sound, then the party concluded that he possessed the affections of his sweetheart. But if the wine missed the basin, or if the portion which chanced to fall into it produced only a dull and leaden sound, opposite auguries were signified. There were other ways of playing it, in which different apparatus was used, and in Sicily houses were built especially for the game.
COTTENHAM, Charles Christopher Pepys, earl of, an English chancellor, born April 29, 1781, died April 29, 1851. He was educated at Cambridge, studied law, was called to the bar in 1804, appointed solicitor general to Queen Adelaide in 1830, and solicitor general to the king in 1833. In July, 1831, he entered parliament through the interest of Earl Fitzwilliam. In 1834 he became master of the rolls, in 1835 a commissioner of the great seal, and in 1836 lord high chancellor of England, which office he held till September, 1841. On Oct. 5, 1845, by the death of his elder brother, Sir William Weller Pepys, the baronetcy conferred on his father in 1801 devolved on him. In August, 1846, he again became lord chancellor, retiring in June, 1850, when he was made an earl. In politics he was a consistent liberal.
COTTEREAU, Jean. See Chouans.
COTTIN, Madame Sophie Ristaud, a French novelist, born at Tonneins in 1773, died in Paris, Aug. 25, 1807. In 1790 she married M. Cottin, a wealthy banker of Bordeaux, who died in 1793. The publication of her first novel, Claire d'Albe (1798), was said to have been due to her desire of benefiting a needy friend. Her novel Élisabeth, ou Les exilés de Sibérie (1806), was her most careful production, and has been more generally translated into foreign languages than any of her other novels. She published her works anonymously until the attention which they attracted forced her to reveal her name. Among her other novels are Malvina, Amélie, and Mathilde. Complete editions of her works appeared in 1817 and 1823.
COTTLE, Joseph, an English publisher and author, born about 1774, died in 1853. He was an early and generous friend of Coleridge and Southey, whose first poems he published while a bookseller at Bristol. He afterward wrote a volume of “Reminiscences” of those authors, poems entitled “Alfred,” “The Fall of Cambria,” and “Malvern Hills,” essays on Socinianism, and other pieces in prose and verse.—His brother, Amos Cottle, who died in 1800, translated the Icelandic Edda into English verse, but is best known by Byron's reference to his name in “English Bards and Scotch Reviewers.”
COTTON (Ital. cotone, and this from the Arabic koton), the downy fibrous substance attached to the seeds of the various species of gossypium, a genus of plants of the order malvaceæ, which also includes the common mallow, of kindred appearance to the cotton-bearing species. De Candolle thus gives its botanical character: Calyx cup-shaped, obtusely 5-toothed, surrounded by a 3-parted involucel, with dentate-incised, cordate leaflets, cohering at the base; stigmas 3 to 5; capsule 3- to 5-celled, many-seeded; seeds surrounded by a tomentose wool. Cultivation has so modified the plant that the number of its species is uncertain, and is variously given by different authorities. Linnæus recognized five species: G. herbaceum, G. arboreum, G. hirsutum, G. religiosum, and G. Barbadense. De Candolle describes in his Prodromus 13 species, and mentions six others. Dr. Royle refers all the varieties to eight species. Swartz thought they might all be referred to one original species. The divisions generally recognized are three, designated by the first three named species of Linnæus, or by the common names, herbaceous, shrub, and tree cotton; and of these the most important is the herbaceous. Some include in it all the varieties cultivated in the United States; but others refer the long-stapled sea island cotton plant to the arborescent division. Adopting the latter arrangement, the herbaceous would include the plants producing upland or short-stapled cotton. These grow to the height of 1½ to 2 ft., and bear dark green leaves, with blue veins, and 5-lobed. The flowers are pale yellow, with five petals having purple spots at the base. A triangular pod succeeds the flower, and contains in three cells the seeds, and the three locks of white down, which burst forth and cover the shell of the pod, when this opens at its maturity. The seeds of the short-staple cotton are green, and in size larger than those of the grape. They are sown every year. The filamentous substance which constitutes cotton appears like a mass of vegetable hairs of varying lengths, rising from the surface of the seeds, enveloping them, and assisting to fill up the cavity of the seed vessel. Under the microscope, the filaments appear to be for the most part ribbon-formed or flattened cylinders, with a thickened list at either end, and veins of embroidery running along the middle. They vary in length from half an inch to 1¾ inch, and in breadth from 1700 to 12500 of an inch. The cotton fibre is seldom straight like that of flax, but is either twisted or in the shape of a corkscrew. Those of the best sea island very commonly appear to be beautiful spiral springs singularly adapted to the spinning process. The hirsutum, hairy or shrub cotton, includes many varieties, which grow wherever the herbaceous is found. In the West Indies it is biennial or triennial; in India and Egypt it lasts from six to ten years; but in more temperate climates it is an annual. It includes the religiosum of Surinam, the Barbadense, the Peruvian, and other species. The cotton of Guiana and Brazil is said to belong to this division. The plant resembles in size and appearance a currant bush. The fruit or pod differs from that of the herbaceous in being of an oval form and of larger size. The tree cotton grows to the height of 15 to 20 ft. It is found in India, China, Egypt,
