Articles in This Slice:
COCKAIGNE, LAND OF COLEPEPER, JOHN COLEPEPER
COCKATOO COLERAINE
COCKATRICE COLERIDGE, HARTLEY
COCKBURN, ALEXANDER JAMES EDMUND COLERIDGE, JOHN DUKE COLERIDGE
COCKBURN, ALICIA COLERIDGE, SIR JOHN TAYLOR
COCKBURN, SIR GEORGE COLERIDGE, SAMUEL TAYLOR
COCKBURN, HENRY THOMAS COLERIDGE, SARA
COCKER, EDWARD COLET, JOHN
COCKERELL, CHARLES ROBERT COLET, LOUISE
COCKERILL, WILLIAM COLEUS
COCKERMOUTH COLFAX, SCHUYLER
COCK-FIGHTING COLIC
COCK LANE GHOST COLIGNY, GASPARD DE
COCKLE, SIR JAMES COLIMA (coast state of Mexico)
COCKLE COLIMA (city of Mexico)
COCKNEY COLIN, ALEXANDRE
COCK-OF-THE-ROCK (bird) COLL
COCK-OF-THE-ROCK (enclosed place) COLLAERT, HANS
COCKROACH COLLAR
COCK'S-COMB COLLATERAL
COCKTON, HENRY COLLATIA
COCKX COLLATION
COCOA COLLE, CHARLES
COCO DE MER COLLECTIVISM
COCOMA COLLECTOR
COCO-NUT PALM COLLE DI VAL D' ELSA
COCYTUS COLLEGE
COD COLLEONI, BARTOLOMMEO
CODA COLLETER
CODE COLLETTA, PIETRO
CODE NAPOLEON COLLEY, SIR GEORGE POMEROY
CODIAEUM COLLIER, ARTHUR
CODICIL COLLIER, JEREMY
CODILLA COLLIER, JOHN PAYNE
CODINUS, GEORGE COLLIN, HEINRICH JOSEPH VON
COD-LIVER OIL COLLIN D'HARLEVILLE, JEAN FRANCOIS
CODRINGTON, CHRISTOPHER COLLING, ROBERT
CODRINGTON, SIR EDWARD COLLINGWOOD, CUTHBERT COLLINGWOOD
CODRUS COLLINGWOOD (city of Australia)
CODY, WILLIAM FREDERICK COLLINGWOOD (town of Canada)
CO-EDUCATION COLLINS, ANTHONY
COEFFETEAU, NICOLAS COLLINS, JOHN CHURTON
COEHOORN, MENNO COLLINS, MORTIMER
COELENTERA COLLINS, WILLIAM (English poet)
COELLO, ALONSO SANCHEZ COLLINS, WILLIAM (English painter)
COELLO, ANTONIO COLLINS, WILLIAM WILKIE
COELOM AND SEROUS MEMBRANES COLLODION
COEN, JAN PIETERSZOON COLLOT D'HERBOIS, JEAN MARIE
COENACULUM COLLUSION
COENWULF COLLYER, ROBERT
COERCION COLMAN, SAINT
COEUR, JACQUES COLMAN, GEORGE
COEUR D'ALENE COLMAN, SAMUEL
COFFEE COLMAR
COFFER COLNE
COFFERDAM COLOCYNTH
COFFEYVILLE COLOGNE
COFFIN COLOMAN
COG COLOMB, PHILIP HOWARD
COGERS HALL COLOMBES
COGHLAN, CHARLES FRANCIS COLOMBEY
COGNAC COLOMBIA
COGNITION COLOMBIER, PIERRE BERTRAND DE
COGNIZANCE COLOMBO
COHEN COLON (city of Panama)
COHN, FERDINAND JULIUS COLON (town of Cuba)
COHN, GUSTAV COLON (intestine)
COHOES COLONEL
COHORT COLONIAL OFFICE
COIF COLONNA (Roman family)
COIMBATORE COLONNA, GIOVANNI PAOLO
COIMBRA COLONNA, VITTORIA
COIN COLONNADE
COIN COLONSAY
COINAGE OFFENCES COLONY
COIR COLOPHON (ancient city of Ionia)
COIRE COLOPHON (paragraph in manuscripts)
COKE, SIR EDWARD COLORADO
COKE, SIR JOHN COLORADO RIVER (stream of Argentine)
COKE, THOMAS COLORADO RIVER (stream of U.S.A.)
COKE COLORADO SPRINGS
COL COLOSSAE
COLBERT, JEAN BAPTISTE COLOSSAL CAVERN
COLBERT DE CROISSY, CHARLES COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE
COLBURN, HENRY COLOSSUS
COLBURN, ZERAH COLOUR
COLBY, THOMAS FREDERICK COLOURS, MILITARY
COLCHAGUA COLOUR-SERGEANT
COLCHESTER, CHARLES ABBOT COLOURS OF ANIMALS
COLCHESTER (town of England) COLSTON, EDWARD
COLCHESTER (township of Vermont) COLT, SAMUEL
COLCHICUM COLT'S-FOOT
COLCHIS COLUGO
COLCOTHAR COLUMBA, SAINT
COLD COLUMBAN
COLDEN, CADWALLADER COLUMBANI, PLACIDO
COLD HARBOR COLUMBARIUM
COLDSTREAM COLUMBIA (city of Missouri)
COLDWATER COLUMBIA (borough of Pennsylvania)
COLE, SIR HENRY COLUMBIA (city of South Carolina)
COLE, THOMAS COLUMBIA (city of Tennessee)
COLE, TIMOTHY COLUMBIA RIVER
COLE, VICAT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
COLEBROOKE, HENRY THOMAS COLUMBINE (dancer)
COLEMANITE COLUMBINE (plant)
COLENSO, JOHN WILLIAM COLUMBITE
COLENSO (village of Natal) COLUMBIUM
COLEOPTERA COLUMBUS, CHRISTOPHER
COCKAIGNE (COCKAYNE), LAND OF (O. Fr. _Coquaigne_, mod. Fr. _cocagne_,
"abundance," from Ital. _Cocagna_; "as we say 'Lubberland,' the
epicure's or glutton's home, the land of all delights, so taken in
mockerie": Florio), an imaginary country, a medieval Utopia where life
was a continual round of luxurious idleness. The origin of the Italian
word has been much disputed. It seems safest to connect it, as do Grimm
and Littre, ultimately with Lat. _coquere_, through a word meaning
"cake," the literal sense thus being "The Land of Cakes." In Cockaigne
the rivers were of wine, the houses were built of cake and barley-sugar,
the streets were paved with pastry, and the shops supplied goods for
nothing. Roast geese and fowls wandered about inviting folks to eat
them, and buttered larks fell from the skies like manna. There is a
13th-century French _fabliau_, _Cocaigne_, which was possibly intended
to ridicule the fable of the mythical Avalon, "the island of the Blest."
The 13th-century English poem, _The Land of Cockaygne_, is a satire on
monastic life. The term has been humorously applied to London, and by
Boileau to the Paris of the rich. The word has been frequently confused
with Cockney (q.v.).
See D. M. Meon, _Fabliaux et contes_ (4 vols., 1808), and F. J.
Furnivall, _Early English Poems_ (Berlin, 1862).
COCKATOO (_Cacatuidae_), a family of parrots characterized among Old
World forms by their usually greater size, by the crest of feathers on
the head, which can be raised or depressed at will, and by the absence
of green in their coloration. They inhabit the Indian Archipelago, New
Guinea and Australia, and are gregarious, frequenting woods and feeding
on seeds, fruits and the larvae of insects. Their note is generally
harsh and unmusical, and although they are readily tamed when taken
young, becoming familiar, and in some species showing remarkable
intelligence, their powers of vocal imitation are usually limited. Of
the true cockatoos (_Cacatua_) the best known is the sulphur-crested
cockatoo (_Cacatua galerita_), of a pure white plumage with the
exception of the crest, which is deep sulphur yellow, and of the ear and
tail coverts, which are slightly tinged with yellow. The crest when
erect stands 5 in. high. These birds are found in Australia in flocks
varying from 100 to 1000 in number, and do great damage to newly-sown
grain, for which reason they are mercilessly destroyed by farmers. They
deposit their eggs--two in number, and of a pure white colour--in the
hollows of decayed trees or in the fissures of rocks, according to the
nature of the locality in which they reside. This is one of the species
most usually kept in Europe as a cage bird. Leadbeater's Cockatoo
(_Cacatua Leadbeateri_), an inhabitant of South Australia, excels all
others in the beauty of its plumage, which consists in great part of
white, tinged with rose colour, becoming a deep salmon colour under the
wings, while the crest is bright crimson at the base, with a yellow spot
in the centre and white at the tip. It is exceedingly shy and difficult
of approach, and its note is more plaintive while less harsh than that
of the preceding species. In the cockatoos belonging to the genus
_Calyptorhynchus_ the general plumage is black or dark brown, usually
with a large spot or band of red or yellow on the tail. The largest of
these is known as the funereal cockatoo (_Calyptorhynchus funereus_),
from the lugubrious note or call which it utters, resembling the two
syllables Wy--la--, the native name of the species. It deposits its eggs
in the hollows of the large gum-trees of Australia, and feeds largely on
the larvae of insects, in search of which it peels off the bark of
trees, and when thus employed it may be approached closely. The
cockateel (_Calopsittacus novaehollandiae_), the only species in the
family smaller than a pigeon, and with a long pointed tail, is a common
aviary bird, and breeds freely in captivity.
COCKATRICE, a fabulous monster, the existence of which was firmly
believed in throughout ancient and medieval times,--descriptions and
figures of it appearing in the natural history works of such writers as
Pliny and Aldrovandus, those of the latter published so late as the
beginning of the 17th century. Produced from a cock's egg hatched by a
serpent, it was believed to possess the most deadly powers, plants
withering at its touch, and men and animals dying poisoned by its look.
It stood in awe, however, of the cock, the sound of whose crowing
killed it, and consequently travelers were wont to take this bird with
them in travelling over regions supposed to abound in cockatrices. The
weasel alone among mammals was unaffected by the glance of its evil eye,
and attacked it at all times successfully; for when wounded by the
monster's teeth it found a ready remedy in rue--the only plant which the
cockatrice could not wither. This myth reminds one of the real contests
between the weasel-like mungoos of India and the deadly cobra, in which
the latter is generally killed. The term "cockatrice" is employed on
four occasions in the English translation of the Bible, in all of which
it denotes nothing more than an exceedingly venomous reptile; it seems
also to be synonymous with "basilisk," the mythical king of serpents.
COCKBURN, SIR ALEXANDER JAMES EDMUND, 10th Bart. (1802-1880), lord chief
justice of England, was born on the 24th of December 1802, of ancient
Scottish stock. He was the son of Alexander, fourth son of Sir James
Cockburn, 6th baronet, his three uncles, who had successively held the
title, dying without heirs. His father was British envoy extraordinary
and minister plenipotentiary to the state of Columbia, and married
Yolande, daughter of the vicomte de Vignier. Young Alexander was at one
time intended for the diplomatic service, and frequently during the
legal career which he ultimately adopted he was able to make
considerable use of the knowledge of foreign languages, especially
French, with which birth and early education had equipped him. He was
educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, of which he was elected a fellow,
and afterwards an honorary fellow. He entered at the Middle Temple in
1825, and was called to the bar in 1829. He joined the western circuit,
and for some time such practice as he was able to obtain lay at the
Devon sessions, quarter sessions at that time affording an opening and a
school of advocacy to young counsel not to be found anywhere fifty years
later. In London he had so little to do that only the persuasion of
friends induced him to keep his London chambers open. Three years after
his call to the bar, however, the Reform Bill was passed, and the
petitions which followed the ensuing general election gave rise to a
large number of new questions for the decision of election committees,
and afforded an opening of which he promptly availed himself. The
decisions of the committees had not been reported since 1821, and with
M. C. Rowe, another member of the western circuit, Cockburn undertook a
new series of reports. They only published one volume, but the work was
well done, and in 1833 Cockburn had his first parliamentary brief.
In 1834 Cockburn was well enough thought of to be made a member of the
commission to inquire into the state of the corporations of England and
Wales. Other parliamentary work followed; but he had ambition to be more
than a parliamentary counsel, and attended diligently on his circuit,
besides appearing before committees. In 1841 he was made a Q.C., and in
that year a charge of simony, brought against his uncle, William, dean
of York, enabled him to appear conspicuously in a case which attracted
considerable public attention, the proceedings taking the form of a
motion for prohibition duly obtained against the ecclesiastical court,
which had deprived Dr Cockburn of his office. Not long after this, Sir
Robert Peel's secretary, Edward Drummond, was shot by the crazy
Scotsman, Daniel M'Naughten, and Cockburn, briefed on behalf of the
assassin, not only made a very brilliant speech, which established the
defence of insanity, but also secured the full publicity of a long
report in the _Morning Chronicle_ of the 6th of March 1843. Another
well-known trial in which he appeared a year later was that of _Wood_ v.
_Peel_ (_The Times_, 2nd and 3rd of July 1844), the issue being in form
to determine the winner of a bet (the Gaming Act was passed in the
following year) as to the age of the Derby winner Running Rein--in
substance to determine, if possible, the vexed question whether Running
Rein was a four-year-old or a three-year-old when he was racing as the
latter. Running Rein could not be produced by Mr Wood, and Baron
Alderson took a strong view of this circumstance, so that Cockburn found
himself on the losing side, while his strenuous advocacy of his client's
cause had led him into making, in his opening speech, strictures on
Lord George Bentinck's conduct in the case which had better have been
reserved to a later stage. He was, however, a hard fighter, but not an
unfair one--a little irritable at times, but on the whole a courteous
gentleman, and his practice went on increasing.
In 1847 he decided to stand for parliament, and was elected without a
contest Liberal M.P. for Southampton. His speech in the House of Commons
on behalf of the government in the Don Pacifico dispute with Greece
commended him to Lord John Russell, who appointed him solicitor-general
in 1850 and attorney-general in 1851, a post which he held till the
resignation of the ministry in February 1852. During the short
administration of Lord Derby which followed, Sir Frederic Thesiger was
attorney-general, and Cockburn was engaged against him in the case of
_R._ v. _Newman_, on the prosecution of Achilli. This was the trial of a
criminal information for libel filed against John Henry Newman, who had
denounced a scandalous and profligate friar named Achilli, then
lecturing on Roman Catholicism in England. Newman pleaded justification;
but the jury who heard the case in the Queen's Bench, with Lord Campbell
presiding, found that the justification was not proved except in one
particular: a verdict which, together with the methods of the judge and
the conduct of the audience, attracted considerable comment. The verdict
was set aside, and a new trial ordered, but none ever took place. In
December 1852, under Lord Aberdeen's ministry, Cockburn became again
attorney-general, and so remained until 1856, taking part in many
celebrated trials, such as the Hopwood Will Case in 1855, and the
Swynfen Will Case, but notably leading for the crown in the trial of
William Palmer of Rugeley in Staffordshire--an ex-medical man who had
taken to the turf, and who had poisoned a friend of similar pursuits
named Cook with strychnine, in order to obtain money from his estate by
forgery and otherwise. Cockburn made an exhaustive study of the medical
aspects of the case, and the prisoner's comment when convicted after a
twelve days' trial was, alluding to the attorney-general's advocacy, "It
was the riding that did it." In 1854 Cockburn was made recorder of
Bristol. In 1856 he became chief justice of the common pleas. He
inherited the baronetcy in 1858. In 1859 Lord Campbell became
chancellor, and Cockburn became chief justice of the Queen's Bench,
continuing as a judge for twenty-four years and dying in harness. On
Friday, the 19th of November 1880, he tried causes with special juries
at Westminster; on Saturday, the 20th, he presided over a court for the
consideration of crown cases reserved; he walked home, and on that night
he died of _angina pectoris_ at his house in Hertford Street.
Sir Alexander Cockburn earned and deserved a high reputation as a judge.
He was a man of brilliant cleverness and rapid intuition rather than of
profound and laboriously cultivated intellect. He had been a great
advocate at the bar, with a charm of voice and manner, fluent and
persuasive rather than learned; but before he died he was considered a
good lawyer, some assigning his unquestioned improvement in this respect
to his frequent association on the bench with Blackburn. He had
notoriously little sympathy with the Judicature Acts. Many were of
opinion that he was inclined to take an advocate's view of the cases
before him, making up his mind as to their merits prematurely and, in
consequence, wrongly, as well as giving undue prominence to the views
which he so formed; but he was beyond doubt always in intention, and
generally in fact, scrupulously fair. It is not necessary to enumerate
the many _causes celebres_ at which Sir Alexander Cockburn presided as a
judge. It was thought that he went out of his way to arrange that they
should come before him, and his successor, Lord Coleridge, writing in
1881 to Lord Bramwell, to make the offer that he should try the murderer
Lefroy as a last judicial act before retiring, added, "Poor dear
Cockburn would hardly have given you such a chance." Be this as it may,
Cockburn tried all cases which came before him, whether great or small,
with the same thoroughness, courtesy and dignity, so that no counsel or
suitor could complain that he had not been fully heard in a matter in
which the issues were seemingly trivial; while he certainly gave great
attention to the elaboration of his judgments and charges to juries. He
presided at the Tichborne trial at Bar, lasting 188 days, of which his
summing-up occupied eighteen.
The greatest public occasion on which Sir Alexander Cockburn acted,
outside his usual judicial functions, was that of the "Alabama"
arbitration, held at Geneva in 1872, in which he represented the British
government, and dissented from the view taken by the majority of the
arbitrators, without being able to convince them. He prepared, with Mr
C. F. Adams, the representative of the United States, the English
translation of the award of the arbitrators, and published his reasons
for dissenting in a vigorously worded document which did not meet with
universal commendation. He admitted in substance the liability of
England for the acts of the "Alabama," but not on the grounds on which
the decision of the majority was based, and he held England not liable
in respect of the "Florida" and the "Shenandoah."
In personal appearance Sir Alexander Cockburn was of small stature, but
great dignity of deportment. He was fond of yachting and of sport, and
was engaged in writing a series of articles on the "History of the Chase
in the Nineteenth Century" at the time of his death. He was fond, too,
of society, and was also throughout his life addicted to frivolities not
altogether consistent with advancement in a learned profession, or with
the positions of dignity which he successively occupied. At the same
time he had a high sense of what was due to and expected from his
profession; and his utterance upon the limitations of advocacy, in his
speech at the banquet given in the Middle Temple Hall to M. Berryer, the
celebrated French advocate, may be called the classical authority on the
subject. Lord Brougham, replying for the guests other than Berryer, had
spoken of "the first great duty of an advocate to reckon everything
subordinate to the interests of his client." The lord chief justice,
replying to the toast of "the judges of England," dissented from this
sweeping statement, saying, amid loud cheers from a distinguished
assembly of lawyers, "The arms which an advocate wields he ought to use
as a warrior, not as an assassin. He ought to uphold the interests of
his clients _per fas_, not _per nefas_. He ought to know how to
reconcile the interests of his clients with the eternal interests of
truth and justice" (_The Times_, 9th of November 1864). Sir Alexander
Cockburn was never married, and the baronetcy became extinct at his
death.
AUTHORITIES.--_The Times_, 22nd of November 1880; _Law Journal_; _Law
Times_; _Solicitors' Journal_, 27th of November 1880; _Law Magazine_,
new series, vol. xv. p. 193, 1851; Ashley's _Life of Lord Palmerston_;
Nash's _Life of Lord Westbury_; "Reminiscences of Lord Chief Justice
Coleridge," by Lord Russell of Killowen, in the _North American
Review_, September 1894; _The Greville Memoirs_; Croker's
_Correspondence and Diaries_; Justin M'Carthy's _History of Our Own
Times_; Serjeant Ballantine's _Experiences; Bench and Bar_, by
Serjeant Robinson; Fairchild's _Life of Lord Bramwell_; Manson's
_Builders of Our Law_; Burke's _Peerage_, ed. 1879; Foster's
_Peerage_, 1880.
COCKBURN, ALICIA, or ALISON (1713-1794), Scottish poet, authoress of one
of the most exquisite of Scottish ballads, the "Flowers of the Forest,"
was the daughter of Robert Rutherfurd of Fairnalee, Selkirkshire, and
was born on the 8th of October 1713. There are two versions of this
song,--the one by Mrs Cockburn, the other by Jean Elliot (1727-1805) of
Minto. Both were founded on the remains of an ancient Border ballad. Mrs
Cockburn's--that beginning "I've seen the smiling of Fortune
beguiling"--is said to have been written before her marriage in 1731,
though not published till 1765. Anyhow, it was composed many years
before Jean Elliot's sister verses, written in 1756, beginning, "I've
heard them liltin' at our ewe-milkin'." Robert Chambers states that the
ballad was written on the occasion of a great commercial disaster which
ruined the fortunes of some Selkirkshire lairds. Later biographers,
however, think it probable that it was written on the departure to
London of a certain John Aikman, between whom and Alison there appears
to have been an early attachment. In 1731 Alison Rutherfurd was married
to Patrick Cockburn of Ormiston. After her marriage she knew all the
intellectual and aristocratic celebrities of her day. In the memorable
year 1745 she vented her Whiggism in a squib upon Prince Charlie, and
narrowly escaped being taken by the Highland guard as she was driving
through Edinburgh in the family coach of the Keiths of Ravelston, with
the parody in her pocket. Mrs Cockburn was an indefatigable
letter-writer and a composer of parodies, squibs, toasts and
"character-sketches"--then a favourite form of composition--like other
wits of her day; but the "Flowers of the Forest" is the only thing she
wrote that possesses great literary merit. At her house on Castle-hill,
and afterwards in Crichton Street, she received many illustrious
friends, among whom were Mackenzie, Robertson, Hume, Home, Monboddo, the
Keiths of Ravelston, the Balcarres family and Lady Anne Barnard, the
authoress of "Auld Robin Gray." As a Rutherfurd she was a connexion of
Sir Walter Scott's mother, and was her intimate friend. Lockhart quotes
a letter written by Mrs Cockburn in 1777, describing the conduct of
little Walter Scott, then scarcely six years old, during a visit which
she paid to his mother, when the child gave as a reason for his liking
for Mrs Cockburn that she was a "virtuoso like himself." Mrs Cockburn
died on the 22nd of November 1794.
See her _Letters and Memorials_..., with notes by T. Craig Brown
(1900).
COCKBURN, SIR GEORGE, Bart. (1772-1853), British admiral, second son of
Sir James Cockburn, Bart., and uncle of Lord Chief Justice Cockburn, was
born in London. He entered the navy in his ninth year. After serving on
the home station, and in the East Indies and the Mediterranean, he
assisted, as captain of the "Minerve" (38) at the blockade of Leghorn in
1796, and fought a gallant action with the Spanish frigate "Sabina" (40)
which he took. He was present at the battle of Cape St Vincent. In 1809,
in command of the naval force on shore, he contributed greatly to the
reduction of Martinique, and signed the capitulation by which that
island was handed over to the English; for his services on this occasion
he received the thanks of the House of Commons. After service in the
Scheldt and at the defence of Cadiz he was sent in 1811 on an
unsuccessful mission for the reconciliation of Spain and her American
colonies. He was made rear-admiral in 1812, and in 1813-14, as second in
command to Warren, he took a prominent part in the American War,
especially in the capture of Washington. Early in 1815 he received the
order of the Bath, and in the autumn of the same year he carried out, in
the "Northumberland" (74), the sentence of deportation to St Helena
which had been passed upon Bonaparte. In 1818 he received the Grand
Cross of his order, and was made a lord of the admiralty; and the same
year he was returned to parliament for Portsmouth. He was promoted to
the rank of vice-admiral in 1819, and to that of admiral in 1837; he
became senior naval lord in 1841, and held office in that capacity till
1846. From 1827 he was a privy councillor. In 1851 he was made admiral
of the fleet, and in 1852, a year before his death, inherited the family
baronetcy from his elder brother, being himself succeeded by his brother
William, dean of York, who died in 1858.
See O'Byrne, _Naval Biography_; W. James, _Naval History_;
_Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1853.
COCKBURN, HENRY THOMAS (1779-1854), Scottish judge, with the style of
Lord Cockburn, was born in Edinburgh on the 26th of October 1779. His
father, a keen Tory, was a baron of the Scottish court of exchequer, and
his mother was connected by marriage with Lord Melville. He was educated
at the high school and the university of Edinburgh; and he was a member
of the famous Speculative Society, to which Sir Walter Scott, Brougham
and Jeffrey belonged. He entered the faculty of advocates in 1800, and
attached himself, not to the party of his relatives, who could have
afforded him most valuable patronage, but to the Whig or Liberal party,
and that at a time when it held out few inducements to men ambitious of
success in life. On the accession of Earl Grey's ministry in 1830 he
became solicitor-general for Scotland. In 1834 he was raised to the
bench, and on taking his seat as a judge in the court of session he
adopted the title of Lord Cockburn. Cockburn's forensic style was
remarkable for its clearness, pathos and simplicity; and his
conversational powers were unrivalled among his contemporaries. The
extent of his literary ability only became known after he had passed his
seventieth year, on the publication of his biography of Lord Jeffrey in
1852, and from the _Memorials of his Time_, which appeared posthumously
in 1856. He died on the 26th of April 1854, at his mansion of Bonaly,
near Edinburgh.
COCKER, EDWARD (1631-1675), the reputed author of the famous
_Arithmetick_, the popularity of which has added a phrase ("according to
Cocker") to the list of English proverbialisms, was an English engraver,
who also taught writing and arithmetic. He is credited with the
authorship and execution of some fourteen sets of copy slips, one of
which, _Daniel's Copy-Book, ingraven by Edward Cocker, Philomath_
(1664), is preserved in the British Museum. Pepys, in his _Diary_, makes
very favourable mention of Cocker, who appears to have displayed great
skill in his art. _Cocker's Arithmetick_, the fifty-second edition of
which appeared in 1748, and which has passed through about 112 editions
in all, was not published during the lifetime of its reputed author, the
first impression bearing date of 1678. Augustus de Morgan in his
_Arithmetical Books_ (1847) adduces proofs, which may be held to be
conclusive, that the work was a forgery of the editor and publisher,
John Hawkins; and there appears to be no doubt that the _Decimal
Arithmetic_ (1684), and the _English Dictionary_ (second edition, 1715),
issued by Hawkins under Cocker's name, are forgeries also. De Morgan
condemns the _Arithmetick_ as a diffuse compilation from older and
better works, and dates "a very great deterioration in elementary works
on arithmetic" from the appearance of the book, which owed its celebrity
far more to persistent puffing than to its merits. He pertinently
adds,--"This same Edward Cocker must have had great reputation, since a
bad book under his name pushed out the good ones."
COCKERELL, CHARLES ROBERT (1788-1863), British architect, was born in
London on the 28th of April 1788. After a preliminary training in his
profession, he went abroad in 1810 and studied the great architectural
remains of Greece, Italy and Asia Minor. At Aegina, Phigalia and other
places of interest, he conducted excavations on a large scale, enriching
the British Museum with many fine fragments, and adding several valuable
monographs to the literature of archaeology. Elected in 1829 an
associate of the Royal Academy, he became a full member in 1836, and in
1839 he was appointed professor of architecture. On Sir John Soane's
death in 1837 Cockerell was appointed architect of the Bank of England,
and carried out the alterations that were judged to be necessary in that
building. In addition to branch banks at Liverpool and Manchester he
erected in 1840 the new library at Cambridge, and in 1845 the university
galleries at Oxford, as well as the Sun and the Westminster Fire Offices
in Bartholomew Lane and in the Strand; and he was joint architect of the
London & Westminster Bank, Lothbury, with Sir W. Tite. On the death of
Henry Lonsdale Elmes in 1847, Cockerell was selected to finish the St
George's Hall, Liverpool. Cockerell's best conceptions were those
inspired by classic models; his essays in the Gothic--the college at
Lampeter, for instance, and the chapel at Harrow--are by no means so
successful. His thorough knowledge of Gothic art, however, can be seen
from his writings, _On the Iconography of Wells Cathedral_, and _On the
Sculptures of Lincoln and Exeter Cathedrals_. In his _Tribute to the
Memory of Sir Christopher Wren_ (1838) he published an interesting
collection of the whole of Wren's works drawn to one scale.
COCKERILL, WILLIAM (1759-1832), Anglo-French inventor and machinist, was
born in England in 1759. He went to Belgium as a simple mechanic, and in
1799 constructed at Verviers the first wool-carding and wool-spinning
machines on the continent. In 1807 he established a large machine
workshop at Liege. Orders soon poured in on him from all over Europe,
and he amassed a large fortune. In 1810 he was granted the rights of
naturalization by Napoleon I., and in 1812 handed over the management of
his business to his youngest son, JOHN COCKERILL (1790-1840).
Thanks to his own energy and ability, aided by the influence of King
William I. of the Netherlands, John Cockerill largely extended his
father's business. King William secured him a site at Seraing, where he
built large works, including an iron-foundry and blast furnace. The
construction of the Belgian railways in 1834 gave a great impetus to
these works, branches of which had already been opened in France,
Germany and Poland. In 1838 Cockerill met with a carriage accident which
nearly proved fatal, and the prospect of his loss resulted in the credit
of the firm being so badly shaken that in 1839 it was compelled to go
into liquidation, the liabilities being estimated at 26 millions of
francs, the assets at 18 millions. This reverse, however, was only
temporary. John Cockerill had practically concluded negotiations to
construct the Russian government railways, when his constitution,
undermined by overwork, broke down. He died at Warsaw on the 19th of
June 1840. The iron works, among the largest in Europe, are still
carried on under the name of La Societe Cockerill at seraing (q.v.).
COCKERMOUTH, a market town in the Cockermouth parliamentary division of
Cumberland, England, 27 m. S.W. of Carlisle, on the Cockermouth, Keswick
& Penrith, the London & North Western, and the Maryport & Carlisle
railways. Pop. of urban district (1901) 5355. It is pleasantly situated
on the river Derwent, at the junction of the Cocker, outlying hills of
the Lake District sheltering it on the north, east and south. The castle
has remains of Norman work in the keep, and other ancient portions
(including the gateway) of later date, but is in part modernized as a
residence. The grammar school was founded in 1676. The county industrial
school is established in the town. The industries include the
manufacture of woollens and confectionery, tanning and engineering, and
there is a considerable agricultural trade. There are coal mines in the
neighbourhood. A statue was erected in 1875 to the sixth earl of Mayo,
who represented the borough (abolished in 1885) from 1857 to 1868. There
is a Roman fort a mile west of the town, at Papcastle.
Cockermouth (_Cokermuth_, _Cokermue_) was made the head of the honour or
barony of Allerdale when that barony was created and granted to Waltheof
in the early part of the 12th century. At a later date the honour of
Allerdale was frequently called the honour of Cockermouth. Waltheof
probably built the castle, under the shelter of which the town grew up.
Although it never received any royal charter, the earliest records
relating to Cockermouth mention it as a borough. In 1295 it returned two
members to parliament and then not again until 1640. By the
Representation of the People Act of 1867 the representation was reduced
to one member, and by the Redistribution Act of 1885 it was
disfranchised. In 1221 William de Fortibus, earl of Albemarle, was
granted a Saturday market, which later in the year was transferred to
Monday, the day on which it has continued to be held ever since. The
Michaelmas Fair existed in 1343, and an inquisition dated 1374 mentions
two horse-fairs on Whit-Monday and at Michaelmas. In 1638 Algernon
Percy, earl of Northumberland, obtained a grant of a fair every
Wednesday from the first week in May till Michaelmas. The chief sources
of revenue in Norman times were the valuable fisheries and numerous
mills.
COCK-FIGHTING, or COCKING, the sport of pitting game-cocks to fight, and
breeding and training them for the purpose. The game-fowl is now
probably the nearest to the Indian jungle-fowl (_Gallus ferrugineus_),
from which all domestic fowls are believed to be descended. The sport
was popular in ancient times in India, China, Persia and other eastern
countries, and was introduced into Greece in the time of Themistocles.
The latter, while moving with his army against the Persians, observed
two cocks fighting desperately, and, stopping his troops, inspired them
by calling their attention to the valour and obstinacy of the feathered
warriors. In honour of the ensuing victory of the Greeks cock-fights
were thenceforth held annually at Athens, at first in a patriotic and
religious spirit, but afterwards purely for the love of the sport.
Lucian makes Solon speak of quail-fighting and cocking, but he is
evidently referring to a time later than that of Themistocles. From
Athens the sport spread throughout Greece, Asia Minor and Sicily, the
best cocks being bred in Alexandria, Delos, Rhodes and Tanagra. For a
long time the Romans affected to despise this "Greek diversion," but
ended by adopting it so enthusiastically that Columella (1st century
A.D.) complained that its devotees often spent their whole patrimony in
betting at the pit-side. The cocks were provided with iron spurs
(_tela_), as in the East, and were often dosed with stimulants to make
them fight more savagely.
From Rome cocking spread northwards, and, although opposed by the
Christian church, nevertheless became popular in Great Britain, the Low
Countries, Italy, Germany, Spain and her colonies. On account of adverse
legislation cocking has practically died out everywhere excepting in
Spain, countries of Spanish origin and the Orient, where it is still
legal and extremely popular. It was probably introduced into England by
the Romans before Caesar's time. William Fitz-Stephen first speaks of it
in the time of Henry II. as a sport for school-boys on holidays, and
particularly on Shrove Tuesday, the masters themselves directing the
fights, or mains, from which they derived a material advantage, as the
dead birds fell to them. It became very popular throughout England and
Wales, as well as in Scotland, where it was introduced in 1681.
Occasionally the authorities tried to repress it, especially Cromwell,
who put an almost complete stop to it for a brief period, but the
Restoration re-established it among the national-pastimes. Contemporary
apologists do not, in the 17th century, consider its cruelty at all, but
concern themselves solely with its justification as a source of
pleasure. "If Leviathan took his sport in the waters, how much more may
Man take his sport upon the land?" From the time of Henry VIII., who
added the famous Royal Cock-pit to his palace of Whitehall, cocking was
called the "royal diversion," and the Stuarts, particularly James I. and
Charles II., were among its most enthusiastic devotees, their example
being followed by the gentry down to the 19th century. Gervase Markham
in his _Pleasures of Princes_ (1614) wrote "Of the Choyce, Ordring,
Breeding and Dyeting of the fighting-Cocke for Battell," his quaint
directions being of the most explicit nature. When a cock is to be
trained for the pit he must be fed "three or foure daies only with old
Maunchet (fine white bread) and spring water." He is then set to spar
with another cock, "putting a payre of hots upon each of their heeles,
which Hots are soft, bumbasted roules of Leather, covering their spurs,
so that they cannot hurt each other.... Let them fight and buffet one
another a good space." After exercise the bird must be put into a
basket, covered with hay and set near the fire. "Then let him sweate,
for the nature of this scowring is to bring away his grease, and to
breed breath, and strength." If not killed in the fight, "the first
thing you doe, you shall search his wounds, and as many as you can find
you shall with your mouth sucke the blood out of them, then wash them
with warm salt water,... give him a roule or two, and so stove him up as
hot as you can."
Cocking-mains usually consisted of fights between an agreed number of
pairs of birds, the majority of victories deciding the main; but there
were two other varieties that aroused the particular ire of moralists.
These were the "battle royal," in which a number of birds were "set,"
i.e. placed in the pit, at the same time, and allowed to remain until
all but one, the victor, were killed or disabled; and the "Welsh main,"
in which eight pairs were matched, the eight victors being again paired,
then four, and finally the last surviving pair. Among London cock-pits
were those at Westminster, in Drury Lane, Jewin Street and Birdcage Walk
(depicted by Hogarth). Over the royal pit at Whitehall presided the
king's cockmaster. The pits were circular in shape with a matted stage
about 20 ft. in diameter and surrounded by a barrier to keep the birds
from falling off. Upon this barrier the first row of the audience
leaned. Hardly a town in the kingdom was without its cockpit, which
offered the sporting classes opportunities for betting not as yet
sufficiently supplied by horse-racing. With the growth of the latter
sport and the increased facilities for reaching the racing centres,
cocking gradually declined, especially after parliament passed laws
against it, so that gentlemen risked arrest by attending a main.
Among the best-known devotees of the sport was a Colonel Mordaunt, who,
about 1780, took a number of the best English game-cocks to India. There
he found the sport in high favour with the native rulers and his birds
were beaten. Perhaps the most famous main in England took place at
Lincoln in 1830 between the birds of Joseph Gilliver, the most
celebrated breeder, or "feeder," of his day, and those of the earl of
Derby. The conditions called for seven birds a side, and the stakes were
5000 guineas the main and 1000 guineas each match. The main was won by
Gilliver by five matches to two. His grandson was also a breeder, and
the blood of his cocks still runs in the best breeds of Great Britain
and America. Another famous breeder was Dr Bellyse of Audlem, the
principal figure in the great mains fought at Chester during race-week
at the beginning of the 19th century. His favourite breed was the white
pile, and "Cheshire piles" are still much-fancied birds. Others were
Irish brown-reds, Lancashire black-reds and Staffordshire duns.
In Wales, as well as some parts of England, cocking-mains took place
regularly in churchyards, and in many instances even inside the churches
themselves. Sundays, wakes and church festivals were favourite occasions
for them. The habit of holding mains in schools was common from the 12th
to about the middle of the 19th century. When cocking was at its height,
the pupils of many schools were made a special allowance for purchasing
fighting-cocks, and parents were expected to contribute to the expenses
of the annual main on Shrove Tuesday, this money being called
"cockpence." Cock-fighting was prohibited by law in Great Britain in
1849.
Cocking was early introduced into America, though it was always frowned
upon in New England. Some of the older states, as Massachusetts, forbade
it by passing laws against cruelty as early as 1836, and it is now
expressly prohibited in Canada and in most states of the Union, or is
repressed by general laws for the prevention of cruelty to animals.
Cocks are fought at an age of from one to two years. "Heeling," or the
proper fastening of the spurs, and "cutting out," trimming the wings at
a slope, and cutting the tail down by one-third of its length and
shortening the hackle and rump feathers, are arts acquired by
experience. The comb is cut down close, so as to offer the least
possible mark for the hostile bird's bill. The cock is then provided
with either "short heels," spurs 1-1/2 in. or less in length, or with
"long heels," from 2 to 2-1/2 in. in length. The training of a cock for
the pit lasts from ten days to a month or more, during which time the
bird is subjected to a rigid diet and exercise in running and sparring.
The birds may not be touched after being set down in the pit, unless to
extricate them from the matting. Whenever a bird refuses to fight longer
he is set breast to breast with his adversary in the middle of the pit,
and if he then still refuses to fight he is regarded as defeated. Among
the favourite breeds may be mentioned the "Irish gilders," "Irish
Grays," "Shawlnecks," "Gordons," "Eslin Red-Quills," "Baltimore
Topknots," "Dominiques," "War-horses" and "Claibornes."
Cock-fighting possesses an extensive literature of its own. See
Gervase Markham, _Pleasures of Princes_ (London, 1614); Blain, _Rural
Sports_ (London, 1853); "Game Cocks and Cock-Fighting," _Outing_, vol.
39; "A Modest Commendation of Cock-Fighting," _Blackwood's Magazine_,
vol. 22; "Cock-Fighting in Schools," _Chambers' Magazine_, vol. 65.
COCK LANE GHOST, a supposed apparition, the vagaries of which attracted
extraordinary public attention in London during 1762. At a house in Cock
Lane, Smithfield, tenanted by one Parsons, knockings and other noises
were said to occur at night varied by the appearance of a luminous
figure, alleged to be the ghost of a Mrs Kent who had died in the house
some two years before. A thorough investigation revealed that Parsons'
daughter, a child of eleven, was the source of the disturbance. The
object of the Parsons family seems to have been to accuse the husband of
the deceased woman of murdering her, with a view to blackmail. Parsons
was prosecuted and condemned to the pillory. Among the crowds who
visited the house was Dr Johnson, who was in consequence made the
object of a scurrilous attack by the poet Charles Churchill in "The
Ghost."
See A. Lang, _Cock Lane and Common Sense_ (1894).
COCKLE, SIR JAMES (1819-1895), English lawyer and mathematician, was
born on the 14th of January 1819. He was the second son of James Cockle,
a surgeon, of Great Oakley, Essex. Educated at Charterhouse and Trinity
College, Cambridge, he entered the Middle Temple in 1838, practising as
a special pleader in 1845 and being called in 1846. Joining the midland
circuit, he acquired a good practice, and on the recommendation of Chief
Justice Sir William Erle he was appointed chief justice of Queensland in
1863. He received the honour of knighthood in 1869, retired from the
bench, and returned to England in 1879.
Cockle is more remembered for his mathematical and scientific
investigations than as a lawyer. Like many young mathematicians he
attacked the problem of resolving the higher algebraic equations,
notwithstanding Abel's proof that a solution by radicles was impossible.
In this field Cockle achieved some notable results, amongst which is his
reproduction of Sir William R. Hamilton's modification of Abel's
theorem. Algebraic forms were a favourite object of his studies, and he
discovered and developed the theory of criticoids, or differential
invariants; he also made contributions to the theory of differential
equations. He displayed a keen interest in scientific societies. From
1863 to 1879 he was president of the Queensland Philosophical Society
(now incorporated in the Royal Society of Queensland); on his return to
England he became associated with the London Mathematical Society, of
which he was president from 1886 to 1888, and the Royal Astronomical
Society, serving as a member of the council from 1888 to 1892. He died
in London on the 27th of January 1895.
A volume containing his scientific and mathematical researches made
during the years 1864-1877 was presented to the British Museum in 1897
by his widow. See the obituary notice by the Rev. R. Harley in _Proc.
Roy. Soc._ vol. 59.
COCKLE, in zoology, a mollusc (_Cardium_) of the class Lamellibranchia
(q.v.). A very large number of species of _Cardium_ have been
distinguished by conchologists. Besides the common species _Cardium
edule_, two others occur in Britain, but are not sufficiently common to
be of commercial importance. One of these is _C. echinatum_, which is
larger than the common species, reaching 3 in. in diameter, and
distinguished by the presence of spines along the ribs of the shell. The
other is _C. norvegicum_, which is also somewhat larger than _C. edule_,
is longer dorso-ventrally than broad, and is only faintly ribbed.
The two valves of the shell of the common cockle are similar to each
other, and somewhat circular in outline. The beak or umbo of each valve
is prominent and rounded, and a number of sharp ridges and furrows
radiate from the apex to the free edge of the shell, which is crenated.
The ligament is external, and the hinge carries cardinal teeth in each
valve. The interior of the shell is remarkable for the absence of pearly
lustre on its interior surface. The colour externally is reddish or
yellowish. The pallial line, which is the line of attachment of the
mantle parallel to the edge of the shell, is not indented by a sinus at
the posterior end. In the entire animal the posterior end projects
slightly more than the anterior from the region of the umbones.
The animal possesses two nearly equal adductor muscles. The edges of the
mantle are united posteriorly except at the anal and branchial
apertures, which are placed at the ends of two very short siphons or
tubular prolongations of the mantle; the siphons bear a number of short
tentacles, and many of these are furnished with eye-spots. The foot is
very large and powerful; it can be protruded from the anterior aperture
between the mantle edges, and its outer part is bent sharply forwards
and terminates in a point. By means of this muscular foot the cockle
burrows rapidly in the muddy sand of the sea-shore, and it can also when
it is not buried perform considerable leaps by suddenly bending the
foot. The foot has a byssus gland on its posterior surface.
On either side of the body between the mantle and the foot are two flat
gills each composed of two lamellae. _Cardium_ belongs to the order of
Lamellibranchia in which the gills present the maximum of complexity,
the original vertical filaments of which they are composed being united
by interfilamentar and interlamellar junctions. In other respects the
anatomy of the cockle presents no important differences from that of a
typical Lamellibranch. The sexes are distinct, and the generative
opening is on the side of the body above the edge of the inner lamella
of the inner gill. The eggs are minute, and pass out into the sea-water
through the dorsal or exhalent siphon. The breeding season is April, May
and June. The larva for a time swims freely in the sea-water, having a
circlet of cilia round the body in front of the mouth, forming the
velum. The shell is developed on the dorsal surface behind the velum,
the foot on the opposite or ventral surface behind the mouth. After a
few days, when the mantle bearing the shell valves has developed so much
as to enclose the whole body, the young cockle sinks to the bottom and
commences to follow the habits of the adult. The usual size of the
cockle in its shell is from 1 to 2 in. in breadth.
The common cockle is regularly used as food by the poorer classes. It
occurs in abundance on sandy shores in all estuaries. At the mouth of
the Thames the gathering of cockles forms a considerable industry,
especially at Leigh. On the coast of Lancashire also the fishery, if it
may be so called, is of considerable importance. The cockles are
gathered by the simple process of raking them from the sand, and they
are usually boiled and extracted from their shells before being sent to
market. The cockle is liable to the same suspicion as the oyster of
conveying the contamination of typhoid fever where the shores are
polluted, but as it is boiled before being eaten it is probably less
dangerous. (J. T. C.)
COCKNEY, a colloquial name applied to Londoners generally, but more
properly confined to those born in London, or more strictly still to
those born within the sound of the bells of St Mary-le-Bow church. The
origin of the word has been the subject of many guesses, from that in
John Minsheu's lexicon, _Ductor in linguas_ (1617), which gives the tale
of the town-bred child who, on hearing a horse neigh, asked whether a
"cock neighed" too, to the confusion of the word with the name of the
Utopia, the land of Cockaigne (q.v.). The historical examination of the
various uses of "Cockney," by Sir James Murray (see _Academy_, 10th of
May 1890, and the _New English Dictionary_, s.v.) clearly shows the true
derivation. The earliest form of the word is _cokenay_ or _cokeney_,
i.e. the _ey_ or egg, and _coken_, genitive plural of "cock," "cocks'
eggs" being the name given to the small and malformed eggs sometimes
laid by young hens, known in German as _Hahneneier_. An early quotation,
in Langland's _Piers Plowman_, A. vii. 272, gives the combination of
"cokeneyes" and bacon to make a "collop," or dish of eggs and bacon. The
word then applied to a child overlong nursed by its mother, hence to a
simpleton or milksop. Thus in Chaucer, _Reeve's Tale_, the word is used
with _daf_, i.e. a fool. The particular application of the name as a
term of contempt given by country folk to town-bred people, with their
dandified airs and ignorance of country ways and country objects, is
easy. Thus Robert Whittington or Whitinton (_fl._ 1520), speaks of the
"cokneys" in such "great cytees as London, York, Perusy" (Perugia),
showing the general use of the word. It was not till the beginning of
the 17th century that "cockney" appears to be confined to the
inhabitants of London.
The so-called "Cockney" accent or pronunciation has varied in type. In
the first part of the 19th century, it was chiefly characterized by the
substitution of a _v_ for a _w_, or vice versa. This has almost entirely
disappeared, and the chief consonantal variation which exists is perhaps
the change of _th_ to _f_ or _v_, as in "fing" for thing, or "favver"
for father. This and the vowel-sound change from _ou_ to _ah_, as in
"abaht" for "about," are only heard among the uneducated classes, and,
together with other characteristic pronunciations, phrases and words,
have been well illustrated in the so-called "coster" songs of Albert
Chevalier. The most marked and widely-prevalent change of vowel sound is
that of _ei_ for _ai_, so that "daily" becomes "dyly" and "may" becomes
"my." This is sometimes so marked that it almost amounts to incapacity
to distinguish the vowels _a_ and _i_, and is almost universal in large
classes of the population of London. The name of the "Cockney School of
Poetry" was applied in 1817 to the literary circle of which Leigh Hunt
was the principal representative, though Keats also was aimed at. The
articles in _Blackwood's Magazine_, in which the name appeared, have
generally, but probably wrongly, been attributed to John Gibson
Lockhart.
COCK-OF-THE-ROCK, the familiar name of the birds of the genus Rupicola
(subfamily Rupicolinae) of the Cotingas (allied to the Manakins, q.v.),
found in the Amazon valley. They are about the size of a pigeon, with
orange-coloured plumage, a pronounced crest, and orange-red flesh, and
build their nests on rock. The skins and feathers are highly valued for
decoration.
COCKPIT, the term originally for an enclosed place in which the sport of
cock-fighting (q.v.) was carried on. On the site of an old cockpit
opposite Whitehall in London was a block of buildings used from the 17th
century as offices by the treasury and the privy council, for which the
old name survived till the early 19th century. The name was given also
to a theatre in London, built in the early part of the 17th century on
the site of Drury Lane theatre. As the place where the wounded in battle
were tended, or where the junior officers consorted, the term was also
formerly applied to a cabin used for these purposes on the lower deck of
a man-of-war.
COCKROACH[1] (_Blattidae_), a family of orthopterous insects,
distinguished by their flattened bodies, long thread-like antennae, and
shining leathery integuments. Cockroaches are nocturnal creatures,
secreting themselves in chinks and crevices about houses, issuing from
their retreats when the lights are extinguished, and moving about with
extraordinary rapidity in search of food. They are voracious and
omnivorous, devouring, or at least damaging, whatever comes in their
way, for all the species emit a disagreeable odour, which they
communicate to whatever article of food or clothing they may touch.
The common cockroach (_Stilopyga orientalis_) is not indigenous to
Europe, but is believed to have been introduced from the Levant in the
cargoes of trading vessels. The wings in the male are shorter than the
body; in the female they are rudimentary. The eggs, which are 16 in
number, are deposited in a leathery capsule fixed by a gum-like
substance to the abdomen of the female, and thus carried about till the
young are ready to escape, when the capsule becomes softened by the
emission of a fluid substance. The larvae are perfectly white at first
and wingless, although in other respects not unlike their parents, but
they are not mature insects until after the sixth casting of the skin.
The American cockroach (_Periplaneta americana_) is larger than the
former, and is not uncommon in European seaports trading with America,
being conveyed in cargoes of grain and other food produce. It is very
abundant in the Zoological Gardens in London, where it occurs in
conjunction with a much smaller imported species _Phyllodromia
germanica_, which may also be seen in some of the cheaper restaurants.
In both of these species the females, as well as the males, are winged.
In addition to these noxious and obtrusive forms, England has a few
indigenous species belonging to the genus _Ectobia_, which live under
stones or fallen trees in fields and woods. The largest known species is
the drummer of the West Indies (_Blabera gigantea_), so called from the
tapping noise it makes on wood, sufficient, when joined in by several
individuals, as usually happens, to break the slumbers of a household.
It is about 2 in. long, with wings 3 in. in expanse, and forms one of
the most noisome and injurious of insect pests. Wingless females of many
tropical species present a close superficial resemblance to woodlice;
and one interesting apterous form known as _Pseudoglomeris_, from the
East Indies, is able to roll up like a millipede.
The best mode of destroying cockroaches is, when the fire and lights
are extinguished at night, to lay some treacle on a piece of wood afloat
on a broad basin of water. This proves a temptation to the vermin too
great to be resisted. The chinks and holes from which they issue should
also be filled up with unslaked lime, or painted with a mixture of borax
and heated turpentine.
See generally Miall and Denny, _The Structure and Life History of the
Cockroach_ (1887); G. H. Carpenter, _Insects: their Structure and
Life_ (1899); Charles Lester Marlatt, _Household Insects_ (U.S.
Department of Agriculture, revised edition, 1902); Leland Ossian
Howard, _The Insect Book_ (1902).