sible, so as not to detract from the centre of gravity of the coach. The roof is almost flat, in order that seats may be built on it, or for baggage, and the sides have a 'cant' in a horizontal direction, and the 'turn under' in a vertical direction. There are two boots, the one in front being a few inches higher on the body than the hind boot, which latter is about two feet long (the front one three feet), and two feet deep. Both these boots are a little narrower than the body. The box and driving seat are placed on the front part of the front boot, and are supported by solid ends or risers. The shape of the seat is made by the cushion, and not by the seat itself, which is always flat. All modern coaches have brakes, but a good driver rarely has recourse to them, except in emergencies. (See DRIVING.) A complete set of tools is carried in case of accidents to horses or vehicle. The weight of a road coach varies from 2200 to 2600 pounds. Builders generally contrive to throw more of the whole weight into the carriage part, in order to keep the centre of gravity low, and because it has to withstand the bulk of the strains. The cost of a coach depends very largely upon its finish and the country in which it is built. Approximately, average prices are: in America, $2400; England, 300 guineas; and France, 8000 francs. difficult. The coach-horn varies considerably in Clear the Road. Off Side. Near Side. The Start. To the Right. To the Left. The typical American coach is the Concord coach, so called from Concord, N. H., where many of them are built. Its principal constructive features are three parallel straight perches connecting the hind axle with the front transom bed, which steady a very rigid, rectangular frame. At each of the four corners of this frame are placed stiff iron standards carry-64 ing at their upper ends square iron shackles. Connecting with these shackles are strong leather straps, upon which rests the body of the coach, a mode of suspension common to European carriages before the use of springs. These latter are entirely absent in the Concord coach. The E8 so-called Hackney coach is a smaller fourwheeled vehicle for hire. Consult: Adams, English Pleasure Carriages (London, 1837); Thrupp, History of the Art of Coach-building (London, 1877). See CARRIAGES; COACHING. COACH-DOG, or DALMATIAN CARRIAGE-DOG. A dog of medium size, related to the hounds (q.v.), and having the form and smooth coat of a pointer, which properly is used only to follow a carriage, as an ornamental part of the equip age, and as a watch-dog about the stable. This dog should, therefore, be capable of endurance on foot, trim of form, well groomed, and 'stylish' in appearance. The coat must be pure white, evenly spotted with small, round, distinct spots, from half an inch to an inch in diameter, either perfectly black or pure brown. The head should be long, fine, and like that of a pointer, but not so deep. This dog is commonly said to have been first bred in Dalmatia, but the same breed seems to have been common in Spain as far back, at least, as the sixteenth century. It is often used in Denmark to draw carts. See DOG. COACH-HORN. A straight tapering horn made of brass or copper, and used to sound certain simple calls. There are no keys and the range is limited to the six open notes (c1-g1-c2 e2-g-c-), of which the high c is exceedingly Change Horses. COACHING. Driving or being driven in a coach (q.v.) drawn by four or more horses. The driving of a coach requires great skill, coolness, judgment, and a knowledge of horses on the part of the driver; and, where indulged in as a sport or pastime, may be said to derive its greatest attraction from that fact alone. The history of coaching is naturally part of the history of the coach, for which see article COACH. The first stage in England was put on the road in 1659 and traveled between London and Coventry. At the beginning of the eighteenth century there were many coaches employed throughout the country; but the slowness of travel was such that it took a week to go from London to York, and proportionately for all lesser distances. royal mail, which had been carried by a system of post-boys under a contract speed of five miles an hour, was, in 1784, undertaken by Palmer's mail-coach service, which carried mail as well as passengers, and grew to such a success that the average speed-rate of mail coaches was brought up to 10 miles an hour. This, however, was due almost entirely to the improvements in road construction instituted by Macadam and Telford. In 1836 coaching had become so important an institution that 54 coaches were employed in England, 30 in Ireland, and 10 in Scotland. The British Government exercised a rigid supervision The COACHING. and discipline over the stage-coach service, because of its connection with the post-office system, and exacted a military punctuality and regularity in its running and general management. The landed and country gentry, generally, maintained a zealous watchfulness over the condition of the roads, and consequently much competition was indulged in by the people of the countryside, to attract coaches to some particular route, and among the coaches themselves, to establish the best records. The drivers were frequently gentlemen, and often members of the aristocracy. The 'Brighton Age,' in its palmy days, numbered among its professional drivers Charles Jones, Sir Saint Vincent Cotton, Dick Brackenbury, and many others; while such distinguished men as the Duke of Beaufort, Lord Chesterfield, and Prince Henry Batthyányi were among the amateur drivers of that and similar coaches. Professional drivers would frequently receive as much as $3000 and $4000 per year for their services; an immense salary for those days, and the best indication of the importance attached to the position. After 1840 coaching as a public necessity ceased to be; and with diminishing business, decay set in rapidly. In America, even in Colonial times, four-horse stage-wagons were in regular employment through out the country, the most important (1760) plying between Philadelphia and New York. Owing to the absence of regular roads, the saddle-horse was the favorite means of transport. Coaching as a recreation or amusement began in England about 1868-a revival which spread to America as well as throughout Continental Europe. In England it had as its leading supporters men who remembered the pre-railroad coaching days, and desired to save the institution from the oblivion which threatened it. A more or less successful effort had been made to keep alive the old spirit of coaching on one or two of the older routes; but at the time of the so-called revival, the Four-in-Hand Club, established in 1856, and Sir Henry Peyton, were the only interested ones. The results were not very permanent so far as England was concerned; for in 1880 there were only four coaches runninga state of things, however, which has since considerably improved. In 1877 the 'Old Times' was again put on the road between London and Saint Albans; the Four-in-Hand and the Coaching Clubs afterwards became permanent organizations, and their 'meets' have come to be regarded as among the social events of the London season. The first English coaching club was the B. D. C., or Bensington Driving Club, limited originally to sixteen members, and first organized in 1807. In 1823 the annual club meets were abandoned, and in 1856 the club ceased to exist. The FourHorse Club, frequently but inaccurately referred to as the Four-in-Hand Club, was formed in 1808, and, after a varied career, disbanded in 1830. Amateur coaching in the United States may be said to have antedated the English revival by two or three years, Mr. August Belmont putting the first coach on the road in 1864. Mr. Leonard Jerome is credited with the distinction of driving the first American-built coach, and he, together with a number of other gentlemen, founded in 1875 the New York Coaching Club. Since then coaching has been a regular feature of fashionable New York and Newport life, the number and equipment of the coaches employed comparing most favorably with those of either London or Paris. Indeed, modern coaching in both England and France has received no little impetus from American lovers of the pastime. At the present day coaching is confined almost exclusively to such great centres and cities of the world as are most frequented by the wealthy and leisure classes, as London, New York, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, etc., and is generally employed in connection with racing and trips to summer resorts. The following is a list of the principal road coaches of New York, London, and Paris, past and present, together with their routes and time taken. New York: Holland House to Ardsley Casino, 25.8 miles in 21⁄2 hours. London: Northumberland Avenue to Box Hill, 25 miles in 3 hours; Northumberland Avenue to Virginia Water, 26.5 miles in 34 hours; Northumberland Avenue to Windsor, 30 miles in 4 hours. Paris: New York Herald Office to Cernay-la-Ville, 29 miles in 3 hours; New York Herald Office to Pontoise, 26.3 miles in 24 hours; New York Herald Office to Maisons Lafitte, 19.4 miles in 2 hours; New York Herald Office to Versailles, 14.5 miles in 14 hours. Of the "two-days" trips, or routes which require an entire day each way, the most important in the United States is that from the Holland House, New York, to Philadelphia and return, about 90 miles each way, taken annually by the New York Coaching Club members. In England, the journey from the White Horse Cellar, Piccadilly, to Brighton (54 miles) is accomplished in 6 hours; while in France the distance from the New York Herald Office, Paris, to Fontainebleau (60 miles) is accomplished in 7 hours. Stages: Under the best conditions a change of horses would be made every seven miles, but ordinarily it has to be done to suit the available stabling accommodations of the route. The best authorities agree that a fast coach running out and in, is best served by having a horse to each mile of the road. Thus 30 horses would be necessary to run a coach out and in once a day, between points 30 miles apart. An illustration of the distance between stages under normal conditions, over a route 28 miles long, would be as follows: First stage 7, second stage 8, third stage 7, fourth stage 6 miles, each team serving one stage each way. On hilly roads longer stages are frequently made, but at a greatly reduced rate of progress. It is common experience that "pace" rather than "pull" is responsible for the disablement of the average coach-horse. The bibliography of coaching is somewhat limited, but the following works are both interesting and comprehensive: Nimrod (C. J. Apperley), Essays on the Road (London, 1876); the Duke of Beaufort, Driving (London, 1887); Ware, Driving (New York, 1903); Tristram, Coaching Days and Coaching Ways (New York, 1903). COACH-WHIP SNAKE. See WHIP-SNAKE. COAGULATION (Lat. coagulatio, from coagulare, to curdle, from coagulum, rennet, from co-, together + agere, to drive). The amorphous solidification of a liquid, or part of a liquid, as when the casein of milk is solidified by rennet in making cheese (q.v.), or the white of an egg by boiling. The process varies in various substances. Albumen, or the white of an egg, co agulates at a temperature of 160°. Milk is coagulated or curdled by the action of rennet or by acids. The fibrin in the blood, chyle, and lymph of animals is coagulated after the separation of these fluids from the living body. COAHUILA, kō'à-wē’là (named from the Mexican tribe Coahuiltecs). A northern State of Mexico, separated from Texas on the north and east by the Rio Grande, and covering an area of 63,745 square miles (Map: Mexico, H 4). With the exception of the eastern part, which is somewhat mountainous, the surface forms an elevated plateau, with a general incline toward the Rio Grande. The western part is taken up by the Bolson de Mapimi, a semi-desert region, only partially explored, with many lagoons and vast mineral resources. The climate is moderate and healthful. The chief occupation is cattle raising, although the soil is well adapted for the growing of cereals and European vegetables, to which more and more attention is being paid. In the southwest some vines and cotton are cultivated. The State is traversed from north types being connected by all degrees of intermediate stages. In Carboniferous times certain regions were covered by rank and luxuriant vegetation which grew upon swampy land slightly raised above the level of the sea. As the plants died, their remains fell into the water of the swamp, and slowly formed an accumulation of vegetable matter of increasing thickness. By slow subsidence this thick layer of vegetable matter sank below the water, and became gradually covered by sand, mud, or other mineral sediments, washed out from the shore. Successive elevations and depressions, with intervening accumulations, may thus have yielded successive beds. Subsequent elevation, folding of the earth's crust, and accompanying metamorphism, followed by erosion of the surface, has exposed to view the edges of the once deeply buried beds of coal. COMPOSITION. The following analyses of peat, lignite or brown coal, and true coal indicate the changes which vegetable matter undergoes by decay and pressure: to south by the Mexican International Railway. Population, in 1900, 296,938; capital, Saltillo (q.v.). COAITA, kö-äi'tå. See SPIDER-MONKEY. COAL (AS. col, OHG. kolo, Ger. Kohle; ultimately connected with Skt. jval, to blaze, and probably with Ir., Gael. gual, coal). A mineral fuel of solid character, found and used in many countries. The name is a word common to all the languages of the Gothic stock, and seems allied to the Latin calere, to be hot; as also 'to glow,' and 'kiln.' The word 'coal' has often prefixed to it some qualifying word, to distinguish different kinds of coal; such as cannel coal, stone coal, pea coal, etc. ORIGIN. Coal is one of the most important economic minerals, and is of vegetable origin. When vegetable matter accumulates under water it undergoes a slow process of decomposition, gradually giving off its nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, and some carbon, the result of which if carried far enough is the formation of a mass of carbon. Peat (q.v.), the material so often found underlying swampy tracts in north temperate zones, represents the first stage in the coal-forming process, and the further stages are obtained by the burial of these vegetable deposits under great loads of sediment, where they become subjected to pressure, and at times to heat also. This effects a series of changes, especially consolidation and loss of oxygen, and gives a series of products, whose nature depends on the degree to which the original vegetable matter has been changed. The products are known as lignite, bituminous coal, and anthracite coal; these three A proximate analysis like the above is of prac tical value, since it gives us a better conception of the coal worth. Thus the freedom of burning increases with the amount of volatile hydrocarbons, while the heating power depends on the amount of fixed carbon present. Sulphur is an injurious constituent when the coal is to be used in the manufacture of gas or for metallurgical purposes; while ash is undesirable, since it displaces so much carbon, and if it contains fusible impurities such as iron, lime, or alkalies, it causes clinkering. Moisture retards the heating power of the coal until it is driven off. Since |