Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/444

* COPAIBA. 384 COPE. Copaifcra Lant/sdur/jii and others, natives of the tropical parts of Aiiierita. Copaiba has a pecu- liar, not disagreeable odor, and an acrid taste. It is diuretic, when talcea in small doses; large doses cause gastrointestinal and renal irrita- tion, and the administration of even a small quantity may gi-e rise to an eruption some- what like that of measles. It is princiiially useful from its powerful stimulating action on the mucous membranes. It is much used in affections of the genito-urinary system, during the subacute or chronic stages; and is also em- ployed in chronic catarrhs, etc. The medicinal dose of the balsam is from % to I fluid drachm. Balsam of copaiba is not infrequently adulter- ated with castor-oil. The wood-oil, Gurgina or tJurjun balsam of India, the produce of a species of Uiptcrocarpus, is sometimes sold as balsam of copaiva. See Gukjun Balsam. COPAIS (ko-pa'is) liAKE. See Bceotia. CO'PAL (Mex. copalli, resin). A resinous mineral substance of vegetable origin, chiefly used in the manufacture of varnishes and lac- quers. The liardest varieties are used like amber, for making various objects. It appears in commerce in smooth rounded masses, colorless or lemon-yellow, translucent or transparent, rather brittle, fusible at a somewhat elevated temperature, and but sparingly soluble in oil of turpentine. In making varnishes, copal is first rendered soluble; for this purpose it is melted, and, on cooling, reduced to a powder and ex- posed for some time to the action of atmospheric air. It is then boiled vith linseed oil and oil of turpentine, and the resulting solution is filtered. A numlier of different pale-yellow or almost colorless varnishes are obtained by slightly modi- fying this process and changing the relative quantities of the ingredients. Copal is found in many parts of the globe ; it is dug in Zanzi- bar and ilozambique. at several places in west- ern Africa, in New Caledonia, and New Zealand, in East India, Brazil, etc. The varieties brought from Zanzibar and Mozambique are noted for their hardness, and have therefore the highest market value; they are supposed to have been produced by trees like the Trachylobium Borne- mfinniaiiutn and Trnchfilobiiim Mosamiicense. The copal dug in New Zealand and New Cale- donia is known in commerce as cowrie and dnm- mnr; it is the semi-fossil resin of the Dammara atistraJis and Dammnra ovata, trees still abun- dantly growing in those cotmtries; the natives of New Zealand chew the resin when freshly ex- uded by the trees. Animr (q.v.) is another variety of copal; in England, however, the name anime is applied to all the dilferent varieties of oopal. A mineral substance resembling copal, and known as fossil copal, is found at Highgate, near London. COPALCHE or COPALCHI (ko-piil'che) BAKK. A name given to the hark of two species of Croton. natives of Mexico. One. the product of Croton pseudochina, reaches the market in small, slender, ash-colored quills which resemble a light variety of cinchona, for which they may easily hi' mistaken, but have a taste and an odor, espe- cially when burned, which suggest cascarilla {Croton eleittcriii), to which the tree is allied; the other in large quills, presumably derived from Croton suherosus, which is very bitter and yields an aromatic odor upon burning. The barks are credited with tonic, aromatic proper- ties, and have been used, particularly in Mexico, in intermittent fevers, and in cases which seemed to demand a mild bitter. The barks have been sold for cjuebracho> COPALM, ko'piim. See Liquidambab. COP AN, ku-piin'. An ancient ruined city of Honduras; one of the most imposing monuments of aboriginal American culture. The buildings are of stone carved with symbolic designs. Good collections of the sculptures made by Saville and others are in the American iluseum of Natural History (New York) and other American mu- seums. The city was a native stronghold, and was captured by Hernando do Chavez in 1530. See Arcuitectuhe, Amekican. COPAR'CENA'BY (from ro- + parcemrri/, from OE. parcenerie, from parcener, partner, from ML. partionariiis, having a share, from Lat. partitio, .share, from pars, portion). An estate in England originating in descent to two or more persons, called thence coparceners or par- ceners. It generally arises under the rule of law which makes the daughters of one dying without male heirs inherit equally, but it may also arise by local custom, as in the case of gavelkind, where all the sons inherit equally. Although the property remains unsevered, yet each parcener is entitled to a distinct share of it, and consequently there is no benefit of sur- vivorship, but the right of each descends to his or her heirs, who are still called coparceners ■with the surviving original parceners. The rule of descent is also per stirpes, so that the heirs of one who has predeceased the common an- cestor take only the share which would have come to their immediate ancestor had he or she surived, and thus in England a grandson of the common ancestor will also exclude his own sisters. If one of the coparceners alienates his share, the coparcenary is destroyed, and the estate becomes a tenancy in common (q.v.). It may also be destroyed by partition, when the estates become in severalty. This may be eft'ected either by voluntary agreement, or by a suit in chancery. Such parts of the property as cannot be divided (such as the manor-house, etc.) pass to the eldest sister or her issue, but an equivalent in value is assigned to the remain- ing sisters. If the estates in coparcenarj' are by descent reunited in one person, they become again an estate in severalty. In the L^nited States, wlicre descent is to all the children or to all of a group of heirs equally, without distinction of age or sex. coparcenary was from the beginning a common form of joint ownership of land. At the present time such descendants are tisually declared by statute to take the land as tenants in common. See CoM- Mox. Tkn'anct IN; Joint Tenancy; Descent. COPE. See Costvme, Ecclesiastical. COPE. A custom or tribute due to the Crown, or lord of the soil, out of the lead-mines in Dcrbysliire, England. COPE, Charles West (1811-90). An English historical and portrait painter. He was bom in Leeds. July 28. 1811, and received his first instruction in art from his father, who was a landscape painter. He also became a pupil of the Koyal Academy, and after two years of study in Italy was made a member of that institution in 1848. and professor of the Academy in 1887.