their timid fears, and when these were unavailing, to express their open disaffection; but equally disregardful of both, C. bore steadily westward; himself, however, not without misgiving as to what the variation in the needle (not before discovered) portended. On the 12th of Oct., his perseverance was rewarded with the sight of land, which proved to be one of the Bahama islands. Here he solemnly planted the cross, giving the island the name of San Salvador. After discovering several other of the West India islands, including Cuba and Hayti, or San Domingo, at the latter of which, called by him Hispaniola, he settled a small colony, C. set sail again for Spain, where he arrived on the 15th Mar., 1493, and was received with every demonstration of joy and admiration, as well by the people as the court. In Sept. of the same year, he set sail from Cadiz on a second expedition, with 17 ships and 1500 men. In this voyage, he discovered the Car ibbee islands, Jamaica, etc.; but calumnies at home forced him to return in 1496. Having cleared himself with his sovereigns, he, in 1498, set out on a third expedition. This time, steering more to the southward, he discovered Trinidad, and the mouths of the Orinoco, and landed at Paria, on the coast of South America. After these discoveries, C. steered for Hispaniola, where he found everything in disorder. The king's ear had been again abused; an officer named Bovadilla had been appointed to supersede C. as governor, and by this person C. was sent home in chains. This unworthy treatment excited the indignation of the Spanish people to such a degree, that Ferdinand was fain to disavow all knowledge of the disgraceful affair. But all C.'s efforts to obtain redress from the king were fruitless. The spirit of adventure, however, which had borne him up amid so many disappointments, was not to be crushed by injustice. It still burned bright and strong as ever within the great old man, who, on the 9th May, 1502, with four vessels and 150 men, set out once more to seek a passage uniting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, which he imagined lay somewhere between Honduras and Paria. But the mutinous character of his crew forced him aside to seek for gold, and after many difficulties and disasters, and having added little of importance to his previous discoveries, he returned to Spain in Nov., 1504. Isabella was dead; Ferdinand proved basely ungrateful; and so the noblest navigator the world has seen, was permitted to die in poverty at Valladolid, 20th May, 1506. To make up somewhat for his injustice, Ferdinand gave C. a pompous funeral, and erected a magnificent monument to his memory, as if "Honor's voice" could "Provoke the silent dust, Or flattery soothe the dull cold ear of Death." Biography furnishes no parallel to the life of C.; great men there have been who have met with disappointments and injustice, but there is perhaps no other instance of a great man whom disappointments and injustice did not dishearten and disgust; who had his greatness recognized in his life-time, and yet was robbed of the emoluments it entitled him to; and who, after death, had the honor he had so hardly won conferred upon another. See AMERIGO VESPUCCI. COLUMBUS, or COLON, LOUIS, 1472-1579; a grandson of the discoverer. He withdrew his claim to the viceroyalty of India in 1540, and received in exchange the title of duke of Veragua and marquis of Jamaica, and a pension. COLUMEL'LA.-1. The central axis which remains, formed of the placentas, when the carpels of some fruits have separated from each other and from them.-2. The central axis of the spore-cases (capsules) of mosses.-3. The central axis around which the whorls of many spiral univalve shells are closely wound. COLUMELLA, LUCIUS JUNIUS MODERATUS, the most learned of Roman writers on practical agriculture, was b. at Cadiz, in Spain, and flourished in the earlier part of the 1st c. of the Christian era. For some time, he resided in Syria, but lived chiefly at Rome, and died, most probably, at Tarentum. His great work, De Re Rustica, in 12 books-the 10th, On Gardening, is versified-is addressed to one Publius Silvinus, and treats of arable and pasture lands, culture of vines, olives, etc., care of domestic animals, etc., respective duties of masters and servants, etc. A supplementary treatise relates to trees. This ancient "Book of the Farm" is written in good Latin, and the information is copious, though not precise, and in some points of questionable accuracy. The best editions of C. are by Gesner (1735 and 1773) and Schneider (1794–97). COLUMN (Lat. columna), a piilar or post, usually cylindrical in form, employed for the purpose of supporting a roof, entablature, or other superstructure. As the earliest habitations in almost all countries were formed of wood, it is unquestionable that the earliest columns consisted of the trunks of trees. It is said that even at the present day the Greek peasants of Asia Minor construct their wood-huts so as almost exactly to resemble the form and disposition of parts which we find in the great architectural monuments of classical antiquity. That the Greeks actually made use of wood in the earliest time, even for their monumental structures, we learn on the testimony of Pausanias, who mentions a monument in the market-place at Elis which consisted of a roof supported by pillars of oak; and Pliny tells us that the temple of Juno at Metapontum was supported by pillars made of the stems of vines. From these facts, it is natural to conclude that the stone columns which came first into use would be imitations of the trunks of trees; and this we are also in a condition to prove historically, many of the largest stone columns in Egypt-where, from the scarcity of wood, they were earlier introduced than elsewhere-being manifest imitations of the trunk of the palm (figs. 2 and 3). In order to prevent them from being forced into the ground by the superincumbent weight, these early wooden columns were placed upon one or more large flat stones, and on the top another stone was placed, to preserve them from the decay which the rain sinking into the wood would have occasioned. In these primitive arrangements, we plainly perceive the germ of the three principal parts of the classical C.-the shaft, the base, and the capital. As the Doric style of architecture was the earliest of the classical styles, the Doric is naturally the simplest and most severe of the classical columns. One of its most striking peculiarities is what at first sight seems to be the absence of the base (fig. 4). The true account of the matter, however, is, that all the columns in the same line of a Doric temple stand on one base, whereas, in the other orders, each C. has a separate base. But it is in the capitals in all the orders, Egyptian, classical, and Gothic, that columns differ from each other most strikingly (see below). As classical architecture advanced, greater lightness and elegance were sought after; and this, as regarded the C., was obtained by increasing the height and diminishing the proportional thickness of the shaft. In the Ionic and Corinthian orders (figs. 5 and 6), as compared with the Doric, this peculiarity may be distinctly seen. Fig. 1. Column: Tuscan, with details. In almost all columns, the shaft tapers gradually from the bottom to the top, thus imitating the natural growth of a tree, and at the same time conforming to a mechanical rule for obtaining the greatest amount of strength in upright bodies. But in place of tapering regularly, the shaft was generally made with a slight swelling towards the middle, called the entasis, and had for the most part in all the classical orders striped incisions from top to bottom called flutes or channels, which were regularly worked, and varied in number from 20 to 32. See FLUTING. The relation which subsisted between the height of the C., and Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Fig. 4. Fig. 5. Fig. 6. the diameter at the top and bottom, and between these and the entablature, has been calculated with the greatest possible precision in all the principal classical examples, and will be found stated in all professional works on classical architecture. The shaft usually consisted of several cylindrical blocks accurately fitted to one another, whilst the capital was commonly hewn out of a single stone. The separate portions of the shaft were fixed together, not by mortar or cement, but by iron cramps, which were fitted into holes in the center, and thus rendered invisible. Sometimes columns of immense size were hewn in the quarry of one piece of stone, and then rolled over the ground, and raised to their destined positions by various mechanical contrivances. Columns were often used in classical times, and are employed by us in the interior of buildings to support the roof or galleries, as well as for purposes of decoration; and this custom seems to have prevailed in the halls of persons of great distinction even in Homeric times. In the ancient basilica (q.v.), a line of columns separated the central space which was open to the sky from the aisles of the building, whilst at the same time they supported the galleries which were placed above the aisles. These columns were the origin of the piers or pillars by which the nave is divided from the aisles in Christian churches. The same arrangement prevailed in the Roman atrium. When, in order to support the roof which covered the gallery or any other superstructure, a second row of columns was introduced, it was usually of the lighter styles, Ionic or Corinthian, the lower columns being commonly Doric. Single columns were erected for various purposes, as for mooring ships in harbors, or to commemorate persons of note, or national events. See PILLAR. Capitals. In classical architecture, it is by the capitals of pillars, more than by any other feature, that the different orders are distinguished, very much as the Gothic styles are marked by the form of the arch. Till the period of the renaissance, the head of a column, in English, was called chapiter (chapter), its diminutive being chapitrell. The three capitals which alone belong to pure Greek architecture are described in Thomson's well known lines (Liberty), so concisely and accurately, that it is needless to dwell on them in prose: "First unadorned, And nobly plain, the manly Doric rose: The rich Corinthian spread her wanton wreath." To the three Greek orders, the Romans added two others: the Tuscan, which was a variation on the Doric, or rather a corruption of it; and the Composite, which was a combination of the Ionic and Corinthian, the proportions and general character of the Corinthian being retained, but the Ionic volutes being substituted for the Corinthian leafage. As the trunks of trees placed upright, so as to support the roof, unquestionably led to the introduction of the stone pillar, there seems to be almost as little doubt that the capital was suggested by the boughs with which such trees might be supposed to be surmounted, or the garlands with which on festive occasions they were probably encircled and crowned. At first, when the power of working in stone was limited, imitation of foliage was scarcely attempted; but the original idea being adhered to, it came at last to be carried out with great success in the Ionic and Corinthian capitals of classical architecture, and in all of the more advanced of the Gothic styles. The forms of Gothic capitals are so various, that it is altogether impossible to particularize them here. Beginning with the Romanic -which is often nothing more than a modification of the Doric. or a further debasement of the Tuscan, the sides being truncated or flattened, and some of the moldings omitted-they advance very rapidly in adornment; and in the style which we call early English, they already frequently consist of a mass of foliage, cut with great boldness and freedom, so that the stalks and more prominent of the leafage are entirely detached. It is remarkable that, in the decorated style, the capital lost much of the richness which it possessed in the earlier styles, and often consists only of plain moldings, with or without a ball-flower (q.v.), cut on the bell or bowl of the capital. Where foliation is introduced in this style, it is usually worked with greater freedom, and is free from the stiffness which characterizes earlier work. Animals, figures in armor, heads of bishops in miters, and the like, are oftener found in the decorated style, though their introduction was not unknown at a much earlier period. In the perpendicular style, the capitals were stiffer in form, and generally less ornamented than in any of the others; though even here foliage is often introduced, as in the accompanying example from the cloisters of Christ church, Oxford. Fig. 7. The only invariable characteristics of capitals seem to be something like a molding at the upper part of the shaft, more or less complicated according to circumstances, and some sort of abacus (q.v.) or flat portion on the top, on which the architrave rested in the classical orders. These characters belong even to the Egyptian capitals, which in many other respects resemble those of the other styles. The foliation of Egyptian capitals is generally taken from the vegetation peculiar to the banks of the Nile (fig. 2); but the capitals of this, particularly in its later examples, were infinitely varied both in decoration and in form. COLUMN, in military evolutions, is a mass of soldiers several ranks in depth, presenting a formation different from that which arises from spreading them out in line. There may be columns of brigades, of regiments, of battalions, or of companies; presenting a front of limited width, but a depth depending on the number of elements in Comacchio. the column. If a battalion consists of 10 companies, then a "battalion in C." has all the companies posted one behind another. According to the density of the C., it is called open or close. In a battalion, when the distance between any one company and the one immediately before it is such as to admit of their wheeling into line, the formation is called open C.; when the distance between the front rank of one company and the rear rank of the one before it is only a few yards, it is close C.; when intermediate between these two, it is half-distance column. The relative advantages of C. and line, in drawing up troops for action, are among the matters closely studied by the commanders of armies: the French, as a general rule, have rather favored the formation in C.; the English, that in line. Sometimes the name C. is given to that which, in effect, is a small army. CO'LURE. See ARMILLARY SPHERE. COLUSA, a co. in n. California, between the Sacramento river and the coast range of mountains; 2,376 sq.m.: pop. '70, 6,165. The surface is rough; quicksilver, sulphur, and salt are found. Agriculture is the chief business. Co. seat, Colusa. COLU TEA. See SENNA. COLWELL, STEPHEN, 1800-71; a native of Virginia, educated at Jefferson college, and admitted to the bar in 1821. He practiced law for several years, but left it for mercantile business. Besides many articles for reviews and magazines, he wrote a number of works on trade and finance, labor, banks, taxation, and kindred subjects. COLYM BIDÆ, a family of web-footed birds, distinguished by short wings, legs placed so far back that the bird always assumes an erect position when standing, broad flat tarsi (shanks), and a compressed bill, pointed at the tip. They are all extremely aquatic in their habits, and possess great powers of diving as well as of swimming. Some of them have all the front toes perfectly webbed, as the loons or divers (colymbus); others have the feet lobed, each toe with a separate membrane, as the grebes (podiceps). These are the two principal genera. The guillemots (uria) seem to connect this family with the alcada. COL'ZA. See RAPE. CO MA, a Greek word used in medicine, to signify a state of more or less profound insensibility allied to sleep, but differing from natural sleep in its characters, as well as in the circumstances under which it occurs. In C., the patient lies on his back, and is either simply insensible to external impressions, or has a confused and dull perception of them, with restlessness and low delirium (q.v.). The former kind of C. occurs in apoplexy and epilepsy, and also in many other organic diseases of the brain and its membranes, of which, indeed, it may be said to be the natural termination. It is also seen in narcotic poisoning, and most characteristically in poisoning by opium (q.v.). In the most fatal forms, the breathing is very slow and noisy (snoring or stertorous), accompanied with puffing of the cheeks; the pulse is at first strong and regular, afterwards feeble; there is often lividity; and the pupils are either contracted or excessively dilated, but in either case immovable, and totally insensible to light. In the second variety of C., there is perpetual restless delirium, without enough of sensibility to lead to spontaneous and regular voluntary movements; the patient mutters slightly, and grasps feebly and without purpose at any object in his way; the pupils are commonly contracted, and the tongue is apt to be dry and brown. This kind of C. is mainly seen in many fevers, and forms one of the modes of their fatal termination. The treatment of C. is that of the disease or accident leading to it. Where there is a reasonable chance of recovery, the patient must be roused to consciousness as much as possible, either by frequent movements or strong impressions on the skin, or by the use of galvanism, so as to maintain the respiration. See OPIUM. Blistering of the head is also sometimes resorted to with good effect CO'MA BERENI'CES (Lat. Berenice's hair), a small and close cluster of stars near the equinoctial colure, s. of the tail of the Great Bear. COMACCHIO, a fortified t. of central Italy, in the province of Ferrara, and 3 m. from the Adriatic. The lagoon, or marsh, in the midst of which it is situated, is about 140 m. in circumference, and is shut out from the Adriatic by a narrow belt of mud. Its position is very favorable for the manufacture of salt, of which 2,000,000 lbs. are said to be obtained annually. C. is also the seat of a curious branch of industry-viz., eel culture, which forms the principal employment of its inhabitants, who number about 8,000. A series of canals have been constructed leading from the Adriatic to admit the fry of the eel, the mullet, the sole, and other fishes into the lagoon, where they are fattened, and speedily attain a marketable value. The fishery is carried on chiefly in the late autumn, when the waters of the lagoon are excited by storms. The fish, then seeking an outlet to the sea, find their way into certain labyrinths leading into reservoirs constructed at the termination of the canals, where they are caught in immense quantities. Religious ceremonies inaugurate the commencement of the season, and when any body of fishermen in one night capture 48,000 lbs. weight of fish, a feast of fish is held, and great rejoicings take place. The eel-harvest occupies from 12 to 15 weeks; and some idea of its extent may be formed from the fact, that from the years Combe. 1793 to 1813 the annual "take" averaged close upon 2,000,000 lbs. weight. From 1813 to 1825, the average was about 1,612,600 lbs. per annum. An accident for some years greatly reduced these quantities, but the supply is again increasing, being upwards of a million pounds weight per annum. The fish are prepared for the market by partial cooking in a large kitchen built for the purpose, the eels of moderate size being roasted alive, in order to their better preservation. The larger fish are chopped into lengths, the heads and tails being sold for the benefit of the poor. Large quantities of the eels are also salted and dried. The workmen, who are lodged in barracks, and submit to a strict discipline, are allowed one and a half pounds of fish per diem. The money-value of these fisheries may be estimated from the fact, that 1 lb. weight of eel-fry will, in the course of three or four years, be worth to the cultivators of the lagoon a sum of £41 sterling. COMAL', a s.w. co. of Texas, on the Cibolo river, and intersected by the Guadalupe; 575 sq.m.; pop. '70, 5,283-377 colored. The surface is mountainous in some parts, and about two thirds is covered with live oak and mosquito. The greater portion of the people are Germans, and agriculture is their chief occupation. Co. seat, New Braunfels. COMA'NA, a city of Cappadocia, in a deep valley of the Anti-Taurus range, through which the river Sarus flows. C. was celebrated in ancient times as the place where the rites of the goddess Ma (the Greek Enyo) were celebrated, with much solemnity and great magnificence, in a spacious and sumptuous temple, to which the city was scarcely more than an appendage. It was governed by the chief priest, who took rank next to the king. In Strabo's time, more than 6,000 persons were engaged in the services of the temple. COMANCHE, a co. in s. w. Kansas, bordering on the Indian territory; 780 sq.m. It is as yet unsettled. COMANCHE, a co. in n. w. Texas on the Leon river; 1050 sq.m.; pop. '70, 100024 colored. The surface is undulating and well timbered. Stock raising is the leading business. Co. seat, Comanche. COMANCHES, American Indians, of the Shoshone family, known to the French as Padouques. When first known to Europeans, they occupied the regions between the upper waters of the Brazos and Colorado on one side, and the Arkansas and Missouri on the other. In 1783, they were brought to nominal submission by the Spanish general Anza, who killed 30 of their chiefs; but they again became troublesome, aud continued to harass the district of Texas until they were settled in a reservation. In 1872, a portion of the tribe known as the Staked Plain Comanches had to be reduced by military measures. In that year they numbered in all about 3,300. COMAT ULA. See CRINOIDEÆ. COMAYA'GUA, a department in Honduras, 4,800 sq.m.; pop. about 80,000. The province occupies the w. central portion of the republic. The soil is rich, and well adapted to the cultivation of tropical vegetation. There are silver and copper mines, and various other minerals; and of timber there are pine, oak, mahogany, cedar, lignum vitæ, etc. In the mountains in the s.c. part of the province is a considerable population of Indians who are descended from the Lencas. The province is famous for raising superior breeds of cattle. COMAYA GUA (formerly VALLADOLID LA NUEVA), chief city of Honduras, Central America, 190 m. e. of Guatemala, in a fine but unhealthy valley, 1800 ft. above the sea, on the right bank of the Humuva, which flows into the Pacific. The city was founded in 1540, is the see of a bishop, has a cathedral college, ecclesiastical seminary, several convents, and a rich hospital. Pop. 8,000; it was 18,000 previous to 1827, when the city was burned by the monarchical faction of Guatemala, and has never since wholly recovered. COMB (Sax. camb). Combs seem to have been used by the ancients rather for adjusting than for fastening the hair, the pin or bodkin (acus) having been chiefly employed for the latter purpose. Both the Greek and Roman combs were generally made of boxwood, which was obtained from the shores of the Euxine; but latterly, ivory combs came into general use amongst the Romans, as they had long before been amongst the Egyptians. The precious metals were also used for the purpose, as we may infer from the golden combs ascribed to the goddesses; but this was probably rarer in ancient than in modern and medieval times from the circumstance of the C. not having been then used as an ornamental fastening. Of the early use of gold combs by our own country women, we have a monument in the well-known ballad of Sir Patrick Spens : "O lang, lang may their ladyes sit, Wi' their gowd kames in their hair." An ancient Irish long rack C. is in the museum of the royal Irish academy. The sides are hog-backed, and between them are set the pectinated portions, varying in breadth from half an inch to an inch and a quarter, according to the size of the bone out of which they were cut. The whole is fastened together with brass pins riveted. By this contrivance, any damaged portion could easily be replaced. |