Copernicus, Nicholas
ko-per'ni-kus, Nicholas, (1473-1543), a celebrated astronomer. A native of Thorn, Poland. Of German ancestry. He studied at Cracow, Bologna, and Padua. Copernicus was a professor of mathematics at Rome, 1501, and later he became canon of a cathedral under his bishop uncle, his mother's brother. Taking the hints given by Pythagoras, Copernicus spent several years in studying the apparent motions of the heavenly bodies, and wrote a treatise, first published at Nuremberg in 1543 giving proof that the earth and planets move around the sun as a center. In deference to the Church of Rome, then committed to the opposite theory, Copernicus dedicated his book to the pope and put forth his theory as a mild suggestion with such proofs as had occurred to him. The central statement of the work is this: "The earth is not the center of the universe. It is only a satellite of the sun." It is needless to say that the " Copernican System " was rejected promptly by the authorities of the day. It is said, on what authority we do not know, that Copernicus received the first copy of his book fresh from Nuremberg the day he died. A crater, 56 miles in width, of an extinct volcano in the moon has been named Copernicus in honor of the great astronomer. See Kepler ; Galileo
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Cophetua
ko-fet'u-a, King, in old English ballad, an African king. He disdains all womankind, but Cupid appears. "He drew a dart and shot at him." Cophetua then falls in love with a beggar maid, named Penelophon. He weds her and they live a long and happy life together. Shakespeare alludes to Cophetua several times. In Romeo and Juliet occurs the line, "When King Cophetua loved the beggar maid." Tennyson in The Beggar Maid has given a pretty, modernized version of the story. Her arms across her breast she laid; She was more fair than words can say: Bare-footed came the beggar-maid Before the king Cophetua. In robe and gown the king stept down, To meet and greet her on her way; "It is no wonder," said the lords, "She is more beautiful than day." As shines the moon in clouded skies, She in her poor attire was seen: One praised her ankles, one her eyes, One her dark hair and lovesome mien. So sweet a face, such angel grace, In all that land had never been: Cophetua sware a royal oath: "This beggar maid shall be my queen!"
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Copley
JOHN SINGLETON, an American painter; born in Boston, Mass., July 3, 1737; removed to London, England, in 1776, and acquired a reputation / as a historical painter. He was elected a member of the Royal Academy in 1779. His most celebrated picture is "Death of Lord Chatham," now in the National Gallery. He died in London, Sept. 9, 1815. COPPÉE, FRANÇOIS (ko-pā), a French dramatist; born in Paris, Jan. 12, 1842. He was trained for what the Parisians call a ministerial career, but wrote "The Reliquary" and "Intimacies," In "Modern Poems," books of verse. "The Benediction," and "The Strike of the Smiths," we have a very modern note. He died May 23, 1908.
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Copper (Metal of a reddish color)
A metal of a reddish color, malleable, ductile and tenacious. It fuses at 2,000 deg. Fah. and has a specific gravity varying from 8.8 to 8.9. It has a breaking strain of 48,000 lbs. per square inch. In horology it is employed as a backing for enameled watch dials; in the construction of gridiron compensation pendulums; in the manufacture of compensation balances, etc. When mixed with tin it forms bell-metal and bronze and with zinc it forms brass and other alloys. See Alloys.
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Copper Nickel
or KUPFER- NICKEL, an ore of nickel, an alloy of nickel and arsenic, containing about 60 of the former and 40 of the latter, of a copper color, found in the mines of Westphalia.
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Copper Plate
a polished plate of copper on which the lines of some drawing or design are engraved or etched to be printed from; also a print or impression from such a plate.
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Copper Pyrites
or yellow copper ore, a double sulphide of copper and iron composed in equal parts of copper, sulphur, and iron. It occurs mostly in primary and metamorphic rocks, cks, and is the chief copper ore of England.
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Copper River
also called Atna, a river of Alaska, having its source in the Copper Glacier on Mt. Wrangel and flowing in the Gulf of Alaska. The upper river flows first N. then W. through a wide plain, and the lower through defiles in the Chugach Mountains. It is about 300 miles long; its basin is about 23,000 square miles in area, and its fall is about 3,600. The name of the river was derived from the belief that it held copper in solution. It has several tributaries, the chief being the Chitna, which flows into it from the E.
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Coppermine River
a river of Mackenzie district, Canada, 475 miles long, having its source in a small lake north of Lake Gras through which it flows to Coronation Gulf in the Arctic Ocean. The stream, flowing between hills and morasses, is too rapid to be navigable. Hearne discovered the river in 1771, and part of it was explored by Franklin in 1821.
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Coppice
or COPSE WOOD, a wood in which the trees are cut over periodically as they attain a certain size. The period for cutting varies with the soil and the tree. The oak usually requires from 15 to 25 years' growth, while the willow is cut regularly every year. The term is also used in a general sense for a wood of small growth, or consisting of underwood and brushwood.
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Coquelin
ERNEST ALEXANDRE HONORE, a French actor; brother of Benoît; born in Boulogne, May 16, 1848. He has played important parts on the stage of the Théâtre Français. He has written monologues, including "The Horse," "The Art of Monologue" (with the elder Coquelin), etc. He died Feb. 8, 1909.
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Coquelin
BENOÎT CONSTANT, a French actor; born in Boulogne, Jan. 23, 1841; was admitted to the Conservatoire in 1859; and having gained the second dy, made his début at the , prize for comedy Comédie Française, Dec. 7, 1860, at Gros- René in the "Amorous Vexation." For over twenty-two years he played with unbroken success at the Théâtre Français, both in classical pieces and in rôles created by himself; in the broader aspects of comedy, standing without a rival. He left the Théâtre Français in 1886, and appeared in 1887 in London, in 1888 in South America and the United States. He wrote (with Coquelin the younger) "The Art of Monologue." He died Jan. 26, 1909.
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