COMMENSURABLE 



COM MI NATION 



381 



for in para>itiMn the one organism more or less 

 diriTtly prr\. II|MHI the other. Yet it w evident 

 thai a oommenaal mav readily degenerate into a 

 p.u.iMti'. ( 'oiiimi'iisalism must also be distin- 

 giii-hrd from that most intimate kind of partin-r- 

 >lii|> known as Symbiosis (a.v. ), and illustrated 

 liy tin 1 union of algoid and fungoid organism-' to 

 form a lichen, or liy the occurrence of algib us con- 

 >i.m! internal associates of Uudiolarians, some 

 CcolenteraU's, and some worm t\ pe*. 



As part of the animate environment, commensals 

 have influenced one another in very direct ways. 

 Sec KNVIUUNMKNT ; 1'. .1. van Benedcn's Animal 

 1'nrasitea and Messmates (1876); and Semper's 

 Animal Life (1881). 



Commensurable. Two quantities or numbers 

 are said to be commensurable which are of the same 

 kind, and each of which contains a third quantity 

 or nu in I PIT a certain number of (hues without 

 remainder ; or when both can be measured exactly 

 by the same unit, however small. 



Commentrey, a town in the French depart- 

 ment of Allier, 211 miles S. of Paris by rail, is close 

 to a great coal -field, and owes its rise to coal and 

 iron works. Pop. 9316. 



Commerce* CHAMBER OF. See CHAMBER OF 

 COMMERCE, MERCANTILE LAW. For the so-called 

 Commercial System, see MERCANTILE SYSTEM. 



Commercial Travellers. A commercial 

 traveller ('C.T.') is a person whose occupation is 

 to transact business as the accredited travelling 

 representative of a trading house to other trading 

 houses. A further qualification is insisted upon by 

 benevolent institutions connected with the body, 

 in the rule that a traveller must have been 

 4 on the road ' for two years before he can claim 

 benefit. A ' townsman ' or ' town traveller ' is one 

 who confines his efforts to a single town. In thirty 

 years a fourfold increase in the number of com- 

 mercial travellers is shown by the annexed sta- 

 tistics : In 1851 there were in England, 8378 ; in 

 .Scotland, 1017 ; in Ireland, 339 ; total, 9734. In 

 1881 there were in England, 35,570 ; in Scotland, 

 4793 ; in Ireland, 1558 ; total, 41,921. In the latter 

 year, 878 of the total number were European 

 foreigners ; but at the present there is doubtless a 

 much larger proportion. The death-rate of com- 

 mercial traveller! in 1881, though it shows a 

 considerable improvement on that of 1871, was 

 high (34 per 1000), or nearly 50 per cent, above 

 that of persons engaged in agricultural pursuits. 

 A very large proportion of deaths was due to 

 -diseases caused by intemperance. To this terrible 

 scourge must also be attributed the fact that the 

 number of suicides is higher in this than in any 

 occupation save one. Happily, of late years a 

 marked improvement is noticeable, owing to the 

 spread of temperance principles and an increased 

 number of temperance hotels. 



Of the later half of the 18th century in Britain 

 'many districts remained completely excluded, 

 so that foreign products never reached them 

 at all,' and 'even at the beginning of the 19th 

 century the Yorkshire yeoman was ignorant of 

 sugar, potatoes, and cotton.' It has been the work 

 of the commercial traveller to materially assist in 

 altering this state of things, and to bring al>out 

 'equality of distribution of produce, and corre- 

 sponding equality of prices, and generally to 

 promote that ' facility of exchange which is* the 

 very soul of industry.' Commercial travelling in 

 the specific sense is not an old institution. The 

 'commercial traveller,' 'bagman,' or 'rider' (in 

 the United States, 'drummer') was the successor 

 to the ' chapman ' or travelling merchant, who 

 carried with him not samples merely, but stock. 

 Chaucer tells us that : 



In Hurry* whylom <lwi-lt a <!ni|ny<>, 

 Of cluipmen rielin, an<l tlii-rto luulde and trewe, 

 That wyde wln-r H-II(-II lier njiycerie. 

 Clothes uf gold, and natlriH riche of hewe. 



The application of steam to machinery, the conse- 

 quent me of the factory system, increased facilities 

 in banking, and improved means of locomotion, 

 have made the commercial traveller an important 

 factor in the commercial world. Within recent 

 years a formidable competitor ha* entered the 

 field in the person of the foreigner, whose 

 superior education and commercial training have 

 hitherto placed the British commercial traveller at 

 a disadvantage. A further development of com- 

 mercial travelling is before us ; there is room 

 especially for men possessing a thorough knowledge 

 of foreign and colonial trade, and above all of 

 modern languages. 



There are several excellent institutions con- 

 nected with the body, owing largely to the efforts 

 of men like George Moore and George Stockdale. 

 The Commercial Travellers' Schools for destitute 

 orphans and necessitous children were founded in 

 1845 : the school at Pinner accommodates 360 chil- 

 dren. The Commercial Travellers' Benevolent 

 Institution was founded in 1849 for the relief of 

 necessitous commercial travellers over the age of 

 fifty-five years, being members, and for their 

 widows. The relief is given in the form of an 

 annuity of 50 to members, and 30 to their 

 widows. The Commercial Travellers' Society of 

 Scotland was founded in 1838 for the relief of mem- 

 bers incapacitated by disease, accident, or infirmity, 

 and for securing a payment at death. The British 

 Commercial Travellers' Provident Society, like the 

 last named, is based on the Friendly Societies Act. 

 There is also a Commercial Travellers' Christian 

 Association ( 1882) ; and the United Kingdom Com- 

 mercial Travellers' Association (1883) has done 

 good work in pushing forward hotel and railway 

 reforms, and in promoting social intercourse among 

 commercial travellers. A newspaper, On the Road, 

 devoted entirely to the interests of commercial 

 travellers, was established in 1883. 



In the United States the number of commercial 

 travellers has increased rapidly, till in 1890 it was 

 computed that there were between 230,000 and 

 300,000. Amongst their benevolent associations 

 are the Commercial Travellers' Association of New 

 York (2000 members); the North-western Travel- 

 ling Men's Association of Chicago (4000); one at 

 St Louis (2100); an Order of Commercial Travellers, 

 a secret society organised in 1888 ; also a Travellers' 

 Protective Association (9000 members), for provid- 

 ing against overcharges by railroads and notels, 

 &c. The organ of the travelling salesmen is The 

 Merchant Traveller, published at Chicago. 



Com in iiiatiou (Lat., 'threatening'), the 'de- 

 nouncing of God's anger and judgments against 

 sinners,' read in the Anglican Church on Ash- 

 Wednesday (q.v. ). A solemn sen-ice, at which 

 penitents were expelled from the church, after in- 

 structions and prayers for their amendment, appears 

 to have been held on the first day of Lent from a 

 very early date, perhaps from the beginning of the 

 6th century ; but the commutation ofhce used in the 

 Church of England is rather a continuation of the 

 medieval practice of reciting the 'articles of the 

 sentence or cursing,' which were at one time read in 

 the parish churches four times a year; only the 

 opening exhortation to repentance was composed 

 by the English Reformers. The present office is 

 nearly the same as those found in the Sarum 

 and York uses. The curses contained in Deut. 

 xxvii. are read as statements, not as prayers ; and 

 the congregation answer ' Amen ' to every sentence, 

 as acknowledging the truth of what has been stated, 

 rather than as confirming the curse. The American 



