8+6 ' COM 
CGM'BOUEG, a town of France, in the department 
of the life and Vilaine,'and chief place of a canton, in 
the diftndt of Dol: two leagues and a half fouth of Do!. 
COMBR ATLTES, before the revolution a fmall coun¬ 
try of France, in the province of Auvergne, of which 
Evaux was the capital. 
COMBRE'E, a town of France, in the department of 
the Ma’yne and Loire, aud chief place of a canton, in the 
diftridf of Segre : feven miles welt of Segre. 
COMBRF/T, a town of France, in the department of 
the Aveiror.: eight leagues eaft of Aiby. 
COMBRE'FUM, f. [the name of a plant in Pliny, 
defcribed by him as very like the bacchar, but taller, 
with the leaves drawn out lb finely as to referable threads.] 
In botany, agenusof the clafs oftanaria, ordermonogynia, 
natural order of calycanthemae. The generic characters 
are—Calyx: perianthiumone-leafed,fuperior,bell-fl'iaped, 
four or hve-toothed, deciduous. Corolla: petals four or 
five,-ovate, acute, inferted into the calyx, and lcarcely 
longer than it. Stamina : filaments eight or ten, briftle- 
form, erefit, very long ; antberaea little oblong. Piftillum : 
germ inferior, linear; ftyle briftle-form, length of the 
ftamens; Itigma acute. Perianthium : none, except the 
cruft of the feed. Seed ; Angle, four or five-angled; 
angles membranaceous; acuminate.— EJfential Character. 
Calyx, four or five-toothed, bell-fhaped, fuperior; co¬ 
rolla, four or five-petalled, inferted into the calyx; fta- 
mina, very long; feed', one; four or five-angled, the an¬ 
gles membranaceous. 
Species, i. Combretum laxum: fpikes lax, leaves op- 
pofite. This genus is very imperfeftly known, and beinga 
very fine one, delerves the attention of the cultivators of 
exotic plants. The firft fpecies is a fivrub with round 
fcandent branches, the younger ones brachiate ; leaves 
ovate, acuminate, fometimes blunt, with or without a 
point, quite entire, fmooth, petioled, three inches long ; 
Fpikes eredb, three inches long, axillary and terminating; 
flowers fmall, whitifh, on very fhort pedicels. Jacquin 
affirms,'that the plant which Aublet has figured and de¬ 
fcribed under the fame name, is not his plant, although 
it have the fame habit, for the flowers are totally different. 
He would unite Aublet’s with Loefling’s. plant, and con- 
lider them as a diftindt fpecies. It feems indeed to agree 
better with our fecond fpecies, than with the firft. The 
leaf and fruit in Aublet’s figure agree well enough with 
Jacquin’s of his Jecundiim, but not with that of Gaertner, 
who refers to Aublet, and not to Jacquin. Native of the 
.W-eft-Indies. 
2. Combretum fecundum : fpikes in one row, leaves 
oppofite. This is a fmall tree, twelve feet high, fup- 
porting itfelf on other trees by its round and very long 
branches ; leaves ovate-oblong, acuminate, quite entire, 
fmooth, veined, diftich, petioled, four inches long, the 
•upper ones on the flowering branchlets fmaller; fpike pin¬ 
nate, compofed of feveral oppofite ones in a double row 
uncertain in their number, and an odd one at the end, ex¬ 
tended horizontally along with the extremity of the branch 
■whence it arifes;. pedicels one-flowered, extremely ihort, 
placed very clofe to each other; flowers very numerous, 
with fcarcely any fcent, yellowifn green except the an¬ 
thers, which are red, all turned upwards and eredl, all to¬ 
gether appearing likeacreft; the branches, when broken, 
and the leaves bruifed, have a fetid and very unplealant 
ftnell. Native of Carthagena in South America; and alfo 
of Guiana. 
3 Combretum purpureum: leaves ovate-oblong, both 
they and the calyxes naked, fpikes Ample, directed one 
way. This is a very fmooth fhrub, with round brachiate 
branches; native of the Eaft-lndies. 
4. Combretum decandrum: leaves alternate, flowers 
ten-ftamened. This is a weak branching fiirub, climbing 
to twenty feet in height, with prickles on the older 
branches; flowers fmall and very numerous, coming out 
ufualiy before the leaves; fruits brownilh. Native of 
C O M 
Carthagena; flowering in May and June, and fruithig m 
July and'Auguft. 
COMBR.ON'DE, a town of France, in the d&partment 
of the Puy-de-dbme, and chief place of a canton, in the 
diftridt of Riom : two leagues north of Riom. 
COM'BUST, ad ), or Co w bu stion , f . in aftrology, is faid 
of a planet when it is in conjunction with the fun, or not 
diftant from it above half their diic. But, according to 
Algol, a planet is cvmbujl, or in comhujlion, when it is 
within eight degrees and a half of the fun. 
COMBUSTl'BLE, ad), [comburo, combujum, Lat.l Hav¬ 
ing the quality of catching fire ; fufceptible of fire.—Sin 
is to the foul like fire to combuftible matter; it afiimilates 
before it deftroys it. South. 
The flame fhall ft ill remain ; 
Nor, till the fuel perifti, can decay, 
By nature form’d on things combujlible to prey. Dry dim 
COMBUSTI'BLENESS,/. Aptnefs to take fire. 
COMBUS'TIO PECU'NIFE, the ancient way of Irv¬ 
ing mixt and corrupt money, by melting it down upon 
payments into the exchequer. In the time of Henry IT. 
a conftitution was made, .called the trial by combultion;. 
the practice of which differed little from the prefent me¬ 
thod of allaying filver. But whether this examination of 
money by combultion, was to reduce adequation of mo¬ 
ney only of fterling, viz. a due proportion of alloy wirli 
copper, or to reduce it to a fine pure filver without alloy, 
doth not appear. 
COMBUS' CION, /. [Ft.] Conflagration-; burning; 
confumption by fire.—The future comhujlion of the earth 
is to be uthered in'and accompanied with violent impref- 
fion-s upon nature. Burnet. —Tumult; hurry; bultle_. 
Thofe cruel wars between the lioufes of York and Lan- 
cafter, brought all England into an horrible comhujlion, 
Raleigh. 
How much more of pow’r. 
Army againft army, numberlefs to raife 
Dreadful eombujlion warring, and difturb, 
Though not deftroy, their happy native feat! Milton. 
In the chemical inveftigation of natural bodies, there is a 
remarkable diftindfion.with regard to the effects of com- 
buftion upon them. Some will admit 6f being heated to 
fuch a degree as even to become luminous, or red hot, 
without any permanent or confiderable change of their 
properties or component parts; and as foon as the com¬ 
munication of heat ceales, the bodies immediately begin 
to cool. On the other hand there are a great number of 
bodies, which, when heated withaccefs of vital air to fuch 
a degree as to become luminous, undergo a change in 
their properties, infomuch that theirtemperature even in- 
creafes, and they continue to give out heat until the ge¬ 
neral ftate of the combination of their parts is changed. 
Thefe fubftanees are diftinguilhed by the name of com- 
buftible bodies, and the alteration produced by this ap¬ 
parently fpontaneous production of heat, is called com-, 
bujliom 
It muft always have been a problem of the firft impor¬ 
tance in natural philofophy, to afcertain what happens in 
combuftion. The divifion of fubftanees inco combuftible 
and incombuftible, is as ftriking and diftindt as any we 
are acquainted with ; and it is a natural inference, that 
the one clafs of bodies muft pofl'efs fome general property 
or identical fu.bftance not to be found in the other. The 
philofophy of the middle ages, probably in confequence 
of their logical claffifications, was much more difpofed to 
attach itfelf to. fubftanees than habitudes or properties. 
It is lefs to be wondered at, therefore, that Beecher and 
Sthal, in-their chemical theory, fhould have ailigned a fub- 
ftance eminently, combuftible, or fire itfelf, as refident in 
all combuftible bodies, and occafioning the ditference 
between them and other bodies, inltead of enquiring 
whether the general effedt might not have anien from 
fome principle of the chemical affinities. Modem che- 
mjfts 
