COMBE-COMBINATION.

The Relation between Science and Religion (1857). Endowed with great activity and an earnest apostolic spirit, C. was fond of lecturing on his favourite subjects, and delivered many successful courses not only in various parts of the United Kingdom, but in the United States, and even in Germany. As a citizen, he took a zealous part in promoting parliamentary reform, the abolition of the corn laws, and a system of national education. His books on phrenology were given to the Advocates' Library. See the Life by C. Gibbon (1878); and C.'s views and articles on Education, collected by Jolly (1879). COMBE, ANDREW, M.D., brother of the preceding, was born in Edinburgh, October 27, 1797. He studied medicine there and at Paris, and in 1823 commenced to practise in his native city. In 1836 he received the appointment of physician in ordinary to the king of the Belgians, but his delicate health prevented him from retaining this office; and on returning from Brussels, he continued to act only as consulting-physician to his majesty. Afterwards, he became one of the physicians in ordinary to Queen Victoria in Scotland. He died at Edinburgh, August 9, 1847. His principal works are -Observations on Mental Derangement (1831); The Principles of Physiology applied to the Preservation of Health, &c. (1834; 15th ed. 1860); The Physiology of Digestion considered with Relation to the Principles of Dietetics (1836; 10th ed. 1860); and The Management of Infancy, Physiological and Moral (1840; 9th ed. 1860, revised by Sir James Clark; 10th ed. 1870). Mild, benevolent, and wise, Andrew C. obtained the esteem and admiration of all who could appreciate purity and excellence of character. In his Life and Correspondence, published by George Combe in 1850, we find not only a vivid picture of the man, but an example of patient adherence to physiological principles in the treatment of a delicate constitution, with the result of prolonging a useful life far beyond what he had ventured to hope for. The record of the means by which he combated a serious pulmonary disease for nearly thirty years at home and abroad, is calculated to be highly instructive to persons similarly afflicted. His death was probably hastened by exposure to the poisonous air of an emigrant ship, in which he made a voyage to America: the experience gained on this occasion led him to proclaim, through the Times, the urgent necessity of a law regulating the sanitary arrangements in emigrant vessels. The long letter which he wrote on this subject appeared on September 17, 1847, a month after his death, and ere long the Act 12 and 13 Vict. c. 23, provided a remedy for the evil. Dr C. also exerted himself successfully for the improvement of medical education. A list of his contributions to the Phrenological Journal and the British and Foreign Medical Review is appended to his Life. His character as a man, a physician, and a writer, is affectionately depicted by his friend Sir James Clark, in an Introduction to the 9th edition of The Management of Infancy.

Talavera, Fuentes de Onoro, Salamanca-where he was second in command, and was severely wounded the Pyrenees, Orthes, and Toulouse. For his brilliant services in the Peninsular War, he repeatedly received the thanks of parliament, and in May 17, 1814, was raised to the peerage as Baron Combermere. Although not at Waterloo, he had the command of the cavalry of the army of occupation in France; and in 1817 was appointed governor of Barbadoes, and commander of the forces in the West Indies. In 1822, he became commander-in-chief in Ireland; and in 1825 was nominated commander of the forces in India. In that position, he captured the almost impregnable fortress of Bhurtpore; and, Dec. 2, 1826, was raised to the rank of viscount. In 1834 he was sworn a privy councillor; in 1852 succeeded the Duke of Wellington as Constable of the Tower and Lordlieutenant of the Tower Hamlets; and in 1855 was made a field-marshal and G.C.B. He died at Clifton, Feb. 22, 1865. See his Life (2 vols. 1866).

COMBINATION means the act of uniting or combining certain active elements; and it has come lately, in the legal and political phraseology of England, to mean the uniting together of persons having a common interest, with a view to promoting that interest. Thus, it may refer to employers uniting together to keep up prices or keep down Wages; or it may apply to workmen uniting together to keep up wages. The word is now almost exclusively used in relation to the proceedings of the working-classes for retaining a monopoly of certain occupations, or for keeping up wages above their natural amount. C. is one of the most obvious, and in certain circumstances, one of the most justifiable and beneficial arrangements. Like all other human institutions, it has its good and bad shape-the former, when it is used for protection; the latter, It is a pracwhen it is used for oppression. tical exemplification of the precept taught by the old man in the fable, when he recommended union to his sons by shewing that the bundle of sticks could not be broken, but that each stick could be The municipal easily snapped when separated. corporations were combinations to protect the citizens against the power of the aristocracy, and a group of these municipal corporations formed themselves into a larger C., well known as the Hanse Towns, whose united influence not only braved the aristocracy, but exceeded that of many of the European monarchies. The guilds and other societies, whether of merchants or artisans, were combina tions established for protection in violent times; though they were employed to further monopoly and interfere with freedom of trade, when more equal laws, and a higher social civilisation, rendered them unnecessary for mere protection from external oppression. The free-masons are a relic of a great guild, or secret society, pervading all Europe. The similarity to each other of contemporary Gothic buildings, however far apart, is explained by the circumstance, that they were built by a large C. of

same rules of art, and who had secret arrangements which enabled them to work together. See TRADES UNIONS in SUPP., Vol. X.

CO'MBERMERE, VISCOUNT (Stapleton Staple-workmen, who all learned in the same school the ton-Cotton), a British field-marshal, son of Sir Robert Salusbury Cotton, baronet, of Combermere Abbey, Cheshire, was born in 1773 at Llewenny Hall, Denbighshire. Educated at Westminster School, he, in February 1790, entered the army, and distinguished himself in India at the battle of Mallavelly and the siege of Seringapatam. In 1807 -in which year he succeeded his father in the baronetcy-he proceeded, with the rank of majorgeneral, to the Peninsula, in command of a brigade of cavalry; and in 1810 was appointed to the command of the whole allied cavalry under the Duke of Wellington. He was present at the battles of

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The oppressive laws to which the working-classes, even in this country, were subjected, fully justified them in combining for their own protection. The nature of those laws is explained, though not justified, by the fact, that they were less oppressive than the institutions of other countries where the working-classes were in actual serfdom; and that they mark, in reality, the steps of progress onwards from the state of slavery or serfdom in which all the working-classes were of old involved, even in this

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country. The boasted freedom of our Saxon ances- two or more persons to do, or procure to be done, tors was, indeed, very similar to that of the southern any act in contemplation or furtherance of a trade states of North America before the late civil war, dispute between employers and workmen, shall not since it was all enjoyed by the upper class, to whom be indictable as a conspiracy, if such act committed the inferior persons were slaves; and the term free-by one person would not be punishable as a crime. man, still used in certain municipalities, of old dis- Before that statute, what was innocent when done tinguished those who were not slaves. The statutes by one person became indictable when done by of labour still retained a portion of this servitude, three or more simultaneously. laying heavy penalties on workers in the various trades who refused to work at a regular fixed remuneration often, of course, below the market value, otherwise it would not require to be protected by penalties. By the Poor Law Act, too, those who would not work might be veritably enslaved by being compelled to labour in the service of any householder. It may be said, indeed, to be the last stage of the emancipation of the working-classes from slavery when the C. Act was repealed in 1825. This act, which, after all, was a mild relic of the old laws for coercing workmen, subjected those who, whether verbally or in writing, entered into combinations for keeping up the wages of their labour, or limiting the hours of work, to be punished by imprisonment as criminals. There is no doubt that, in defiance of this act, secret combinations were held of a more dangerous and cruel character than any which have occurred since the repealing act of 1825, which rendered C. itself lawful, but punished any attempts to enforce the views of the combining workmen by violence or intimidation.

Both by the law of the land, and the public opinion on which it rests, it is now allowable for any class of men to combine together for the purpose of fixing the price at which they shall buy or at which they shall sell, provided their C. be entirely voluntary, and subject no one to coercion. All the landlords of a state, for instance, might combine to keep up the price of grain; but if they should get a law to enable them to exact this price by prohibiting any of their body from selling for less, or for prohibiting or limiting the importation of foreign grain, then their C. would be oppressive. In like manner, a hundred bricklayers or a hundred tailors may combine not to work for less than a certain remuneration, or not to work more than a certain number of hours daily; and they are quite free to do so, provided they do not compel any one to join their C., or do not interfere with those who are content to work on lower terms. The difficulty is to define compulsion.

The law relating to compulsion or intimidation is now generalised, as follows: Every person who, with a view to compel any other person to abstain from doing or to do any act which such other person has a legal right to do or abstain from doing, wrongfully and without legal authority (1) uses violence to, or intimidates such other person, or his wife or children, or injures his property; or (2) persistently follows such other person about from place to place; or (3) hides any tools, clothes, or other property owned or used by such other person, or deprives him of, or hinders him in the use thereof; or (4) watches or besets the house or other place where such other person resides or works, or carries on business, or happens to be on the approach to such house or place; or (5) follows such other person with two or more other persons in a disorderly manner, in or through any street or road-may either be indicted or punished summarily by justices of the peace, and fined £20, or imprisoned for three months with hard labour. But any person charged before justices is entitled to object to their jurisdiction, and claim a trial before a jury. If he is convicted by justices, he may appeal to Quarter Sessions. In Scotland, the offence can only be prosecuted by the procurator-fiscal or Lord-Advocate in the Sheriff Court or Court of Justiciary. Though breaches of contract by workmen are not now punished criminally, they are so in case of gas and water supply. COMBINATION, LAWS OF, in Chemistry. See ATOMIC THEORY.

COMBINATIONS, in Mathematics.

PERMUTATIONS.

See

COMBING, of wool, cotton, &c. See CARDING. COMBRETA'CEÆ, a natural order of exogenous plants, consisting of trees and shrubs, all natives of tropical countries. It contains about 200 known species, most of which are characterised by astringency.

COMBUSTION is the term applied to the process of burning, which usually consists in the oxygen Royal Commissioners appointed to inquire into the of the air uniting with the constituents of the comsubject of trade-unions and combinations of work-bustible substance. Thus, the C. of coal is due to men in 1869 and 1875, gave an account of the his- the oxygen of the air passing into a state of chemical tory and working of the modern law, and its modi- union with the carbon and the hydrogen of the fications from time to time. In 1871, two acts were coal, forming carbonic acid (CO2) and water-vapour passed for the purpose of consolidating and settling|(HO). Such chemical combinations are always the law; these were supplemented by the Trades- accompanied by the production of more or less heat, union Act Amendment Act, 1876, which more fully as in the case of decaying wood and other vegetable defines the nature of the combinations to which the matter; but it is only when the action is so rapid acts apply, the rights of members in certain events, as to evolve intense heat accompanied by light, and imposes conditions in reference to registration. that the process is called burning or combustion. 34 and 35 Vict. c. 31, defined what trade-unions were Though the gaseous oxygen has as much to do with to be deemed unlawful, and when their contracts were the process as the more solid material, coal, wood, not enforceable, and provided for the legislation of paper, or cloth, yet the latter is alone styled the trade-unions, and the protection of their property. combustible or burning body, whilst the oxygen is The other act 34 and 35 Vict. c. 32, repealed all the invariably named the supporter of combustion. former laws as to violence, threats, and molestation; few substances burn at ordinary temperatures, such but it has now been repealed by the Conspiracy and as phosphorus, which glows when exposed to the Protection of Property Act, 1875, 38 and 39 Vict. air; but the generality of substances, such as wood, c. 86, which applies to the United Kingdom. The coal, &c., require to be raised in temperature or be leading characteristic of this act was to abolish, as set fire to before they possess the power of combining much as possible, the appearance of exceptional with the oxygen of the air. The amount of heat legislation as to the mutual relations of workmen given out by the various combustibles when burned, and their trade unions, and to make general rules is capable of being measured, and is definite. The applicable to all businesses and occupations. It same weight of the same combustible invariably was declared that an agreement or combination by evolves the same amount of heat during its complete

A

COMEDY-COMET.

C.; but different combustible substances give off different amounts of heat. The mode in which the heat evolved may be measured, is either (1.) To observe the quantity of ice which a given weight of the combustible will melt when burning; (2.) To notice the weight of water which the combustible will convert into steam; or (3.) To estimate the number of pounds of water which the burning body will raise from 32° to 212° F. The last plan is the more easily managed and accurate, and serves as the index in the following table, which gives the number of pounds of water raised from 32° to 212° F. during the C. of one pound of each of the burning bodies:

While the absolute amount of heat evolved during the C. of any burning body is the same, yet the sensible heat may vary according to the rapidity of the process. Thus, when phosphorus is exposed to the air at ordinary temperatures, it very slowly combines with oxygen, and gives out little heat at any one moment, but it is diffused over a great length of time; whilst if the phosphorus is set fire to in the air, it burns vividly, and gives out much heat and light for a short time; and still further, if the burning phosphorus be placed in pure oxygen, it enters into most vivid C., and evolves a most intense heat and brilliant light for a still shorter time. In the latter instances, the heat evolved at any one moment is greater, because more rapid, than that given off at the same time during the slower process of C.; but when allowed to proceed to a termination, there is as much heat produced during the whole time occupied in its development. The same remark applies to the coal placed in a furnace. So long as the door of the furnace is open, and there is little draft of air through the fuel, a moderate amount of heat is evolved, which may last for several hours; but when the door is shut, and much air is drawn through the coal, the latter is more quickly burned, and more heat is evolved during a shorter period of time than before, but in the long-run there is the same amount of heat evolved.

COMEDY. See DRAMA. COMENIUS, JOHN Aмos (properly KOMENSKY), a distinguished educational reformer of the 17th century, was born on the 28th of March 1592, according to some, at Comna, near Brünn; according to others, at Niwnitz, in Moravia. His parents belonged to the community of the Moravian Brethren. C. studied at Herborn, and then at Heidelberg, after which he travelled through Holland and England, and at last settled at Lissa, in Poland, where he was chosen bishop of the Moravian Brethren. In 1631, he published his Janua Linguarum Reserata, which was translated into many European, and even into some Oriental languages. In this work, he

points out a method of learning languages new at that time, which may be called the intuitive or perceptive system, in which the pupils were taught by a series of lessons on subjects easily understood or appreciable by the senses such as natural history, the sciences, different trades and professions, &c. C. also published about the same time the Ratio Disciplina Ordinisque Ecclesiæ in Unitate Fratrum Bohemorum (1632), republished with remarks by Buddæus (Halle, 1702); and his Pansophie Prodromus (1639). In 1641, C. was invited to England, to assist in reforming the system of public instruction; but as the breaking out of the civil war prevented the execution of this design, he went to Sweden, where he was patronised by Oxenstiern, who gave him a commission to draw up a plan for the organisation of schools in Sweden, which he completed at Elbing, four years afterwards. He next went to Hungary for a similar purpose. Here he composed his celebrated Orbis Sensualium Pictus, or The Visible World (Nürn. 1658), the first picture-book for children, which has been often reprinted and imitated. Finally, he settled in Amsterdam, where he published several other works. C. died at Naarden on the 15th October 1671. In the latter years of his life, C. gave way to fanaticism, misinterpreted the Revelation of St John to suit his fancies of the existing state of Europe, and expected the millennium in 1672. An interesting account of the wanderings and sufferings of C., and of his great services in the cause of popular education, is given in Laurie's Comenius, his Life and Work (1881). CO'MÉS, an ancient officer, with territorial jurisdiction. See EARL.

CO'MET. The word C. is derived from the Gr. kóme, hair, a title which had its origin in the hairy appearance often exhibited by the haze or luminous vapour, the presence of which is at first sight the most striking characteristic of the celestial bodies called by this name. The general features of a C. are-a definite point or nucleus, a nebulous light surrounding the nucleus, and a luminous train preceding or following the nucleus. Anciently, when the train preceded the nucleus-as is the case when a C. has passed its perihelion, and recedes from the sun-it was called the beard, being only termed the tail when seen following the nucleus as the sun is approached. This distinction has disappeared from all modern astronomical works, and the latter name is given to the appendage, whatever its apparent position. Neither this luminous attendant, the tail, nor the nucleus, is now considered an essential cometary element, but all bodies are classed as comets which have a motion of their own, and describe orbits of an extremely elongated form. There are several plain points of difference between comets and planets. The planets move in the same direction, from west to east, which is astronomically called 'direct motion;' but the movements of comets are often from east to west, or retrograde. The orbits of all the planets are confined to a zone of no great breadth on either side of the ecliptic; but the paths of comets cut the ecliptic in every direction, some being even perpendicular to it. The orbits of all the planets are nearly circular; or, more properly speaking, are ellipses of very small eccentricity. The orbits of comets, on the other hand, present every variety of eccentricity, some of them being ellipses or elongated closed orbits of various degrees of elongation; others, hyperbolas; while the majority have a form of orbit not differing sensibly from the parabola, which is the limiting form of curve to which both the ellipse and hyperbola approximate, under given conditions.

Let Ρ be the point of perihelion passage of a C.,

COMET.

COMET.