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Rh old, and contains a number of interesting buildings. The ducal palace, known as the Ehrenburg, is a magnificent building, originally erected on the site of a convent of bare-footed friars by Duke John Ernest in 1549, renovated in 1698, and restored in 1816 by Duke Ernest I. It contains a vast and richly decorated hall, the court church and a fine picture gallery. In the gardens are the mausoleum of Duke Francis (d. 1806) and his wife, a bronze equestrian statue of Duke Ernest II. and a fountain in commemoration of Duke Alfred (duke of Edinburgh). In the market square are the medieval Rathaus, the government buildings, and a statue of Prince Albert (consort of Queen Victoria), by William Theed the younger (1804–1891). In the Schloss-platz are the Edinburgh Palace (Palais Edinburg), built in 1881, the theatre and an equestrian statue of Duke Ernest I. Among the churches the most remarkable is the Moritzkirche, with a lofty tower. The educational establishments include a gymnasium, founded in 1604 by Duke John Casimir (d. 1633) and thus known as the Casimirianum, a commercial, an agricultural and other schools. The Zeughaus (armoury) contains the ducal library of 100,000 volumes, and among other public buildings may be mentioned the Augustenstift, formerly the seat of the ministerial offices, and the Marstall (royal mews). On a commanding eminence above the town is the ancient castle of Coburg, dating from the 11th century (see below). In 1781 it was turned into a penitentiary and lunatic asylum, but in 1835–1838 was completely restored, and now contains a natural history museum. The most interesting room in this building is that which was occupied by Luther in 1530, where the surroundings may have inspired, though (as is now proved) he did not compose, the famous hymn, Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott; the bed on which he slept, and the pulpit from which he preached in the old chapel are shown. Coburg is a place of considerable industry, the chief branches of the latter being brewing, manufactures of machinery, colours and porcelain, iron-founding and saw-milling; and there is an important trade in the cattle reared in the neighbourhood. Among various places of interest in the vicinity are the ducal residences of Callenberg and Rosenau, in the latter of which Albert, Prince Consort, was born in 1819; the castle of Lauterburg; and the village of Neuses, with the house of the poet J. M. F. Rückert, who died here in 1866, and on the other side of the river the tomb of the poet Moritz August von Thümmel (1738–1817).

The town of Coburg, first mentioned in a record of 1207, owed its existence and its name to the castle, and in the 15th and 16th centuries was of considerable importance as a halting-place on the great trade route from Nuremberg via Bamberg to the North. In 1245 the castle became the seat of the elder branch of the counts of Henneberg (Coburg-Schmalkalden). The countships of Coburg and Schmalkalden passed by the marriage of Jutta, daughter of Hermann I. (d. 1290), to Otto V. of Brandenburg, whose grandson John, however, sold them to Henry VIII. of Henneberg, his brother-in-law. Henry’s daughter Catherine (d. 1397) married Frederick III. of Meissen, and so brought the castle, town and countship into the possession of the Saxon house of Wettin. In 1549 Duke John Ernest of Saxony made Coburg his residence and turned the old castle into a fortress strong enough to stand a three years’ siege (1632–1635) during the Thirty Years’ War. In 1641 Coburg fell to the dukes of Saxe-Altenburg. In 1835 it became the residence of the dukes of Saxe-Coburg. For the princes of the house of Coburg see and.

COCA, or (Erythroxylon coca), a plant of the natural order Erythroxylaceae, the leaves of which are used as a stimulant in the western countries of South America. It resembles a blackthorn bush, and grows to a height of 6 or 8 ft. The branches are straight, and the leaves, which have a lively green tint, are thin, opaque, oval, more or less tapering at the extremities. A marked characteristic of the leaf is an areolated portion bounded by two longitudinal curved lines one on each side of the midrib, and more conspicuous on the under face of the leaf. Good samples of the dried leaves are uncurled, are of a deep green on the upper, and a grey-green on the lower surface, and have a strong tea-like odour; when chewed they produce a sense of warmth in the mouth, and have a pleasant, pungent taste. Bad specimens have a camphoraceous smell and a brownish colour, and lack the pungent taste. The flowers are small, and disposed in little clusters on short stalks; the corolla is composed of five yellowish-white petals, the anthers are heart-shaped, and the pistil consists of three carpels united to form a three-chambered ovary. The flowers are succeeded by red berries. The seeds are sown in December and January in small plots (almacigas) sheltered from the sun, and the young plants when from 1½ to 2 ft. in height are placed in holes (aspi), or, if the ground is level, in furrows (uachos) in carefully-weeded soil. The plants thrive best in hot, damp situations, such as the clearings of forests; but the leaves most preferred are obtained in drier localities, on the sides of hills. The leaves are gathered from plants varying in age from one and a half to upwards of forty years. They are considered ready for plucking when they break on being bent. The first and most abundant harvest is in March, after the rains; the second is at the end of June, the third in October or November. The green leaves (matu) are spread in thin layers on coarse woollen cloths and dried in the sun; they are then packed in sacks, which, in order to preserve the quality of the leaves, must be kept from damp.

In the Kew Bulletin for January 1889 is an account of the history and botany of the plant, which has been so long under cultivation in South America that its original home is doubtful. As the result of this cultivation numerous forms have arisen. The writer distinguishes from the typical Peruvian form with pointed leaves a variety novo-granatense, from New Granada, which has smaller leaves with a rounded apex. The plant is now cultivated in the West Indies, India, Ceylon, Java and elsewhere. It has been estimated that coca is used by about 8,000,000 of the human race, being consumed in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Rio Negro. In Peru the Indians carry a leathern pouch (the chuspa or huallqui) for the leaves, and a supply of pulverized unslaked lime, or a preparation of the ashes of the quinoa plant (Chenopodium Quinoa), called llipta or llucta. Three or four times a day labour is suspended for chacchar or acullicar, as the mastication of coca is termed. The leaves, deprived of their stalks, are chewed and formed into a ball (acullico) in the mouth; a small quantity of the lime or llipta is then applied to the acullico to give it a proper relish. Two or three ounces of coca are thus daily consumed by each Indian.

Coca was used by the Peruvian Indians in the most ancient times. It was employed as an offering to the sun, or to produce smoke at the great sacrifices; and the priests, it was believed, must chew it during the performance of religious ceremonies, otherwise the gods would not be propitiated. Coca is still held in superstitious veneration among the Peruvians, and is believed by the miners of Cerro de Pasco to soften the veins of ore, if masticated and thrown upon them.

The composition of different specimens of coca leaves is very inconstant. Besides the important alkaloid (q.v.), occurring to the extent of about O.2% in fresh specimens, there are several other alkaloids. The preparations of coca leaves are incompatible with certain drugs which might often be prescribed in combination with them, such as salts of mercury, menthol and mineral acids, which latter decompose cocaine into benzoic acid and ecgonine.

Coca leaves and preparations of them have no external action. Internally their action is similar to that of opium, though somewhat less narcotic, and causing a dilatation of the pupil of the eye instead of a contraction. When masticated, the leaves first cause a tingling in the tongue and mucous membrane of the mouth, owing to a stimulation of the nerves of common sensation, and then abolish taste owing to a paralysis of the terminals of the gustatory nerves. They have a definite anaesthetic action