209 Composts. given rise to much controversy, not as to its truth, but as to its derivation, some appearing to contend that it is directly deducible from the axiom above stated, without the necessity of further reasoning.—Knowing how to compound two forces acting at a point, we are able to compound or determine the resultant of any number. If the forces, though in the same plane, do not act at the same point of a body, those of them whose 2. The resolution of forces is the converse problem. To resolve a given force R, whose direction and magnitude is Ar, into two forces acting in any directions that may be chosen, as AP, AQ, we have only to draw parallels through r, which determine the lines Ap, Aq, representing the magnitude of the forces required. It is evident that there is an indefinite number of pairs of forces into which Ar might be resolved, accordIt is usual, however, to resolve ing to the direction in which the new forces are to act. a force into forces that are at right angles to each other. 3. The composition of motions is analogous in every way to that of forces; motions are the results of forces, and the analogy might be expected. If a body be actuated simultaneously by two velocities having different directions, it will evidently move in a direction intermediate to the two, and with a velocity which will in some way depend It is: If two velocion each of them, and which is called their resultant. The proposition which sets forth how to find the resultant, is called the parallelogram of velocities. ties, with which a particle is simultaneously impressed, be represented in direction and magnitude by two straight lines drawn from the particle, the resultant velocity of the particle will be represented in direction and magnitude by the diagonal of the parallelogram described on those two straight lines. The proof is very simple. There is no reason why the full effect of both velocities should not be produced, as if the body moved first with one of them, and then with the other, in their respective directions. If in one second the body moving with the one velocity would reach p, and if we sup pose it then to move on pr for another second, parallel with the other velocity, it would Hence, under their joint influence, it will be at the end of the second second be at r. at r at the end of one second. 4. The resolution of motions is altogether analogous to that of forces. COMPOS MENTIS. See INSANITY. St. James, the elder, was COMPOSTEL LA, MILITARY ORDER OF ST. JAMES OF. adopted as the patron saint of Spain, after the victory of Clavijo, and his relics were preserved at Compostella, the capital of the province of Galicia. The marvels supposed to be performed by these relics drew vast numbers of pilgrims, for whose support hospitals were established by the pious canons of St. Eloy. The vicinity of the Moors having subsequently rendered the high roads unsafe, 13 noblemen united for the protection of the pilgrims, and, in conjunction with the canons, resolved to found an order of the same kind as that of the Hospitallers or Templars. The pope granted his assent in a bull, dated 5th July, 1175, accompanied with the statutes of the order. Whatever conquests were made from the infidel were declared the property of the order, and a council of 13 knights was vested with authority to elect and depose a grand master. The knights made vows of poverty, obedience, and celibacy, and professed their belief in the immaculate conception. To protect Christians, and convert infidels, they vowed to be the only object in their wars with the Saracens. In most of the great battles between Christian and Moor, the red cross of the order was conspicuous. The conquests of the order itself, combined with the grateful munificence of the nation, speedily increased its wealth and power beyond those of any of the other orders of knighthood. In addition to the three large commanderies of Leon, Castile, and Montalvan, it possessed nearly 200 minor commanderies, comprising, it is said, more than 200 priories, with many fiefs, cloisters, hospitals, castles, boroughs, two towns, and 178 villages, exclusive of its possessions in Portugal. This enormous wealth and power of the order excited the jealousy of the crown, in which, in 1522, the grand mastership was permanently vested by the pope. Having thus become merely honorary and dependent on the crown, the order rapidly decreased in importance. COMPOSTS are a kind of manure (q.v.), consisting of mixtures of substances adapted to the fertilization of the soil, which being allowed to ferment, and undergo chemical changes for a considerable time in heaps, become more valuable than they were at first, or ever could have been if applied separately. C. were formerly made of farm-yard manure, and earth or lime in addition. Road-scrapings, peat-moss, leaves, and clearings of ditches, also formed materials for the purpose. By allowing these to lie in heaps for 6 months, of from 3 to 4 ft. in depth, food was prepared for plants. The mass was usually applied to the turnip crop, and when artificial manures were unknown, considerable benefit arose from such dressings. The use of guano and other light manures has superseded in a great measure the necessity of this laborious process, and C. for the Compressed. turnips or barley crops are now little used. The wonderful effects that have resulted from the application of small doses of nitrogen and phosphoric acid, have impressed farmers in general with the truth, that the most energetic elements bear a small proportion in weight to the whole mass of farm-yard dung or C., and that the mixing of manures in heaps with earth does not so much add to its virtues as to repay the labor expended in the process. More care is now rightly bestowed in preserving manure from washings by rain. C. formed of leaves, ditch-scourings, road-scrapings, or any earthy matter containing a large percentage of vegetable matter, with the addition of lime, may still be used with benefit for pastures that are deteriorating, or where the soil is stiff. Where moss prevails, lime should enter largely as a component. On the other hand, where the soil is of a strong and clayey nature, earthy substances containing vegetable matter in larger proportions should be used. Vegetable matter has the effect of imparting a softness to the surface, that is particularly conducive to the free growth of pastures. Compost made of turf, leaves, earth, and bone-dust is used with great benefit by gardeners for vines and fruit trees which are injured by too concentrated manures. COMPOUND ANIMALS are those animals, exclusively of the lowest classes, in which individuals distinct as to many of the powers of life, are yet united in some part of their frame, so as to form one living system. Examples of this union are found in many animalcules and zoophytes, also in cestoid worms and ascidian mollusks. The whole living system in all C. A. appears to originate from a single egg or germ, and each is at first simple; the subsequent multiplication of individuals, having distinct organs, but . permanently retaining their connection with the system, has some analogies with some of the modes of true reproduction. It is important, also, to observe that many C. A. exhibit very close relations to other animals which in no degree possess this remarkable character. The subject of C. A. is in many respects an extremely interesting one. This occasional peculiarity in animal life may perhaps be regarded as affording some countenance to the theory of Darwin concerning plants, that each bud is to be accounted a distinct individual. But the term individual must be modified in its sense, when applied to the buds of a tree, or the polypes of a polypidom. COMPOUND COMMON TIME, that species of measure containing the value of two dotted minims in a bar, or two dotted crotchets, marked thus: COMPOUND FRACTURE, is such a breaking or contusion, that the air may pass through lacerated flesh and skin to the bone. Such fractures are very difficult to treat with success. COMPOUNDING OF FELONY, in England, is the offense of taking value for forbearing to prosecute a felony, and is punishable with fine and imprisonment. Compounding of informations upon penal statutes, and compounding of misdemeanors, are also illegal, unless with leave of one of the courts at Westminster, and are punishable in a lighter degree. But in misdemeanors affecting many private (and not public) rights, the court will often permit the defendant to make the prosecutor some pecuniary amends, and thereupon withdraw the prosecution. A species of C. of F. is the advertising a reward for stolen property, coupled with words implying that no questions will be asked, or that no prosecution will be instituted, or that a pawnbroker returning the property will be paid what he has advanced for it; and this offense, by 24 and 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 102, is punishable by a fine of £50, on the advertiser, publisher, and printer. And whosoever shall take money or reward for restoring a stolen dog is liable, by 24 and 25 Vict. c. 96, s. 20, to imprisonment for eighteen months. COMPOUNDING OF FELONY (ante), in the United States, is treated much the same as in England. It is punishable by fine and imprisonment. The accepting of a promissory note signed by a party guilty of larceny, as a consideration for not prosecuting, is enough to constitute the offense; but the mere retaking of stolen goods by the owner is not an offense, unless the thief is not to be prosecuted. A receipt in full of all demands, given in consideration of stopping a criminal prosecution, is void. COMPOUND INTEREST. See INTEREST. COMPOUND TRIPLE TIME denotes a measure of nine crotchets or quavers in a bar, and is marked thus: g 9 COMPRESSED-AIR BATH, a large chamber in which patients sit under increased atmospheric pressure for a greater or shorter period. An attempt at this kind of treatment was made as early as 1662, by Dr. Henshaw, but failed owing to the imperfection of the apparatus. The apparatus, as now used, is the invention of M. Emile Laburié, of Paris, who in 1832 conducted a series of careful experiments upon the effects of the atmospheric air at different densities upon the human frame. The bath is a chamber 9 ft. in diameter and 12 ft. high; it is constructed of iron plates riveted together like those of a Compressed. boiler of a steam-engine, so as to be perfectly air-tight; it is provided with two closefitting iron doors, which can be opened without affecting the pressure of the air within the chamber; the interior is lined with wood, and furnished with seats; a steam-engine of seven-horse power works a pair of large air-pumps, communicating indirectly with the chamber by a pipe that opens by means of numerous small holes in the bottom of the floor, so that the air enters imperceptibly into the chamber; from the roof, a pipe similarly arranged allows the breathed air to escape. Each of these tubes is supplied with a screw valve, by means of which the inlet and exit of the air are regulated. Two barometers hang on the walls of the chamber, to show the rate of increase and decrease of pressure. The pressure is raised at the rate of 1 lb. every 4 minutes, and the lowering takes place at the same rate. The pressure is usually raised to 7 lbs. per sq. inch, in addition to the usual pressure of the atmosphere. The period generally prescribed for remaining in the bath is 2 hours. The diseases in which the compressed-air bath is said to be most efficient are phthisis, asthma, and chronic bronchitis. The effects are attributed to two causes: 1. A greater quantity of air, and consequently of oxygen, is inhaled in a given time; and not only so, but the amount absorbed is increased in proportion to the pressure of the gas against the walls of the air-vesicles. The increased absorption of oxygen and excretion of carbonic acid enables the lungs to perform their functions more efficiently, and thereby removes any congestion existing in these organs. 2. The increased mechanical pressure of the air upon the mucous membranes, when in a state of chronic congestion, has a bracing effect, and imparts renewed vigor to the entire structure of the lungs and bronchi. At Ben-Rhydding, the compressed-air bath is used in cases of the kind above named, along with the usual appliances of the water-cure. COMPRESSED-AIR ENGINE. One mode of employing air as a motive-power is described in caloric engine (q.v.). Another obvious way is to compress it, and then apply it in the manner of high-pressure steam. Although compressed air has been used for working small engines in confined situations, such as tunnels (q.v.), it is not at all likely that it will ever come into extensive use, owing to the great waste of power attending it. This waste arises from two causes-first, the friction due to forcing the compressed air along a great length of pipe; and secondly, the loss from the dissipation of the great heat which results from its compression. If, say, 100 cubic feet of air is compressed into 1 cubic foot, it will become very hot, and although it is very easy to keep in the air, it is impossible to keep in the heat. In spite of every precaution, the heat will find its way through the vessel in which the air is confined, and through the pipes in which it is being transmitted, and this is equivalent to a portion of the air itself leaking out, because when the air is permitted to expand in working the engine, it will not attain the bulk it originally had of 100 cubic feet. The greater the original compression of the air, the higher its temperature will rise; and as this caloric, which cannot be kept from escaping, is practically a part of the bulk of the air, it follows that the loss of power from this cause wili increase with the pressure or tension of the air. Even were it possible to prevent the escape of the heat, by covering the vessels and pipes with some non-conducting substance, it would not be practicable to use the hot air in the same way as steam is used, because the lubricating material necessary to keep the piston and slide-valves from "tearing" would be decomposed by the high temperature. In steam-engines, there is always a small quantity of water in the cylinders and slide-valves, arising from the condensation of a portion of the steam, and this suffices to lubricate the piston and valves. It is well known that when steam is superheated so highly as to prevent a slight condensation in the cylinder and slide-vales, they are very rapidly destroyed. Air rises in temperature when very much compressed, and we cannot use it until its temperature falls; and as this involves a great waste of power, it follows that where economy is of any consequence, air cannot be used as a mode of transmitting mechanical power. Indeed, no fluid can be economically used for transmitting power for any great distance. We have just seen that compressed air is very unsuitable; steam is even more wasteful, because it condenses into water in long pipes. Water itself loses much of its force from friction in passing through long pipes, unless they are of very large size; and in applying it to hydraulic cranes, where the weight to be raised varies, great waste of power arises from the fact, that the cylinder, in which the ram works, has to be filled every time the crane is worked with water at the full pressure of 600 or 700 lbs. to the square inch, even when a pressure one tenth of that amount would suffice to raise the weight. In short, the power actually used in working a hydraulic crane is always the maximum, even when the weight to be raised is a minimum. It uses as much power to lift a hundred-weight as it does to lift a ton. The extreme handiness and other practical advantages possessed by the hydraulic cranes leave a large balance in their favor, notwithstanding their waste of power. In boring the Mont Cenis tunnel (see TUNNEL), air was compressed at the mouth of the tunnel by the abundant water-power easily obtainable there, and forced along to the working face through small iron pipes, for working the boring-machines. The tunnel through the Hoosac mountain in Massachusetts has also been bored by compressed air working the rock-drills. A plan has been proposed for using ordinary steam-boilers and engines close to the working face in the tunnel, and drawing out the smoke and vitiated Comte. air through a wooden trunk. Another fairly successful application of compressed-air engines has been in the working of coal-cutting machines. Of these machines, Firth's in England, Gladhill's in Scotland, and Brown's in America, have been in practical operation for several years; but they can as yet only be economically worked under exceptionally favorable circumstances. Experiments have been recently tried to propel tramway cars with compressed air. Engines for the compression of air are used in making ice. See REFRIGERATING MACHINES. COMPRESSIBILITY is that property of bodies by which they admit of being forced or pressed into less space than they formerly occupied. The particles composing bodies are in all cases at greater or less distances from one another; and whatever brings the particles closer together, diminishes the volume or bulk of the body. This may be effected by various agencies, as, e.g., by the withdrawal of heat (q.v.); but the effect is called compression only when it is caused by mechanical force, as by pressure or percussion. All bodies are compressible, but in different degrees. Many solids, especially those of a compact structure, have this property only in a slight degree. It was believed at one time that liquids were incompressible; more accurate experiments, however, have proved that this is not the case; water, for instance, subjected to a pressure of 15,000 Ibs. on the sq.in., loses of its volume. Gases, on the other hand, are strikingly compressible; by means of a common condensing syringe, a number of cubic inches of air can be forced into the space of one inch. Compression is in almost every instance accompanied by an evolution of heat. When a piston, having a piece of German tinder attached to the bottom, is forced rapidly to the bottom of a shut condensing syringe, and rapidly withdrawn, the tinder is found ignited. In a restricted sense, those gases are said to be compressible which, under great pressure, become liquid. This is the case with carbonic-acid gas, chlorine, sulphurous-acid gas, and others. Atmospheric air and its components have hitherto resisted all attempts to liquefy them; though it is believed that only a sufficient degree of pressure and cold is necessary to make any gas liquid. Carbonic-acid and some other gases are liquefied in small quantities by inclosing the ingredients necessary for generating the gas in a strong glass tube, keeping them separate till the tube is hermetically sealed. The gas, as it is produced, is condensed into a fluid by its own pressure, which is aided by keeping one end of the bent tube in a cooling mixture. COMPROMISE MEASURES, or OMNIBUS BILL, the popular name of a series of measures submitted to the U. S. senate in Jan., 1850, by Henry Clay, having for their object "an amicable arrangement of all questions in controversy between the free and the slave states growing out of the subject of slavery." These questions, which had perplexed the national government from the beginning, and which, since 1830, had caused a wide agitation among the people, were complicated by the war with Mexico, which led to the acquisition of much new territory, the status of which in respect to slavery remained to be determined. At the north it was insisted that the territory in question was ipso facto exempt from slavery, and that it was the right and duty of congress to protect it from the blight of an institution whose nature was at war with republican government The slaves states, on the other hand, were ambitious to establish slavery on at least a part of this territory, and insisted that the national government had no power under the constitution to set up any legislative barriers against the system. The controversy was thought by many to menace the safety of the union, and Henry Clay, on whom had been bestowed the soubriquet of "the compromiser" for his previous efforts to stop the agitation of the slavery question, proposed in the senate a series of measures for the purpose of making "a final settlement" of all the questions arising from this subject and bringing the people of the two sections of the country into perfect harmony. When congress met in Dec., 1849, the country was profoundly agitated. President Taylor at an early day transmitted a special message, recommending in substance that California, a part of the newly acquired territory, should be promptly admitted with the anti-slavery constitution which her people had framed and the boundaries which they had designated, and that the other territories should be left under the military government which had been established upon their conquest until such time as they should be entitled to and desirous of admission into the union as states, when they should be received with whatever republican institutions they might present. This plan made no provision for the settlement of the boundary of Texas, which state claimed to include within its rightful jurisdiction most of the people of New Mexico with their entire territory e. of the Rio Grande. To this assumption the people of New Mexico manifested the most determined and active hostility. Mr. Clay at an early day made a speech in the senate concurring in gen. Taylor's preference that each subject should be considered and decided by itself, but insisting that the territory should be promptly organized under regular territorial government, and the Texas boundary settled. In the progress of the discussion Mr. Clay waived his own preference of separate action upon the several questions, and assented to the combination of the admission of California, the organization of the territories, and the adjustment of the Texas boundary, all in one bill, which thence obtained the nickname of the "omnibus bill." A grand committee of 13 was raised, with Mr. Clay at its head, from which committee the "omnibus" was fully reported. It was contested by a good share of the Comte. strength and much of the weakness of the senate. When the struggle was at the fiercest, gen. Taylor died, and it was supposed that his decease and the succession of vicepresident Fillmore, who was esteemed moderately favorable to the omnibus bill, would secure its passage; but that expectation was not realized. On the contrary, after various amendments had been proposed, and most of them rejected, though some of considerable importance were adopted, a motion to strike out all that part relating to the boundary of Texas was carried, and the bill thus crippled was dismembered limb by limb, until nothing remained but the section organizing Utah as a separate territory. The famous omnibus bill, reduced to this one item, was passed and sent to the house. However, the California admission, the New Mexican territorial and Texas boundary section, and a new statute for the rendition of fugitive slaves, all passed as separate measures. Their effect, however, was not to suppress but rather to intensify the antislavery agitation, which waxed hotter and hotter, until it was finally suppressed only by the destruction of slavery itself. COMPTON, a co. in the province of Quebec, Canada, on the New England border, drained by the St. Francis, Chaudiere, and Salmon rivers; pop. '81, 19,581. The Atlantic and St. Lawrence railroad crosses the s. w. section. Capital, Cooksville. COMPTON, HENRY, 1632–1713; bishop of Oxford and afterwards of London. He was the tutor of James II., who, through his teachings, became attached to the Protestant faith. James deposed Compton, but when invasion was threatened he reinstated him; but Compton adhered to the Protestant side, and when William was proclaimed, crowned him with his own hands. COMPULSION. Acts done or grants made under the influence of C.-i.e., either force or fear-are reducible by the law of Scotland. But the fear must be such as would shake a man of ordinary firmness and resolution. In like manner, the plea of vis major —that is, that the individual acted under the influence of power greater than his ownmay relevantly be set up as a defense against such offenses as rebellion, piracy, etc. See DURESS. COMPURGA'TORS were twelve persons whom the law of our Saxon ancestors permitted the accused to call in proof of his innocency, and who joined their oaths to his. They were persons taken from the neighborhood, or otherwise known to the accused. It was rather in the character of jurymen than of witnesses that the C. acted, for what they swore to was not their knowledge, but their belief, and the institution belonged to a time when what has since been spoken of as the Saxon jury was taken from the persons in the neighborhood best acquainted with the matter to be investigated, and when they performed the combined functions of jurors, witnesses, and judges. The system of Č. was adopted even in civil actions for debts, and the ceremony of what was called canonical purgation of clerks-convict, was not abolished in England till 18 Eliz. c. 7. COMPUTATION OF TIME. See DAY. COM'RIE, a village and parish in the middle of Perthshire, on the Earn, a little e. of Loch Earn, and 20 m. w. of Perth. It lies amid the very picturesque scenery of the clay-slate band of Scotland, and is noted for frequent slight shocks of earthquakes. It has woolen and cotton weaving, and distilleries. Pop. '81, 1,038 COMSTOCK, ANTHONY. See page 887. COMSTOCK, CYRUS B., b. Mass., 1831; a graduate of West Point, major of engi neers, largely employed in engineering works during the war of the rebellion. 1871-83 he was superintendent of the geodetic survey of the northern lakes. COMSTOCK, JOHN LEE, 1789-1858; b. Conn.; a physician in Hartford. He is widely known as the author of text-books for schools, the one on philosophy having had a sale of more than a million copies. COMTE, AUGUSTE, the founder of the "positive philosophy," was b. at Montpellier in 1795 or 1797. He studied at Paris; and at an early period, it is said, attracted the attention of his companions by the boldness and novelty of his speculations, maintaining that the time was come when philosophy must undergo another great change, such as it had done in the days of Bacon. G. H. Lewes, who regarded C. as the Bacon of the 19th c., only much greater, informs us that C. was but fourteen when the reforming spirit awoke" in him (see Erposition of the Principles of the Positive Philosophy, by G. H. Lewes, Bohn, London, 1853). Shortly after this, and while still laboring under the excitement of his new convictions, he became acquainted with St. Simon; entered enthusiastically into his theories, which had not a little in common with his own, and which possessed in addition this advantage, that they were the results of matured thinking (St. Simon being then between 50 and 60); and in 1820, was appointed by the master himself to prepare an exposition of the Politique Positive of the St. Simonian society. The work did not satisfy St. Simon, who deplored the absence of the "relig ious and sentimental aspects" of his system. In 1825, on the death of St. Simon, C. broke off altogether from his confrères, and in after-years, was accustomed to speak slightingly of his old master's abilities. In 1826, C. was attacked by a cerebral disorder, brought on by "overwork and heart-anxieties." He recovered, however, and in 1832, |