372 



COLURE 



COMB 



are the column by platoons, by companies, the 

 column by divisions ( of two companies each ), &c. 



Colure. See ARMILLAKY SPHERE. 



Colvill, SIDNEY, was born at Norwood, Surrey, 

 18th June 1845. He was educated at Trinity Col- 

 lege, Cambridge, where in 1865 he gained the chan- 

 cellor's medal for English verse, and graduating 

 in 1867 as third classic, became a fellow of his 

 college in 1869. He was elected Slade professor 

 of Fine Art in the university of Cambridge in 1873, 

 and director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1876, 

 appointments which he resigned after succeeding 

 G. W. Reid as keeper of the Department of Prints 

 and Drawings in the British Museum in 1884. His 

 numerous contributions to the periodicals, marked 

 by accurate scholarship and poetic feeling, include 

 a valuable series of papers on ' Albert Durer, his 

 Teachers, his Rivals, and his Scholars' (published 

 in the Portfolio for 1877); and his separate works 

 are : Notes on the Exhibitions of the Royal Academy 

 and Old Water-colour Society (reprinted from the 

 Globe, 1869), A Word for Germany by an English 

 Republican ( 1870), Children in Italian and English 

 Design (1872), Drawings by Flaxman (1876), and 

 Landor (1881) and Keats'(1886) in the 'English 

 Men of Letters ' series. He has also edited Selec- 

 tions from Landor (1884). As R. L. Stevenson's 

 literary executor, he superintended the Edinburgh 

 edition of his works (1894 ct seq.), and edited his 

 Samoan Letters ( 1895) and Letters (2 vols. 1899). 



Colza, a variety of cabbage. See RAPE. 



Coma, a state of more or less profound insensi- 

 bility allied to sleep. In coma 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 coma 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 charac- 

 teristically 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 coma, there is perpetual restless delirium, 

 without enough of sensibility to lead to spon- 

 taneous 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 coma is 

 mainly seen in many fevers, and forms one of the 

 modes of their fatal termination. The treatment of 

 coma 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 

 jmich 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. 



COmac'chio, a walled town of Italy, 30 miles 

 ESE. of Ferrara, on an island in the east of the 

 Valli di Comacchio, a shallow lagoon, about 90 

 miles in circumference, shut out from the Adriatic 

 by a belt of land, 3 miles wide. It is a bishop's 

 see, and has several fine churches. There are large 

 salt-works and extensive fisheries, the fry of the 

 eel and mullet being admitted to the lagoon in 

 spring by canals* opening to the sea, and exit after 

 the fish are grown being prevented by nets and 

 other contrivances, which are referred to both by 



Tasso and Ariosto. Over 2,000,000 Ib. of fish are 

 caught annually. Pop. 7535. 



Coiliaiiches, a tribe of American Indians, 

 belonging to the Shoshone family, and roaming for 

 the most part over the prairie-lands of Texas and 

 Mexico. Splendid horsemen, warlike, and fond of 

 plunder, they have until very recently been trouble- 

 some neighbours ; but they are now among the 

 most tractable and progressive of the Indians called 

 'blanket Indians.' Honesty, truthfulness, self- 

 respect, and regard for chastity are marked char- 

 acters of this tribe. They are to some extent 

 addicted to intoxication, which they procure by 

 means of a species of cactus which has narcotic 

 qualities. Their numbers were estimated at 12,000 

 in 1847 ; now they are about 4000. 



Comat'ula. See CRINOIDEA. 



CoiliayJl'glia, a city of Honduras, Central 

 America, is situated in a fertile valley, 1935 feet 

 above the sea, on the Rio Humuya, 190 miles E. of 

 Guatemala. Founded in 1540, it has a handsome 

 cathedral and a college, and before 1880 was 

 capital of the state. Pop. about 10,000. 



Comb (Saxon camb). This well-known toothed 

 implement has been used in every age and by all 

 peoples for dressing and keeping clean the hair. 

 Combs are also used for fastening the hair when 

 dressed, and as head ornaments. In early times the 

 bodkin (ac-tts), equivalent to the modern hair-pin, 

 was employed for the latter purpose, but in medieval 

 times elaborately ornamented combs, sometimes of 

 precious metal, were used for ornamental hair 

 fastening. An allusion to this practice we have 

 in the ancient Scottish ballad of Sir Patrick 

 Spens : 



O lang, lang may their ladyes sit, 

 VVi' their gowd kames in their hair. 



Fig. 1 represents an ancient Irish long rack comb 

 in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2 is an example of an ancient Scottish 

 double-edged comb of bone from the Broch of 



Fig. 2. 



Burrian, Orkney, drawn to half the size of the 

 original. 



Combs of ivory or of boxwood have been fre- 

 quently found in early Christian tombs, it being a 

 common practice of antiquity to inclose in the 

 sepulchre objects, especially those of the toilet, 

 that had been used by the deceased. For a late 

 instance, see the article on ST CuTHBERT. Combs 

 also figure commonly in inventories of articles be- 

 longing to the medieval churches, and, being 

 made use of by the priests prior to service, that 

 they might approach the altar with the more 

 decency, these instruments became in some sort 

 sanctified by their employment. 



Combs are made of horn, tortoiseshell, ivory, 

 wood, bone, metal, india-rubber, and of a com- 



