44 KOPPARBERG Beleuchtung der Geschichte der eidgenossischen Bllnde (2 vols., Lucerne, 1835-'51), he dis- proves the authenticity of the story of William Tell, and questions the propriety of the Swiss rising against the emperor Albert. His princi- pal work, Geschichte der eidgenossischen Bilnde (5 vols., Leipsic, 1845-'62), was continued after his death by Alois Ltitolf and Arnold Busson (Berlin, 1872). KOPPARBERG (formerly FAHLUN), a Ian or district of Sweden, in the province of Svea- land, bounded N. by Jemtland, E. by. Gefle- borg, S. and S. W. by Westmanland, Orebro, and Wermland, and W. by Norway; area, 11,- 230 sq. m. ; pop. in 1872, 178,890. It is very mountainous, and contains several valleys and branches of the river Dal and its tributaries. Rye, barley, and oats thrive chiefly in the southeast. Cattle are extensively reared, and the lakes and rivers abound in fish. But the prosperity of the district is mainly derived from its great wealth of timber and minerals. The copper mines are the largest in Sweden, and porphyry is converted here into many fine articles, and ironware is made in large quan- tities. The inhabitants are Dalecarlians, and their district was long known as a province un- der the name of Dalecarlia. Capital, Fahlun. KOPPEN, Friedrich, a German philosopher, born in Lubeck, April 21, 1775, died in Er- langen, Sept. 5, 1858. He studied theology in Jena, but he attended also the lectures of Rein- hold and Fichte, and after spending a year in Gottingen he published his first work, Abhand- lung liber Offenbarung, in Bezug auf Kanfsche und Fichtc'sche Philosophic (Lubeck, 1797), which passed through several editions. Next appeared his polemical disquisition on Schel- ling's philosophical system, entitled Schelling^s Lehre, oder das Ganze der Philosophic des abso- luten Niclits (Hamburg, 1803). He adopted in general the opinions of Jacobi, and his subse- quent works, Darstellung des Wesens der Phi- losophic (1810), Philosophic des Christenthums (1813-'15), Politik nach Platonischen Grund- sdtzen (1818), and Rechtslehre nach Plato- nischen Grundsdtzen (1819), attempt to demon- strate the compatibility of critical philosophy and Christianity, basing faith and morality on personal consciousness. He preached in Bre- men from 1804 to 1807, and was afterward pro- fessor in the university of Landshut until its dissolution in 1826, when he accepted a chair in Erlangen. In 1840 he published anony- mously a Philosophic der Philosophic. KOPPM, Peter von, a Russian archaeologist, born in Kharkov, Feb. 19, 1793, died at Kara- bagh, Crimea, June 4, 1864. 'He studied in the university of Kharkov, and devoted himself at ' once to researches on the history, ethnology, and material condition of the Russian empire. The first fruit of his labors was the Uebersicht der Quellen einer Literdrgeschichte Russlands (St. Petersburg, 1818), which was followed in 1822 by a collection of Slavo-Russian antiqui- ties and facsimiles of manuscripts. His Nord- KORAN gestade des Pontus (Vienna, 1823), Die dreige- staltete Hekate und ihre Rolle in den Mysterien (1823), and his articles in German periodicals on the antiquities and arts of Russia, furnished valuable materials for archaeological researches. In 1827 appeared 'his Materialien zur Cultur- geschichte Russlands. At this time he entered the service of the government, investigated the productiveness and hydrography of the prov- inces of southern Russia, and published several works on the results of his researches. His nu- merous travels through the empire gave him a thorough acquaintance with the various ele- ments of the population, and he published in the following years several highly esteemed ethnological works, among them Ueber die Na- tionalitat der Bewohner verschiedener Gouverne- ments, Ueber die Vertheilung einzelner Volker- stamme, and Ueber die Deutschen im Peters- burger Gouvernement. The final result of these labors was a large ethnological chart of Euro- pean Russia, published in 1851. His last im- portant work is an exhaustive treatise on the ninth census, Deviataya reviza (St. Petersburg, 1857). He spent his last years on the estate of Karabagh, presented to him by the emperor. KORAN, or Alkoran (Arab, qurdn, the read- ing, or that which ought to be read ; hence, " the book "), the sacred book of the Moham- medans. It is their chief authority not only in matters of faith, but in all others, whether political, military, or ethical. Among its nu- merous designations, Furqdn, that which dis- tinguishes (between good and evil), Al-Kitdb, the book, Al-Moshaf, the volume, and Al-Wilcr, the admonisher, are of most frequent occur- rence. It consists of 114 surds or chapters, each bearing a title which either affords a key to the contents, or is merely a word contained in it used as a heading. Thus the second sura is headed " Cow," which word occurs only in the 63d verse, where it is said that Moses commanded the Israelites to sacrifice a cow. Twenty-nine suras commence with letters of the alphabet believed to bear a mystical signi- fication. With the exception of the ninth, each sura begins with the formula Bism-illahi er- rahmani er-rahimi, "In the name of the God of pity and mercy." The first sura, or the sentences that open the Koran, is the model prayer of the Mohammedans, and bears several titles, such as the Fatihat (exordium), " The Mother of the Koran," " The Pearl," " The All-sufficient." The words are these: " Praise be to God, the lord of the world, the pitying and merciful, the sovereign judge in the day of retribution ! Thou art he whom we adore ! Thou art he whom we implore to help us ! Lead us in the straight way ; in the way which thou hast strewn with benefits, and which lead- eth not into error ! " The other suras are ar- ranged almost entirely according to the number of verses they contain, the longest being the second, and the shortest the last. The suras are divided into uyats or verses. For the pur- pose of recitation in the mosques, the Koran is
