Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/135

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COLZA OIL by taxation such revenue as may be necessary to supply the wants of the government." He had long before made himself known as an original thinker and an able writer on political economy and other subjects. His principal writings, besides articles in reviews and maga- zines and reports from the revenue commission, are : "Letter on the Removal of the Deposits from the United States Bank " (1834) ; " New Themes for the Protestant Clergy " (1851) ; "Politics for American Christians" (1852); "Hints to a Layman" (1853); "The Ways and Means of Payment " (1859) ; " The Five Cotton States and New York" (1861); "Southern Wealth and Northern Profits" (1861) ; "The Claims of Labor and their Pre- cedence to the Claims of Free Trade " (1861) ; "Gold, Banks, and Taxation" (1864); "Fi- nancial Suggestions and Remarks" (1867). Sec "A Memoir of Stephen Col well," by Hen- ry C. Carey (Philadelphia, 1872). COLZA OIL. See RAPE, a plant. COMA (Gr. Kw/za, lethargy), a condition re- sembling profound sleep, in which the activity of the sensory ganglia is more or less complete- ly suspended. The sensorium consists of the ganglionic masses lying along the basis of the skull in man, and partly included in the me- dulla oblongata, described in the article BKAIN, as the tubercula quadrigemina, olfactory lobes, corpora striata, and optic thalami, in which the nerves of special sense and of common sen- ' sation have their central terminations. In com- plete coma the activity of these ganglia is sus- pended, so that the individual is neither con- scious of impressions derived from the organs of sense, nor has any perception of self-existence from the recognition of cerebral changes ; shut off from the external world, and from internal sensation, his existence is to all intents and purposes a nonentity, a state of psychical anni- hilation. In the simpler forms of coma there is only a suspension, not a perversion; of the cerebral functions ; but in the graver cases the accompanying delirium shows an affection of the hemispheres. Coma may be produced by congestion or haemorrhage in the brain, by any abnormal pressure on this organ, by the agency of narcotic poisons and alcohol, by exhaustion from loss of blood, by concussion of the brain, and by action on the blood of various morbid products generated within the system. Slight coma differs but little from profound sleep; the heavy sleep of the drunkard, or that after severe and long mental or physical exertion, is almost comatose, the person being quite in- sensible to ordinary external stimuli ; this con- dition cannot be regarded as disease, but as the rest required for the regeneration of the body by the slow and unobstructed performance of the nutritive processes ; so in the coma from concussion or deficient supply of blood to the brain, the person cannot be aroused from his deep sleep without danger of violent and per- haps fatal reaction. Medical writers describe two varieties or stages of coma : coma vigil, in COMANCHE 131 which the patient opens his eyes when spoken to, instantly shutting them again, with deliri- um, muttering, and agitation, as in unnatural wakefulness ; and coma wmnolentum, in which, after momentary revival, the patient sinks im- mediately into an apparently profound sleep ; they are simply two different degrees of the same affection. COMACCHIO, a fortified town of Italy, in the province and 28 m. S. E. of the city of Fer- rara, 3 m. from the Adriatic ; pop. about 6,500. It is the seat of a bishop. The chief occupation of the inhabitants is pisciculture. A series of canals has been constructed to connect the la- goon in the midst of which the town is situated with the Adriatic, so as to admit the fry of the eel, the mullet, the sole, and other fishes into the lagoon, where they are fattened. The an- nual product now averages 1,000,000 Ibs. The' manufacture of salt is also of importance, about 2,000,000 Ibs. being obtained annually. COMAL, a S. W. central county of Texas, bounded S. W. by the Cibolo river, and inter- sected by the Guadalupe ; area, 575 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 5,283, of whom 377 were colored. The surface is rolling, and in some parts mountain- ous; live oak and mezquite cover about one third of the land. The soil is fertile in the val- leys, but fit only for grazing elsewhere. The county was settled by Germans. The chief productions in 1870 were 169,250 bushels of Indian corn, 3,972 of rye, 8,913 of sweet pota- toes, 1,309 tons of hay, 69,305 Ibs. of butter, and 1,303 bales of cotton. There were 3,993 horses, 5,978 milch cows, 15,413 other cattle, 1,783 sheep, and 2,671 swine; 1 cotton and woollen mill, 3 flour mills, 1 saw mill, 5 tanne- ries, and 15 manufactories of saddles and har- ness. Capital, New Braunfels. COMMA. I. An ancient city of Cappadocia (supposed to be the modern Bostan), on the river Sarus, celebrated in antiquity for its tem- ple of Ma (the moon-goddess), or according to others of Enyo (Bellona), and for the great devotion of its inhabitants to the worship of that goddess. Over 6,000 persons were en- gaged in the service of the temple. The city was governed by the high priest, who was al- ways a member of the reigning family, and took rank next to the king, if he did not ex- ercise royal functions himself. II. A city of Pontus, on the river Iris, devoted to the same goddess as the Cappadocian Comana, of which it was believed to be a colony. On its site is now Gumenek, about 7 m. N. E. of Tokat, and about 70 m. S. S. E. of Samsun on the Black sea. COMANCHE. I. A N. W. central county of Texas, intersected by Leon river ; area, 1,050 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 1,001, of whom 24 were colored. A mountain ridge forms its S. W. boundary ; the rest of the surface is generally undulating and well timbered, about a third part being covered with oak, ash, elm, &c. The soil is fertile in the river bottoms, but un- productive in other places. Stock raising is the leading occupation. The native mustang grape