Corvin-Wiersbitski (Otto Julius Bernhard von), Prussian Pole of noble family, who traced their descent from the Roman Corvinii, b. Gumbinnen, 12 Oct. 1812. He served in the Prussian army, where he met his friend Friedrich von Sallet; retired into the Landwehr 1835, went to Leipsic and entered upon a literary career, wrote the History of the Dutch Revolution, 1841; the History of Christian Fanaticism, 1845, which was suppressed in Austria. He took part with the democrats in '48; was condemned to be shot 15 Sept. '49, but the sentence was commuted; spent six years' solitary confinement in prison; came to London, became correspondent to the Times; went through American Civil War, and afterwards Franco-Prussian War, as a special correspondent. He has written a History of the New Time, 1848-71. Died since 1886. Cotta (Bernhard), German geologist, b. Little Zillbach, Thuringia, 24 Oct. 1808. He studied at the Academy of Mining, in Freiberg, where he was appointed professor in '42. His first production, The Dendroliths, '32, proved him a diligent investigator. It was followed by many geological treatises. Cotta did much to support the nebular hypothesis and the law of natural development without miraculous agency. He also wrote on phrenology. Died at Freiburg, 13 Sept 1879. Cotta (C. Aurelius), Roman philosopher, orator and statesman, b. B.C. 124. In '75 he became Consul. On the expiration of his office he obtained Gaul as a province. Cicero had a high opinion of him and gives his sceptical arguments in the third book of his De Natura Deorum. Courier (Paul Louis), French writer, b. Paris, 4 Jan. 1772. He entered the army and became an officer of artillery, serving with distinction in the Army of the Republic. He wrote many pamphlets, directed against the clerical restoration, which place him foremost among the literary men of the generation. His writings are now classics, but they brought him nothing but imprisonment, and he was apparently assassinated, 10 April, 1825. He had a presentiment that the bigots would kill him. Coventry (Henry), a native of Cambridgeshire, b. about 1710, Fellow of Magdalene College, author of Letters of Philemon to Hydaspus on False Religion (1736). Died 29 Dec. 1752. Coward (William), M.D., b. Winchester, 1656. Graduated at Wadham College, Oxford, 1677. Settled first at Northampton, afterwards at London. Published, besides some medical works, Second Thoughts Concerning Human Soul, which excited much indignation by denying natural immortality. The House of Commons (17 March, 1704) ordered his work to be burnt. He died in 1725.