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 C O M I L L A —C O M M E RCIAL tail. The causes of such changes must be sought for within the comet as, in all likelihood, they were not the direct result of solar action. Several other comets have shown like variations. Comet 1889 I. is remarkable for the long period (971 days) during which it was under observation. It was observed at four oppositions to the sun, the last observation being 1st May 1891. At this time its distance from the earth was 7-40 ; from the sun, 8‘22, which is not very different from the distance of Saturn ==9-54. The bright comet of 1811 was not observed beyond 4‘53 from the sun, and the great comet of 1882 was lost at 5‘16. Comet 1892 I. was photographed at various observatories, and the photographs show that its tail was of a very complex character and subject to great variations. W. H. Pickering {Annals H. C. 0. vol. xxxii.) concludes that the variations were periodic, and that the whole comet rotated in a period of about four days on an axis through the head, coinciding with the general direction of the tail. The motion of condensations in the tail led him to the conclusion that the total repulsive force of the sun was 39-51 times the force of gravity. Professor Campbell, at the Lick Observatory, notes a diminution in the wave-length of the green band of the spectrum after perihelion passage. The changes in Holmes’s periodic comet of 1892 have already been referred to. The periodic comet 1889 Y. (Brooks) was discovered on 6th July. It passed perihelion on 30th September. On 1st August Professor Barnard, at the Lick Observatory, discovered two companion comets neat by, and later two more. It has been suggested that the companion comets were separated from the main body by the attraction of Jupiter about May 1886, when the comet and planet were in proximity. The periodic comet (TempelSwift) came within 0-13 of Jupiter in 1880 (earth’s distance from the sun = l), and it is worthy of remark that at its return in 1891 it was reported by some observers to have a companion comet. Comet 1892 Y. was the first one (except the eclipse comet of 1882) to be discovered by photography (by Professor Barnard at the Lick Observatory). The first comets photographed were those of 1881 (H. Draper); 1881 (Janssen); 1882 (Gill). All comets sufficiently bright are now studied to great advantage by photography. The next bright comet that is favourably situated will yield important discoveries, which are foreshadowed by the results of Professor Hussey of the Lick Observatory on the bright comet 1893 II. (see Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, vol. vii., 1895, pp. 161-185). Professor Hussey’s photographs show marked changes in the nucleus, coma, and tail. The comet sent off a series of condensations or nebulous masses whose motions were determined to be between 40 and 60 miles per second. The photographs obtained by Professor Barnard of the Lick Observatory of the comet 1893 IV. also show extraordinary variations in the quantity of matter ejected by the head to form the tail, and in the direction of its motion (see Knowledge, February and May 1894). (e. s. h.) Com ilia, or Kumilla, a town of British India, headquarters of Tippera district in Bengal, situated on the river Gumti, with a station on the Assam-Bengal Railway, 96 miles from the coast terminus at Chittagong. Population (1881), 13,372; (1891), 14,680. The town has many large tanks; an English church, built in 1875; a high school; the Elliott artisan school; four printing-presses, one of which issues a vernacular newspaper; and a public library. Com ISO, a town of the province of Syracuse, Sicily, Italy, 90 miles by rail west by south from Syracuse, on the line to Licata. It has a fine spring, the fabled “ bath

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of Diana,” and limestone quarries. The people make pottery. Population, 19,333. Com merit ry, a town of France, in the arrondissement of Montlugon, department of Allier, 42 miles southwest of Moulins by rail. It gives its name to a coal-field, the output of which in 1899 amounted to 778,417 tons (metric); over 4000 persons are employed in connexion with the mines. There are very important foundries and forges. Population (1881), 9394; (1896), 9197; (1901), 11,165. Commercial Treaties.—A commercial treaty is a contract between States relative to trade. It is a bilateral act whereby definite arrangements are entered into by each contracting party towards the other—not mere concessions. As regards technical distinctions, an “ agreement,” an “ exchange of notes,” or a “ convention ” properly applies to one specific subject; whereas a “ treaty ” usually comprises several matters, whether commercial or political. In ancient times foreign intercourse, trade, and navigation were in many instances regulated by international arrangements. The text is extant of treaties of commerce and navigation concluded between Carthage and Rome in 509 and 348 B.c. Aristotle mentions that nations were connected by commercial treaties ; and other classical writers advert to these engagements. Under the Roman Empire the matters thus dealt with became regulated by law, or by usages sometimes styled laws. When the territories of the empire were contracted, and the imperial authority was weakened, some kind of international agreements again became necessary. At Constantinople in the 10th century treaties cited by Gibbon protected “the person, effects, and privileges of the Russian merchant” ; and, in Western Europe, intercourse, trade, and navigation were carried on, at first tacitly by usage derived from Roman times, or under verbal permission given to merchants by the ruler to whose court they resorted. Afterwards, security in these transactions was afforded by means of formal documents, such as royal letters, charters, laws, and other instruments possessing the force of Government measures. Instances affecting English commercial relations are the letter of Charlemagne in 796, the Brabant Charter of 1305, and the Russian Ukase of 1569. Mediaeval treaties of truce or peace often contained a clause permitting in general terms the renewal of personal and commercial communication as it subsisted before the war. This custom is still followed. But these mediaeval arrangements were precarious: they were often of temporary duration, and were usually only effective during the lifetime of the contracting sovereigns. Passing over trade agreements affecting the Eastern Empire, the modern commercial treaty system came into existence in the 12th century. Genoa, Pisa, and Venice were then well organized communities, and were in keen rivalry. Whenever their position in a foreign country was strong, a trading centre was established, and few or no specific engagements were made on their part. But in serious competition or difficulty another course was adopted : a formal agreement was concluded for the better security of their commerce and navigation. The arrangements of 1140 between Venice and Sicily ; the Genoese conventions of 1149 with Valencia, of 1161 with Morocco, and of 1181 with the Balearic Islands ; the Pisan conventions of 1173 with Sultan Saladin, and of 1184 with the Balearic Islands, were the earliest Western commercial treaties. Such definite arrangements, although still of a personal character, were soon perceived to be preferable to general provisions in a treaty of truce or peace. They afforded also greater security than privileges enjoyed under usage ; or under grants of various kinds, whether local or royal. The policy thus inaugurated was adopted gradually throughout Europe. The first treaties relative to the trade of the Netherlands were between Brabant and Holland in 1203, Holland and Utrecht in 1204, and Brabant and Cologne in 1251. Early northern commercial treaties are those between Riga and Smolensk 1229, and between Liibeck and Sweden 1269. The first commercial relations between the Hanse Towns and foreign countries were arrangements made by guilds of merchants, not by public authorities as a governing body. Por a long period the treaty system did not entirely supersede conditions of intercourse between nations dependent on permission. The earliest English Commercial Treaty is that with Norway in 1217. It provides ‘ ‘ ut mercatores et homines qui sunt de potestate vestra libere et sine impedimento terram nostram adire possint, et homines et mercatores nostri similiter vestram.” These stipulations are in due treaty form. The next early English treaties are —with Elanders, 1274 and 1314 ; Portugal, 1308, 1352, and 1386 ; Baltic Cities, 1319 and 1388 ; Biscay and Castile, 1351 ; Burgundy,