C O F
( H<* )
COH
The Preparation of Offee confifts in roafting, or giving it a iuit Degree of Torrefaftion, on an earthen, or metalline Plate till it have acquir'd a brownifh hue, equally deepon i all Sides : Xis ihen ground in a Mill, as much as ferves the prelent occafion. A proper quantity of Water is next bod d, and the ground Ciffee put in it. After it has boil'd fufficicntly, tis taken from "the Fire ; and the Decoffion haying flood a while 10 fettle and fine, they pour, or decant it into Dimes.
The Cuftom is to drink Coffee as hot as poffible, with Bu- ff r , thn the turks don't trouble themfelves to take off its gitternefs with any Sugar : their Grandees add to cachD.ih a drop of Fffence of Amber ; others bod with it a couple or Cloves ; others a little Indian Anife ; others Cacouleh, or the Grain of the Cardamum minus.
Coffee is one of the Neceffaries the Turks are obhg d to furnifh their Wives withal. , .
The ordimry Method of roafling Coffee among us, is in a 1 m cylindrical Box, full of Holes ; thro' the middle whereof runs a Spit ■ under this is a femkircular Hearth, wherein is a large d'arcoal Fire : By help of a Jack, the Spit turns fwift, attd fo ro.ifts ; being now and then taken up to be fhaken. When the Oil riles, and it's grown of a dark brown Colour, it is emptied into two Receivers, made with large Hoops, whofe bottoms are Iron Plates, thefe fhut into : There the Coffee is fhaken, and left till almoft cold ; and if it look bright and oily, 'tis a Sign 'tis well done. .
Cofee is taken with very different, nay frequently with direcily oppofite Intentions ; fome ufe it to prevent Sleep, others to promote Digeffion, i£c. ra-
its more real Virtues, own'd by the Phyficians, confift in this ; that being an excellent Dryer, it carries off Fumes and Diforders of the Head arifing from too much moiflure, diffipates Megrims, and abforbs Acrimonies of the Stomach, whence its ule after a Debauch of ftrong Liquors ; and hence aifo its ufe in promoting watching, by bracing the Fibres, and rendering'em too tenfe for theRelaxation requir'd inSleep.
It likewife promotes Circulation, but fuch belt with People of" a pretty corpulent Habit ; being found hurtful to thole who are thin, lean, dry, and of a bilious Temperament ;»s it dries up the Nerves, and inclines them to Tremors : 'tis faid to be prejudicial likewife to thofe who digeft too fall:, where the Circulation is too quick, or where there is a fpit- ting of Blood arifing from the Mouths of any of the Veins and Arteries being too open, or the Blood too thin and fliarp.
The oily Matter that feparates from the Coffee, and ap- pears on its furface when roafled, and its particular Smell, which diflinguilhes it from Peas, Beans, Rye, &c. which fome fubflitute in lieu of Coffee, zk to be the real Indications of its Effects. If confider'd with regard to the Oils drawn by the Retort, this, as well as that, contains volatile Prin- ciples, both faline and fulphureous.
'Tis to the Diffolution of its Salts, and the Mixture of its Sulphurs in the Blood, that its chief Faculty of promoting Watchfulnefs is to be attributed : Hence alio' its Property of promoting Digellion, of precipitating Foods, of prevent- ing Eructations, and correcting Acrimonies of the Stomach, when taken after Meals.
Hence alfo that Fermentation in the Blood, ferviceable to corpulent People : hence alfo its diuretick Virtue. By Ex- perience 'tis found of fervice to drink a Glafs of Water be- fore Offee, to render it laxative ; to mix it with Milk, or Cream, to extinguifh its Sulphurs, embarrafs its faline Prin- ciples, and render it nourifhing.
S. 'Pavli, a Damfll Phyfician, maintains that it enervates Men, and renders them incapable of Generation : And 'tis certain the turhs attribute the fame Effects to it ; and from the immoderate ufe hereof, account for that thinnefs of In- habitants found in Provinces formerly the bell peopled. But this Opinion is refuted by 'Du Four.
F. Mallebrdmh gave the Royal Academy of Sciences an Account of a Perfon cur'd of an Apoplexy, by giving him fcveral Clyfters of Coffee.
The Tree that produces the Coffee, is a Kind of Arabic Jafmin : The Berry, when ripe, is found as hard as Horn ; which gave occafion to an Opinion, that the People of the Kingdom of lemen in Arabia felix, where it is cultivated, fteep'd in boiling Water, or bak'd in a Furnace all the Cof- fee they fold abroad, to prevent its growing any where elfe.
'Tis faid, it yields a Revenue upwards of five Millions ■per Annum. Nor will that appear any wonder, when we confider that in London alone, befides the Confumption in private Houfes, fome have computed three thoufand Coffee- Houfes. In the three Kingdoms are yearly expended one hundred Tonn of C'#fe-Berries ; in England alone feventy : which at 300/. "per Tonn, a moderate Price, amounts to 21000 I. Sterling.
COFFER, Caffi, in Architecture, a fquare depreffure, or linking, in each Interval between the Modillions of the Corinthian Cornice ; ordinarily fill'd up with a Rofc, fome- times a Pomegranate, or other Enrichment. See Modillion.
Thefe Sinkings, call'd alfo Pannels, are of different Figures in the Convpamments of Vaults and Soffits. See Soffit.
1 Fortification, is an hollow Lodgment, afhwirt •om fix to feven Foot deep, and from fixteen to
Coffer, a dry Moat, from fix iu ,^.w. * «ui u^*_p, «uu aum j eighteen Foot broad : the upper Part being made of pieces of Timber rais'd two Foot above the Level of the Moat - which little Elevation has Hurdles laden with Earth for it, covering; and ferves as a Paraper, with Embrafutes. See Ditch.
The Befieged generally make ufe of thefe Ccffers to re- pulfe the Befiegers, when they endeavour to pafs the Ditch.
'Tis nearly the fame thing with a Caponiers, abating that this laif is fometimes made beyond the Counterfcarp on the Glacis, and the Coffer always in the Moat, taking up half its breadth. See Cafoniere.
It differs from the fraverfe, and Gallery, in that thefe latter are made by the Befiegers, and the Coffer by the Be- fieged. See Galleri, lie.
To fave themfelves from the Fire of thefe C.ffers, the Be, fiegers throw up the Earth on that fide towards the Coffer.
COFFERER of the King's Houjlold, a principal Officer in the Court, next underthe Comptroler ; who, in the Cour.t- ing-Houfe, andell'ewhere at othet times, has a fpecial Charge and Overfight of other Officers of the Houfe, for their good Demeanor and Carriage in their Offices : to all whom he pays the Wages. See Houshold, Compting-.t70.'(/2, &c.
COGGESHAL'S Sliding Rule, an Inflrument us'd i n Gaging, fo called from its Inventor: See its Defcription and Ufe under Sliding Rule.
COGITATION, the Act or Operation of 'thinking. See Thinking.
COGNATION, in the Civil Law, the Bond of E.elation between all the Defcendents from the fame Stock, both Males and Females : by which it is diflinguilli'd from Agna- tion, which only comprehends the Defcendents in the Male Sex. See Agnation.
In France, for the Succeffion to the Crown they follow Jg. nation^ in England, Spain, Sic. Cognation, Women coming to the Succeffion, according to the degree of Proximity, in default of Males, or their Defcendents from Branch to Branch.
In the Roman Law, the Words Coguatio and Coguati are' taken in a more limited Senfe ; Cognatio fignifying only the Bond of Relation between the Defcendents from the fame Stock on the Woman's fide ; and Cognati thole between whom there was fuch a Bond of Relation fubfifting.
COGNIZANCE, or COGNISANCE, in Heraldry. See Crest.
Cognizance, in Law, is the Acknowledgment of a Fine, or Confeffion of a thing done. In this Senfe, we fay, Gig- nofcens tatro.
The Word is alfo ufed for a Power or Jurifdiction : Thus, Cognizance of 'Pleas, is an Ability to call a Plea out of ano- ther Courr ; which no one but the King can do, unlefs he can fhew a particular Charter for it.
Sometimes it is ufed for an Audience, or hearing of a Mat- ter judicially ; as, to take Cognizance.
Cognizance, again, is ufed for a Badge on a Waterman, or Servingman's Sleeve, which is commonly the Givet's Creil, whereby he is difcern'd to belong to this or that Ko- bleman, or Gentleman.
COGNISOR, or CONNUSOR, is he that paffeth, or acknowledgeth a Fine of Lands and Tenements to another. See Cognizance.
COHABITxITION, implies a Concubinage, Copulation, or Carnal Knowledge between two Perfons : but 'tis rarely ufed except in a criminal Senfe. See Concubine.
CO-HEIR, a Perfon who /hares an Inheritance or Eflate with another. See Heir.
COHERENCE, a School-Term, applied to Propofitions, Difcourfes, &c. which have a Connection or Dependence on one another.
COHESION, or COHESION, in Phyficks, the Aflion whereby the Particles, or primary Corpufcles whereof natural Bodies confift, are connected, or bound together, fo as to form Particles ; and thofe, again, kept together, fo as to form fenfible Maffes, or Bodies. See Particle, Body, &c.
The Caufe of this Cohefion, or the Nexus Materia, has extremely perplex'd the Philofophers of all Ages. In allthe Syflems oi Phyficks, Matter is luppos'd originally to be in minute, indiviiible Atoms. See Matter.
How, and by what Principle thele feveral diflinct Corpuf- cles fhould come fid! ioin'd and combin'd into little Syflems; and how they fhould come to perfevere in that State of Uni- on; is a Point of the moll difficulty, and even of the moil importance of any in Phyficks.
The moil popular Opinion, is that fo flrenuoufly defended by J. Bernoulli, de gravitate JEtheris ; who accounts for the Cohefion of the Parts of Matter, from the uniform Pref- fure of the Atmofphere : confirming this Doctrine from the known Experiment of two poliffi'd marble Planes; which cohere very ffrongly in the open Air, but eafily drop afunder in an exhaufted Receiver.
But tho this Theory might ferve tolerably well to explain the Cohefion of Compofitions, or greater Collections of Mat-
