coho or silver salmon Species ( Oncorhynchus kisutch ) of salmon prized for food and sport that ranges from the Bering Sea to Japan and the Salinas River of Monterey Bay, Cal. It weighs about 10 lbs (4.5 kg) and is recognized by the small spots on the back and upper tail-fin lobe. Young cohos stay in freshwater for about one year before entering North Pacific waters; they mature in about three years. Some landlocked popu¬ lations spend their entire lives in freshwater. Cohos were successfully transplanted in the 1970s into Lake Michigan as a game fish.
coin collecting Systematic accumulation and study of coins, tokens, paper money, and objects of similar form and purpose. The long-held view that coin collecting began with the Italian Renaissance has been chal¬ lenged by growing evidence that the activity is far more venerable. There exist a variety of literary accounts of collecting from ancient Greek and Roman sources, and there is tangible archaeological evidence that coins have been collected at least from the Roman era. Collecting was perhaps less important during the Middle Ages, but during the 15th-16th centuries it again became more popular, mostly among European aristocrats. In the 17th century the nature of collecting shifted slowly toward serious research. As a result, very broad collections were formed, studied, and catalogued. In the 20th century museums took over the main task of form¬ ing large collections of great detail and range. It was also during this time that a popular market for coins began to develop. Previously only the very wealthy purchased ancient coins and the number of sources were few. London became the world’s largest numismatic market, serving the inter¬ ests of public collections and private collectors in many lands. The Inter¬ net became an important aspect of coin collecting in the late 1990s, both because it afforded a virtual marketplace that permitted buyers and sellers from anywhere in the world to trade in coins and for the educational effect of the many Web sites devoted to the hobby. See also philately.
coinage Certification of a piece of metal or other material (such as leather or porcelain) by a mark or marks upon it as being of a specific intrinsic or exchange value. Croesus (r. c. 560-546 bc) is generally cred¬ ited with issuing the first official government coinage of certified purity and weight. Counterfeiting was widespread in the Middle Ages. In the late 15th century, equipment capable of providing coins of reliable weight and size was developed in Italy. The Industrial Revolution saw further refinements in coinage techniques. Most of the basic motifs of modern coinage were introduced in antiquity. In the Greek world, relief imprint¬ ing gradually replaced the roughly impressed reverse punch of the Lydi¬ ans. Alexander the Great introduced the coin-portrait; these initially depicted gods or heroes and later living monarchs. Until the end of the 19th century, Chinese coins were cast much like those of the early Greeks; the square-holed Chinese bronze coins were issued in essentially the same size and shape for almost 2,500 years.
coitus See sexual intercourse
coke Solid residue remaining after certain types of coals are heated to a high temperature out of contact with air until substantially all components that easily vaporize have been driven off. The residue is chiefly carbon, with minor amounts of hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen. Also present in coke is the mineral matter in the original coal, chemically altered and decomposed. The gradual exhaustion of timber in England
George M. Cohan.
PICTORIAL PARADE
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
430 I Coke ► Cole
had led first to prohibitions on cutting of wood for charcoal and eventu¬ ally to the introduction of coke. Thereafter the iron industry expanded rapidly and Britain became the world’s greatest iron producer (see Abra¬ ham Darby). The crucible process (1740) resulted in the first reliable steel made by a melting process. Oven coke (about 1.5-4 in., or 40-100 mm, in size) is used in blast furnaces to make iron. Smaller quantities of coke are used in other metallurgical processes (see metallurgy), such as the manufacture of certain alloys. Large, strong coke, known as foundry coke, is used in smelting. Smaller sizes of coke (0.6-1.2 in., or 15-30 mm) are used to heat buildings.
Coke \kuk\, Sir Edward (b. Feb. 1, 1552, Mileham, Norfolk, Eng.—d. Sept. 3, 1634, Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire) British jurist and politi¬ cian. He became a lawyer in 1578 and was made solicitor general in 1592. His advance to the position of attorney general (1594) frustrated his great rival, Francis Bacon. As attorney general, he conducted several famous treason trials, prosecuting Robert Devereux, 2nd earl of Essex, and Henry Wriothesley, 3rd earl of Southampton (1600-01); Sir Walter Raleigh (1603); and the Gunpowder Plot conspirators (1605). Named chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas in 1606, Coke earned the ire of James I by declaring that the king’s proclamation could not change the law (1610). He upset church leaders by limiting the jurisdiction of ecclesiastical courts. Appointed chief justice of the King’s Bench by James I (1613), he remained unswayed; he hinted at scandal in high places and defied a royal injunction in a case involving ecclesiastical privileges. He was dis¬ missed in 1616, partly through Bacon’s efforts. In 1620 he reentered Par¬ liament (he had served in 1589), where he denounced interference with Parliament’s liberties (1621) until he was imprisoned. In 1628 he helped frame the Petition of Right, a charter of liberties; this defense of the supremacy of the common law over royal prerogative had a profound influence on the English law and constitution. On his death his papers were seized by Charles I. His Reports (1600-15), taken together, are a monumental compendium of English common law, and his Institutes of the Lowes of England (4 vol., 1628-44) is an important treatise.
Cola di Rienzo Vk6-la-de-'ryent-so\ orig. Nicola di Lorenzo (b.
1313, Rome—d. Oct. 8, 1354, Rome) Italian revolutionary leader. The son of a tavern keeper, he became a minor Roman official. He plotted a revolution to restore the glory of ancient Rome, declared himself tribune in 1347, and began to rule Rome as a dictator. Cola made judicial and political reforms and prepared for the election of a Roman emperor of Italy. The nobles rose against him, however, and the pope declared him a heretic. He fled to the mountains, then traveled to Prague to ask Charles IV for help. He was arrested (1352) but was absolved of heresy by the Inquisition. Given the title of senator, he was sent back to Rome in 1354 to help restore papal authority there. He ruled arbitrarily and was soon killed by a mob. A novel of his life by Edward Bulwer-Lytton was made into an opera by Richard Wagner.
Cola dynasty or Chola dynasty South Indian Tamil rulers of unknown antiquity (before c. ad 200). The dynasty originated in the rich Cauvery (Kaveri) River valley, and Uraiyur (Tiruchchirappalli) was its oldest capital. The Cola country stretched from the Vaigai River in the south to Tondaimandalam in the north. Under Rajendracola Deva I (r. 1014-44), the conquest of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) was completed, the Dec- can was conquered (c. 1021), and an expedition was sent as far north as the Ganges (Ganga) River (1023). His successor battled the Calukya dynasty in the Deccan. The Pandyas conquered the Cola country in 1257, and the dynasty ended in 1279. Revenue administration, village self- government, and irrigation were highly organized under the Colas.
cola nut See kola nut
Colbert \kol-'borV Claudette orig. Lily Claudette Chauchoin (b.
Sept. 13, 1903, Paris, France—d. July 30, 1996, Cobblers Cove, Barb.) French-born U.S. actress. She made her Broadway debut in 1923 and her film debut in Frank Capra’s For the Love of Mike (1927). After winning stardom with It Happened One Night (1934, Academy Award), she played the sophisticated heroine of several other comedies, including Midnight (1939) and The Palm Beach Story (1942), and played dramatic roles in Imitation of Life (1934) and Since You Went Away (1944). She made more than 60 films and later appeared occasionally on Broadway and in tele¬ vision dramas.