871-1880 1,189,000
1881-1890 2,373,398
1891-1900 3,708,901
The following table gives the output of various countries and the
world's production for the years 1895, 1900, 1905, 1907:--
+---------------------+----------+----------+----------+---------+
| Country. | 1895. | 1900. | 1905. | 1907. |
+---------------------+----------+----------+----------+---------+
| United States | 175,294 | 274,933 | 397,003 | 398,736 |
| Spain and Portugal | 55,755 | 53,718 | 45,527 | 50,470 |
| Japan | 18,725 | 28,285 | 36,485 | 49,718 |
| Chile | 22,428 | 26,016 | 29,632 | 27,112 |
| Germany | 16,799 | 20,635 | 22,492 | 20,818 |
| Australasia | 10,160 | 23,368 | 34,483 | 41,910 |
| Mexico | 12,806 | 22,473 | 70,010 | 61,127 |
| Russia | 5,364 | 8,128 | 8,839 | 15,240 |
| +----------+----------+----------+---------+
| World's production | 339,994 | 496,819 | 699,514 | 723,807 |
+---------------------+----------+----------+----------+---------+
As the stock on hand rarely exceeds three months' demand, and is often
little more than a month's supply, it is evident that consumption has
kept close pace with production.
The large demand for copper to be used in sheathing ships ceased on the
introduction of iron in shipbuilding because of the difficulty of
coating iron with an impervious layer of copper; but the consumption in
the manufacture of electric apparatus and for electric conductors has
far more than compensated.
_Alloys of Copper._--Copper unites with almost all other metals, and a
large number of its alloys are of importance in the arts. The
principal alloys in which it forms a leading ingredient are brass,
bronze, and German or nickel silver; under these several heads their
respective applications and qualities will be found.
Oxides and hydroxides.
_Compounds of Copper._--Copper probably forms six oxides, viz. Cu4O,
Cu3O, Cu2O, CuO, Cu2O3 and CuO2. The most important are cuprous oxide,
Cu2O, and cupric oxide, CuO, both of which give rise to well-defined
series of salts. The other oxides do not possess this property, as is
also the case of the hydrated oxides Cu3O22H2O and Cu4O35H2O,
described by M. Siewert.
Cuprous oxide, Cu2O, occurs in nature as the mineral cuprite (q.v.).
It may be prepared artificially by heating copper wire to a white
heat, and afterwards at a red heat, by the atmospheric oxidation of
copper reduced in hydrogen, or by the slow oxidation of the metal
under water. It is obtained as a fine red crystalline precipitate by
reducing an alkaline copper solution with sugar. When finely divided
it is of a fine red colour. It fuses at red heat, and colours glass a
ruby-red. The property was known to the ancients and during the middle
ages; it was then lost for several centuries, to be rediscovered in
about 1827. Cuprous oxide is reduced by hydrogen, carbon monoxide,
charcoal, or iron, to the metal; it dissolves in hydrochloric acid
forming cuprous chloride, and in other mineral acids to form cupric
salts, with the separation of copper. It dissolves in ammonia, forming
a colourless solution which rapidly oxidizes and turns blue. A
hydrated cuprous oxide, (4Cu2O, H2O), is obtained as a bright yellow
powder, when cuprous chloride is treated with potash or soda. It
rapidly absorbs oxygen, assuming a blue colour. Cuprous oxide
corresponds to the series of cuprous salts, which are mostly white in
colour, insoluble in water, and readily oxidized to cupric salts.
Cupric oxide, CuO, occurs in nature as the mineral melaconite (q.v.),
and can be obtained as a hygroscopic black powder by the gentle
ignition of copper nitrate, carbonate or hydroxide; also by heating
the hydroxide. It oxidizes carbon compounds to carbon dioxide and
water, and therefore finds extensive application in analytical organic
chemistry. It is also employed to colour glass, to which it imparts a
light green colour. Cupric hydroxide, Cu(OH)2, is obtained as a
greenish-blue flocculent precipitate by mixing cold solutions of
potash and a cupric salt. This precipitate always contains more or
less potash, which cannot be entirely removed by washing. A purer
product is obtained by adding ammonium chloride, filtering, and
washing with hot water. Several hydrated oxides, e.g. Cu(OH)2·3CuO,
Cu(OH)2·6H2O, 6CuO·H2O, have been described. Both the oxide
and hydroxide dissolve in ammonia to form a beautiful azure-blue
solution (Schweizer's reagent), which dissolves cellulose, or perhaps,
holds it in suspension as water does starch; accordingly, the solution
rapidly perforates paper or calico. The salts derived from cupric
oxide are generally white when anhydrous, but blue or green when
hydrated.
Copper quadrantoxide, Cu4O, is an olive-green powder formed by mixing
well-cooled solutions of copper sulphate and alkaline stannous
chloride. The trientoxide, Cu3O, is obtained when cupric oxide is
heated to 1500°-2000° C. It forms yellowish-red crystals, which
scratch glass, and are unaffected by all acids except hydrofluoric; it
also dissolves in molten potash. Copper dioxide, CuO2H2O, is obtained
as a yellowish-brown powder, by treating cupric hydrate with hydrogen
peroxide. When moist, it decomposes at about 6° C., but the dry
substance must be heated to about 180°, before decomposition sets in
(see L. Moser, _Abst. J.C.S._, 1907, ii. p. 549).
Cuprous hydride, (CuH)n, was first obtained by Wurtz in 1844, who
treated a solution of copper sulphate with hypophosphorous acid, at a
temperature not exceeding 70° C. According to E. J. Bartlett and W. H.
Merrill, it decomposes when heated, and gives cupric hydride, CuH2, as
a reddish-brown spongy mass, which turns to a chocolate colour on
exposure. It is a strong reducing agent.
Cuprous fluoride, CuF, is a ruby-red crystalline mass, formed by
heating cuprous chloride in an atmosphere of hydrofluoric acid at
1100°-1200° C. It is soluble in boiling hydrochloric acid, but it is
not reprecipitated by water, as is the case with cuprous chloride.
Cupric fluoride, CuF2, is obtained by dissolving cupric oxide in
hydrofluoric acid. The hydrated form, (CuF2, 2H2O, 5HF), is obtained
as blue crystals, sparingly soluble in cold water; when heated to 100°
C. it gives the compound CuF(OH), which, when heated with ammonium
fluoride in a current of carbon dioxide, gives anhydrous copper
fluoride as a white powder.
Cuprous chloride, CuCl or Cu2Cl2, was obtained by Robert Boyle by
heating copper with mercuric chloride. It is also obtained by burning
the metal in chlorine, by heating copper and cupric oxide with
hydrochloric acid, or copper and cupric chloride with hydrochloric
acid. It dissolves in the excess of acid, and is precipitated as a
white crystalline powder on the addition of water. It melts at below
red heat to a brown mass, and its vapour density at both red and white
heat corresponds to the formula Cu2Cl2. It turns dirty violet on
exposure to air and light; in moist air it absorbs oxygen and forms an
oxychloride. Its solution in hydrochloric acid readily absorbs carbon
monoxide and acetylene; hence it finds application in gas analysis.
Its solution in ammonia is at first colourless, but rapidly turns
blue, owing to oxidation. This solution absorbs acetylene with the
precipitation of red cuprous acetylide, Cu2C2, a very explosive
compound. Cupric chloride, CuCl2, is obtained by burning copper in an
excess of chlorine, or by heating the hydrated chloride, obtained by
dissolving the metal or cupric oxide in an excess of hydrochloric
acid. It is a brown deliquescent powder, which rapidly forms the green
hydrated salt CuCl2, 2H2O on exposure. The oxychloride Cu3O2Cl2·4H2O
is obtained as a pale blue precipitate when potash is added to an
excess of cupric chloride. The oxychloride Cu4O3Cl2, 4H2O occurs in
nature as the mineral atacamite. It may be artificially prepared by
heating salt with ammonium copper sulphate to 100°. Other naturally
occurring oxychlorides are botallackite and tallingite. "Brunswick
green," a light green pigment, is obtained from copper sulphate and
bleaching powder.
The bromides closely resemble the chlorides and fluorides.
Cuprous iodide, Cu2I2, is obtained as a white powder, which suffers
little alteration on exposure, by the direct union of its components
or by mixing solutions of cuprous chloride in hydrochloric acid and
potassium iodide; or, with liberation of iodine, by adding potassium
iodide to a cupric salt. It absorbs ammonia, forming the compound
Cu2I2, 4NH3. Cupric iodide is only known in combination, as in CuI2,
4NH3, H2O, which is obtained by exposing Cu2I2, 4NH3 to moist air.
Cuprous sulphide, Cu2S, occurs in nature as the mineral chalcocite or
copper-glance (q.v.), and may be obtained as a black brittle mass by
the direct combination of its constituents. (See above, METALLURGY.)
Cupric sulphide, CuS, occurs in nature as the mineral covellite. It
may be prepared by heating cuprous sulphide with sulphur, or
triturating cuprous sulphide with cold strong nitric acid, or as a
dark brown precipitate by treating a copper solution with sulphuretted
hydrogen. Several polysulphides, e.g. Cu2S5, Cu2S6, Cu4S6, Cu2S3, have
been described; they are all unstable, decomposing into cupric
sulphide and sulphur. Cuprous sulphite, CuSO3·H2O, is obtained as a
brownish-red crystalline powder by treating cuprous hydrate with
sulphurous acid. A cuproso-cupric sulphite, Cu2SO3, CuSO3,2H2O, is
obtained by mixing solutions of cupric sulphate and acid sodium
sulphite.
Cupric sulphate or "Blue Vitriol," CuSO4, is one of the most important
salts of copper. It occurs in cupriferous mine waters and as the
minerals chalcanthite or cyanosite, CuSO4·5H2O, and boothite,
CuSO4·7H2O. Cupric sulphate is obtained commercially by the oxidation
of sulphuretted copper ores (see above, METALLURGY; wet methods), or
by dissolving cupric oxide in sulphuric acid. It was obtained in 1644
by Van Helmont, who heated copper with sulphur and moistened the
residue, and in 1648 by Glauber, who dissolved copper in strong
sulphuric acid. (For the mechanism of this reaction see C. H. Sluiter,
_Chem. Weekblad_, 1906, 3, p. 63, and C. M. van Deventer, ibid., 1906,
3, p. 515.) It crystallizes with five molecules of water as large blue
triclinic prisms. When heated to 100°, it loses four molecules of
water and forms the bluish-white monohydrate, which, on further
heating to 25O°-260°, is converted into the white CuSO4. The anhydrous
salt is very hygroscopic, and hence finds application as a desiccating
agent. It also absorbs gaseous hydrochloric acid. Copper sulphate is
readily soluble in water, but insoluble in alcohol; it dissolves in
hydrochloric acid with a considerable fall in temperature, cupric
chloride being formed. The copper is readily replaced by iron, a
knife-blade placed in an aqueous solution being covered immediately
with a bright red deposit of copper. At one time this was regarded as
a transmutation of iron into copper. Several basic salts are known,
some of which occur as minerals; of these, we may mention brochantite
(q.v.), CuSO4, 3Cu(OH2), langite, CuSO4, 3Cu(OH)2, H2O, lyellite (or
devilline), warringtonite; woodwardite and enysite are hydrated
copper-aluminium sulphates, connellite is a basic copper
chlorosulphate, and spangolite is a basic copper aluminium
chlorosulphate. Copper sulphate finds application in calico printing
and in the preparation of the pigment Scheele's green.
A copper nitride, Cu3N, is obtained by heating precipitated cuprous
oxide in ammonia gas (A. Guntz and H. Bassett, _Bull. Soc. Chim._,
1906, 35, p. 201). A maroon-coloured powder, of composition CuNO2, is
formed when pure dry nitrogen dioxide is passed over finely-divided
copper at 25°-30°. It decomposes when heated to 90°; with water it
gives nitric oxide and cupric nitrate and nitrite. Cupric nitrate,
Cu(NO3)2, is obtained by dissolving the metal or oxide in nitric acid.
It forms dark blue prismatic crystals containing 3, 4, or 6 molecules
of water according to the temperature of crystallization. The
trihydrate melts at 114.5°, and boils at 170°, giving off nitric acid,
and leaving the basic salt Cu(NO3)2·3Cu(OH)2. The mineral gerhardtite
is the basic nitrate Cu2(OH)3NO3.
Copper combines directly with phosphorus to form several compounds.
The phosphide obtained by heating cupric phosphate, Cu2H2P2O8, in
hydrogen, when mixed with potassium and cuprous sulphides or levigated
coke, constitutes "Abel's fuse," which is used as a primer. A
phosphide, Cu3P2, is formed by passing phosphoretted hydrogen over
heated cuprous chloride. (For other phosphides see E. Heyn and O.
Bauer, _Rep. Chem. Soc._, 1906, 3, p. 39.) Cupric phosphate,
Cu3(PO4)2, may be obtained by precipitating a copper solution with
sodium phosphate. Basic copper phosphates are of frequent occurrence
in the mineral kingdom. Of these we may notice libethenite,
Cu2(OH)PO4; chalcosiderite, a basic copper iron phosphate; torbernite,
a copper uranyl phosphate; andrewsite, a hydrated copper iron
phosphate; and henwoodite, a hydrated copper aluminium phosphate.
Copper combines directly with arsenic to form several arsenides, some
of which occur in the mineral kingdom. Of these we may mention
whitneyite, Cu9As, algodonite, Cu6As, and domeykite, Cu3As. Copper
arsenate is similar to cupric phosphate, and the resemblance is to be
observed in the naturally occurring copper arsenates, which are
generally isomorphous with the corresponding phosphates. Olivenite
corresponds to libethenite; clinoclase, euchroite, cornwallite and
tyrolite are basic arsenates; zeunerite corresponds to torbernite;
chalcophyllite (tamarite or "copper-mica") is a basic copper aluminium
sulphato-arsenate, and bayldonite is a similar compound containing
lead instead of aluminium. Copper arsenite forms the basis of a number
of once valuable, but very poisonous, pigments. Scheele's green is a
basic copper arsenite; Schweinfurt green, an aceto-arsenite; and
Casselmann's green a compound of cupric sulphate with potassium or
sodium acetate.
Normal cupric carbonate, CuCO3, has not been definitely obtained,
basic hydrated forms being formed when an alkaline carbonate is added
to a cupric salt. Copper carbonates are of wide occurrence in the
mineral kingdom, and constitute the valuable ores malachite and
azurite. Copper rust has the same composition as malachite; it results
from the action of carbon dioxide and water on the metal. Copper
carbonate is also the basis of the valuable blue to green pigments
verditer, Bremen blue and Bremen green. Mountain or mineral green is a
naturally occurring carbonate.
By the direct union of copper and silicon, cuprosilicon, consisting
mainly of Cu4Si, is obtained (Lebeau, C.R., 1906; Vigouroux,
ibid.).
Copper silicates occur in the mineral kingdom, many minerals owing
their colour to the presence of a cupriferous element. Dioptase (q.v.)
and chrysocolla (q.v.) are the most important forms.
_Detection._--Compounds of copper impart a bright green coloration to
the flame of a Bunsen burner. Ammonia gives a characteristic blue
coloration when added to a solution of a copper salt; potassium
ferrocyanide gives a brown precipitate, and, if the solution be very
dilute, a brown colour is produced. This latter reaction will detect
one part of copper in 500,000 of water. For the borax beads and the
qualitative separation of copper from other metals, see CHEMISTRY:
ANALYTICAL. For the quantitative estimation, see ASSAYING: COPPER.
_Medicine._--In medicine copper sulphate was employed as an emetic,
but its employment for this purpose is now very rare, as it is
exceedingly depressant, and if it fails to act, may seriously damage
the gastric mucous membrane. It is, however, a useful superficial
caustic and antiseptic. All copper compounds are poisonous, but not so
harmful as the copper arsenical pigments.
REFERENCES.--See generally H. J. Steven's _Copper Handbook_ (annual),
W. H. Weld, _The Copper Mines of the World_ (1907), _The Mineral
Industry_ (annual), and _Mineral Resources of the United States_
(annual). For the dry metallurgy, see E. D. Peters, _Principles of
Copper Smelting_ (New York, 1907); for pyritic smelting, see T. A.
Rickard, _Pyrite Smelting_ (1905); for wet methods, see Eissler,
_Hydrometallurgy of Copper_ (London, 1902); and for electrolytic
methods, see T. Ulke, _Die electrolytische Raffination des Kupfers_
(Halle, 1904). Reference should also be made to the articles
METALLURGY and ELECTRO-METALLURGY. For the chemistry of copper and its
compounds see the references in the article CHEMISTRY: Inorganic.
Toxicologic and hygienic aspects are treated in Tschirsch's _Das
Kupfer vom Standpunkt der gerichtlichen Chemie, Toxikologie und
Hygiene_ (Stuttgart, 1893).
COPPERAS (Fr. _couperose_; Lat. _cupri rosa_. the flower of copper),
green vitriol, or ferrous sulphate, FeSO4·7H2O, having a
bluish-green colour and an astringent, inky and somewhat sweetish taste.
It is used in dyeing and tanning, and in the manufacture of ink and of
Nordhausen sulphuric acid or fuming oil of vitriol (see IRON).
COPPER-GLANCE, a mineral consisting of cuprous sulphide, Cu2S, and
crystallizing in the orthorhombic system. It is known also as
chalcocite, redruthite and vitreous copper (German, _Kupferglaserz_ of
G. Agricola, 1546). The crystals have the form of six-sided tables or
prisms; the angle between the prism faces (lettered o in the figure)
being 60° 25'. When twinned on the prism planes o, as is frequently the
case, the crystals simulate hexagonal symmetry still more closely, as in
the minerals aragonite and chrysoberyl. Twinning also takes place
according to two other laws, giving rise to interpenetrating crystals
with the basal planes (s) of the two individuals inclined at angles of
69° or 87° 56' respectively. The mineral also occurs as compact masses
of considerable extent. The colour is dark lead-grey with a metallic
lustre, but this is never very bright, since the material is readily
altered, becoming black and dull on exposure to light. The mineral is
soft (H.=2½) and sectile, and can be readily cut with a knife, like
argentite; sp. gr. 5.7. Analyses agree closely with the formula Cu2S,
which corresponds to 79.8% of copper; small quantities of iron and
silver are sometimes present.
[Illustration]
Next to chalcopyrite, copper-glance is the most important ore of copper.
It usually occurs in the upper part of the copper-bearing lodes, and is
a secondary sulphide derived from the chalcopyrite met with at greater
depths; sometimes, however, the two minerals are found together in the
same part of the lodes. The best crystals are from St Just, St Ives, and
Redruth in Cornwall, and from Bristol in Connecticut. Small crystals of
recent formation are found on Roman bronze coins in the thermal springs
at Bourbonne-les-Bains.
Copper-glance readily alters to other minerals, such as malachite,
covellite, melaconite and chalcopyrite. On the other hand, it is found
as pseudomorphs after chalcopyrite, galena, and organic structures such
as wood; copper-glance pseudomorphous after galena preserves the
cleavage of the original mineral and is known as harrisite.
Isomorphous with copper-glance is the orthorhombic mineral stromeyerite,
a double copper and silver sulphide, CuAgS, which occurs in abundance in
the Altai Mountains. (L. J. S.)
COPPERHEADS, an American political epithet, applied by Union men during
the Civil War to those men in the North who, deeming it impossible to
conquer the Confederacy, were earnestly in favour of peace and therefore
opposed to the war policy of the president and of Congress. Such men
were not necessarily friends of the Confederate cause. The term
originated in the autumn of 1862, and its use quickly spread throughout
the North. In the Western states early in 1863 the terms "Copperhead"
and "Democrat" had become practically synonymous. The name was adopted
because of the fancied resemblance of the peace party to the venomous
copperhead snake, and, though applied as a term of opprobrium, it was
willingly assumed by those upon whom it was bestowed.
COPPERMINE, a river of Mackenzie district, Canada, about 475 m. long,
rising in a small lake in approximately 110° 20' W. and 65° 50' N., and
flowing south to Lake Gras and then north-westward to Coronation Gulf in
the Arctic Ocean. Like Back's river, the only other large river of this
part of Canada, it is unnavigable, being a succession of lakes and
violent rapids. The country through which it flows is a mass of low
hills and morasses. The river was discovered by Samuel Hearne in 1771,
and was explored from Point Lake to the sea by Captain (afterwards Sir
John) Franklin in 1821.
COPPER-PYRITES, or CHALCOPYRITE, a copper iron sulphide (CUFeS2), an
important ore of copper. The name copper-pyrites is from the Ger.
_Kupferkies_, which was used as far back as 1546 by G. Agricola;
chalcopyrite (from [Greek: chalkos], "copper," and pyrites) was proposed
by J. F. Henckel in his _Pyritologia, oder Kiess-Historie_ (1725). By
the ancients copper-pyrites was included with other minerals under the
term pyrites, though the copper-ore from Cyprus referred to by Aristotle
as chalcites may possibly have been identical with this mineral.
Chalcopyrite crystallizes in the tetragonal system with inclined
hemihedrism, but the form is so nearly cubic that it was not recognized
as tetragonal until accurate measurements were made in 1822. Crystals
are usually tetrahedral in aspect, owing to the large development of the
sphenoid P {111}. The faces of this form are dull and striated, whilst
the smaller faces of the complementary sphenoid P' {111} (fig. 1) are
bright and smooth. The combination of these two forms produces a figure
resembling an octahedron, the angle between P and P' being 70° 7½',
corresponding to the angle 70° 32' of the regular octahedron. The other
faces shown in fig. 1 are the basal pinacoid, a {001}, and two square
pyramids, b {101} and c {201}. Crystals are usually twinned, and are
often complex and difficult to decipher. There are three twin-laws, the
twin-planes being (111), (101) and (110) respectively. Twinning
according to the first law is effected by rotation about an axis normal
to the sphenoidal face (111), the resulting form resembling the twins of
blende and spinel. Twinning according to the second law can only be
explained by reflection across the plane (101), not by rotation about an
axis; chalcopyrite affords an excellent example of this comparatively
rare type of symmetric twinning. Interpenetration twins (fig. 2) with
(110) as twin-plane are of very rare occurrence.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
Crystals have imperfect cleavages parallel to the eight faces of the
pyramid c {201}. The fracture is conchoidal, and the material is
brittle. Hardness 4; specific gravity 4.2. The colour is brass-yellow,
and the lustre metallic; the streak, or colour of the powder, is
greenish-black. The mineral is especially liable to surface alteration,
tarnishing with beautiful iridescent colours; a blue colour usually
predominates, owing probably to the alteration of the chalcopyrite to
covellite (CuS). The massive and compact mineral frequently exhibits
this iridescent tarnish, and is consequently known to miners as "peacock
ore" or "peacock copper." The massive mineral sometimes occurs in
mammillary and botryoidal forms with a smooth brassy surface, and is
then known to Cornish miners as "blister-copper-ore."
Chalcopyrite or copper-pyrites may be readily distinguished from
iron-pyrites (or pyrites), which it somewhat resembles in appearance,
by its deeper colour and lower degree of hardness: the former is easily
scratched by a knife, whilst the latter can only be scratched with
difficulty or not at all. Chalcopyrite is decomposed by nitric acid with
separation of sulphur and formation of a green solution; ammonia added
in excess to this solution changes the green colour to deep blue and
precipitates red ferric hydroxide.
The chemical formula CuFeS2 corresponds with the percentage
composition Cu=34.5, Fe=30.5, S=35.0. Analyses usually, however, show
the presence of more iron, owing to the intimate admixture of
iron-pyrites. Traces of gold, silver, selenium or thallium are sometimes
present, and the mineral is sometimes worked as an ore of gold or
silver.
Chalcopyrite is of wide distribution and is the commonest of the ores of
copper. It occurs in metalliferous veins, often in association with
iron-pyrites, chalybite, blende, &c., and in Cornwall and Devon, where
it is abundant, with cassiterite. The large deposits at Falun in Sweden
occur with serpentine in gneiss, and those at Montecatini, near Volterra
in the province of Pisa, serpentine and gabbro. At Rammelsberg in the
Harz it forms a bed in argillaceous schist, and at Mansfield in
Thuringia it occurs in the Kupferschiefer with ores of nickel and
cobalt. Extensive deposits are mined in the United States, particularly
at Butte in Montana, and in Namaqualand, South Africa. Well-crystallized
specimens are met with at many localities; for example, formerly at
Wheal Towan (hence the name towanite, which has been applied to the
species) in the St Agnes district of Cornwall, at Freiberg in Saxony,
and Joplin, Missouri. (L. J. S.)
COPPICE, or COPSE (from an O. Fr. _copeis_ or _coupeis_, from Late Lat.
_colpare_, to cut with a blow; _colpas_, the Late Lat. for "blow," is a
shortened form of _colapus_ or _colaphus_, adapted from the Gr. [Greek:
kolaphos]), a small plantation or thicket of planted or self-sown trees,
which are cut periodically for use or sale, before the trees grow into
large timber. Whether naturally or artificially grown the produce is
looked on by the English law as _fructus industrialis_. The tenant for
life or years may appropriate this produce (see _Dashwood_ v. _Magniac_,
1891, 3 Ch. 306).
COPRA (a Spanish and Portuguese adaptation of the Malay _kopperah_, and
Hindustani _khopra_, the coco-nut), the dried broken kernel of the
coco-nut from which coco-nut oil is extracted by boiling and pressing.
Copra is the form in which the product of the coco-nut is exported for
commercial purposes (see COCONUT PALM).
COPROLITES (from Gr. [Greek: kopros], dung, and [Greek: lithos], stone),
the fossilized excrements of extinct animals. The discovery of their
true nature was made by Dr William Buckland, who observed that certain
convoluted bodies occurring in the Lias of Gloucestershire had the form
which would have been produced by their passage in the soft state
through the intestines of reptiles or fishes. These bodies had long been
known as "fossil fir cones" and "bezoar stones." Buckland's conjecture
that they were of faecal origin, and similar to the _album grecum_ or
excrement of hyaenas, was confirmed by Dr W. Prout, who on analysis
found they consisted essentially of calcium phosphate and carbonate, and
not infrequently contained fragments of unaltered bone. The name
"coprolites" was accordingly given to them by Buckland, who subsequently
expressed his belief that they might be found useful in agriculture on
account of the calcium phosphate they contained. The Liassic coprolites
are described by Buckland as resembling oblong pebbles, or
kidney-potatoes; they are mostly 2 to 4 in. long, and from 1 to 2 in. in
diameter, but those of the larger ichthyosauri are of much greater
dimensions. In colour they vary from ash-grey to black, and their
fracture is conchoidal. Internally they are found to consist of a lamina
twisted upon itself, and externally they generally exhibit a tortuous
structure, produced, before the cloaca was reached, by the spiral valve
of a compressed small intestine (as in skates, sharks and dog-fishes);
the surface shows also vascular impressions and corrugations due to the
same cause. Often the bones, teeth and scales of fishes are to be found
dispersed through the coprolites, and sometimes the bones of small
ichthyosauri, which were apparently a prey to the larger marine
saurians. Coprolites have been found at Lyme Regis, enclosed by the ribs
of ichthyosauri, and in the remains of several species of fish; also in
the abdominal cavities of a species of fossil fish, _Macropoma
Mantelli_, from the chalk of Lewes. Professor T. Jäger has described
coprolites from the alum-slate of Gaildorf in Württemberg; the
fish-coprolites of Burdiehouse and of Newcastle-under-Lyme are of
Carboniferous age. The so-called "beetle-stones" of the coal-formation
of Newhaven, near Leith, which have mostly a coprolite nucleus, have
been applied to various ornamental purposes by lapidaries. The name
"cololites" (from the Greek [Greek: kôlon], the large intestine, [Greek:
lithos], stone) was given by Agassiz to fossil wormlike bodies, found in
the lithographic slate of Solenhofen, which he determined to be either
the petrified intestines or contents of the intestines of fishes. The
bone-bed of Axmouth in Devonshire and Westbury and Aust in
Gloucestershire, in the Penarth or Rhaetic series of strata, contains
the scales, teeth and bones of saurians and fishes, together with
abundance of coprolites; but neither there nor at Lyme Regis is there a
sufficient quantity of phosphatic material to render the working of it
for agricultural purposes remunerative.
The term coprolites has been made to include all kinds of phosphatic
nodules employed as manures, such, for example, as those obtained from
the Coralline and the Red Crag of Suffolk. At the base of the Red Crag
in that county is a bed, 3 to 18 in. thick, containing rolled fossil
bones, cetacean and fish teeth, and shells of the Crag period, with
nodules or pebbles of phosphatic matter derived from the London Clay,
and often investing fossils from that formation. These are
distinguishable from the grey Chalk coprolites by their brownish
ferruginous colour and smooth appearance. When ground they give a
yellowish-red powder. These nodules were at first taken by Professor J.
S. Henslow for coprolites; they were afterwards termed by Buckland
"pseudo-coprolites." "The nodules, having been imbued with phosphatic
matter from their matrix in the London Clay, were dislodged," says
Buckland, "by the waters of the seas of the first period, and
accumulated by myriads at the bottom of those shallow seas where is now
the coast of Suffolk. Here they were long rolled together with the bones
of large mammalia, fishes, and with the shells of molluscous creatures
that lived in shells. From the bottom of this sea they have been raised
to form the dry lands along the shores of Suffolk, whence they are now
extracted as articles of commercial value, being ground to powder in the
mills of Mr [afterwards Sir John] Lawes, at Deptford, to supply our
farms with a valuable substitute for guano, under the accepted name of
coprolite manure." The phosphatic nodules occurring throughout the Red
Crag of Suffolk are regarded as derived from the Coralline Crag. The
Suffolk beds have been worked since 1846; and immense quantities of
coprolite have also been obtained from Essex, Norfolk and
Cambridgeshire. The Cambridgeshire coprolites are believed to be derived
from deposits of Gault age; they are obtained by washing from a stratum
about a foot thick, resting on the Gault, at the base of the Chalk Marl,
and probably homotaxeous with the Chloritic Marl. An acre used to yield
on an average 300 tons of phosphatic nodules, value £750. About £140 per
acre was paid for the lease of the land, which after two years was
restored to its owners re-soiled and levelled. Plicatulae have been
found attached to these coprolites, showing that they were already hard
bodies when lying at the bottom of the Chalk ocean. The Cambridgeshire
coprolites are either amorphous or finger-shaped; the coprolites from
the Greensand are of a black or dark-brown colour; while those from the
Gault are greenish-white on the surface, brownish-black internally.
Samples of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk coprolite have been found by A.
Voelcker to give on analysis phosphoric acid equivalent to about 55 and
52.5% of tribasic calcium phosphate respectively (_Journ. R. Agric. Soc.
Eng._, 1860, xxi. 358). The following analysis of a saurio-coprolite
from Lyme Regis is given by T. J. Herapath (ibid. xii. 91):--
Water 3.976
Organic matter 2.001
Calcium sulphate 2.026
Calcium carbonate 28.121
Calcium fluoride not determined
Calcium and magnesium phosphate 53.996
Magnesium carbonate 0.423
Aluminic phosphate 1.276
Ferric phosphate 6.182
Silica 0.773
------
98.734
An ichthyo-coprolite from Tenby was found to contain 15.4% of phosphoric
anhydride. The pseudo-coprolites of the Suffolk Crag have been estimated
by Herapath to be as rich in phosphates as the true ichthyo-coprolites
and saurio-coprolites of other formations, the proportion of P2O5
contained varying between 12.5 and 37.25%, the average proportion,
however, being 32 or 33%.
Coprolite is reduced to powder by powerful mills of peculiar
construction, furnished with granite and buhrstones, before being
treated with concentrated sulphuric acid. The acid renders it available
as a manure by converting the calcium phosphate, Ca3P2O8, that
it contains into the soluble monocalcium salt, CaH4P2O8, or
"superphosphate." The phosphate thus produced forms an efficacious
turnip manure, and is quite equal in value to that produced from any
other source. The Chloritic Marl in the Wealden district furnishes much
phosphatic material, which has been extensively worked at Froyle. In the
vicinity of Farnham it contains a bed of "coprolites" of considerable
extent and 2 to 15 ft. in thickness. Specimens of these from the Dippen
Hall pits, analysed by Messrs J. M. Paine and J. T. Way, showed the
presence of phosphates equivalent to 55.96 of bone-earth (_Journ. R.
Agric. Soc. Eng._ ix. 56). Phosphatic nodules occur also in the
Chloritic Marl of the Isle of Wight and Dorsetshire, and at Wroughton,
near Swindon. They are found in the Lower Greensand, or Upper Neocomian
series, in the Atherfield Clay at Stopham, near Pulborough; occasionally
at the junction of the Hythe and Sandgate beds; and in the Folkeston
beds, at Farnham. At Woburn, Leighton, Ampthill, Sandy, Upware, Wicken
and Potton, near the base of Upper Neocomian iron-sands, there is a band
between 6 in. and 2 ft. in thickness containing "coprolites"; these
consist of phosphatized wood, bones, casts of shells, and shapeless
lumps. The coprolitic stratum of the Speeton Clay, on the coast to the
north of Flamborough Head, is included by Professor Judd with the
Portland beds of that formation. In 1864 two phosphatic deposits, a
limestone 3 ft. thick, with beds of calcium phosphate, and a shale of
half that thickness, were discovered by Hope Jones in the neighbourhood
of Cwmgynen, about 16 m. from Oswestry. They are at a depth of about 12
ft., in slaty shale containing Llandeilo fossils and contemporaneous
felspathic ash and scoriae. A specimen of the phosphatic limestone
analysed by A. Voelcker yielded 34.92% tricalcium phosphate, a specimen
of the shale 52.15% (_Report of Brit. Assoc._, 1865). Phosphatic beds,
supposed to have had a coprolitic origin, are found in the Lower
Silurian rocks of Canada.
See T. J. Herapath, _Chem. Gaz._, 1849, p. 449; W. Buckland, _Geology
and Mineralogy_ (4th ed., 1869); O. Fisher, _Quart. Journ. Geol.
Soc._, 1873, p. 52; J. J. H. Teall, _On the Potton and Wicken
Phosphatic Deposits_ (Sedgwick Prize Essay for 1873) (1875) and "The
Natural History of Phosphatic Deposits," _Proc. Geol. Assoc._ xvi.
(1900); L. W. Collet, _Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin._ xxv. pt. 10, p. 862; T.
G. Bonney, _Cambridgeshire Geology_ (1875); L. Gruner, _Bull. soc.
géol. franc._ xxviii. (2nd series), p. 62; J. Martin, ibid. iii. (3rd
series), p. 273.
COPTOS (Egyptian _Keft_, _Kebto_), the modern KUFT (a village with
railway station a short distance from the west bank of the Nile about 25
m. north-east of Thebes), an ancient city, capital of the fifth nome of
Upper Egypt, and the starting-point of several roads to the Red Sea, of
which that which passes along the valley running due east to Kosseir
past the ancient quarries of Hamm[=a]m[=a]t was the most frequented,
until the foundation of Berenice (q.v.) by Ptolemy Philadelphus made an
even more important line of traffic to the south-west. The growth of
trade with Arabia and India thereafter raised Coptos to great
commercial prosperity; but in A.D. 292 its share in the rebellion
against Diocletian led to an almost total devastation. It again appears,
however, as a place of importance, and as the seat of a considerable
Christian community, though the stream of traffic turned aside to the
neighbouring K[=u]s. During part of the 7th century it was called
Justinianopolis in honour of the emperor Justinian.
The local god of Coptos, as of Khemmis (Akhm[=i]m, q.v.), was the
ithyphallic Min; but in late times Isis was of equal importance in the
city. Min was especially the god of the desert routes. Petrie's
excavations on the site of the temple brought to light remains of all
periods, the most remarkable objects being three very primitive
limestone statues of the god with figures of an elephant, swords of
sword-fish, sea-shells, &c., engraved upon them: there were also found
some very peculiar terra-cottas of the Old Kingdom, and the decree of an
Antef belonging to the latter part of the Middle Kingdom, deposing the
monarch for siding with the king's enemy.
COPTS, the early native Christians of Egypt and their successors of the
Monophysite sect, now racially the purest representatives of the ancient
Egyptians. The name is a Europeanized form, dating perhaps from the 14th
century, of the Arabic Kibt (or Kubt), which, in turn, is derived
from the Greek [Greek: Aiguptioi], "Egyptians" (the Copts in the Coptic
language likewise style themselves [grahic], "people of Egypt,"
"Egyptians").
The limited application of the name is explained by the circumstances of
the time when Mahomet sent forth his challenge to the world and 'Amr
conquered Egypt (A.D. 627-641). At that time the population of Egypt was
wholly Christian (except for a sprinkling of Jews, &c.), divided into
two fiercely hostile sects, the Monophysites and the Melkites. The
division was in great measure racial. The Melkites, adherents of the
orthodox or court religion sanctioned by the council of Chalcedon, were
mainly of foreign extraction, from the various Hellenistic races which
peopled the Eastern Roman empire, while the bulk of the population, the
true Egyptians, were Monophysite. Amongst the latter political
aspirations, apart from religion, may be said not to have existed. It
has generally been held that the Copts invited and aided the Moslems to
seize the country in order that at all costs they might be freed from
the yoke of the state religion imposed by the Eastern Roman Empire; but
Dr A. J. Butler has shown this view to be untenable, while admitting
that the religious feuds of the Christians made the task of the Arabs
easy. The mysterious Mukaukis, who treacherously handed over Alexandria,
impregnable as it was for Arab warriors, and then capitulated, was none
other than Cyrus, the Melkite patriarch and governor of Egypt; the
native Monophysite party, however, smarting under the persecution of the
Emperor Heraclius, seemed to have most to gain by a change of masters.
The prophet Mahomet himself had prescribed indulgence to the Copts
before his death, and 'Amr was mercifully disposed to them. Although
they offered resistance in some places, after the Roman forces had been
destroyed or had abandoned Egypt they generally acquiesced in the
inevitable; and when in 646 a Roman fleet and army recaptured Alexandria
and harried the Delta, the Copts helped the Moslems to cast out the
Christian invaders. Some of the Copts embraced Islam at once, but as yet
they formed practically a solid Christian nation under the protection of
the conquering Arabs, and the religious and political distinction
between the "true believers" and the Christians was so sharp that a
native Christian turning Moslem was no longer a Copt, i.e. Egyptian; he
practically changed his nationality.
The beginnings of Christianity in Egypt are obscure; the existence of it
among the natives (as opposed to the mixed "Greek" population of Egypt
and Alexandria which produced so many leading figures and originated
leading doctrines in the early church) can be traced back as far as the
Decian persecution (A.D. 249-251) in the purely Egyptian names of
several martyrs. St Anthony (c. A.D. 270) was a Copt; so also was
Pachomius, the founder of Egyptian monasticism at the beginning of the
4th century. The scriptures were translated into Coptic not later than
the 4th century. A religion founded on morality and with a clear
doctrine of life after death was especially congenial to the Egyptians;
thus the lower orders in the country embraced Christianity fervently,
while the Alexandrian pagans were lost in philosophical speculation and
Neoplatonism was spread amongst the rich "Greek" landowners; these last,
partly out of religious enthusiasm, partly from greed, annoyed and
oppressed their Christian peasantry. Egypt was then terribly
impoverished; the upper country was constantly overrun by raiders from
Nubia and the desert; and the authority of the imperial government was
too weak to interfere actively on behalf of the Christians. The
monasteries, however, were refuges that could bid defiance to the most
powerful of the pagan aristocracy as well as to barbarian hordes, and
became centres of united action that, at the summons of Shenoute, the
organizer of the national church, swept away the idols of the oppressors
in riot and bloodshed. In the course of the 5th century the Christians
reached a position in which they were able to treat the pagans
mercifully as a feeble remnant.
The Copts had little interest in theology; they were content to take
their doctrine as prepared for them by the subtler minds of their Greek
leaders at Alexandria, choosing the simplest form when disputes arose.
In 325 their elected patriarch, Athanasius, and his following of Greeks
and Copts, triumphed at the council of Nicaea against Arius; but in 451
the banishment of Dioscorus, patriarch of Alexandria, by the council of
Chalcedon created a great schism, the Egyptian church holding to his
Monophysite tenets (see COPTIC CHURCH, below), while the Catholic and
imperial party at Constantinople ever sought to further the "Melkite"
cause in Egypt at the expense of the native church. Thenceforward there
were generally two patriarchs, belonging to the rival communities, and
the Copts were oppressed by the Melkites; Heraclius, in 638 after the
repulse of the Persians, endeavoured to unite the churches, but, failing
in that, he persecuted the Monophysites more severely than ever before,
until 'Amr brought Egypt under the Moslem rule of 'Omar, as has been
related above. Under the persecution many Copts had gone over to the
Melkites, but now it was the turn of the Melkites, as supporters of the
emperor of Constantinople, to suffer, and they almost entirely
disappeared from Egypt, though a remnant headed by a patriarch of
Alexandria of the Orthodox Christians has survived to this day.
But after a few years of the mild rule of 'Amr the Egyptians began to be
squeezed for the benefit of the Moslem exchequer and persecuted for
their religion. Many of the more thoughtful and sober Christians must
long have been disgusted with religious strife, and had already embraced
the simple and congenial doctrines of Islam; others went over for the
sake of material gain. Conflicts arose from time to time between the
Mahommedan minority and the Christians. The Copts were excellent scribes
and accountants and were continued in their posts under the Arab rule;
the government offices were full of them; sometimes even the wazirate
(vizierate) was held by a Copt, and that too in a time of persecution of
the Christians. The pride of the Copts, still seen in the objection
which the poorest among them have to engaging in any mean work or trade,
was a serious danger, perhaps even a chief source of their troubles, in
earlier days; devout Moslems on more than one occasion stirred the mob
to fury when they saw Christians lording it over "true believers." The
lower orders of the Copts were continually oppressed. Thus there was
every inducement amongst the Christians to turn Mahommedan. Arab tribes,
too, were encouraged to settle in Egypt until the Mahommedans exceeded
the Copts in numbers.
The history of the Copts consists on the one hand of the record of
religious strife, of growing scandals in the church, such as simony, and
attempted reforms; and on the other hand of persecutions at the hands of
the Moslems. As examples of the severity of the persecutions, it may be
noted that, in the 8th century, the monks not only were compelled to pay
a capitation tax, but were branded with name and number, civilians were
oppressed with heavy taxation, churches demolished, pictures and crosses
destroyed (722-723). Degrading dresses were imposed upon the Christians
(849-850); later, under Hakim (997), they were compelled to wear heavy
crosses and black turbans as an ignominious distinction. Salaheddin
(Saladin) in 1171 reenforced these statutes and defiled the churches. In
1301, the blue turban was introduced, but many Copts preferred a change
of religion to the adoption of this head-dress. In 1348 a religious war,
attended by the destruction of churches and mosques and great loss of
life, raged at Cairo between the Copts and Mahommedans, and large
numbers of the former embraced Islam. Their oppression practically
ceased under Mehemet Ali (1811).
There have been very few cases of conversion from Mahommedanism to
Christianity; and, as intermarriage of Christians with Mahommedans
implied conversion to Islam, the Copts have undoubtedly preserved the
race of the Egyptians as it existed at the time of the Arab conquest in
remarkable purity. The Coptic agricultural population (fellah[=i]n) in
the villages of Upper Egypt and elsewhere are not markedly different
from the Mahommedan fellah[=i]n, who, of course, are of the same stock,
but mixed with Arab blood. The Copts in the towns, who have always been
engaged in sedentary occupations, as scribes and handicraftsmen, have a
more delicate frame and complexion, and may have mingled with Syrian and
Armenian Christians.
According to the 1907 census, there were 667,036 orthodox Copts in
Egypt, or less than 1/14th of the total population, this being the
same proportion as in 1830, when, according to Lane, they numbered about
150,000. The number of churches and monasteries at the same time had
risen from 146 to 450, not including Protestant chapels nor Coptic
Catholic churches. At the 1907 census the total number of Christians in
Egypt described as Copts was 706,322; among them there were 24,710
Protestants and 14,576 Roman Catholics.
Monogamy is strict among the Copts, and divorce is granted only for
adultery. Circumcision of both sexes is common before baptism. In regard
to dress, at present only the clergy retain the old distinctive costume
and black turban. The rest of the Copts dress exactly like their Moslem
brethren, from whom they can be distinguished only by the cross which
many of them still have tattooed just below the palm of the right hand.
Since the British occupation of the country there has been a tendency
amongst the Coptic women to give up the veil, which they had borrowed
from the Mahommedans; this is especially noticeable at places like
Assiût, where, thanks to the efforts of American missionaries, female
education has made much progress.
In trades and professions, so long as the Copts had no foreign
competition to contend against, they maintained their supremacy over the
rest of the population. They filled government offices; in towns and
villages they monopolized trades and professions requiring care and
skill. They were the accountants, the architects, the goldsmiths, the
carpenters, the land-surveyors, the bonesetters, &c. But, with the
extension of railways and agricultural roads and the increased
facilities of communication and prosperity, there has been a great
influx of Italian, Greek, Armenian and other Levantine workmen, who,
with their better tools, are undoubtedly superior to the Copts, and have
proved most formidable rivals. Furthermore, the importation of cheap
European wares of every description is slowly killing all native
industry. Lastly, since the British, as the dominant race, have filled
most posts of responsibility in the government, the Moslems, in general,
are obliged to content themselves with the subordinate posts which in
the past they left to the Copts. Some Copts have attained high office,
and in 1908 a Copt became prime minister. Moreover, the Copts have to a
certain extent made up for the ground they lose elsewhere by engaging in
agriculture and banking, and there are now to be found many rich Coptic
landowners and farmers, especially in Upper Egypt.
_Language._--The language spoken by the Copts was of various dialects,
named Sahidic, Akhmimic, Fayumic, &c., descended from the ancient
Egyptian with more or less admixture of Greek (for the Coptic dialects
see EGYPT: Language). Coptic, however, has been entirely extinct as a
spoken language for over 200 years, having been supplanted by Arabic; in
the 13th century it was already so much decayed that Arabic translations
of the liturgies were necessary. The Gospels, however, are still read in
the churches in the Bohairic dialect. This dialect appears in
literature later than the others, having become of importance only with
the extinction of Greek in Lower Egypt; for a time it shared the field
with Sahidic, after the disappearance of Akhmimic and Fayumic, but
eventually displaced it in the churches, where it now survives alone.
Coptic literature is almost entirely religious, and consists mainly of
translations from the Greek. Such was the enthusiasm for Christianity
amongst the lower classes in Egypt that translations of the Bible were
made into three of the dialects of Coptic before the council of
Chalcedon; they probably date back at least as early as the middle of
the 4th century. For the dwellers in the Delta the Greek version was
probably sufficient, until the break with the Greek (Melkite) Church in
the 5th century induced them to make a separate translation in their own
native northern or Bohairic dialect. The Gnostic heresy, otherwise known
only through the works of its opponents, is illustrated in some Coptic
MSS. of the 4th century, the so-called _Pistis Sophia_ or Askew Codex,
and the Bruce Codex, respectively in the British Museum and Bodleian
Libraries. According to Schmidt and Harnack, they are translations
dating from the 3rd century and belong to an ascetic or encratitic sect
of the Gnostics which arose in Egypt itself. There is abundance of
apocryphal works, of apocalypses, of patristic writings from Athanasius
to the council of Chalcedon, homilies, lives of saints and anecdotes of
holy men, acts of martyrs extending from the persecution of Diocletian
to that of the Persians in the 7th century, and lives of later ascetics
and martyrs reaching down to the 14th century. Unless some of the
Egyptian _acta sanctorum et martyrum_ should prove to have been
originally written in Coptic, almost the only original works in that
language of any importance are the numerous sermons and letters of
Shenoute, a monk of Atr[=e]pe near Akhm[=i]m, written in the Sahidic
dialect in the 4th century. After the Arab conquest, as a defence to the
threatened church, language and nationality, versifications of the
Proverbs, of Solomon's Song and of various legends were composed, with
other religious songs. They are mostly antiphonal, a number of stresses
in a line marking the rhythm. There is no musical notation in the MSS.,
but traditional church tunes are generally referred to or prescribed for
the songs. Of secular literature strangely little existed or at least
has survived: only a few magical texts, fragments of a medical treatise,
of the story of Alexander, and of a story of the conquest of Egypt by
Cambyses, are known, apart from numerous legal and business documents.
Coptic was occasionally employed for literary purposes as late as the
14th century, but from the 10th century onward the Copts wrote mostly in
Arabic. Severus of Eshmunain (c. 950), who wrote a history of the
patriarchs of Alexandria, was one of the first to employ Arabic; Cyril
ibn Laklak and others in the 13th and 14th centuries translated much of
the older literature from Coptic into Arabic and Ethiopic for the use of
the Egyptian and Abyssinian churches. From this period also date the
native Coptic grammars and lexicons of Ibn 'Assal and others. At the
present time literature among the Copts is represented by Claudius
Lab[=i]b, an enthusiast for the revival of the Coptic tongue, Marcus
Simaika, a leader of the progressive movement, and others.
(F. LL. G.)
_The Coptic Church._--Up to the 5th century the church of Alexandria
played a part in the Christian world scarcely second to that of Rome:
the names of Origen, Athanasius and Cyril bear witness to her greatness.
But in the time of the patriarch Dioscorus the church, always fond of
speculation, was rent asunder by the controversy concerning the single
or twofold nature of our Lord, as stated by Eutyches. The Eutychian
doctrine, approved by the council of Ephesus, was condemned by that of
Chalcedon in 451. But to this decision, though given by 636 bishops, the
Copts refused assent--a refusal which profoundly affected both the
religious and the political history of their country. From that moment
they were treated as heretics. The emperor appointed a new bishop of
Alexandria, whose adherents the Copts styled Melkites or Imperialists,
while the Copts are distinguished as Monophysites and Jacobites. The
court party and the native party each maintained its own line of
patriarchs, and each treated the other with bitter hostility. For nearly
two centuries strife and persecution continued. The well-meant ecthesis
of Heraclius was a failure and was followed by repression, till in 640
the Copts were released from the Roman dominion by the Saracen invasion.
But it was only after prolonged resistance to the Arabs that the Copts
accepted a change of masters, which gave them for a while religious
freedom. The orthodox or Melkite party, consisting mostly of Byzantine
Greeks, was swept away, and the double succession of patriarchs
practically ceased. True, even now there is an orthodox patriarch of
Alexandria living in Cairo, but he has only a few Greeks for followers,
and scarcely a nominal succession has been maintained. But the Coptic
succession has been continuous and real.
Doctrine.
The distinctive Monophysite doctrine of the Copts is not easy to state
intelligibly, and yet they cling to it with something of the tenacity
which has marked their whole history. They repudiate the heresy of
Eutyches as strongly as that of Nestorius, and claim to stand between
the two doctrines teaching that Christ was one person with one nature
which was made up by the indissoluble union of a divine and a human
nature, but that notwithstanding this absolute union the two natures
remained after union distinct, unconfounded and uncommingled, separate
though inseparable. The creed thus savours of paradox, not to say
contradiction. It is set forth in the Liturgy and recited at every
Coptic mass in the following words:--"I believe that this is the
life-giving flesh which thine only Son took from the ... Holy Mary. He
united it with His Divinity without mingling and without confusion and
without alteration.... I believe that His Divinity was not separated
from His Manhood for one moment or for the twinkling of an eye." On all
other points of dogma, including the single procession of the Holy
Ghost, the Copts agree with the Greek Church.
Hierarchy.
"The most holy pope and patriarch of the great city of Alexandria and of
all the land of Egypt, of Jerusalem the holy city, of Nubia, Abyssinia
and Pentapolis, and all the preaching of St Mark," as he is still
called, had originally jurisdiction over all the places named.
Jurisdiction over Abyssinia remains, but from Nubia and Pentapolis
Christianity has disappeared. The ancient rule is that no bishop is
eligible for the patriarchate. The requirement of a period of desert
life has so far prevailed that no one but a monk from one of the desert
monasteries is now qualified. This rule, harmless perhaps when the
monasteries were the great schools of learning and devotion, now puts a
premium on ignorance, and is disastrous to the church; more particularly
as even bishops must be chosen from the monks. The patriarch is elected
by an assembly of bishops and elders. The candidate is brought in chains
from the desert, and, if only in monk's orders, is passed through the
higher grades except that of bishop. The patriarch's seat was
transferred some time after the Arab conquest from Alexandria to the
fortress town of Babylon (Old Cairo), and in modern times it was shifted
to Cairo proper. The other orders and offices in the church are
metropolitan, bishop, chief priest, priest, archdeacon, deacon, reader
and monk. The number of bishoprics in ancient times was very
large--Athanasius says nearly 100. At present there remain ten in Egypt,
one at Khartum and three in Abyssinia.
Buildings.
The numerous remaining churches in Egypt but faintly represent the vast
number standing in ancient times. Rufinus says that he found 10,000
monks in the one region of Arsinoe. Later, in 616, the Persians are
described as destroying 600 monasteries near Alexandria. Ab[=u] S[=a]lih
(12th century) gives a list of churches surviving in his day, and their
number is astonishing. The earliest were cut out of rocks and caverns.
In the days of Constantine and Justinian basilicas of great splendour
were built, such as the church of St Mark at Alexandria and the Red
Monastery in Upper Egypt. This type of architecture permanently
influenced Coptic builders, but there prevailed also a type, probably
native in origin, though possessing Byzantine features, such as the
domed roofing. There is no church now standing which bears any trace of
the fine glass mosaics which once adorned the basilicas, nor is there
any example of a well-defined cruciform ground-plan. But the use of the
dome by Coptic architects is almost universal, and nearly every church
has at least three domes overshadowing the three altars. The domes are
sometimes lighted by small windows; but the walls are windowless, and
the churches consequently gloomy. Among the most interesting churches
are those of Old Cairo, those in the Wadi Natron, and the Red and White
Monasteries (_Der el-Abiad_ and _Der el-Ahmar_) near Suhag in Upper
Egypt.
Church fittings.
Every church has three altars at the eastern end in three contiguous
chapels. The central division is called the _haikal_ or sanctuary, which
is always divided from the choir by a fixed partition or screen with a
small arched doorway closed by double doors. This resembles the Greek
iconostasis, the screen on which the "icons" or sacred pictures are
placed. _Haikal_ screen and choir screen are often sumptuously carved
and inlaid. A marble basin for the mandatum in the nave, and an epiphany
tank at the west are common features. The altar is usually built of
brick or stone, hollow within, and having an opening to the interior. A
wooden altar-slab covered with crosses, &c., lies in a rectangular
depression on the surface, and it is used in case of need as a portable
altar. Chalice and paten, ewer and basin, crewet and chrismatory, are
found as in the Western churches. The aster consists of two crossed
half-hoops of silver and is used to place over the wafer. The flabellum
is used, though now rarely made of precious metal. Some examples of
silver-cased textus now remaining are very fine. Every church possesses
thuribles--the use of incense being universal and frequent--and diadems
for the marriage service. The use of church bells is forbidden by the
Moslems, except in the desert, and church music consists merely of
cymbals and triangles which accompany the chanting.
Rites and ceremonies.
The sacramental wine is usually made from raisins, but the juice must be
fermented. Churches even in Cairo have a press for crushing the raisins.
The eucharistic bread is baked in an oven built near the sanctuary. The
wafer is a small loaf about 3 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick,
stamped with the trisagion and with crosses. Communion must be received
fasting. Confession is required, but has somewhat fallen into disuse.
Laymen receive in both kinds. The wafer being broken into the chalice,
crumbs or "pearls" are taken out in a spoon and so administered, as in
the Greek rite. Reservation is uncanonical. Renaudot states that it was
permitted in cases of great extremity, when the host remained upon the
altar with lamps burning and a priest watching, but it is not now
practised, and there is no evidence of any such vessel as a pyx in
Coptic ritual. Small benedictional crosses belong to each altar, and
processional crosses are common. The crucifix is unknown, for while
paintings and frescoes abound, graven images are absolutely forbidden.
The liturgy was read exclusively in the extinct Coptic language till the
end of the 19th century, but parts are now read in Arabic, while the
lessons have long been read in Arabic as well as in Coptic. The services
are still excessively long, that of Good Friday lasting eleven hours;
but benches are now provided in the newer churches. Seven sacraments are
recognized--baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, orders,
matrimony, and unction of the sick. The chief fasts are those of Advent,
of Nineveh, of Heraclius, Lent and Pentecost. Pilgrimage to Jerusalem is
a duty and sometimes a penance.
The Coptic ritual deserves much fuller study than it has received. Since
the 7th century the church has been so isolated as to be little
influenced by changes affecting other communions. Consequently it
remains in many respects the most ancient monument of primitive rites
and ceremonies in Christendom. But centuries of subjection to Moslem
rule have much weakened it. For the liturgical dress see VESTMENTS;
CHASUBLE, &c.
Present state of the church.
The British occupation of Egypt profoundly modified Coptic religious
life. Before it the Copts lived in their own semi-fortified quarters in
Cairo or Old Cairo or in country or desert Dairs (Ders). Walls and gates
were now thrown down or disused: the Copts began to mix and live freely
among the Moslems, their children to frequent the same schools, and the
people to abandon their distinctively Christian dress, names, customs
and even religion. Freedom and prosperity threatened to injure the
Church more than centuries of persecution. Many of the younger
generation of Copts began openly to boast their indifference and even
scepticism: in the large towns churches came to be too often frequented
only by the old or the uneducated, confession and fasts fell into
neglect and the number of communicants diminished; while the facility of
divorce granted by Islam occasioned many perversions from among the
Copts to that religion. On the other hand the necessity of resistance to
these tendencies and of reform from within was strongly realized.
Unfortunately, the institution of a lay council of eminent churchmen,
which has been formed for the patriarch and for every bishop in his own
diocese, has led to prolonged struggles and on one occasion to a serious
crisis, in which the patriarch and the metropolitan of Alexandria were
for a while banished to the desert. A principal object of these lay
councils is to control the financial and legal powers vested in
patriarch and bishops--powers which have often been greatly abused.
Other objects are (1) to provide Christian religious education in all
Coptic schools and to raise these schools to a high standard in secular
matters; (2) to promote the education of women; (3) to apply church
revenues to the maintenance of churches and schools and to the better
payment of the clergy, who are now often compelled to live on charity;
(4) to ensure prompt administration of justice in ecclesiastical causes
such as divorce, inheritance, &c.; and (5) to establish colleges for the
efficient training of the clergy. Educated Copts remember the time when
the church of Alexandria was as famous for learning as for zeal. They
desire also to resist the serious encroachments of Roman Catholic,
American Presbyterian, and other foreign missions upon their ancient
faith. (A. J. B.)
AUTHORITIES.--(1) _History and Religion_: Johann Michael Wansleben
(Vansleb), a Dominican and learned orientalist (1635-1679), _Hist. de
l'église d'Alexandrie_ (Paris, 1677), written at Cairo in 1672 and
1673 mainly from original native sources, and _Nouvelle Relation ...
d'un voyage fait en Égypte, &c._ (Paris, 1677 and 1698, Eng. trans.,
London, 1678); Eusèbe Renaudot the younger (1646-1720), _Historia
Patriarcharum Alexandrinorum_ (Paris, 1713); Ab[=u] Dakn (Josephus
Abudacnus), _Historia Jacobitarum_ (Oxford, 1675, Eng. trans. by Sir
E. Sadleir, London, 1693); S. C. Malan, _Original Documents of the
Coptic Church_ (London, 1874); Denzinger, _Ritus Orientalium_
(Würzburg, 1863); Hon. Robert Curzon, _Visits to Monasteries in the
Levant_ (London, 1849); J. M. Neale, _Hist. of the Patriarchate of
Alexandria_ (2 vols., ib., 1847), in the _Hist. of the Holy Eastern
Church_, coloured by the writer's Anglo-Catholic point of view; A. J.
Butler, _Ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt_ (Oxford, 1884); B. T. A.
Evetts and Butler, _Churches and Monasteries of Egypt_, by Ab[=u]
S[=a]leh (Oxford, 1895); E. Amélineau, _Monuments pour servir à
l'histoire de l'Égypte chrétienne aux IV^e et V^e siècles_, Coptic
and Arabic documents published and translated for the first time, in
_Mém. de la mission archéolog. franç. au Caire_, t. iv. (Paris, 1888),
and _Monuments ... au IV^e siècle_ in the _Annales du musée Guimet_,
t. xvii. (Paris, 1889); P. Rohrbach, _Die alexandrinischen
Patriarchen_ (Berlin, 1891); Jullien, _L'Égypte: souvenirs bibliques
et chrétiens_ (Lille, 1891); Macaire, _Histoire de l'église
d'Alexandrie_ (Cairo, 1894); Porphyrius, _The Christian East:
Alexandrian Patriarchate_ (St Petersburg, 1898; in Russian);
Strzygowski, _Orient oder Rom?_ (Leipzig, 1901); De Bock, _Matériaux
pour servir à l'archéologie de l'Égypte chrétienne_ (St Petersburg,
1901); Kitab al _Hul[=a]j[=i] al Mukaddas_ (Cairo, 1902); A.
Gayet, "Les Monuments coptes du musée de Boulaq," in the _Mém. miss.
archéolog. franç. au Caire_, t. iii. (Paris, 1889); id., L'Art copte
(Paris, 1902); Horner, _The Statutes of the Apostles_ (London, 1904);
_Egypt Exploration Fund Reports_, section "Christian Egypt"; W. E.
Crum, article "Koptische Kirche" in _Realencyklopädie für
protestantische Theologie und Kirche_, 3. Aufl.; J. M. Fuller's
article "Coptic Church" in Smith's _Dictionary of Biography_; A. J.
Butler, _The Arab Conquest of Egypt_ (Oxford, 1902); J. Leipoldt,
_Schenute von Atripe und die Entstehung des national-ägyptischen
Christentums_ (Leipzig, 1903), _Die Entstehung der koptischen Kirche_
(a valuable essay printed as the introduction to R. Haupt's _Katalog_
5, Halle, 1905); B. T. A. Evetts, "The Patriarchal History of Severus"
in Graffin's _Patrologia orientalis_ (Paris); J. Milne, _A History of
Egypt under Roman Rule_ (1898).
_Literature._--See Crum's article above referred to, his _Catalogue of
Coptic MSS. in the British Museum_, and his annual reviews in the
_Archaeological Report_ of the Egypt Exploration Fund; J. Leipoldt in
_Geschichte der christlichen Literaturen des Orients_ (Leipzig, 1907);
H. Junker, _Koptische Poesie des zehnten Jahrhunderts_, 1. Teil
(Berlin, 1908); Archdeacon Dowling, _The Egyptian Church_ (London,
1909).
_Modern People._--E. W. Lane's description of the Copts in his _Modern
Egyptians_ is interesting, but founded on imperfect information, and,
moreover, coloured by prejudices in favour of the Moslems whom he
studied with so much sympathy. See Klunzinger, _Upper Egypt_, pp. 61
et sqq.; also the last chapter of _The Story of the Church of Egypt_,
by Mrs E. L. Butcher (1897), on the social life and customs.
COPYHOLD, in English law, an ancient form of land tenure, legally
defined as a "holding at the will of the lord according to the custom of
the manor." Though nowadays of diminishing practical importance, its
incidents are historically interesting. Its origin is to be found in the
occupation by villani, or non-freemen, of portions of land belonging to
the manor of a feudal lord. In the time of the Domesday survey the manor
was in part granted to free tenants, in part reserved by the lord
himself for his own uses. The estate of the free tenants is the freehold
estate of English law; as tenants of the same manor they assembled
together in manorial court or court baron, of which they were the
judges. The portion of the manor reserved for the lord (the _demesne_,
or domain) was cultivated by labourers who were bound to the land
(_adscripti glebae_). They could not leave the manor, and their service
was obligatory. These villani, however, were allowed by the lord to
cultivate portions of land for their own use. It was a mere occupation
at the pleasure of the lord, but in course of time it grew into an
occupation by right, recognized first of all by custom and afterwards by
law. This kind of tenure is called by the lawyers _villenagium_, and it
probably marks a great advance in the general recognition of the right
when the name is applied to lands held on the same conditions not by
villeins but by free men. The tenants in villenage were not, like the
freeholders, members of the court baron, but they appear to have
attended in a humbler capacity, and to have solicited the succession to
the land occupied by a deceased father, or the admission of a new tenant
who had purchased the goodwill, as it might be called, of the holding,
paying for such favours certain customary fines or dues. In relation to
the tenants in villenage, the court baron was called the customary
court. The records of the court constituted the title of the villein
tenant, held by copy of the court roll (whence the term "copyhold"); and
the customs of the manor therein recorded formed the real property law
applicable to his case.
Copyhold had long been established in practice before it was formally
recognized by the law. At first it was in fact, as it is now in the
fictitious theory of the law, a tenancy at will, for which none of the
legal remedies of a freeholder were available. In the reign of Edward
IV., however, it was held that a tenant in villenage had an action of
trespass against the lord. In this way a species of tenant-right,
depending on and strongly supported by popular opinion, was changed into
a legal right. But it retained many incidents characteristic of its
historical origin. The life of copyhold assurance, it is said, is
custom. Copyhold is necessarily parcel of a manor, and the freehold is
said to be in the lord of the manor. The court roll of the manor is the
evidence of title and the record of the special laws as to fines, quit
rents, heriots, &c., prevailing in the manor. When copyhold land is
conveyed from one person to another, it is surrendered by the owner to
the lord, who by his payment of the customary fine makes a new grant of
it to the purchaser. The lord must admit the vendor's nominee, but the
form of the conveyance is still that of surrender and re-grant. The
lord, as legal owner of the fee-simple of the lands, has a right to all
the mines and minerals and to all the growing timber, although the
tenant may have planted it himself. Hence it appears that the existence
of copyhold tenures may sometimes be traced by the total absence of
timber from such lands, while on freehold lands it grows in abundance.
Hence also the popular saying that the "oak grows not except on free
land." The copyholder must not commit waste either by cutting down
timber, &c., or by neglecting to repair buildings. In such respects the
law treats him as a mere lessee,--the real owner being supposed to be
the lord. On the other hand, the lord may not enter the land to cut his
own timber or open his mines. The limitations of estates usual in
respect of other lands, as found in copyhold, become subject of course
to the operations of its peculiar conditions as to the relation of lord
and tenant. An estate for life, or _pour autre vie_ (i.e. for another's
life), an estate entail, or in fee-simple, may be carved out of
copyhold.
A species of tenure resembling copyhold is what is known as _customary
freehold_. The land is held by copy of court-roll, but not by will of
the lord. The question has been raised whether the freehold of such
lands is in the lord of the manor or in the tenant, and the courts of
law have decided in favour of the former. In some instances copyhold for
lives alone is recognized, and in such cases the lord of the manor may
ultimately, when all the lives have dropped, get back the land into his
own hands.
The feudal obligations attaching to copyhold tenure have been found to
cause much inconvenience to the tenants, while they are of no great
value to the lord. One of the most vexatious of these is the _heriot_,
under which name the lord is entitled to seize the tenant's best beast
or other chattel in the event of the tenant's death. The custom dates
from the time when all the copyholder's property, including the
copyholder himself, belonged to the lord, and is supposed to have been
fixed by way of analogy to the custom which gave a military tenant's
habiliments to his lord in order to equip his successor. Instances have
occurred of articles of great value being seized as heriots for the
copyhold tenements of their owners. A race horse worth £2000 or £3000
was thus seized. The fine payable on the admission of a new tenant,
whether by alienation or succession, is to a certain extent arbitrary,
but the courts long ago laid down the rule that it must be reasonable,
and anything beyond two years' improved value of the lands they
disallowed.
The inconvenience caused by these feudal incidents of the tenure led to
a series of statutes, having for their object the conversion of copyhold
into freehold. The first Copyhold Act, that of 1841, was consolidated by
the Copyhold Act 1894. Owing to the incidents attaching to land "holden
by copy of court roll according to the custom of the manor" in the shape
of fines and heriots, the inability to grant a lease for a term
exceeding a year, and to the peculiar rules as to descent, waste, dower,
curtesy, alienation, and other matters, varying often from manor to
manor and widely differing from the uniform law applicable to land in
general, enfranchisement, or the conversion of land held by copyhold
tenure into freehold, is often desired. This could and may still be
effected at common law, but only by agreement on the part of both the
lord and the tenant. Moreover, it was subject to other disadvantages.
The cost fell on the tenant, and the land when enfranchised was subject
to the encumbrances attaching to the manor, and so an investigation into
the lord's title was necessary. In 1841 an act was passed to provide a
statutory method of enfranchisement, removing some of the barriers
existing at common law; but the machinery created was only available
where both lord and tenant were in agreement. The Copyhold Act 1852 went
further, and for the first time introduced the principle of compulsory
enfranchisement on the part of either party. By the Copyhold Act 1894,
which now governs statutory enfranchisement, the former Copyhold Acts
1841-1887, were repealed, and the law was consolidated and improved.
Enfranchisement is now effected under this act, though in certain cases
it is also to be obtained under special acts, such as the Land Clauses
Consolidation Act 1848; and the old common law method with all its
disadvantages is still open. The Copyhold Act 1894 deals both with
compulsory and with voluntary enfranchisement. In either case the
sanction of the Board of Agriculture must be obtained; and powers are
bestowed on it to decide questions arising on enfranchisement, with an
appeal to the High Court. The actual enfranchisement, where it is
compelled by one of the parties, is effected by an award made by the
board; in the case of a voluntary enfranchisement it is completed by
deed. Under the act it is open to both lord and tenant to compel
enfranchisement, though the expenses are to be borne by the party
requiring it. The compensation to the lord, in the absence of an
agreement, is ascertained under the direction of the board on a
valuation made by a valuer or valuers appointed by the lord and tenant;
and may be paid either in a gross sum or by way of an annual rent charge
issuing out of the land enfranchised, and equivalent to interest at the
rate of 4% on the amount fixed upon as compensation. This rent charge is
redeemable on six months' notice at twenty-five times its annual amount.
The tenant, even if he is the compelling party, may elect either method;
but the lord has not the same option, and where the enfranchisement is
at his instance, unless there is either an agreement to the contrary or
a notice on the part of the tenant to exercise his option, the
compensation is a rent charge. Power is conferred on the lord to
purchase the tenant's interest where a change in the condition of the
land by enfranchisement would prejudice his mansion house, park or
gardens; while on the other hand, in the interest of the public or the
other tenants, the board is authorized to continue conditions of user
for their benefit.
So far the provisions relating to compulsory enfranchisement have been
dealt with; but even in the case of a voluntary agreement the lord and
tenant are only entitled to accept enfranchisement with the consent of
the Board of Agriculture. The consideration in addition to a gross sum
or a rent charge may consist of a conveyance of land, or of a right to
mines or minerals, or of a right to waste in lands belonging to the
manor, or partly in one way and partly in another. The effect of
enfranchisement, whether it be voluntary or compulsory, is that the land
becomes of freehold tenure subject to the same laws relating to descent,
dower and curtesy as are applicable to freeholds, and so freed from
Borough English, Gavelkind (save in Kent), and other customary modes of
descent, and from any custom relating to dower or free-bench or tenancy
by curtesy. Nevertheless, the lord is entitled to escheat in the event
of failure of heirs, just as if the land had not been enfranchised. The
land is held under the same title as that under which it was held at the
date at which the enfranchisement takes effect; but it is not subject to
any estate right, charge, or interest affecting the manor. Every
mortgage of copyhold estate in the land enfranchised becomes a mortgage
of the freehold, though subject to the priority of the rent charge paid
in compensation under the act. All rights and interests of any person in
the land and all leases remain binding in the same manner. On the other
hand the tenant's rights of common still continue attached to the
freehold; and, without express consent in writing of the lord or tenant
respectively, the right of either in mines or minerals shall not be
affected by the change. No creation of new copyholds by granting land
out of the waste is permissible, save with the consent of the Board of
Agriculture; and the act enacts that a valid admittance of a new
copyholder may be made without holding a court.
Under the earlier acts, machinery to free the land from the burden of
the old rents, fines and heriots was set up, commuting them into a rent
charge or a fine. Commutation, however, is never compulsory, and differs
from enfranchisement in that, whereas by enfranchisement the land in
question is converted into freehold, by commutation it still continued
parcel of the manor, though subject to a rent charge or a fine, as might
have been agreed. The ordinary laws of descent, dower, and curtesy were,
however, substituted for the customs in relation to these matters
incidental to the land in question before commutation, and the timber
became the tenant's.
AUTHORITIES.--C. I. Elton, _Law of Copyholds_ (1898); C. Watkins, _On
Copyholds_ (1825); _Scriven on Copyholds_, ed. A. Brown (1896); A.
Brown, _Copyhold Enfranchisement Acts_ (1895).
COPYING MACHINES. Appliances of various kinds have been devised for
producing copies of writings made by the pen or pencil. A simple method
commonly adopted when only a single copy is required is to write the
original with specially prepared copying ink (formed by adding some
thickening substance like sugar or gum to ordinary ink), to place upon
it a damped sheet of thin absorbent paper, and to press the two
together in some way, as in a copying press. The resulting impression,
being reversed, must be read from the back of the absorbent paper, which
is thin enough to be transparent. Another process, by which a
considerable number of copies can be made simultaneously, consists in
interleaving a number of sheets of thin white paper with sheets of paper
prepared with lampblack ("carbon paper") and writing on the top sheet
with a "style" or other sharp-pointed instrument. The hectograph may be
taken as typical of manifolding processes analogous to lithography. In
it the writing is in first instance done with aniline ink, and then a
transfer is made to a plate of a gelatinous composition, from which a
series of duplicates can be taken off. Another class of methods involves
the preparation of what are essentially stencils. In the cyclostyle,
paper of a special kind is stretched over a smooth metal plate, and the
writing instrument consists of a holder having at the end a small wheel
provided with a serrated edge on its periphery, which perforates the
paper with lines of minute cuts and thus forms a stencil. When ink is
passed over this stencil with a roller it goes through the perforations
and leaves an impression on a piece of paper placed underneath. In the
trypograph a similar result is attained by using a simple style for
writing, but stretching the paper over a metal plate having its surface
covered with fine sharp corrugations which pierce the paper as the style
is moved over them. In the Edison electric pen the stencil is formed by
the aid of a style containing a fine needle, which is rapidly moved up
and down by a small electric motor mounted at the top of the pen, and
thus a series of minute holes is punctured in the paper by the act of
writing. For copying plans and drawings, engineers, architects, &c., use
a "blue print" process which depends on the action of light on certain
salts of iron (see SUN-COPYING and PHOTOGRAPHY).
COPYRIGHT, in law, the right, belonging exclusively to the author or his
assignees, of multiplying for sale copies of an original work or
composition, in literature or art. As a recognized form of property it
is, compared with others, of recent origin, being in fact, in the use of
literary works, mainly the result of the facility for multiplying copies
created by the discovery of printing. It is with copyright in literary
compositions that we are here primarily concerned, as it was established
first, the analogous right as regards works of plastic art, &c.,
following in its train.
1. Whether copyright was recognized at all by the common law of England
was long a much debated legal question. Blackstone thinks that "this
species of property, being grounded on labour and invention, is more
properly reducible to the head of occupancy than any other, since the
right of occupancy itself is supposed by Mr Locke and many others to be
founded on the personal labour of the occupant." But he speaks
doubtfully of its existence--merely mentioning the opposing views, "that
on the one hand it hath been thought no other man can have a right to
exhibit the author's work without his consent, and that it is urged on
the other hand that the right is of too subtle and unsubstantial a
nature to become the subject of property at the common law, and only
capable of being guarded by positive statutes and special provisions of
the magistrate." He notices that the Roman law adjudged that if one man
wrote anything on the paper or parchment of another, the writing should
belong to the owner of the blank materials, but as to any other property
in the works of the understanding the law is silent, and he adds that
"neither with us in England hath there been (till very lately) any final
determination upon the rights of authors at the common law." The common
law undoubtedly gives a right to restrain the publication of
_unpublished_ compositions; but when a work is once published, its
protection depends on the statutes regulating copyright. The leading
case on the subject of unpublished works is _Prince Albert_ v. _Strange_
(1849), 2 De G. & Sm. 652. Copies of etchings by Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert, which had been lithographed for private circulation, fell
into the hands of the defendant, a London publisher, who proposed to
exhibit them, and issued a catalogue entitled _A Descriptive Catalogue
of the Royal Victoria and Albert Gallery of Etchings_. The court of
chancery restrained the publication of the catalogue, holding that
property in mechanical works, or works of art, does certainly subsist,
and is invaded, before publication, not only by copying but by
description or catalogue. This protection includes news (_Exchange
Telegraph Co._ v. _Central News_, 1897).
Nature of right.
As a matter of principle, the nature of copyright itself, and the
reasons why it should be recognized in law, have, as already stated,
been the subject of bitter dispute. It was attacked as constituting a
monopoly, and it has been argued that copyright should be looked upon as
a doubtful exception to the general law regulating trade, and should be
strictly limited in point of duration. On the other hand, it is claimed
that copyright, being in the nature of personal property, should be
perpetual. A man's own work, in this view, is as much _his_ as his house
or his money, and should be protected by the state. Historically, and in
legal definition, there would appear to be no doubt that copyright, as
regulated by statute, is strictly a monopoly. The parliamentary
protection of works of art for the period of fourteen years by an act of
1709 and later statutes appears, as Blackstone points out, to have been
suggested by the exception in the Statute of Monopolies 1623. The object
of that statute was to suppress the royal grants of exclusive right to
trade in certain articles, and to reassert in relation to all such
monopolies the common law of the land. Certain exceptions were made on
grounds of public policy, and among others it was allowed that a royal
patent of privilege might be granted for fourteen years "to any inventor
of a new manufacture for the sole working or making of the same."
Copyright, like patent right, would be covered by the legal definition
of a monopoly. It is a mere right to prevent other people from
manufacturing certain articles. But objections to monopolies in general
do not apply to this particular class of cases, in which the author of a
new work in literature or art has the right of preventing others from
manufacturing copies thereof and selling them to the public. The rights
of persons licensed to sell spirits, to hold theatrical exhibitions,
&c., are also of the nature of monopolies, and may be defended on
special grounds of public policy. The monopoly of authors and inventors
rests on the general sentiment underlying all civilized law, that a man
should be protected in the enjoyment of the fruits of his own labour.
LITERARY COPYRIGHT
Historical account.
2. _United Kingdom._--On the invention of printing (see PRESS LAWS) the
crown, or other sovereign powers, granted patents or licences with the
object of restricting the right of multiplying copies of literary works,
and this supervision of publication still has certain historical
results. A special kind of what amounts to perpetual copyright in
various publications has for various reasons been recognized by the laws
(1) in the crown, and (2) in the universities and colleges. The various
copyright acts, referred to below, except from their provisions the
copyrights vested in the two English and the four Scottish universities,
Trinity College, Dublin, and the colleges of Eton, Westminster and
Winchester. Crown copyrights are saved by the general principle which
exempts crown rights from the operation of statutes unless they are
expressly mentioned. Among the books in which the crown has claimed
copyright are the English translation of the Bible, the Book of Common
Prayer, statutes, orders of privy council, proclamations, almanacs,
Lilly's Latin Grammar, year books and law reports. The copyright in the
Bible is rested by some on the king's position as head of the church;
Lord Lyndhurst rested it on his duties as the chief executive officer of
the state charged with the publication of authorized manuals of
religion. The right of printing the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer
is vested in the king's printer and the universities of Oxford and
Cambridge. These copyrights do not extend to prohibit independent
translations from the original. The obsolete copyright of the crown in
Lilly's Latin Grammar was founded on the fact of its having been drawn
up at the king's expense. The universities have a joint right (with the
crown's patentees) of printing acts of parliament. Law reports were
decided to be the property of the crown in the reign of Charles II.; by
act of parliament they were forbidden to be published without licence
from the chancellor and the chiefs of the three courts, and this form of
licence remained in use after the act had expired. University and
college copyrights were made perpetual by an act of George III., but
only on condition of the books being printed at their printing presses
and for their own benefit.
3. The first definite statute, or Copyright Act, in England was passed
in 1709. The preamble states that printers, booksellers and other
persons were frequently in the habit of printing, reprinting, and
publishing "books and other writings without the consent of the authors
or proprietors of such books and writings, to their very great
detriment, and too often to the ruin of them and their families." "For
preventing, therefore, such practices for the future, and for the
encouragement of learned men to compose and write useful books, it is
enacted that the author of any book or books already printed, who hath
not transferred to any other the copy or copies of such book or books in
order to print or reprint the same, shall have the sole right and
liberty of printing such book or books for the term of one-and-twenty
years, and that the author of any book or books already composed, and
not printed and published, or that shall hereafter be composed, and his
assignee, or assignees, shall have the sole liberty of printing and
reprinting such book or books for the term of fourteen years, to
commence from the day of first publishing the same, and no longer." The
penalty for offences against the act was declared to be the forfeiture
of the illicit copies to the true proprietor, and the fine of one penny
per sheet, half to the crown, and half to any person suing for the same.
"After the expiration of the said term of fourteen years the sole right
of printing or disposing of copies shall return to the authors thereof,
if they are then living, or their representatives, for another term of
fourteen years." To secure the benefit of the act registration at
Stationers' Hall was necessary. In section 4 was contained the provision
that if any person thought the price of a book "too high and
unreasonable," he might complain to the archbishop of Canterbury, the
lord chancellor, the bishop of London, the chiefs of the three courts at
Westminster, and the vice-chancellors of the two universities in
England, and to the lord president, lord justice general, lord chief
baron of the exchequer, and the rector of the college of Edinburgh in
Scotland, who might fix a reasonable price. Nine copies of each book
were to be provided for the royal library, the libraries of the
universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the four Scottish universites,
Sion College, and the faculty of advocates at Edinburgh.
It was believed for a long time that this statute had not interfered
with the rights of authors at common law. Ownership of literary property
at common law appears indeed to have been recognized in some earlier
statutes. The Licensing Act 1662 prohibited the printing of any work
without the consent of the _owner_ on pain of forfeiture, &c. This act
expired in 1679, and attempts to renew it were unsuccessful. The records
of the Stationers' Company show that the purchase and sale of copyrights
had become an established usage, and the loss of the protection,
incidentally afforded by the Licensing Act, was felt as a serious
grievance, which ultimately led to the statute of 1709. That statute, as
the judges in _Millar_ v. _Taylor_ (1769, 4 Burr. 2303) pointed out,
speaks of the ownership of literary property as a known thing. Many
cases are recorded in which the courts protected copyrights not falling
within the periods laid down by the act. Thus in 1735 the master of the
rolls restrained the printing of an edition of the _Whole Duty of Man_,
published in 1657. In 1739 an injunction was granted by Lord Hardwicke
against the publication of _Paradise Lost_, at the instance of persons
claiming under an assignment from Milton in 1667. In the case of
_Millar_ v. _Taylor_ the plaintiff, who had purchased the copyright of
Thomson's _Seasons_ in 1729, claimed damages for an unlicensed
publication thereof by the defendant in 1763. The jury found that before
the statute it was usual to purchase from authors the perpetual
copyright of their works. Three judges, among whom was Lord Mansfield,
decided in favour of the common law right; one was of the contrary
opinion. The majority thought that the act of 1709 was not intended to
destroy copyright at common law, but merely to protect it more
efficiently during the limited periods. _Millar_ v. _Taylor_, however,
was speedily overruled by the case of _Donaldson_ v. _Beckett_ in the
House of Lords in 1774. The judges were called upon to state their
opinions. A majority (seven to four) were of opinion that the author and
his assigns had at common law the sole right of publication in
perpetuity. A majority (six to five) were of opinion that this right had
been taken away by the statute of 1709, and a term of years substituted
for the perpetuity. The decision appears to have taken the trade by
surprise. Many booksellers had purchased copyrights not protected by the
statute, and they now petitioned parliament to be relieved from the
consequences of the decision in _Donaldson_ v. _Beckett_. A bill for
this purpose actually passed the House of Commons, but Lord Camden's
influence succeeded in defeating it in the House of Lords. The result is
that from that time on ordinary copyright has been recognized except in
so far as it is sanctioned by statute. The university copyrights were,
however, protected in perpetuity by an act passed in 1775.
By an act of 1801 the penalty for infringement of copyright was
increased to threepence per sheet, in addition to the forfeiture of the
book. The proprietor was to have an action on the case against any
person in the United Kingdom, or British dominions in Europe, who should
print, reprint, or import without the consent of the proprietor, first
had in writing, signed in the presence of two or more credible
witnesses, any book or books, or who knowing them to be printed, &c.,
without the proprietor's consent should sell, publish, or expose them
for sale; the proprietor to have his damages as assessed by the jury,
and double costs of suit. A second period of fourteen years was
confirmed to the author, should he still be alive at the end of the
first. Further, it was forbidden to import into the United Kingdom for
sale books first composed, written, or printed and published within the
United Kingdom, and reprinted elsewhere. Another change was made by the
act of 1814, which in substitution for the two periods of fourteen years
gave to the author and his assignees copyright for the full term of
twenty-eight years from the date of the first publication, "and also, if
the author be living at the end of that period, for the residue of his
natural life."
Act of 1842.
4. The Copyright Act of 1842 repealed the previous acts on the same
subject, and is the basis of the existing law. Its preamble stated its
object to be to encourage the production of "literary matter of lasting
benefit to the world." The principal clause is the following (§ 3):
"That the copyright in every book which shall after the passing of this
act be published in the lifetime of its author shall endure for the
natural life of such author, and for the further term of seven years,
commencing at the time of his death, and shall be the property of such
author and his assignees; provided always that if the said term of seven
years shall expire before the end of forty-two years from the first
publication of such book the copyright shall in that case endure for
such period of forty-two years; and that the copyright of every book
which shall be published after the death of its author shall endure for
the term of forty-two years from the first publication thereof, and
shall be the property of the proprietor of the author's manuscript from
which such book shall be first published and his assigns." The benefit
of the enlarged period was extended to subsisting copyrights, unless
they were the property of an assignee who had acquired them by purchase,
in which case the period of copyright would be extended only if the
author or his personal representative agreed with the proprietor to
accept the benefit of the act. By section 5 the judicial committee of
the privy council may license the republication of books which the
proprietor of the copyright thereof refuses to publish after the death
of the author. The sixth section provides for the delivery within
certain times of copies of all books published after the passing of the
act, and of all subsequent editions thereof, at the British Museum. And
a copy of every book and its subsequent editions must be sent _on
demand_ to the following libraries: the Bodleian at Oxford, the public
library at Cambridge, the library of the faculty of advocates in
Edinburgh, and that of Trinity College, Dublin. Other libraries (the
libraries of the four Scottish Universities, King's Inns, Dublin, and
Sion College) entitled to this privilege under the earlier acts had been
deprived thereof by an act passed in 1836, and grants from the treasury,
calculated on the annual average value of the books they had received,
were ordered to be paid to them as compensation. A book of registry is
ordered to be kept at Stationers' Hall for the registration of
copyrights, to be open to inspection on payment of one shilling for
every entry which shall be searched for or inspected. And the officer of
Stationers' Hall shall give a certified copy of any entry when required,
on payment of five shillings; and such certified copies shall be
received in evidence in the courts as prima facie proof of
proprietorship or assignment of copyright or licence as therein
expressed, and, in the case of dramatic or musical pieces, of the right
of representation or performance. False entries shall be punished as
misdemeanours. The entry is to record the title of the book, the time of
its publication, and the name and place of abode of the publisher and
proprietor of copyright. Without making such entry no proprietor can
bring an action for infringement of his copyright, but the entry is not
otherwise to affect the copyright itself. Any person deeming himself
aggrieved by an entry in the registry may complain to one of the
superior courts, which will order it to be expunged or varied if
necessary. A proprietor may bring an action on the case for infringement
of his copyright, and the defendant in such an action must give notice
of the objections to the plaintiff's title on which he means to rely. No
person except the proprietor of the copyright is allowed to import into
the British dominions for sale or hire any book first composed or
written or printed and published in the United Kingdom, and reprinted
elsewhere, under penalty of forfeiture and a fine of £10. The proprietor
of any encyclopaedia, review, magazine, periodical work, or work
published in a series of books or parts, who shall have employed any
person to compose the same, or any volumes, parts, essays, articles, or
portions thereof, for publication on the terms that the copyright
therein shall belong to such proprietor, shall enjoy the term of
copyright granted by the act.[1] But the proprietor may not publish
separately any article or review without the author's consent, nor may
the author unless he has reserved the right of separate publication.
Where neither party has reserved the right they may publish by
agreement, but the author at the end of twenty-eight years may publish
separately. Proprietors of periodical works shall be entitled to all the
benefits of registration under the act, on entering in the registry the
title, the date of first publication of the first volume or part, and
the names of proprietor and publisher.
The interpretation clause of the act defines a book to be every volume,
part, or division of a volume, pamphlet, sheet of letter-press, sheet of
music, map, chart, or plan separately published.
Recent extensions.
5. During the last quarter of the 19th century the question of copyright
became continually more prominent, and a considerable extension was
given by judicial interpretation to the scope of the act of 1842.
"Literary matter of lasting benefit to the world" came to include every
publication (not being illegal) which could be described as "literary"
or "original," the criterion as to the latter qualification being, in
the last resort, whether (see _Trade Auxiliary Co._ v. _Middlesborough
Association_, 1889, 40 Ch.D. 425) the author or compiler has really put
his own brain-work into it.
Newspapers.
6. The most marked and certain progress has been in the application of
the law of copyright to the periodical press, in order to protect within
reasonable limits the labour and expenditure of newspapers that obtain
for the public the earliest news and arrange it for publication. It is
settled law since 1881 (_Walter_ v. _Howe_, 17 Ch.D. 708, overruling
_Cox_ v. _Land & Water Journal Co._, 1869), that a newspaper is a book
within the meaning of the act, and can claim all rights that a book has
under the Copyright Act. Thus, leading articles, special articles, and
even news items are protected (_Walter_ v. _Steinkopff_, 1892, 3 Ch.
489; _Exchange Telegraph Co._ v. _Gregory and Co._, 1896, 1 Q.B. 147).
Current prices of stocks and shares, translations, the compilation of a
directory, summaries of legal proceedings, and other similar literary
work, so far as the literary form, the labour and money are concerned,
are equally protected. In short, the test may now be broadly stated to
be, whether labour of the brain and expenditure of money have been given
for the production; whilst the old requirement of original matter is
very broadly interpreted. The leading case on the subject is _Walter_ v.
_Lane_ (decided in the House of Lords, 6th August 1900). The question
there raised was, whether or not copyright applied under the act of 1842
in respect of _verbatim_ reports of speeches. Four law lords, viz. Lord
Chancellor Halsbury, Lord Davey, Lord James of Hereford and Lord
Brampton upheld the claim to copyright in such cases, whilst Lord
Robertson was the sole dissentient.
Apart from newspapers, protection has been extended to publications
having no literary character; Messrs Maple's furniture catalogue, and
the Stock Exchange prices on the "tape" have been awarded the same
protection as directories. The courts have declined to protect works
which are mere copies of railway time-tables, or the "tips" of a
sporting prophet, or mechanical devices with no independent literary
matter, such as patterns for cutting ladies' sleeves.
Lectures.
7. The publication of lectures without consent of the authors or their
assignees is prohibited by the Lecture Copyright Act 1835, which
reinforces the common law against publication of "unpublished" matter,
and gives a copyright for 28 years. This act, however, excepts from its
provisions: (1) lectures of which notice has not been given two days
before their delivery to two justices of the peace living within 5 m. to
the place of delivery (an impracticable condition), and (2) lectures
delivered in universities and other public institutions. Sermons by
clergy of the established Church are believed to fall within this
exception. The leading cases are _Nicols_ v. _Pitman_, 1884, 26 Ch.D.
374, and _Caird_ v. _Sime_, 1887, 12 A.C. 326.
Private letters.
8. The writer of private letters sent to another person may in general
restrain their publication. It was urged in some of the cases that the
sender had abandoned his property in the letter by the act of sending;
but this was denied by Lord Hardwicke (_Pope_ v. _Curl_ in 1741), who
held that at most the receiver only might take some kind of joint
property in the letter along with the author. Judge Story, in the
American case of _Folsom_ v. _Marsh_, 2 Story (Amer.) 100, states the
law as follows: "The author of any letter or letters, and his
representatives, whether they are literary letters or letters of
business, possess the sole and exclusive copyright therein; and no
person, neither those to whom they are addressed, nor other persons,
have any right or authority to publish the same upon their own account
or for their own benefit." But there may be special occasions justifying
such publication. See also the English case of _Macmillan_ v. _Dent_
(1905).
Test of infringement.
9. The question of what is an infringement of copyright has been the
subject of much discussion. It was decided under the statute of 1709
that a repetition from memory was not a publication so as to be an
infringement of copyright. In the case of _Reade_ v. _Conquest_, 1861, 9
C.B., the same view was taken. The defendant had dramatized the
plaintiff's novel _It's Never too Late to Mend_, and the piece was
performed at his theatre. This was held to be no breach of copyright;
but the circulation of copies of a drama, so taken from a copyright
novel, whether gratuitously or for sale, is not allowed. Then again it
is often a difficult question to decide whether the alleged piratical
copyright does more than make that fair use of the original author's
materials which the law permits. It is not every act of borrowing
literary matter from another which is piracy, and the difficulty is to
draw the line between what is fair and what is unfair. Lord Eldon put
the question thus,--whether the second publication is a legitimate use
of the other in the fair exercise of a mental operation deserving the
character of an original work. Another test proposed is "whether you
find on the part of the defendant an _animus furandi_--an intention to
take for the purpose of saving himself labour." No one, it has been
said, has a right to take, whether with or without acknowledgment, a
material and substantial portion of another's work, his arguments, his
illustrations, his authorities, for the purpose of making or improving a
rival publication. When the materials are open to all, an author may
acquire copyright in his selection or arrangement of them. Several cases
have arisen on this point between the publishers of rival directories.
Here it has been held that the subsequent compiler is bound to do for
himself what the original compiler had done. When the materials are thus
_in medio_, as the phrase is, it is considered a fair test of piracy to
examine whether the mistakes of both works are the same. If they are,
piracy will be inferred. Translations stand to each other in the same
relation as books constructed of materials in common. The _animus
furandi_, mentioned above as a test of piracy, does not imply deliberate
intention to steal; it may be quite compatible with ignorance even of
the copyright work. Abridgments, moreover, of original works appear to
be favoured by the courts--when the act of abridgment is itself an act
of the understanding, "employed in carrying a large work into a smaller
compass, and rendering it less expensive." Lord Hatherley, however, in
_Tinsley_ v. _Lacy_, 1863, 1 H. & M. 747, incidentally expressed his
disapproval of this feeling--holding that the courts had gone far enough
in this direction, and that it was difficult to acquiesce in the reason
sometimes given that the compiler of an abridgment is a benefactor to
mankind by assisting in the diffusion of knowledge. A mere selection or
compilation, so as to bring the materials into smaller space, will not
be a bona fide abridgment; "there must be real substantial condensation,
and intellectual labour, and judgment bestowed thereon" (Justice Story).
A publication professing to be _A Christmas Ghost Story, Reoriginated
from the Original by Charles Dickens, Esq., and Analytically Condensed
expressly for this Work_, was found (_Dickens_ v. _Lee_, 1844, 8 Jur.
183) to be an invasion of Charles Dickens's copyright in the original.
Injurious works.
10. There can be no copyright in any but innocent publications. Books of
an immoral or irreligious tendency have been repeatedly decided to be
incapable of being made the subject of copyright. In a case (_Lawrence_
v. _Smith_, 1 Jac. 471) before Lord Eldon in 1822, an injunction had
been obtained against a pirated publication of the plaintiff's _Lectures
on Physiology, Zoology, and the Natural History of Man_, which the judge
refused to continue, "recollecting that the immortality of the soul is
one of the doctrines of the Scriptures, and considering that the law
does not give protection to those who contradict the Scriptures." The
same judge refused in 1822 to restrain a piracy of Lord Byron's _Cain_,
and _Don Juan_ was refused protection in 1823. Compare also _Cowan_ v.
_Milbourn_, 1867, L.R. 2 Ex. 230, in which a contract to let a room for
lectures of an irreligious character was held not to be binding.
Titles of works.
11. The quasi-copyright in titles of books, periodicals, &c. is founded
on the desirability of preventing one person from putting off on the
public his own productions as those of another. This is, however, not
copyright, but a question of ordinary fraud. The name of a journal (if
sufficiently established) is a species of trade-mark in which the law
recognizes what it calls a "species of property," provided any
misleading of the public is involved. Thus, the _Wonderful Magazine_ was
invaded (1803) by a publication calling itself the _Wonderful Magazine,
New Series Improved_. _Bell's Life in London_ was pirated (1859) by a
paper calling itself the _Penny Bell's Life_. The proprietors of the
_London Journal_ got an injunction (1859) against the _Daily London
Journal_, which was projected by the person from whom they had bought
their own paper, and who had covenanted with them not to publish any
_weekly_ journal of a similar nature. A song published under the title
of _Minnie_, sung by Madame Anna Thillon and Miss Dolby at Monsieur
Jullien's concerts, was invaded (1855) by a song to the same air
published as _Minnie Dale, Sung at Jullien's Concerts by Madame Anna
Thillon_. On the other hand, the _Sphere_ and _Spear_, titles of
misleading similarity, assumed by two weekly periodicals that appeared
almost simultaneously in London in 1900, could not successfully attack
each other, because neither had an established reputation when first
adopted.
Drama and music.
12. Dramatic and musical compositions stand on this peculiar footing,
that they may be the subject of two entirely distinct rights. As
writings they come within the general Copyright Act, and the
unauthorized multiplication of copies is a piracy of the usual sort.
This was decided to be so even in the case of musical compositions under
the act of 1709. The Copyright Act of 1842 includes a "sheet of music"
in its definition of a book. Separate from the copyright thus existing
in dramatic or musical compositions is the stage-right or right of
representing them on the stage; this was the right created by the
Dramatic Copyright Act of 1833, in the case of dramatic pieces. This act
gave the owner of the stage-right (right of representation) a period of
twenty-eight years, or the duration of the author's life if longer. The
Copyright Act 1842 extended this right to musical compositions, and made
the period in both cases the same as that fixed for copyright. And the
act expressly provides (meeting a contrary decision in the courts) that
the assignment of copyright of dramatic and musical pieces shall not
include the right of representation unless that is expressly mentioned.
The act of 1833 prohibited representation "at any place of public
entertainment," a phrase which was omitted in the act of 1842, and it
may perhaps be inferred that the restriction is now more general and
would extend to any unauthorized representation anywhere. A question has
also been raised whether, to obtain the benefit of the act, a musical
piece must be of a dramatic character. The dramatization of a novel,
i.e. the acting of a drama constructed out of materials derived from a
novel, is not necessarily an infringement of the copyright in the novel
(supposing it to be possible to do it without making any sort of
colourable copy of the literary form), but to publish a drama so
constructed has been held to be a breach of copyright (_Tinsley_ v.
_Lacy_, 1863, 1 H. & M. 747, where defendant had published two plays
founded on two of Miss Braddon's novels, and reproducing the incidents
and in many cases the language of the original). Where two persons
dramatize the same novel, what, it may be asked, are their respective
rights? In _Toole_ v. _Young_, 1874, 9 Q.B. 523, this point actually
arose. A, the author of a published novel, dramatized it and assigned
the drama to the plaintiff, but it was never printed, published or
represented upon the stage. B, ignorant of A's drama, also dramatized
the novel and assigned his drama to the defendant, who represented it on
the stage. It was held that any one might dramatize A's published novel,
and that the representation of B's drama was not a representation of A's
drama. This case may be compared with _Reade_ v. _Lacy_ (1861).
In the "Little Lord Fauntleroy" case (1888) the person who dramatized
the novel of another without his consent, an operation up to that time
believed to be unassailable in law, was attacked successfully, by
preventing him from using printed or written copies of the play, either
to deposit with the lord chamberlain or as prompt-books. In every case
where much of the original dialogue of the novel is taken, this stops
the production of the dramatization.
In music, statutes of 1882 and 1888 have prevented the use of the
provisions inflicting penalties for the performance of copyright songs
for purposes of extortion, by allowing the court to inflict a penalty of
one farthing and make the plaintiff pay the costs, if justice requires
it. Authors reserving the right of public performance are required to
print a notice to that effect on all copies of the music.
An important decision (which appears to be a grave injustice) on musical
copyright is the case of _Boosey_ v. _Whight_ (1899; followed in other
cases--see _Mabe_ v. _Conner_, 1909), in which it was held that the
reproduction of copyright tunes on the perforated slips for an Aeolian
or other mechanical instrument is not an infringement of copyright. In
Germany it has been decided (_Lincke_ v. _Gramophone Co._) that the
reproduction of copyright music on a gramophone is an infringement, and
an injunction was granted. It has also been held in France that the
production of copyright _words_ (but not music) was an infringement,
while in the United States the Copyright Act of 1909 extended copyright
control to mechanical reproductions, and gave the copyright proprietor
power to exact royalties.
The copyright in music was subject to serious injury in England from the
selling of pirated copies in the streets by hawkers; and in 1902 an act
was passed enabling summary proceedings to be taken for having such
copies seized and destroyed. But this act had various practical defects,
which still left publishers largely at the mercy of the pirates. In 1905
the evil had become so serious that the chief music publishers announced
their intention of not producing any further works till the law was
altered; but the new Musical Copyright Bill of that year was obstructed
and talked out in the House of Commons. In November 1905 an important
prosecution, instituted by Messrs Chappell on behalf of the associated
music-publishers and composers, was brought against a coterie of
pirates. In the session of 1906 another attempt, this time successful,
was made to pass a Musical Copyright Bill. This act (the Musical
Copyright Act 1906) made it a criminal offence, punishable with fine and
imprisonment, to reproduce or sell, or to possess plates for the
production of, pirated copies of musical works. The act also gave power
to a constable to arrest without warrant any person who in any public
place exposes for sale or has in his possession for sale, or canvasses
or personally advertises pirated copies, provided that the apparent
owner of the copyright signs an authority requesting such arrest at his
own risk. Also a court of summary jurisdiction may grant a search
warrant, if there is reasonable ground for believing that an offence
against the act is being committed on any premises.
Rights of foreigners.
13. The right of foreigners under the English copyright acts produced at
one time an extraordinary conflict of judicial opinion. A foreigner who
during residence in the British dominions should publish a work was
admitted to have a copyright therein. The question was whether residence
at the time of publication was necessary. In _Cocks_ v. _Purday_, the
court of common pleas held that it was not. In _Boosey_ v. _Davidson_,
the court of queen's bench, following the decision of the court of
common pleas in _Cocks_ v. _Purday_, held that a foreign author might
have copyright in works first published in England, although he was
abroad at the time of publication. But the court of exchequer, in
_Boosey_ v. _Purday_, refused to follow these decisions, holding that
the legislature intended only to protect its own subjects,--whether
subjects by birth or by residence. The question came before the House of
Lords on appeal in the case of _Boosey_ v. _Jeffreys_ (1854), in which
the court of exchequer had taken the same line. The judges having been
consulted were found to be divided in opinion. Six of them held that a
foreigner resident abroad might acquire copyright by publishing first in
England. Four maintained the contrary. The views of the minority were
affirmed by the House of Lords (Lord Chancellor Cranworth and Lords
Brougham and St Leonards). The lord chancellor's opinion was founded
upon "the general doctrine that a British senate would legislate for
British subjects properly so called, or for such persons who might
obtain that character for a time by being resident in this country, and
therefore under allegiance to the crown, and under the protection of the
laws of England." Lord Brougham said that
"The statute of Anne had been passed for the purpose of encouraging
learned men, and with that view that act had given them the exclusive
right in their publications for twenty-one years. This, however, was
clear, they had no copyright at common law, for if they had there
would have been no necessity for the passing of that statute. It could
scarcely be said that the legislature had decided a century and a half
since that act was to be passed to create a monopoly in literary works
solely for the benefit of foreigners. In the present case he was
clearly of opinion that the copyright did not exist, and therefore
that foreign law should not prevail over British law where there was
such diversity between the two."
Against the authority of this case, however, must be set the opinion of
two great lord chancellors--Lord Cairns and Lord Westbury. In the case
of _Routledge_ v. _Low_, L.R. 3 H. L. 100, 1868, Lord Cairns said,
"The aim of the legislature is to increase the common stock of the
literature of the country; and if that stock can be increased by the
publication for the first time here of a new and valuable work
composed by an alien who has never been in the country, I see nothing
in the wording of the act which prevents, nothing in the policy of the
act which should prevent, and everything in the professed object of
the act and in its wide and general provisions which should entitle
such a person to the protection of the act, in return and compensation
for the addition he has made to the literature of the country."
And Lord Westbury said, in the same case,
"The case of _Jeffreys_ v. _Boosey_ is a decision which is attached to
and depends on the particular statute of which it was the exponent,
and as that statute had been repealed and is now replaced by another
act, with different enactments expressed in different language, the
case of _Jeffreys_ v. _Boosey_ is not a binding authority in the
exposition of this later statute. The act appears to have been
dictated by a wise and liberal spirit, and in the same spirit it
should be interpreted, adhering of course to the settled rules of
legal construction. The preamble is, in my opinion, quite inconsistent
with the conclusion that the protection given by the statute was
intended to be confined to the works of British authors. The real
condition of obtaining its advantages is the first publication by the
author of his work in the United Kingdom. Nothing renders necessary
his bodily presence here at the time, and I find it impossible to
discover any reason why it should be required, or what it can add to
the merit of the first publication. If the intrinsic merits of the
reasoning on which, _Jeffreys_ v. _Boosey_ was decided be considered,
I must frankly admit that it by no means commands my assent."
These conclusions might follow also from the Naturalization Act of 1870,
which enacts that real and personal property of every description may be
taken, acquired, held, and disposed of by an alien in the same manner in
all respects as by a natural born British subject. At the present time
the International Copyright Act has largely removed the question from
the area of conflict.
The Bern Convention.
14. _International Copyright._--Books published in one country and
circulated in another depend for their protection in the latter upon
international copyright. Until 1886 international copyright in Great
Britain rested on a series of orders in council, made under the
authority of the International Copyright Act 1844 (superseding acts of
1820 and 1826), conferring on the authors of a particular foreign
country the same rights in Great Britain as British authors, on
condition of their registering their work in Great Britain within a year
of first publication abroad. A condition of the granting of each order
was that the sovereign should be satisfied that reciprocal protection
was given in the country in question to British authors. As the result
of conferences at Bern in 1885 and 1887, this system was simplified and
made more general by the treaty known as "The Bern Convention," signed
at Bern on the 5th of September 1887. The contracting parties were the
British Empire, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland,
Tunis and Hayti. Luxemburg, Monaco, Norway and Japan afterwards joined.
Austria and Hungary have a separate convention with Great Britain,
concluded on the 24th of April 1893. The notable absentees among
European powers are Holland and Russia. So far as the United States is
concerned, the matter is regulated by the American copyright acts, which
are dealt with separately below.
The basis of the Bern convention was that authors of any of the
countries of the Union, or the publishers of works first published in
one of them, should enjoy in each of the other countries of the Union
the same rights as the law of that country granted to native authors.
The only conditions were that the work should comply with the necessary
formalities, such as registration, in the country where it was first
published, in which case it was exempt from all such formalities
elsewhere; and that the protection required from any country should not
exceed that given in the country of origin. The rights conferred
included the sole right of making a translation of the work for ten
years from its first publication. The convention was retrospective; that
is to say, it applied to copyright works published before its coming
into existence, each country being allowed to protect vested interests,
or copies already made by others, as it should think best.
The rights of foreign authors in Great Britain rest on legislation
giving effect to the Bern convention, namely, the International
Copyright Act of 1886, and an order in council made under that act,
dated 28th November 1887. These confer on the author or publisher of a
work of literature or art first published in one of the countries which
are parties to the convention, after compliance with the formalities
necessary there, the same rights as if the work had been first published
in the United Kingdom, provided that those rights are not greater than
those enjoyed in the foreign country.
The rights of British authors in foreign countries rest in each country
on the domestic legislation by which the particular country has given
effect to its promise contained in the Bern convention, and are enforced
by the courts of that country. The Bern convention was revised in minor
details not affecting its broad principles by a conference meeting in
1896 in Paris, and Great Britain adopted the results of their labours by
an order in council dated 7th March 1898. A further simplification in
the international law of copyright was expected to result from the
efforts of the international conference at Berlin in 1908, July 1910
being the latest date at which ratification by the states concerned
might take place, but it cannot here be stated to what extent
legislation may give effect to the decisions arrived at. So far as these
decisions affect Great Britain, the greatest alterations of existing law
would be in establishing throughout the Union protection of musical
copyright, especially with regard to singing and talking machines, and
also in the matter of newspaper copyright. The conference adopted a
threefold division of newspaper matter: (1) serial stories, tales and
all other work, literary, scientific and artistic, which is to have
absolute protection; (2) all newspaper matter, except the foregoing and
mere items of general news (_faits divers_), of which reproduction is to
be permitted on acknowledgment of the source, unless such reproduction
is expressly forbidden; (3) news of the day and simple facts, to which
no protection is given. An endeavour was also made to have a uniform
period throughout the Union for copyright of the author's life and 50
years.
15. _Colonial Copyright._--Under English copyright, books of the United
Kingdom were formerly protected in the colonies by the Colonial
Copyright Act of 1847, and copies of them printed or reprinted elsewhere
could not be imported into the colonies. In 1876 a royal commission was
appointed to consider the whole question of home, colonial and
international copyright; and various recommendations were made. But the
matter now rests on the English International Copyright Act 1886, which
contains provisions designed to extend the benefit of the British
copyright acts to works first produced in the colonies, while allowing
each colony to legislate separately for works first produced within its
own limits. The colonies at present are all included in the system of
international copyright established by the Bern convention.
In 1875 an act was passed (re-enacted in 1886 in the revised Canadian
statutes) to give effect to an act of the parliament of the Dominion of
Canada respecting copyright. An order in council in 1868 had suspended
the prohibition against the importation of foreign reprints of English
books into Canada, and the parliament had passed a bill on the subject
of copyright as to which doubts had arisen whether it was not repugnant
to the Order in Council. It was also enacted that, after the bill came
into operation, if an English copyright book became entitled to Canadian
copyright, no Canadian reprints thereof should be imported into the
United Kingdom, unless by the owner of the copyright. The following
points in the Canadian act are worth noting:--Any person printing or
publishing an unprinted manuscript without the consent of the author or
legal proprietor shall be liable in damages (§ 3). Any person domiciled
in Canada, or in any part of the British possessions, or being a citizen
of any country having an international copyright treaty with the United
Kingdom, who is the author of any book, map, &c., &c., shall have the
sole right and liberty of printing, reprinting, publishing, &c., for the
term of twenty-eight years. The work must be printed and published, or
reprinted or republished in Canada, whether before or after its
publication elsewhere: and the Canadian privilege is not to be continued
after the copyright has ceased elsewhere. And "no immoral or
licentious, or irreligious, or treasonable, or seditious literary,
scientific or artistic work" shall be the subject of copyright (§ 4). A
further period of fourteen years will be continued to the author or his
widow and children. An "interim copyright" pending publication may be
obtained by depositing in the office of the minister of agriculture (who
keeps the register of copyrights) a copy of the title of the work; and
works printed first in a series of articles in a periodical, but
intended to be published as books, may have the benefit of this interim
copyright. If a copyright work becomes out of print, the owner may be
notified of the act through the minister of agriculture, who, if he does
not apply a remedy, may license a new edition, subject to a royalty to
the owner. Anonymous books may be entered in the name of the first
publisher. In 1889 an amending Canadian act was passed, which led to a
long controversy with the Mother Country,--the imperial government
refusing to sanction it,--till in 1900 a compromise was effected, and a
further act amending that of 1886 became law. It applies only to books
copyright in Canada, and, subject to certain reservations, allows the
minister of agriculture to prohibit the importation, without consent of
the licensees, of any copies printed elsewhere of books published in the
British dominions licensed by the owners to be reproduced in Canada.
The Australian states all have copyright laws modelled on the English.
New Zealand provides for a term of 28 years, or the author's life. In
Cape Colony the term for books is the author's life and 5 years, or a
minimum of 30 years. The Indian act of 1847 is modelled on the English.
Foreign law.
16. _Other Countries._--The following notes give the general terms of
the copyright law in other countries of importance. For details
reference must be made to text-books. We only deal specifically with the
history and particulars of American copyright.
_Austria_, by a law of 1895, gives copyright for thirty years after
author's death.
_Belgium._--Copyright formerly perpetual, now limited to the life of the
author, and 50 years thereafter.
_France._--Copyright in France is recognized in the most ample manner.
Two distinct rights are secured by law--1st, the right of reproduction
of literary works, musical compositions, and works of art; and 2nd, the
right of representation of dramatic works and musical compositions. The
period is for the life of the author and fifty years after his death.
After the author's death the surviving consort has the usufructuary
enjoyment of the rights which the author has not disposed of in his
lifetime or by will, subject to reduction for the benefit of the
author's protected heirs if any. The author may dispose of his rights in
the most absolute manner in the forms and within the limits of the Code
Napoléon. Piracy is a crime punishable by fine of not less than 100 nor
more than 2000 francs; in the case of a seller from 25 to 500 francs.
The pirated edition will be confiscated. Piracy also forms the ground
for a civil action of damages to the amount of the injury sustained--the
produce of the confiscation, if any, to go towards payment of the
indemnity (Penal Code, Art. 425-429).
_Germany._--Period fixed in 1837 at ten years; but copyright for longer
periods was granted for voluminous and costly works, and for the works
of German poets. Among others the works of Schiller, Goethe, Wieland,
&c., were protected for a period of twenty years from the date of the
decree in each case. In 1845 the period was extended in all cases to the
author's life and thirty years after. The present law rests on a
Codifying Act of 1901, the term being the author's life and 30 years, or
not less than 10 years in any case.
_Greece._--Copyright is for fifteen years from publication.
_Holland._--Fifty years, or author's life, whichever is longer.
_Hungary._--by a law of 1884, gives a copyright for the author's life
and 50 years after.
_Italy._--Life of author, or 40 years from date of publication; and
afterwards a further period of 40 years, subject to a right in others to
reproduce on payment of 5% on each copy.
_Japan._--Author's life and 30 years after.
_Norway_, by a law of 1893, gives protection for author's life and 50
years after.
_Portugal._--Author's life and 50 years after.
_Russia._--Author's life and 50 years.
_Spain._--Author's life and 80 years thereafter.
_Sweden and Denmark_ provide for a term of the author's lifetime and 50
years after.
_Switzerland._--Author's life and 30 years after.
_Turkey._--Author's life, or 40 years, whichever is the longer.
American law.
17. _United States._--American copyright is provided for by an act of
March 1909, which replaced acts of July 1870 and March 1891, both of
which had introduced important modifications in the original act of
1790. Under all acts preceding that of 1891, copyright had been granted
to "citizens or residents of the United States," the term "resident"
having been, in decisions prior to 1891, construed to mean a person
domiciled in the United States with the intention of making there his
permanent abode. The works of foreigners could thus be reproduced
without authorization, and they were so reproduced in so far as there
was prospect of financial gain. The leading publishers, however, had
from the earliest times made terms with British authors, or with their
representatives, the British publishers, for producing authorized
American editions. But at most they were only able to secure by this
means an advantage of a few weeks' priority over the unauthorized
editions, and the good-will of the conscientious buyer; so that if they
paid the author any considerable sum, the price of the authorized
editions had to be made so high that it was not easy to secure a
remunerative sale. The unauthorized editions had the further advantage
in competition, that for the purpose of being manufactured more promptly
and more economically, they could be and often were issued in an
abbreviated and garbled form, an injury which to not a few writers
seemed more grievous than the lack of pecuniary profit. In Great
Britain, during the first half of the 19th century, the copyright law
had been so interpreted as to secure recognition of the rights of
American authors for such works as were produced there not later than in
any other country, so that authors like Washington Irving and Fenimore
Cooper secured for a time satisfactory returns; but after 1850 the
conditions became the same as in the United States. Unauthorized
editions were published, and were often incomplete and garbled.
As from decade to decade the books produced on either side of the
Atlantic, which possessed interest for readers of the other side,
increased in quantity and in importance, the evil of these unrestricted
piracies increased. The injury to British authors was greater only in
proportion as the English books were more numerous. The pressure from
Great Britain during the last half of the 19th century for international
copyright was continuous; and in America it was recognized by authors,
by representative publishers, and by the more intelligent people
everywhere, that the existing conditions were of material disadvantage.
The loss to American authors was direct; and the loss to legitimate
American publishers was also clear, in that better returns could be
secured by adequate payments for rights that could be protected by law
than by "courtesy" payments for authorizations that carried no legal
rights. An injury was being done to American literature; for, when
authorized editions of American works had to compete against
unauthorized and more cheaply produced editions of English works, the
business incentive for literary production was seriously lessened. In
fiction particularly, authors had to contend against a flood of cheaply
produced editions of "appropriated" English books. Equally to be
condemned were the ethics of a relation under which one class of
property could be appropriated while other classes secured legal
protection. On these several grounds efforts had long been made to
secure international copyright. Between 1843 and 1886 no less than
eleven international copyright bills were drafted, for the most part at
the instance of the copyright associations or copyright leagues. They
were one after the other killed in committee. In 1886 the twelfth
international copyright bill was brought before the Senate by Senator
Jonathan Chace of Rhode Island, and was referred to the committee on
patents. In 1887 the American Publishers' Copyright League (succeeding
the earlier American Publishers' Association) was organized, with
William H. Appleton as president and G. H. Putnam as secretary. The
executive committee of this league formed, with a similar committee of
the Author's Copyright League, a conference committee, under the
direction of which the campaign for copyright was continued until the
passage of the act of March 1891. Of the Authors' Copyright League James
Russell Lowell was the first president, being succeeded by Edmund
Clarence Stedman. The secretary during the active work of the league was
Robert U. Johnson. Under the initiative of the conference committee
copyright leagues were organized in Boston, Chicago, St Louis,
Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Denver, Colorado City and other places. The
Chace Bill was introduced in the House in March 1888. In May 1890 this
bill, with certain modifications, came before the House, and was there
defeated. In March 1891 the same measure, with certain further
modifications, secured a favourable vote in the House during the last
hour of the last day of the session, was passed by the Senate, and was
promptly signed by President Harrison. Thus, after a struggle extending
over fifty-three years, the United States accepted the principle at all
events of international copyright.
Provisions of Act of 1909.
18. The act of 1891 was criticized in several respects: (1) A condition
was that books or works of art must be "manufactured" in America;
consideration not being given to books originally produced in some
language other than English. (2) It required publication in the United
States simultaneously with that in the country of origin. (3) The term
of copyright (28 years, with an extension of 14 years to the author if
alive, or to widow or children) was shorter than that accorded under the
law of any other literature-producing country, excepting Greece. Minor
amending acts were passed in 1893, 1895 and 1897, that of Feb. 19, 1897,
establishing as the copyright department of the library of Congress a
Bureau of Copyrights, the head of which bears the title of Register of
Copyrights. Eventually, after hard work by the American Authors'
Copyright League and the Publishers' Copyright League, and after
sittings extending to a period of three years, a new bill submitted to
Congress by the two Committees on Patents of the House of
Representatives and the Senate was successfully passed. It came into
force on the 1st of July 1909. Its provisions may be briefly summarized
as follows:--
Term of copyright.
Definition of copyright.
"Manufacture" clause.
Exemption of text of foreign book.
Copyright is granted to authors for twenty-eight years from the date
of first publication, whether the copyrighted work bears the author's
true name or is published anonymously or under an assumed name. A
further term of twenty-eight years is granted to the author if at the
expiration of the first term he be still living, or to his widow and
children if he be dead. If the author's widow and children be dead an
extension is granted to the author's executors, or in the absence of a
will, to his next of kin. Applications for renewal and extension must
be made to the copyright office and duly registered therein within one
year prior to the expiration of the existing term. To any work in
which copyright subsists at the time the act went into force the act
extends renewal for a period of twenty-eight years at the expiration
of the time provided for under the previously existing law (first
period 28 years, renewal period 14 years). The works for which
copyright may be secured under the act "Shall include all the writings
of an author." For purposes of registration the act classifies (1)
books, including composite and cyclopaedic works, directories,
gazetteers and other compilations; (2) periodicals, including
newspapers; (3) lectures, sermons, addresses, prepared for oral
delivery; (4) dramatic or dramatico-musical compositions; (5) musical
compositions; (6) maps; (7) works of art; models or designs for works
of art; (8) reproductions of a work of art; (9) drawings or plastic
works of a scientific or technical character; (10) photographs and
(11) prints and pictorial illustrations. But compilations or
abridgments, adaptations, arrangements, dramatizations, translations
or other versions of copyrighted works, when produced with the consent
of the proprietors of the copyrighted work are, under the 1909 act,
new works subject to copyright. A citizen or subject of a foreign
state can secure copyright only when he is domiciled within the United
States at the time of the first publication of his work, or when the
foreign state or nation of which he is a subject grants, either by
treaty, convention, agreement or law, to citizens of the United States
the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as to its own
citizens, or copyright protection equal to that secured by the foreign
author under the United States act, or when the foreign state is a
party to an international agreement providing for reciprocity in the
granting of copyright, and the United States may, by the terms of that
agreement, become a party thereto. After copyright has been secured by
publication of a work, two complete copies of the best edition
published must be "promptly" deposited in the copyright office, or
mailed to the register of copyrights, the postmaster, on request,
giving a receipt and mailing the books without cost. If the work be a
contribution to a periodical, one copy of the issue containing it must
be sent, or if it be a work not reproduced in copies for sale, a copy,
print, photograph or other identifying reproduction must accompany the
claim. Prior to 1891 the works of authors could be put into print on
either side of the Atlantic. The act of 1891 laid down that, in order
to secure copyright, all editions of the works of all authors,
resident or non-resident, must be entirely manufactured within the
United States, the term "manufactured" including the setting of type
as well as printing and binding. This manufacturing condition was
insisted on by the typographical unions. There is no logical
connexion, however, between the right of an author or artist to the
control of his production and the interests of American workmen; the
attempt to legislate for them jointly must bring about no little
confusion and inequity. If American working-men cannot secure a living
in competition with labourers on the other side of the Atlantic, their
needs should be cared for under the provisions of the protective
tariff. It is, however, the belief of a large number of those who are
engaged in the manufacturing of books that, with his advanced methods
of work, the skilled American labourer has no reason to dread the
competition of European craftsmen. With this manufacturing condition
out of the way, there would be nothing to prevent the United States
from becoming a party to the Bern Convention. This would place
intellectual property on both sides of the Atlantic on the same
footing. The power of the unions was sufficiently strong to prevent
this condition being eliminated from the act of 1909, but the just
claims were met of authors whose books are originally produced in some
language other than English, the "original text of a book of foreign
origin in a language or languages other than English" being exempted
from the requirements as to type-setting in the United States. On the
other hand the manufacturing condition is extended by the act of 1909
to illustrations within a book, and also to separate lithographs or
photo-engravings, "except where in either case the subjects
represented are located in a foreign country and illustrate a
scientific work or reproduce a work of art." The notice of copyrights
required by the act consists either of the word "copyright" or by the
abbreviation "Copr.," accompanied by the name of the copyright
proprietor, and in the case of printed literary, musical or dramatic
works, the notice must include also the year in which the copyright
was secured by publication. In the case of works specified in 6 to 11
inclusive, of the classification given above, the copyright notice may
consist of the letter C enclosed within a circle, thus: ©, accompanied
by the initials, monogram, mark or symbol of the copyright proprietor,
provided that on some accessible portion of the copy or of the margin,
or on the back or pedestal his name appears.
Interim protection.
Infringement.
Musical compositions.
Transfer and assignment of copyright.
Importation of copyright works.
The act of 1909 gives an _interim_ protection to a book published
abroad in the English language before publication in the United
States, the deposit in the copyright office, not later than thirty
days after its publication abroad, of one complete copy of the foreign
edition, with a request for the reservation of the copyright and a
statement of the name and nationality of the author and copyright
proprietor, securing copyright for thirty days from the date of
deposit. Any person infringing a copyright work is liable to an
injunction, and to pay such damages as the copyright proprietor may
have suffered by the infringement; in lieu of actual damages and
profits the courts may award such damages as appear to be just, and in
assessing them may, at its discretion, allow the amounts mentioned
below, except that in the case of a newspaper reproduction of a
copyrighted photograph such damages must not exceed the sum of two
hundred and fifty dollars nor be less than fifty dollars, and in no
other case must the damages be more than five thousand dollars or less
than two hundred and fifty dollars: (1) In the case of a painting,
statue or sculpture, ten dollars for any infringing copy made or sold
or found in the possession of the infringer or his agents or
employees; (2) in the case of any work enumerated in the
classification given before, except a painting, statue or sculpture,
one dollar for every infringing copy; (3) in the case of a lecture,
sermon or address, fifty dollars for every infringing delivery; (4) in
the case of dramatic or dramatico-musical or a choral or orchestral
composition, one hundred dollars for the first and fifty dollars for
every subsequent infringing performance; in the case of other musical
compositions, ten dollars for every infringing performance; all
infringing copies and devices must also be delivered up for
destruction. The act gives full control over his compositions to a
musical composer, and the right to make any arrangement or setting of
it, or of the melody of it, in any system of notation or form of
record from which it may be read or reproduced. His right to control
the reproduction of his music by mechanical instruments is restricted
(1) to cover only music published and copyrighted after the act went
into effect; (2) to include a musical composition by a foreign
composer only in the case of a citizen of a foreign state that grants
to citizens of the United States similar rights; (3) where the owner
of a musical copyright has permitted the use of his work upon parts of
instruments serving to reproduce the composition mechanically,
permission for a similar use of such work must be accorded to any
other person on the payment of a fixed royalty of two cents on each
part manufactured. The act makes a clear distinction between the
property in the copyright and that in the material object representing
the copyright, and enacts that the sale or conveyance of the material
object shall not of itself constitute a transfer of the copyright.
Transfer of copyright in the United States is to be effected by an
instrument in writing signed by the proprietor of the copyright, or
the copyright may be bequeathed by will. Assignment of copyright
executed in a foreign country must be acknowledged by the assignor
before a consular officer of the United States. Every assignment of
copyright must be recorded in the copyright office within three
calendar months after its execution in the United States or within six
months without the limits of the United States. The importation into
the United States is forbidden of any piratical copies of a
copyrighted book or of any copies not produced in accordance with the
manufacturing provisions of the act (although authorized by the author
or proprietor), but importation is allowed to any society or
institution incorporated for educational, literary, philosophical,
scientific or religious purposes, or for the encouragement of the fine
arts, or to any State school, college, &c., or to free public
libraries, when importation is for use and not for sale. The act of
1891 allowed "_two_ copies in any one invoice" to be imported, but by
the act of 1909 not more than _one_ copy is to be imported in one
invoice.
The provisions having to do with international copyright become
operative in the case of a foreign state only when the president
proclaims that the state has fulfilled the condition of reciprocity. The
act of 1891 was put into force with foreign states as follows:--1st of
July 1891, Great Britain, Belgium, France, Switzerland; 8th of March
1892, Germany (by separate treaty); 31st of October 1892, Italy; 8th of
May 1893, Denmark; 15th of July 1895, Spain; 20th of July 1895,
Portugal; 27th of February 1896, Mexico; 13th of April 1896, Sweden and
Norway; 25th of May 1896, Chile; 19th of October 1899, Costa Rica; 20th
of November 1899, the kingdom of the Netherlands. In the case of each
state the territory covered by the provisions of the law included the
possessions, dependencies, &c. The copyright agreement with Great
Britain therefore covered the crown colonies of the empire, including
India and the self-governing dominions and states, such as Canada,
Australia, &c. An American work duly entered for copyright in Great
Britain secures, as a British publication secures, the protection of
copyright under the provisions of the Bern convention throughout the
territory of the several states that are parties to that convention.
ARTISTIC COPYRIGHT
19. Literary authors had protection for their literary work much earlier
than artists for their artistic productions. Pictures and illustrations,
when included in books or newspapers, are protected by the law which
applies to the latter, but that is a separate question. It was not until
the reign of George II. that the legislature in England afforded any
protection for the work of artists. The English law on artistic
copyright is alone considered in this account, the American having been
included in the section _United States_ above (18), while for other
countries the details are so various that it is only possible to refer
the reader to the leading text-books.
Engravings.
The first Artists' Copyright Bill was passed in the interest of William
Hogarth, one of the greatest of English painters, who was engraver as
well as painter, and who devoted a considerable portion of his time to
engraving his own works. No sooner, however, were these published than
his market was seriously damaged by the issue of inferior copies of his
engravings by other publishers. To protect Hogarth from such piracy the
Engraving Copyright Act 1734 was passed, which provided that "every
person who should invent and design, engrave, etch, or work in
mezzotinto or chiaroscuro, any historical or other print or prints,
should have the sole right and liberty of printing and representing the
same for the term of fourteen years, to commence from the day of the
first publishing thereof, which shall be truly engraved with the name of
the proprietor on each plate, and printed on every such print or
prints." The penalty for piracy was the forfeiture of the plate and all
prints, with a fine of 5s. for every pirated print.
In 1766, in the reign of George III., a second Engraving Copyright Act
was passed "to amend and render more effectual" the first act, and "for
vesting and securing to Jane Hogarth, widow, the property in certain
prints," which extended the protection beyond the designer, who was also
engraver, to any person who, not being himself a designer, made, or
caused to be made, an engraving from any picture or other work of art.
Jane Hogarth, the widow of the painter, found herself nearing the
termination of the fourteen years' term of copyright grant by the first
act, with the probability that immediately on its expiry the engravings
of her husband then on sale, and on which her livelihood depended, would
be immediately pirated. It was mainly to save her from the loss of her
livelihood that this second Copyright Bill extended the term of the
copyright to twenty-eight years.
The engravers and publishers of the day were not over-scrupulous, and
they sought to evade the penalties of the copyright acts by taking the
designs, and adding to them or taking from them, or both, and producing
fresh engravings, seeking to make it appear that they were producing new
works. These practices assumed such proportions that it became
necessary, in 1777, to call upon parliament to put through another short
measure still further to protect the engraver, by prohibiting the
copying "in whole or in part" (a clause not contained in the previous
acts), by varying, adding to, or diminishing from, the main design of an
engraving without the express consent of the proprietor or proprietors.
These three acts remain in force to the present day. In 1852, in an
international copyright act, it was declared that the Engraving
Copyright Acts collectively were intended to include prints taken by
lithography or any other mechanical process.
Sculpture.
20. In May 1814 the Sculpture Copyright Act was passed to give
protection to sculptors. The term of copyright for sculptors was a
peculiar one. It was to last for fourteen years, with the proviso that,
should the author be still alive, he should enjoy a further period of
fourteen years, the copyright returning to him for the second fourteen
should he have disposed of it for the first period. It is a condition of
copyright with the sculptor that the author must put his name with the
date upon every work before putting it forth or publishing it. A curious
and interesting point in the interpretation of this act is, that
according to the opinion of eminent jurists it is necessary to an
infringement of the copyright of a piece of sculpture that the copy of
it must take the form of another piece of sculpture; that a photograph,
drawing, or engraving of a piece of sculpture is not to be considered a
reproduction of it, and is therefore not an infringement of the
sculptor's copyright.
Painting.
21. Strange as it may seem, painting was the last branch of the arts to
receive copyright protection. The cause of the painters was taken up by
the Society of Arts, who endeavoured, in the first instance, to pass an
amendment and consolidation bill dealing with engraving, sculpture and
painting; but, failing in their first effort, they limited their second
to an attempt to pass a bill in favour of painting, drawing and
photography. It was in the year 1862 that this act, having passed
through parliament, came into force. The absence of any antecedent
protection for the painter is clearly stated in its preamble, which
reads as follows: "Whereas by law as now established, the authors of
paintings, drawings, and photographs have no copyright in such their
works, and it is expectant that the law should in that respect be
amended. Be it, therefore, enacted," &c. This preamble makes it clear
that there is no copyright in any paintings, drawings, or photographs
executed and dealt with before the year 1862--to be exact, 29th July of
that year. The duration of the term of copyright in this act of 1862
differs from its predecessors, by being made dependent on the life of
the author, to which life seven years were added. In the Literary
Copyright Act there are two terms--the life of the author and seven
years, or forty-two years, whichever may prove the longer. In taking a
fixed term like forty-two years it is necessary to have something to
start from, and with a literary work it was easy to start from the date
of publication. But pictures are not published. They may pass from the
studio to the wall of the purchaser without being made public in any
way. The difficulty was evidently before the author of this act, and the
artist's term was made his life and seven years after his death without
any alternative. This term applies equally to photographers. Perhaps no
bill which ever passed through parliament ostensibly for the purpose of
benefiting a certain set of people has failed so completely as has this
bill to accomplish its end. It started by proposing to give copyright to
authors of paintings, drawings and photographs, and it would seem that
no difficulty ought to have arisen as to whom such copyright should
rightly belong; but the following clause of the act has introduced
confusion into the question of ownership:--
Provided that when any painting, or drawing, or the negative of any
photograph, shall for the first time after the passing of this act be
sold or disposed of, or shall be made or executed for or on behalf of
any other person for a good or valuable consideration, the person so
selling or disposing of, or making or executing the same, shall not
retain the copyright thereof unless it be expressly reserved to him by
agreement in writing, signed at or before the time of such sale or
disposition, by the vendee or assignee of such painting or drawing, or
such negative of a photograph, or by the person on whose behalf the
same shall be so made or executed; but the copyright shall belong to
the vendee or assignee of such painting or drawing, or such negative
of a photograph, or to the person for or on whose behalf the same
shall have been made or executed; nor shall the vendee or assignee
thereof be entitled to such copyright unless at or before the time of
such sale or disposition an agreement in writing, signed by the person
so selling or disposing of the same, or by his agent duly authorized,
shall have been made to that effect.
That is to say, after promising the author copyright in his work for
life and seven years, the act stipulates that in order to get it the
author must, at the time of the first sale or disposition of his
picture, obtain a document in writing from the purchaser of the picture,
reserving the copyright to the author, and the act goes on to say that
if he does not take this step the copyright becomes the property of the
purchaser of the picture, but with the proviso, in order to secure it to
him, he must have a document signed by the artist assigning the
copyright to him; but if neither of these things is done, and no
document is signed, the copyright does not belong to either the artist
who sells or the client who buys, and the act is silent as to whom it
does belong to. It has disappeared and belongs to no one. There is no
copyright existing in the work for any one. It has passed into the
public domain, and any one who can get access to the work may reproduce
it. Now, as most purchases are made from the walls of exhibitions, in
ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the copyright is absolutely lost. And
where the sale is arranged directly between the artist and his client,
the difficulty experienced by the artist in raising the question as to
whom the copyright shall belong to is so great, owing to the dread lest
the mere mention of the signing of a document should cause the selling
of the picture to fall through, that in numerous such cases the
copyright lapses and becomes public property. Photographers are not
affected by this clause, because they do not as a rule sell the
negatives they produce, and with them the copyright lies in the
negative. They carry on their trade in prints without the question of
the negative arising. The picture-dealer, also, who buys a picture and
copyright is not subjected to the same disability as the painter. The
picture-dealer can sell a picture without saying a word to his client as
to the copyright, which he, nevertheless, retains intact; the provision
is applicable only to the _first_ sale of the work, which, therefore,
throws the whole of the disability upon the painter.
The act gives the copyright of every work executed on commission to the
person by whom it is commissioned. It makes it compulsory upon every
owner of a copyright that he should register it at Stationers' Hall
before he can take any action at law to protect it. The copyright does
not lapse if unregistered, but so long as it remains unregistered no
action at law can be taken on account of any infringement. A copyright
can be registered at any time, even after an infringement, but the owner
of the copyright cannot recover for any infringement before
registration. The act provides for both penalties and damages in the
following cases:--(1) For infringing copyright in the ordinary way by
issuing unlawful copies. (2) For fraudulently signing or affixing a
fraudulent signature to a work of art. (3) For fraudulently dealing with
a work so signed. (4) For fraudulently putting forth a copy of a work of
art, whether there be copyright in it or no, as the original work of the
artist. (5) For altering, adding to, or taking away from a work during
the lifetime of the author if it is signed, and putting it forth as the
unaltered work of the author. (6) For importing pirated works.
The incongruities of this act were so apparent that its promoters
desired to stop it, feeling that it would be better to have no bill at
all than one which conferred so little upon the people it was intended
to benefit; but Lord Westbury, the lord chancellor, who had charge of
the bill in the House of Lords, advised them to let it go through with
all its imperfections, that they might get the right of the painter to
protection recognized. This advice was followed, and the bill had no
sooner become law than a fresh effort was started to have it amended.
Year by year the agitation went on, with the exception only of a
period when Irish affairs took up all the attention of parliament, and
domestic legislation was rendered impossible. But in 1898 the
Copyright Association of Great Britain promoted a bill, which was
introduced into the House of Lords by Lord Herschell. It was a measure
designed to deal with all forms of copyright--literary, musical,
dramatic and artistic--and was remitted by the House of Lords for
consideration to a committee, which, having sat for three sessions,
decided not to proceed with Lord Herschell's measure, but to treat
literature and art in separate bills. It had under its consideration
an artistic bill, drafted for and presented by the Royal Academy, and
a literary bill and an artistic bill drafted by the committee itself.
The main proposals in the latter were to give copyright to the author
of any artistic work or photograph for a period of life and thirty
years, unless the work be commissioned, in which case the copyright
was to be the property of the employer, except in the case of
sculpture intended to be placed in a street or public place. The bill
provided summary remedies for dealing with pirated works. It omitted
altogether any reference to registration, and it provided for
international copyright.
22. To sum up the position of artistic copyright in 1909, we find five
British acts, three dealing with engraving, one with sculpture, and one
with painting, drawing and photography, and between them very little
relation. We have three terms of duration of copyright--28 years for
engraving, 14 for sculpture, with a second 14 if the artist be alive at
the end of the first, life and 7 years for painting, drawing or
photography. There are two different relations of the artist to his
copyright. The sculptor's right to sell his work and retain his
copyright has never been questioned so long as he signs and dates it.
The painter's copyright is made to depend upon the signing of a document
by the purchaser of his work. The engraver and the sculptor are not
required to register; but the author's name, and the date of putting
forth or publishing, must appear on his work. The painter cannot protect
his copyright without registration, but this registration as it is now
required is merely a pitfall for the unwary. Designed to give the public
information as to the ownership and duration of copyrights, the
uncertainty of its operation results in the prevention of information on
these very points.
The Berlin Convention of 1908 led to the appointment of a British
committee to deal with its recommendations, and their report in 1909
foreshadowed important changes in the law both of literary and of
artistic copyright, whenever Parliament should give its attention
seriously to the subject.
Practical difficulties.
Difficult and complicated as is the whole subject of artistic copyright,
it is perhaps not to be wondered at that ignorance of the law on the
subject is very widespread, even amongst those who are most interested
in its action. One of the commonest beliefs amongst artists is, that all
they have to do to secure copyright is to register a picture at
Stationers' Hall; but the authorities at Stationers' Hall ask no
questions, and simply enter any particulars submitted to them on their
printed form. Some artists make a practice, when they send a picture
away to exhibition, to fill up one of these forms, reserving the
copyright by their entry to themselves, in the belief that, if
accompanied by the fee required by the Hall, its entry will reserve the
copyright to them, oblivious of the fact that the only thing which can
reserve the copyright to them is the possession of a document assigning
the copyright to them by the purchaser of the picture. Another useless
method of attempting to reserve artists' copyrights is that adopted by
the promoters of public exhibitions, with whom it is an almost constant
practice to print on some portion of the catalogue of the exhibition a
statement that "copyrights of all pictures are reserved," the impression
apparently prevailing that a notice of this kind effectively reserves
the copyright for the artist while selling his picture from the walls.
It, of course, does no such thing, and the copyright of any picture sold
in these circumstances, without the necessary document from the
purchaser, must be lost to the artist, and pass irrevocably into the
public domain.
In a work of art the work itself and the copyright are two totally
distinct properties, and may be held by different persons. The
conditions differ materially from those of a work of literature, in
which as a rule there is no value apart from publication. There is a
value in a work of art for its private enjoyment quite apart from its
commercial value in the form of reproductions; but when the two
properties exist in different hands, the person holding the copyright
has no power to force the owner of the work of art to give him access to
it for purposes of reproduction; this can only be effected by private
arrangement. It has been argued that, as the two properties are so
distinct, the owner of the copyright ought to have the right of access
to the picture for the purpose of exercising his right to reproduce it.
But it is easy to see that it would destroy the value of art property if
proprietors knew that at any moment they might be forced to surrender
their work for the purpose of reproduction, though for a time only.
There is often a strong sympathy between the artist and the person who
buys his picture, and it is not at all unusual, when application is made
to the owner of the picture for access to it, for him to submit the
question of reproduction to the artist. Although the latter may really
have no right in it, it is felt, as a practical matter, that he is
largely interested in the character of the reproduction it is proposed
to make. Hence the courtesy which is usually extended to him.
Owing also to the increased facilities of reproduction, the practice has
become very common of splitting up copyrights and granting licences in
what may be described as very minute forms. It would, of course, be
impossible for a publisher to pay an artist the sum at which he values
his entire copyright, simply that he might reproduce his picture in the
form of a black-and-white block in a magazine, and it has consequently
become quite common for the artist to grant a licence for any and every
particular form of reproduction as it may be required, so that he may
grant the right of reproduction in one particular form in one particular
publication, and even for a particular period of time, reserving to
himself thus the right to grant similar licences to other publishers.
This is apparently not to the injury of the artist; it is probably to
his advantage, and it certainly promotes business.
Photographs.
23. The great obstacle in the way of securing a really good Artistic
Bill has been the introduction into it of photography. It was by a sort
of accident that the photographer was given the same privileges as the
painter in the bill of 1862. The promoters of the bill thought that the
photographer would be protected by the Engraving Acts which covered
prints; but since the photographers feared that, as their prints were of
a different character from the prints from a plate, the Engraving Acts
might not protect them, it was at the last moment decided to put
photography into the Art Bill. The result of this was that the painter
lost his chance of copyright on all works executed on commission.
Legislators feared that if photographers held copyright in all their
works the public would have no protection from the annoyance of seeing
the photographs of their wives and daughters exhibited and sold in shop
windows by the side of "professional beauties" and other people, and
made articles of commerce. So in the case of commissioned works the
copyright was denied to both painters and photographers.
The royal commission which reported on the subject in 1878 proposed two
distinct terms of copyright for painting and photography. The term for
the painter was dependent on his life; that for the photographer was a
definitely fixed term of years from the date of publication of his
photographs; and there can be little doubt that this is the right way to
deal with the two branches of copyright. The artist who paints a picture
signs it, and there is no difficulty in knowing who is the author of a
painting and in whom the term of copyright is vested. In a very large
number of cases a photograph is taken by an employee, who is here to-day
and gone to-morrow, and even his employer knows nothing of his
existence. Of course, it may suit an employer to be able to maintain
secrecy as to the authorship of his negative, inasmuch as it enables him
to go on claiming copyright fees indefinitely; but it is not to the
public interest. In most countries on the continent of Europe a
photographer has the fixed term of five years' copyright in an original
photograph dating from its publication, which date, together with the
name and address of the photographer, has to be stamped on every copy
issued. In the public interest this is a good method of dealing with
photographs.
24. The "authorship" of a photograph has been much debated in the law
courts; and "author" was defined in _Nollage_ v. _Jackson_ (1883) as
"the man who really represents or creates, or gives to ideas, or fancy,
or imagination, true local habitation--the man in fact who is most
nearly the effective cause of the representation" (_per_ Lord Justice
Bowen). He is not necessarily the owner of the camera, or the proprietor
of the business; it depends on the circumstances. He is essentially the
person who groups and effectively superintends the picture. When a
photographer takes a portrait without fee, the copyright vests in him
and not in the sitter, who cannot prevent its publication; but if the
photograph is commissioned and paid for by the sitter the copyright--in
the absence of contrary stipulations--vests in him, and he can restrain
exhibition or multiplication of copies; "the bargain includes, by
implication, an agreement that the prints taken from the negative are to
be appropriated to the use of the customer only" (Mr Justice North in
_Pollard_ v. _Photographic Co._, 1888). And this applies even when the
sitter is not the actual purchaser of the negative (_Boucas_ v. _Cooke_,
1903). But in several cases the "celebrity" who has _sat_ to a
photographer at his request and without payment has not been allowed to
distribute his photograph to newspapers for reproduction without the
photographer's consent. The fact that a sitter pays the photographer for
prints, though he has not commissioned the sitting, would not vest the
copyright in him.
25. The "Living Pictures" case in 1894 (_Hanfstängel_ v. _Empire
Palace_) was a curious one. The Empire music-hall in London produced
some _tableaux vivants_, representing certain pictures, of which Messrs
Hanfstängel owned the copyright, and an action was brought by them for
an injunction. The courts of chancery and of appeal decided against the
plaintiffs, on the ground that a reproduction of a painting must be by a
painting or something cognate; but in an action for infringement, though
the view already given was confirmed, the plaintiffs succeeded so far as
the backgrounds to the grouping were concerned. Meanwhile two newspapers
had published sketches of the same _tableaux vivants_, and Messrs
Hanfstängel brought actions for infringement (_Hanfstängel_ v. _Newnes_,
and v. _Baines_, 1894). Mr Justice Stirling found for the plaintiffs,
but on appeal, and finally in the House of Lords, this decision was
reversed.
Designs.
26. _Copyright in Designs._--An act of 1787 first gave protection to
printed designs on linen and cotton fabrics; and in 1839 a further act
included designs on animal fabrics, or mixed animal and vegetable
fabrics; while in the same year another act protected designs for
manufactured articles. These acts had been preceded in France by laws of
1737 and 1744 creating a property by law in manufacturers' designs. The
British law, which in various acts established a copyright (a) in
ornamental and (b) useful designs, was in 1883 consolidated in the
Patents, Designs and Trade Marks Act, with amending acts up to 1888; and
these acts were further consolidated and amended by an act of 1905. See
TRADE-MARKS and PATENTS.
BRITISH IMPERIAL COPYRIGHT BILL OF 1910
The consolidation of the British copyright law, not only in the United
Kingdom but in the Dominions, and its amendment so as to include the
recommendations of the Berlin International Convention of 1908, were the
objects of a government bill introduced into parliament by the president
of the Board of Trade on the 26th of July 1910, discussion on which was
reserved for a later period in the year. The passing of this bill,
though the date of it was uncertain owing to the peculiar circumstances
of English politics at the moment, was practically assured by the facts
that, apart altogether from the crying need for a revision of the
English law, the draft had previously been considered and accepted, not
only by a Board of Trade Committee which reported unanimously in favour
of the recommendations of the Berlin Convention, but also by an Imperial
Conference. The bill for the first time brought British copyright
entirely under statutory law and consolidated and amended all previous
enactments; it adopted the suggestions of the Imperial Conference
(attended by representatives of Canada, Australia, South Africa, New
Zealand and Newfoundland, other interests being covered by home
representatives of the Foreign Office, India Office, Colonial Office and
Board of Trade) as to providing for its extension by their declaration
to the Dominions; and with its enactment a great simplification of the
British law of copyright came in sight, though for historical reasons
the details given above of the law as unamended must still remain of
value.
Briefly, the new points of importance, apart from the placing of all
copyright on a purely statutory basis and the inclusion of literary and
artistic copyright within one arrangement, were as follows. All
compulsory formalities of registration were abolished. The length of the
period for which copyright lasted was extended to the life of the author
and 50 years after. This reform was qualified, however, by a clause
intended to protect the public from its abuse, and providing that after
the author's death, if the work was withheld from the public or
published at too high a price, or if the reasonable requirements of the
public were not satisfied, a licence might be granted to publish or
perform it. These changes applied to all the subject-matters of
copyright, which were now put on the same level and treated uniformly.
In certain cases, already discussed above, protection was extended: e.g.
translations and lectures, original adaptations and arrangements, works
of artistic novelty, including architectural designs; and the right to
dramatize a novel or "novelize" a drama was conferred in each case on
the author. Musical works were protected against unauthorized
reproduction by mechanical means without payment; but protection was
also extended to the mechanical record when authorized.
In including all sorts of intellectual product the bill followed the
recommendation (resolution 6) of the Imperial Conference as to the
definition of copyright (Parl. Paper Cd. 5272): "the Conference is of
opinion that, subject to proper qualifications, copyright should include
the sole right to produce or reproduce a work, or any substantial part
thereof, in any material form whatsoever and in any language, to
perform, or in the case of a lecture, to deliver, the work or any
substantial part thereof in public, and, if the work is unpublished, to
publish the work, and should include the sole right to dramatize novels
and vice versa, and to make records, &c., by means of which a work may
be mechanically performed." As to architecture and artistic crafts the
Conference recommended (resolution 9) that "an original work of art
should not lose the protection of artistic copyright solely because it
consists of, or is embodied in, a work of architecture or craftsmanship;
but it should be clearly understood that such protection is confined to
its artistic form and does not extend to the processes or methods of
reproduction, or to an industrial design capable of registration under
the law relating to designs and destined to be multiplied by way of
manufacture or trade."
As to the application of the new period of copyright to existing works,
the Conference recommended (resolution 10) "that existing works in which
copyright actually subsists at the commencement of the new act (but no
others) should enjoy, subject to existing rights, the same protection as
future works, but the benefit of any extension of terms should belong to
the author of the work, subject, in the case where he has assigned his
existing rights, to a power on the part of the assignee at his option
either to purchase the full benefit of the copyright during the extended
term, or, without acquiring the full copyright, to continue to publish
the work on payment of royalties, the payment in either case to be fixed
by arbitration if necessary."
The Conference was also of opinion (resolution 4a) that, under the new
Imperial Act, copyright should subsist only in works of which the author
was a British subject or bona fide resident in one of the parts of the
British Empire to which it extended; and that copyright should cease if
the work were first published elsewhere than in such parts of the
Empire.
The sensible basis on which the new bill was framed, and the authority
it represented, commended it, in spite of many controversial points, to
the acceptance both of the public and of the various parties concerned.
But nobody who had ever wrestled with all the difficulties of
international copyright, as complicated by the law in the United States,
would suppose that it was the last word on the subject. What the bill
did was to bring British legislation into better shape, and to amend it
on certain points which had worked unjustly. The great distinction
between the requirements for British and for American copyright still
remained, namely, the American manufacturing clause. Perhaps the most
notable innovation was the clause enabling a licence to be granted for
the publication of a copyright work where the owners of the copyright
had not exercised it for the "reasonable requirements" of the public.
Some such clause was clearly called for when the period of monopoly was
being extended; but the interpretation to be put upon the occasions
which would justify such interference might well be difficult. It may
perhaps be suggested that this innovation pointed to a reconsideration
of the true relations of "publishers" and "authors" (in the widest
sense) in respect of copyright, which sooner or later might be
approached from a different point of view. The new clause was intended
for the protection of the public from the mishandling of an author's
work after his death, while greater protection was given him during his
life. From a purely business point of view, the question might well be
whether a publisher or other party not the author should have a
copyright at all, and whether equity would not be satisfied if copyright
vested solely in the author and his family, with liberty to any one to
"publish" on fair terms, consideration being had to an original
publisher's reasonable claims and existing contracts. The advisability
of any such advance on the principle now asserted must depend rather on
experience of actual business and the working of the clause; but even
under the procedure provided by the bill of 1910 it would equally be
imperative for a publisher who owned a deceased author's copyright to
show that he had given or was giving the public valuable consideration
for his monopoly, in order to uphold it against any one willing, on
payment of a reasonable royalty, to serve the public better.
AUTHORITIES.--For special points see W. A. Copinger's _The Law of
Copyright in Works of Literature and Art_, 4th ed., by J. M. Easton
(1904); or T. E. Scrutton's _Law of Copyright_ (3rd ed., 1896). See
also E. J. MacGillivray, _A Treatise on the Law of Copyright_ (1902);
Richard Winslow, M.A., LL.B., _The Law of Artistic Copyright_ (London,
1889); A. Birrell, _Copyright in Books_ (London, 1899); B. A. Cohen,
_Law of Copyright_ (London, 1896); L. Edmunds, _Copyright in Designs_
(London, 1908); Knox and Hind, _Copyright in Designs_ (London, 1899);
W. Briggs, _Law of International Copyright_ (1906); W. M. Colles and
H. Hardy, _Playright and Copyright in all Countries_ (1906).
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Such articles must be paid for, in order to vest copyright in the
proprietor. The leading case about encyclopaedias is that of
_Lawrenceand Bullen_ v. _Aflalo_, decided by the House of Lords in
1904.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 3 - "Convention" to "Copyright"" ***
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