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part on the open sea, where it is continually 
diving for fish, which it does with great 
agility, and flies high and well. It is com- 
mon in Iceland and Greenland, where it 
breeds, and at that time frequents the fresh 
waters. It is sufficiently plentiful in Nor- 
way, and all along the arctic coasts, as far as 
the river Ob, in the Russian dominions. The 
natives of Greenland use the skins for cloth- 
ing ; and the Indians about Hudson’s-bay 
adorn their heads with circlets of their fea- 
thers. At the last place it is known by the 
name of athinue-moqua. As they are sel- 
dom seen on the sea-coasts, but chiefly 
among the lakes, they are called by the In- 
dians inland loons. 
5. The immer, or ember-goose, is superior 
in size to a common goose. The head is 
dusky ; the back, coverts of the wings, and 
tail, clouded with lighter and darker shades 
of the same. The under side of the neck 
spotted ‘with dusky; the breast and bel!y r 
silvery ; the legs black. They inhabit the 
seas about the Orkney islands ; but in severe 
winters visit the southern parts of Great 
Britain. They are found also in Iceland, and 
most parts of northern Europe; likewise in 
Kamtschatka ; but not in any part of S.beria 
or Russia. It likewise inhabits Switzerland, 
particularly on the lake of Constance, where 
it is known by the name of finder. It is said 
to dive wonderfully well, and to rise to an 
amazing distance from the place where it 
plunged. The female makes its nest among 
the reeds and flags, and places it in the water; 
so that it is continually wet, as in some of the 
grebe genus. It is difficult to be taken, 
either on land or swimming on the water ; 
but is not (infrequently caught under the wa- 
ter by a hook baited with a small fish, its 
usual food. 
6. i'he Chinese diver, supposed to inhabit 
China. From the various and uncertain ac- 
counts of authors, we are not clear what birds 
the Chinese use fo catching fish: the custom, 
however, of doing it, is manifest, from the 
relations of many travellers. I'he bird used 
for this purpose lias a ring fastened round the 
middle of the neck, in order to prevent its 
swallowing: besides this it has a slender long 
string fastened to it ; and, thus accoutred, 
is taken by its master into his fishing-boat, 
from the edge of which it is taught to plunge 
after the fish as they pass by. 
7. The cristatus, crested diver, or car- 
goose, weighs two pounds and a half. Its 
length is 2 \ inches, the breadth 30 ; the bill 
is two inches and a quarter long, red at the 
base, and black at the point. The cheeks and 
throat are surrounded with a long pendant 
ruff, of a bright tawny colour, edged with 
black; the chin is white; the breast and belly 
are of a most beautiful silvery -white, glossy 
as satin ; the outside of the legs and the bot- 
tom of the feet are dusky ; the inside of the 
legs and the toes of a pale green. These 
birds frequent the meres of Shropshire and 
Cheshire, where they breed ; and the great 
fen of Lincolnshire, where they are called 
gaunts. 
S. The urinator, or tippet-grebe, is thought 
bv Mr. Latham not to b . a different species 
from the former, being only somewhat less, 
and wanting the crest and ruff. The sides 
of the neck are striped downwards from the 
head with narrow lines of black and white ; 
in oth.er respects the colours- and marks 
agree with that bird. This species has been 
shot on Bostern-mere in Cheshire. It is 
rather scarce in England, but is common in 
the wintertime on the lake of Geneva. 
They appear there in flocks of ten or twelve; 
and are killed for the sake of their beautiful 
skins. The under side of them, being dressed 
with the feathers on, is made into muffs 
and tippets; each bird sells for about fourteen 
shillings. 
9. 'i’he horned grebe is about the size of a 
teal; weight, one pound; length, one foot; 
breadth, sixteen inches. It inhabits Blud- 
son’s-bay; and first appears in May, about 
the fresh waters. It lays from two to four 
white eggs in June, among the aquatic 
plants ; and is said to cover them when 
abroad. It retires south in autumn ; and ap- 
pears then at New York, staying till spring, 
when it returns to the north. For its vast 
quickness in diving it is called the water-witch. 
At Hudson’s-bay, this bird is mostly known 
by the name of seekeep. 
COMA. See Medicine. 
Coma Berenices, Berenice’s hair, in 
•astronomy, a constellation of the northern 
hemisphere, composed of stars near the 
lion’s tail. See Astronomy. 
COM ARUM, marsh-cinquefoil; a genus 
of the polygynia order, in the icosandria 
class of plants ; and in the natural method 
ranking under the 35th order, senticosse. 
'i’he calyx is decemfid; the petals rive, less 
than the calyx; the receptacle of the seeds 
ovate, spongy, and persisting. There is but 
one species, a native of Britain. It rises 
about two feet high, and bears fruit some- 
what like that of the strawberry. 
COMB, an instrument to clean, untangle, 
and dress, flax, wool, hair, &c. Combs for 
wool are prohibited to be imported into Bri- 
tain. 
Comb, in a ship, a little piece of timber set 
ynder the lower part of the beakhead, near 
the middle. It has two holes in it, and sup- I 
plies to the fore-tacks what the chest-trees do 
to the maintacks ; that is, to bring the fore- 
tacks -aboard. 
COMB-MAKING. Combs are generally 
made of the horns of bullocks, or of elephants’ 
and sea-horses’ teeth: some are made of tor- 
toise-shell, and others of box or holly woods. 
Bullocks’ horns are thus prepared in order to 
manufacture combs. I'he tips are first sawn 
off; they are then held in the flame of a wood 
tire; this is called roasting, by which they be- 
come nearly as soft as leather. While in 
that state they are slit open on one side, and 
pressed in a machine between two iron plates ; 
they are then plunged into a trough of water, 
from which they come out. hard and flat. 
The comb-maker next saws them into lengths 
according to the sized combs he wants. To 
cut the teeth, each piece is fixed in a tool 
called a clam. The teeth are cut with a fine 
saw, or rather a pair of saws, and they are 
finished with a file. 
The process used for making ivory combs 
is nearly the same as that already described, 
except that the ivory is first sawed into thin 
slices. About eight years ago Mr. Bundy, 
of Camden-town, obtained a patent for cut- 
ting combs by means of machinery. It will 
be thought a very singular circumstance, 
that before this period no method was prac- 
tised in this country for cutting the teeth of 
combs, but that ux which a pair of saws. 
rudely fastened in a wooden back, were di- 
rected by the human hand. With these im- 
plements, however, it is, that the very deli • 
cate superfine ivory combs, containing from 
50 to 60 teeth in an inch, were manufactured. 
By Mr. Bundy’s machine the business of 
comb-making is greatly expedited ; the teeth 
of two combs may be cut in about three mi- 
nutes. The combs are afterwards pointed 
by applying them to an arbor or axis clothed 
with cutters having chamfered edges and 
teeth. 
I ortoise-shell combs are very much used, 
and there are methods' of staining horn so as 
to imitate tortoise-shell; of which the follow- 
ing is one: 'I he horn to be dyed must be first 
pressed into a flat form, and then spread over 
with a paste made of two parts of quick-lime 
and one of litharge, brought into a proper 
consistence with soap-ley. This paste must 
be put over all the parts of the horn, except 
such as are proper to be left transparent, to 
give it a nearer resemblance to tortoise-shell. 
1 he horn must remain in this state till the 
paste is quite dry, when it is to be brushed 
oft. It requires taste and judgment to dis- 
pose the paste in such a manner as to form 
variety of transparent parts, of different 
magnitudes and figures, to look like nature. 
Some parts should also be semi-transparent; 
which may be effected by mixing whiting 
with a part of the paste, to weaken its opera- 
tion in particular places; by this means spots 
of a reddish brown will be produced so as 
greatly to increase the beauty of the work. 
Horn thus dyed is manufactured into combs, 
and these are frequently sold for real tor- 
toise-shell. 
COMBATANT, in heraldry, a term for 
two beasts, as lions, &:c. borne in a coat of 
arms in a fighting posture, with their faces to 
each other. 
COMBINATION , in chemistry, the union 
of bodies of different natures from which a 
new compound body results. Thus an acid 
unites with an alkali, and it is said there is a 
combination betwixt these two salts, because 
from the union a neutral salt results. Again, 
metals unite with oxvgen, and form a combi- 
nation of the metallic- oxides. Whether 
tnere exists a reciprocal affinity between 
every species ot the particles of bodies, is a 
point which cannot easily be determined, 
though it is certainly ve . probable that there 
does. But as the particles of bodies are usu- 
ally found cohering together in masses, it is 
evident tiiat no heterogeneous bodies can com- 
bine unless their affinity for each other be 
stronger than the cohesive force which unites 
the respective particles of each. Now when- 
ever two bodies constantly refuse to com- 
bine, in whatever situation we place them, 
we say that they have no affinity for each 
other; meaning merely that their affinity is 
pot so great as to produce combination. 
'I bus we say that there is no affinity between 
oil and water, because these two liquids re- 
fuse to combine together ; yet when oil is 
united with alkali, and in the state of soap, it 
dissloyes in water, a proof that there does exist 
an affinity between water and oil, though not 
strong enough to produce combination. We 
say also, that there is no affinity between 
azote and lime, because azotic gas cannot be 
combined with that earth: yet nitric acid dis- 
solves lime readily, which shews us that the 
refusal of lime and azotic gas to combine is, 
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