Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/193

 COMPIEGNE COMPLEXION 189 strument also has a needle box, ?i, with an arc of about 36. When the instrument is turned so that the rays of the sun penetrate a lens and form a bright focus between cross lines drawn upon a silver disk, the sights must be upon a true N. and S. line. A faint glimmer of the sun is sufficient, so that its use is not inter- rupted in the woods, nor in moderately cloudy weather. By reference to the magnetic needle attached to the instrument, the local variation is determined whenever an observation is taken. In hands accustomed to its use, it is adjusted in less time than is required for the needle of a surveyor's compass to settle. The perplexities caused by local attraction are avoided, and for this reason, and others also, it is much preferred to other instruments in running important lines upon the government surveys in the western states. The boundary line between Michigan and Wisconsin was run by it ; and when used to determine the latitude at points on this line, the results agreed with those obtained by the very accurate surveys of Oapt. Bayfield of the royal army. Oapt. Talcott, in a letter to Mr. Burt, says that in running the line between Iowa and Minnesota, he could not distinguish upon the map of the largest scale the line it fixed from that determined by the most careful astronomical observations. COMPILE (under the early Prankish kings, Compendium}, a town of France, in the de- partment of Oise, on the left bank of the river Oise, near the mouth of the Aisne, and on the great northern railway, 43 m. N. N. E. of Paris ; pop. in 1866, 12,150. It contains a cele- brated palace, originally built by Louis IX., re- built by Louis XIV., and improved by Louis XV. and Louis XVI., and by Napoleon I. From very early times Compiegne was a favorite residence of the kings of France ; several par- liaments were held there, and Joan of Arc was taken prisoner before its walls, the spot of her capture, marked by the ruined tour de la Pu- celle, being still pointed out. In 1624 a treaty between Holland and France was signed at Compiegne. Charles IV., ex-king of Spain, re- sided some time in its palace, and Napoleon's first meeting with Maria Louisa took place Palace at Compiegne. here. Napoleon III. and his court frequently visited the place; the shooting parties given by him in the large adjoining forest, which abounds in game, enjoyed a high reputation in the fashionable world. The grounds were thrown open to the public in 1871. The town contains three splendid churches, a picturesque town hall, a fine bridge (pont neuf) over the Oise, a theatre, various other public buildings, and a public library. COMPITALI1, or Ludi Compitalitii, a festival among the ancient Romans, instituted in honor of the lares compitales, or the deities who pre- sided over the places where two or more roads met. The festival was of very ancient origin, and is said to have been restored after it had fallen into disuse by Tarquin the Proud, who caused boys to be sacrificed at it; but this was soon discontinued, and garlic and poppy heads were substituted for human sacrifices. COMPLEXION (Lat. complexio), the color of the skin. This color exists in the epidermis alone, and depends upon the admixture of pig- ment cells with the ordinary epidermic cells. The ancient anatomists divided the skin into two parts or layers, the inner being denomina- ted the cutis or dermis, and the outer the cu- ticle or epidermis. Malpighi was the first to discover what was thought to be a third layer interposed between the cutis and the cuticle, to which the name of rete mucosum was applied, from the circumstance that it was supposed to furnish mucus to lubricate those papill with which it was placed in immediate contact ; it has also been called stratum Malpighii. Flourens went beyond Malpighi, and divided this middle portion of the skin into four layers : 1, one lying immediately on the cutis, of a cel- lular structure ; 2, a continuous membrane pre- senting the characteristics of mucous mem- branes generally, on the external surface of which is spread a black pigment which consti- tutes the third layer ; and 4, the inner portion of the epidermis, lying contiguous to the col- oring matter. He displayed by maceration all these layers in the skin of a negro ; but on subjecting that of a white man to the same process, he was unable to discover the pigment or the mucous membrane deposited upon it. He therefore concluded that the skin of the colored races has an apparatus entirely want- ing in the white, and regarded this diversity