Part 40

The above series of salts show striking differences in their behaviour towards reagents; thus, aqueous solutions of the luteo chlorides are strongly ionized, as is shown by their high electric conductivity; and all their chlorine is precipitated on the addition of silver nitrate solution. The aqueous solution, however, does not show the ordinary reactions of cobalt or of ammonia, and so it is to be presumed that the salt ionizes into [Co(NH3)6] and 3Cl'. The purpureo chloride has only two-thirds of its chlorine precipitated on the addition of silver nitrate, and the electric conductivity is much less than that of the luteo chloride; again in the praseo-salts only one-third of the chlorine is precipitated by silver nitrate, the conductivity again falling; while in the triammine salts all ionization has disappeared. For the constitution of these salts and of the "metal ammonia" compounds generally, see A. Werner, _Zeit. für anorg. Chemie_, 1893 et seq., and _Berichte_, 1895, et seq.; and S. Jörgensen, _Zeit. für anorg. Chemie_, 1892 et seq.

The _oxycobaltammines_ are a series of compounds of the general type [Co2O3·H2(NH3)10]X4 first observed by L. Gmelin, and subsequently examined by E. Frémy, W. Gibbs and G. Vortmann (_Monatshefte für Chemie_, 1885, 6, p. 404). They result from the cobaltammines by the direct taking up of oxygen and water. On heating, they decompose, forming basic tetrammine salts.

The atomic weight of cobalt has been frequently determined, the earlier results not being very concordant (see R. Schneider, _Pog. Ann._, 1857, 101, p. 387; C. Marignac, _Arch. Phys. Nat._ [2], 1, p. 373; W. Gibbs, _Amer. Jour. Sci._ [2], 25, p. 483; J. B. Dumas, _Ann. Chim. Phys._, 1859 [3], 55, p. 129; W. J. Russell, _Jour. Chem. Soc._, 1863, 16, p. 51). C. Winkler, by the analysis of the chloride, and by the action of iodine on the metal, obtained the values 59.37 and 59.07, whilst W. Hempel and H. Thiele (_Zeit. f. anorg. Chem_., 1896, II, p. 73), by reducing cobalto-cobaltic oxide, and by the analysis of the chloride, have obtained the values 58.56 and 58.48. G. P. Baxter and others deduced the value 58.995 (O = 16).

Cobalt salts may be readily detected by the formation of the black sulphide, in alkaline solution, and by the blue colour they produce when fused with borax. For the quantitative determination of cobalt, it is either weighed as the oxide, Co3O4, obtained by ignition of the precipitated monoxide, or it is reduced in a current of hydrogen and weighed as metal. For the quantitative separation of cobalt and nickel, see E. Hintz (_Zeit. f. anal. Chem._, 1891, 30, p. 227), and also NICKEL.

COBALTITE, a mineral with the composition CoAsS, cobalt sulpharsenide. It is found as granular to compact masses, and frequently as beautifully developed crystals, which have the same symmetry as the isomorphous mineral pyrites, being cubic with parallel hemihedrism. The usual forms are the cube, octahedron and pentagonal dodecahedron {210}. The colour is silver-white with a reddish tinge, and the lustre brilliant and metallic, hence the old name cobalt-glance; the streak is greyish-black. The mineral is brittle, and possesses distinct cleavages parallel to the faces of the cube; hardness 5½; specific gravity 6.2. The brilliant crystals from Tunaberg in Sodermanland and Håkansboda in Vestmanland, Sweden, and from Skutterud near Drammen in Norway are well known in mineral collections. The cobalt ores at these localities occur with pyrites and chalcopyrite as bands in gneiss. Crystals have also been found at Khetri in Rajputana, and under the name _sehta_ the mineral is used by Indian jewellers for producing a blue enamel on gold and silver ornaments. Massive cobaltite has been found in small amount in the Botallack mine, Cornwall. A variety containing much iron replacing cobalt, and known as ferrocobaltite (Ger. _Stahlkobalt_), occurs at Siegen in Westphalia. (L. J. S.)

COBÁN, or SANTO DOMINGO DE COBÁN, the capital of the department of Alta Vera Paz in central Guatemala; about 90 m. N. of the city of Guatemala, on the Cojabón, a left-hand tributary of the Polochic. Pop. (1905) about 31,000. The town is built in a mountainous and fertile district, and consists chiefly of adobe Indian cottages, surrounded by gardens of flowering shrubs. More modern houses have been erected for the foreign residents, among whom the Germans are numerically predominant. In the chief square of the town stands a 16th-century Dominican church, externally plain, but covered internally with curious Indian decorations. The municipal offices, formerly a college for priests, are remarkable for their handsome but disproportionately large gateway in Renaissance style. Despite the want of a railway, Cobán has a flourishing trade in coffee and cinchona; cocoa, vanilla and sugar-cane are also cultivated, and there are manufactures of rum, cotton fabrics, soap and cigars. The prosperity of the town is largely due to the industry of the Quecchi, Kacchi or Kakchi Indians who form the majority of the inhabitants.

Cobán was founded in the 16th century by Dominican monks under Fray Pedro de Angulo, whose portrait is preserved in the church. In honour of the emperor Charles V. (1500-1558), Cobán received the name of _Ciudad Imperial_ (which soon became obsolete), together with a coat of arms and other privileges belonging to a Spanish city of the first class.

COBAR, a mining town of Robinson county, New South Wales, Australia, 459 m. N.W. by W. of Sydney by rail. Pop. (1901) 3371. The district of which Cobar is the centre abounds in minerals of all kinds, but copper and gold are those most extensively worked. The Great Cobar copper-mine is the most important in the state, and there are a number of successful gold-mines. In addition to the mining, the district produces large quantities of wool. Cobar is a municipality, as also is the adjacent township of Gladstone, with a mining population.

COBB, HOWELL (1815-1868), American political leader, was born at Cherry Hill, Jefferson county, Georgia, on the 7th of September 1815. He graduated from Franklin College (University of Georgia) in 1834, and two years later was admitted to the bar. From 1837 to 1840 he was solicitor-general for the western circuit of his state; from 1843 to 1851 and from 1855 to 1857 he was a member of the National House of Representatives, becoming Democratic leader in that body in 1847, and serving as speaker in 1849-1851; from 1851 to 1853 he was governor of his state; and from March 1857 to December 1860 he was secretary of the treasury in President Buchanan's cabinet. He was president of the convention of the seceded states which drafted a constitution for the Confederacy. In 1861 he was appointed colonel of a regiment and two years later was made a major-general. He died in New York on the 9th of October 1868. He sided with President Jackson on the question of nullification; was an efficient supporter of President Polk's administration during the Mexican War; and was an ardent advocate of slavery extension into the Territories, but when the Compromise of 1850 had been agreed upon he became its staunch supporter as a Union Democrat, and on that issue was elected governor of Georgia by a large majority. In 1860, however, he ceased to be a Unionist, and became a leader of the secession movement. From the close of the war until his death he vigorously opposed the Reconstruction Acts.

COBBETT, WILLIAM (1766-1835), English politician and writer, was born near Farnham in Surrey, according to his own statement, on the 9th of March 1766. He was the grandson of a farm-labourer, and the son of a small farmer; and during his early life he worked on his father's farm. At the age of sixteen, inspired with patriotic feeling by the sight of the men-of-war in Portsmouth harbour, he thought of becoming a sailor; and in May 1783, having, while on his way to Guildford fair, met the London coach, he suddenly resolved to accompany it to its destination. He arrived at Ludgate Hill with exactly half-a-crown in his pocket, but an old gentleman who had travelled with him invited him to his house, and obtained for him the situation of copying clerk in an attorney's office. He greatly disliked his new occupation; and rejecting all his father's entreaties that he would return home, he went down to Chatham early in 1784 with the intention of joining the marines. By some mistake, however, he was enlisted in a regiment of the line, which rather more than a year after proceeded to St John's, New Brunswick. All his leisure time during the months he remained at Chatham was devoted to reading the contents of the circulating library of the town, and getting up by heart Lowth's _English Grammar_. His uniform good conduct, and the power of writing correctly which he had acquired, quickly raised him to the rank of corporal, from which, without passing through the intermediate grade of sergeant, he was promoted to that of sergeant-major. In November 1791 he was discharged at his own request, and received the official thanks of the major and the general who signed his discharge. In February 1792 Cobbett married the daughter of a sergeant-major of artillery, whom he had met some years before in New Brunswick. But his liberty was threatened in consequence of his bringing a charge of peculation against certain officers in his old regiment, and he went over to France in March, where he studied the language and literature. In his absence, the inquiry into his charges ended in an acquittal.

In September he crossed to the United States, and supported himself at Wilmington, Delaware, by teaching English to French emigrants. Among these was Talleyrand, who employed him, according to Cobbett's story, not because he was ignorant of English, but because he wished to purchase his pen. Cobbett made his first literary sensation by his _Observations on the Emigration of a Martyr to the Cause of Liberty_, a clever retort on Dr Priestley, who had just landed in America complaining of the treatment he had received in England. This pamphlet was followed by a number of papers, signed "Peter Porcupine," and entitled _Prospect from the Congress Gallery_, the _Political Censor_ and the _Porcupine's Gazette_. In the spring of 1796, having quarrelled with his publisher, he set up in Philadelphia as bookseller and publisher of his own works. On the day of opening, his windows were filled with prints of the most extravagant of the French Revolutionists and of the founders of the American Republic placed side by side, along with portraits of George III., the British ministers, and any one else he could find likely to be obnoxious to the people; and he continued to pour forth praises of Great Britain and scorn of the institutions of the United States, with special abuse of the French party. Abuse and threats were of course in turn showered upon him, and in August 1797, for one of his attacks on Spain, he was prosecuted, though unsuccessfully, by the Spanish ambassador. Immediately on this he was taken up for libels upon American statesmen, and bound in recognizances to the amount of $4000, and shortly after he was prosecuted a third time for saying that Dr Benjamin Rush, who was much addicted to blood-letting, killed nearly all the patients he attended. The trial was repeatedly deferred, and was not settled till the end of 1799, when he was fined $5000. After this last misfortune, for a few months Cobbett carried on a newspaper called the _Rushlight_; but in June 1800 he set sail for England.

At home he found himself regarded as the champion of order and monarchy. Windham invited him to dinner, introduced him to Pitt, and begged him to accept a share in the _True Briton_. He refused the offer and joined an old friend, John Morgan, in opening a book shop in Pall Mall. For some time he published the _Porcupine's Gazette_, which was followed in January 1802 by the _Weekly Political Register_. In 1801 appeared his _Letters to Lord Hawkesbury_ (afterwards earl of Liverpool) and his _Letters to the Rt. Hon. Henry Addington_, in opposition to the proposed peace of Amiens. On the conclusion of the peace (1802) Cobbett made a still bolder protest; he determined to take no part in the general illumination, and--assisted by the sympathy of his wife, who, being in delicate health, removed to the house of a friend--he carried out his resolve, allowing his windows to be smashed and his door broken open by the angry mob. The letters to Addington are among the most polished and dignified of Cobbett's writings; but by 1803 he was once more revelling in personalities. The government of Ireland was singled out for wholesale attack; and a letter published in the _Register_ remarked of Hardwicke, the lord-lieutenant, that the appointment was like setting the surgeon's apprentice to bleed the pauper patients. For this, though not a word had been uttered against Hardwicke's character, Cobbett was fined £500; and two days after the conclusion of this trial a second commenced, at the suit of Plunkett, the solicitor-general for Ireland, which resulted in a similar fine. About this time he began to write in support of Radical views; and to cultivate the friendship of Sir Francis Burdett, from whom he received considerable sums of money, and other favours, for which he gave no very grateful return. In 1809 he was once more in the most serious trouble. He had bitterly commented on the flogging of some militia, because their mutiny had been repressed and their sentence carried out by the aid of a body of German troops, and in consequence he was fined £1000 and imprisoned for two years. His indomitable vigour was never better displayed. He still continued to publish the _Register_, and to superintend the affairs of his farm; a hamper containing specimens of its produce and other provisions came to him every week; and he amused himself with the company of some of his children and with weekly letters from the rest. On his release a public dinner, presided over by Sir F. Burdett, was held in honour of the event. He returned to his farm at Botley in Hampshire, and continued in his old course, extending his influence by the publication of the _Twopenny Trash_, which, not being periodical, escaped the newspaper stamp tax. Meanwhile, however, he had contracted debts to the amount of £34,000 (for it is said that, notwithstanding the aversion he publicly expressed to paper currency, he had carried on his business by the aid of accommodation bills to a very large amount); and early in 1817 he fled to the United States. But his pen was as active as ever; from Long Island his MS. for the _Register_ was regularly sent to England; and it was here that he wrote his clear and interesting _English Grammar_, of which 10,000 copies were sold in a month.

His return to England was accompanied by his weakest exhibition--the exhuming and bringing over of the bones of Thomas Paine, whom he had once heartily abused, but on whom he now wrote a panegyrical ode. Nobody paid any attention to the affair; the relics he offered were not purchased; and the bones were reinterred.

Cobbett's great aim was now to obtain a seat in the House of Commons. He calmly suggested that his friends should assist him by raising the sum of £5000; it would be much better, he said, than a meeting of 50,000 persons. He first offered himself for Coventry, but failed; in 1826 he was by a large number of votes last of the candidates for Preston; and in 1828 he could find no one to propose him for the office of common councillor. In 1830, that year of revolutions, he was prosecuted for inciting to rebellion, but the jury disagreed, and soon after, through the influence of one of his admirers, Mr Fielden, who was himself a candidate for Oldham, he was returned for that town. In the House his speeches were listened to with amused attention. His position is sufficiently marked by the sneer of Peel that he would attend to Mr Cobbett's observations exactly as if they had been those of a "respectable member"; and the only striking part of his career was his absurd motion that the king should be prayed to remove Sir Robert Peel's name from the list of the privy council, because of the change he had proposed in the currency in 1819. In 1834 Cobbett was again member for Oldham, but his health now began to give way, and in June 1835 he left London for his farm, where he died on the 16th of that month.

Cobbett's account of his home-life makes him appear singularly happy; his love and admiration of his wife never failed; and his education of his children seems to have been distinguished by great kindliness, and by a good deal of healthy wisdom, mingled with the prejudices due to the peculiarities of his temper and circumstances. Cobbett's ruling characteristic was a sturdy egoism, which had in it something of the nobler element of self-respect. A firm will, a strong brain, feelings not over-sensitive, an intense love of fighting, a resolve to get on, in the sense of making himself a power in the world--these are the principal qualities which account for the success of his career. His opinions were the fruits of his emotions. It was enough for him to get a thorough grasp of one side of a question, about the other side he did not trouble himself; but he always firmly seizes the facts which make for his view, and expresses them with unfailing clearness. His argument, which is never subtle, has always the appearance of weight, however flimsy it may be in fact. His sarcasm is seldom polished or delicate, but usually rough, and often abusive, while coarse nicknames were his special delight. His style is admirably correct and always extremely forcible.

Cobbett's contributions to periodical literature occupy 100 volumes, twelve of which consist of the papers published at Philadelphia between 1794 and 1800, and the rest of the _Weekly Political Register_, which ended only with Cobbett's death (June 1835). An abridgment of these works, with notes, was published by his sons, John M. Cobbett and James P. Cobbett. Besides this he published _An Account of the Horrors of the French Revolution_, and a work tracing all these horrors to "the licentious politics and infidel philosophy of the present age" (both 1798); _A Year's Residence in the United States_; _Parliamentary History of England from the Norman Conquest to 1800_ (1806); _Cottage Economy_; _Roman History_; _French Grammar_ and _English Grammar_, both in the form of letters; _Geographical Dictionary of England and Wales_; _History of the Regency and Reign of George IV._, containing a defence of Queen Caroline, whose cause he warmly advocated (1830-1834); _Life of Andrew Jackson, President of the United States_ (1834); _Legacy to Labourers_; _Legacy to Peel_; _Legacy to Parsons_ (1835), an attack on the secular claims of the Established Church; _Doom of Tithes_; _Rural Rides_ (1830; new ed. 1885), an account of his tours on horse-back through England, full of admirable descriptive writing; _Advice to Young Men and Women_; _Cobbett's Corn_ (1828); and _History of the Protestant Reformation in England and Ireland_ (1824-1827), in which he defends the monasteries, Queen Mary and Bonner, and attacks the Reformation, Henry VIII., Elizabeth and all who helped to bring it about, with such vehemence that the work was translated into French and Italian, and extensively circulated among Roman Catholics.

In 1798 Cobbett published in America an account of his early life, under the title of _The Life and Adventures of Peter Porcupine_; and he left papers relating to his subsequent career. His life has been written by R. Huish (1835), E. Smith (1878), and E. I. Carlyle (1904). See also the annotated edition of the _Register_ (1835).

COBBOLD, THOMAS SPENCER (1828-1886), English man of science, was born at Ipswich in 1828, a son of the Rev. Richard Cobbold (1797-1877), the author of the _History of Margaret Catchpole_. After graduating in medicine at Edinburgh in 1851, he was appointed lecturer on botany at St Mary's hospital, London, in 1857, and also on zoology and comparative anatomy at Middlesex hospital in 1861. From 1868 he acted as Swiney lecturer on geology at the British Museum until 1873, when he became professor of botany at the Royal Veterinary College, afterwards filling a chair of helminthology which was specially created for him at that institution. He died in London on the 20th of March 1886. His special subject was helminthology, particularly the worms parasitic in man and animals, and as a physician he gained a considerable reputation in the diagnosis of cases depending on the presence of such organisms. His numerous writings include _Entozoa_ (1864); _Tapeworms_ (1866); _Parasites_ (1879); _Human Parasites_ (1882); and _Parasites of Meat and Prepared Flesh Food_ (1884).

COBDEN, RICHARD (1804-1865), English manufacturer and Radical politician, was born at a farmhouse called Dunford, near Midhurst, in Sussex, on the 3rd of June 1804. The family had been resident in that neighbourhood for many generations, occupied partly in trade and partly in agriculture. Formerly there had been in the town of Midhurst a small manufacture of hosiery with which the Cobdens were connected, though all trace of it had disappeared before the birth of Richard. His grandfather was a maltster in that town, an energetic and prosperous man, almost always the bailiff or chief magistrate, and taking rather a notable part in county matters. But his father, forsaking that trade, took to farming at an unpropitious time. He was amiable and kind-hearted, and greatly liked by his neighbours, but not a man of business habits, and he did not succeed in his farming enterprise. He died when his son Richard was a child, and the care of the family devolved upon the mother, who was a woman of strong sense and of great energy of character, and who, after her husband's death, left Dunford and returned to Midhurst.

The educational advantages of Richard Cobden were not very ample. There was a grammar school at Midhurst, which at one time had enjoyed considerable reputation, but which had fallen into decay. It was there that he had to pick up such rudiments of knowledge as formed his first equipment in life, but from his earliest years he was indefatigable in the work of self-cultivation. When fifteen or sixteen years of age he went to London to the warehouse of Messrs Partridge & Price, in Eastcheap, one of the partners being his uncle. His relative, noting the lad's passionate addiction to study, solemnly warned him against indulging such a taste, as likely to prove a fatal obstacle to his success in commercial life. But the admonition was unheeded, for while unweariedly diligent in business, he was in his intervals of leisure a most assiduous student. During his residence in London he found access to the London Institution, and made ample use of its large and well-selected library.