Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/544

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pointed, and Co placed thafc they cover the receptacle, Littnaa Gen. Plant, p. 222.

COMBINATORY diJIUIatlon. Sec Distillation.

Combinatory mufic^ mufic u combinatorial that part of mufic which teaches the manner of combining founds variouuy ; that is, of changing their place and figure in different man- ners. See Music.

COMEDONES, a name given to a fpecies of worm, with which tlie children of Mifnia, and fome other countries, are terribly afflicted ; and of which Hoffman, in his treatife of eademial difeafes, gives this account : children in the coun- try are frequently feized with a fort of tabes, which fo deftroys their flefh, that they appear merely like fhadows. The com- mon people generally fuppofe thefe children to be under the influence of witchcraft, but fuch as have enquired more nar- rowly into thediftemper, have found that it is owing to cer- tain worms, rcfcmbling black hairs, or cords, lodged under the fkin. When the (kin is rubbed with honey, in a bath, or any warm place, they will appear and come out; but when it is contracted by cold, they keep concealed within.

COME fopra, in the Italian mufic, literally fignifies asabove, and is ufed when any foregoing part is to be repeated. BroJJ. Diet. Muf. in voc.

COMET (CycL) — Tails ^/Comets. See Tails of comets.

CO.V1ETITES, in natural hiftory, a name given by fome wri- ters to a kind of aftroites, which has ftars much larger than thofc of the common kind, and therefore called comets.

COMFKEYifympbytum, in botany, &c. See Symphytum. Comfrey root is a famous vulnerary, both externally, and in- ternally. It is a noble balfamic and agglut'mant, and given with fuccefs in diarrheas from dyfenteries, and fpittings of blood. The beftway of taking it is in decoction, or fyrup, but the decoction mult not be ton ftrong.

COMIOLA, in botany, a name given by fome of the old Ro- man authors to the plant commonly called luteola, or dyer's weed. It grows in moft parts of the world. The Greeks, of j old, ufed it in dying yellow, as we do at this time, and called : it cymene, and fometimes tbapjja, that word fignifying, with them, feveral different things which had the property of dying yellow. It was called alio by fome rcbia, or ruhia\ • but thofe who gave it this name have always diftinguifhed it by fome peculiar epithet from the common rubia, or madder. Paulus iEgincta mentions it as an herb ufed in dying cloths ; and Neophytus, and feveral others, give it a place among the things ufed to tinge the hair.

COMITATU commifo, in law, a writ, or commiflion, by which a meriff is authorized to take upon him the charge of the coun- ty. Reg. Orig. 295. Blount and Cowel.

Comitatu et cqftro commijfo, a writ by which the charge of a county, together with the keeping of a caftle, is committed to the fheriff. D Reg. Orig. ibid. Blount and Ccwel.

COMITIA (CycL) — Comitia centuriata.

the fixth king of Rome, in order to correct the inconvenience j

Rom. I. 2. 7. written by Stgonius under the name of his difcl- ple. Middtct. of Rom. Scnat. p. 138, feq. The truth of the matter fcems to he this, that though the days called comitial were regularly deftiued to the aflemblies of the people, yet, the fenate alfo might not only be convened on the fame, after the popular aflemblies were diffolved, but had the power likewife, whenever they found it expedient, to fuper- fede and poffpone the aflemblies of the people to another day j and, by a particular decree, to authorise their own meetings upon them, for the di (patch of ibmc important affair, therein fpecified. Middle!, ib.

COMITIALlS morbus. See Morbus comitialis.

COM1T1UM, in antient Rome, that part of the forum where the comitia always aflembled. It was in this place that the roftra were placed. See Comitia, Oyc/. and Suppl.

COMMA, (CycL) in mufic. It is anerted in the Cyclopaedia, that the comma is theimaileft of all fenfibla interval's of tune; but this is a miftake, if it be meant that the car cannot dif- tinguifii sny tiling lefs ; for the diminution of fifths in tem- perate fcales is very fenfible, though this diminution be lefs than f of a comma in harpfichords and organs. See Tempe- rament.

The comma is about $1⁄56$ of an octave. Vid. Euler, Tent. Nov. Theor. Mufic. p. ic6.

Com m a cf Pytbagtt as, is the difference between fix tones major, and the octave; or between 19 octaves, and 12 twelfths. It will therefore be exprefled by the proportions 531+41 9 6 2 3"

— — : — = ■ — . 1 hefmall figures written above

524288 S 6 1 2' 5

the larger, fignify the exponents of their powers. See Expo- nent, CycL and Suppl.

COMMELINA, in the Linnaean fyftcm of botany, the name of a diffinct genus of plants, the characters of which are, that die flower cup is a fpatha, in form of a heart, very large, com- prefled, and (hutting together, and remaining after the flower is fallen. The flower is compofed of fix petals, the three ex- terior ones final!, of an oval form, hollow, and refumbling a perianthium; the three inner ones interwoven with one an- other, large, rounJifh, and coloured. This flower has alfo three nectaria which refemble ftamina, of the figure of a crofs, placed on filaments, and each in an horizontal direction. The ftamina are three bent and pointed filaments, in figure re- fembling the filaments of the nectaria, but placed below them. The anthene are of an oval figure ; the germen of the piftil- lum is roundifh ; the ftyle is pointed, and of the length of the ftamina, and the itigma is fingle ; the fruit is a naked capfule, of a fomewhat roundifh figure, but marked with three lines, divided into three cells, and having three valves. The feeds arc placed fingly in each cell of the capfule, and are roundifh. Lirmai Genera Plantarum,

p. 11.

Servius Tullius, COMMENTACULA, among the Romans, the rod which the flamins carried in their hands, when going to facrifice. Hojm. of the comitia' curiata, inftituted a new divifion of the peo- I Lex. in voc. pie into fix clafl'es. according to a cenfus, or valuation of their COMMENTARIENSIS, among the Romans, an officer who eftates : then he fubdivided thefe clafles into one hundred and ; had the keeping of the prifon, and was to obey the triumviri ninetv-threecenturies,andeontrived to throw a majority ofthefe j capitales. Hofm Lex. in voc.

centuries, that is, ninety-eight of them, into the firtt clafs of the COMMISSARY (CycL) — Commissary of horfesi an officer richeft citizens. By which regulation, though every man voted j in the artillery, appointed to have the infpection of the artille- now in his century, as before in his curia ; yet, as all matters ! ry horfes, to fee them muftered, and to fend fuch orders as he were decided by a majority of the centuries, fo the ballance of; receives from the commanding officer of the artillery, by fome lower was wholly transferred into the hands of therich; and the \ of the conductors of horfes, of which he has a certain number

pi poorer


 * r fort deprived of their former weight and influence

the affairs offtate 3 : which wife inftitution was ever after ob- ierved, through all fuccecding ages, in the elections of the principal magiftrates, and the determination of all the princi- pal transactions of the republic ». — [ a Liv. 1. I.e. 43- Dionyf. Halic. 1. 4. c. 20, 2r. b Nliddleton, of Rom. Sen. p. 27, 28.J Comitia curiata. Romulus inftituted thecomitia cunata 9 orthe public aflemblies of the people, called to vote in their feveral curia? i and it is agreed by all, that the matters fubjected to their decifion, were the choice of all the magiftrates, and the right of making laws, war, and peace : an ample jnrifdiction, and in the moft important articles of government, yet not wholly abfolute, according to Dionyfius, unlefs the fenate concurred with them. Dionyf. BalicA. 2.c. 14. Middlet. of Rom. Sen. p. 26. *

This method of tranfacting all the greater affairs by the peo- ple, aflembled in their curias, after it had fubfifted through five fucceffive reigns, was found to be inconvenient; fo that ServiusTulHus inftituted the comitia centuriata above mention- ed. Middkton, of Rom. Sen. COMITIAL days. Paulus Manutius is of opinion, that there were certain days on which the Roman fenate might regular- ly be aflembled, and others, on which it could not : and that thefe laft were called comitial days, and marked under that name in the kalendars, as days wholly deftiued, and fet apart by law, for the aflemblies of thepeople a. But Sigonius contends, that the fenate might meet on any of thofe days, unlefs when the people were actually aflembled, and tranfacting bufmefs on them ; and confequently that the title of comitial denoted fuch days only, on which the people might be legally aflembled, not fuch on which they were of courfc to be aflembled b. — f a De Senatu Rom. b Vid. 'Job. Sarium %-amofe. de Scnatu

of the conductors of horfes, for his afliftants. Commissary of provifons, is he who has the infpection of the

bread, and provifions of the army. Commissary of fores, an officer in the artillery, who has the charge of all the ftores, for which he is accountable to the of- fice of ordnance ; he is allowed an afliftant, clerks, and con- ductors, under him. COMMISSION (C>7.)— Commissions of charitable ufes go out of the chancery to the bifliop and others, where any lands given to charitable ufes are mifemployed, or there is any frauds or difputes concerning them, to enquire of, and re- drefs the abufe, &c. 43 Eliz. c. 4. Commission of lunacy, a commiffion out of chancery to enquire whether a perfon reprefentcd to be lunatic, be fo or not ; that, if lunatic, the king may have the care of his eftate, &c. 17 Ed. II. c. 10 Commission of fewer;, is directed to certain perfons to fee drains and ditches well kept, and maintained, in the marfby and fen- ny parts of England, for the better conveyance of water into the fea, and prefer ving the grafs upon the land. Stat. 23. Hen. VIII. c. 5. 1 3. Eliz. c. 9. COMMITMENT, the fending of a perfon to prifon by war- rantor order, who hath been guilty of any crime or offence. It may be by the king and council, by the judges of the law, juftices of peace, and other magiftrates, who have authority by the laws and ftatutes of the realm to do it, which muflr be exactly purfued. Every commitment to prifon ought generally to be made by warrant, under the hand and feal of him who commitsthc party, and the caufe of commitment to be exprefl- ed in the warrant, &c. COMMt jDAVIENSIS, an appellation given by fome authors to a fpecies of lapis calaminaris found in Bohemia. But as it

yields