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172 COMOKIN COMPARATIVE ANATOMY campaign, at the end of which, in 1855, Santa Anna was compelled to abdicate. Alvarez assumed the supreme government, but soon delegated his authority to Oomonfort, who be- came provisional president, Dec. 11, 1855. He met with strenuous opposition on the part of the clergy, the army, and the large body of the conservative party. The junta of Zacapoastla declared itself on Dec. 19 against the president, and a little later the seat of revolution was trans- ferred to the city of Puebla. Over 5,000 men assembled there in February, 1856. Com on - fort marched against the insurgents, and having forced them to surrender, he promulgated on March 31 a decree ordering the confiscation of the property of the church, which was followed on June 28 by another decree forbidding the clergy to hold landed estate. The clergy la- bored to undermine the government, and re- volts broke out in Puebla in October, 1856, and afterward in San Luis and other places ; and although they were quelled, the country remained in a distracted condition. The con- gress which assembled Feb. 5, 185T, drew up a new constitution, which was promulgated March 11. This vested the legislative power and the control over religious and military affairs exclusively in congress. Comonfort was eventually constrained, in October, 1857, to apply for extraordinary powers. These were granted by congress Nov. 4, and he was pro- claimed constitutional president Dec. 1. Op- posed by the clergy and the army, he could only depend upon the brigade of Gen. Zuloaga, which was attached to him personally. By a pronunciamiento at Tacubaya, Dec. 17, this brigade declared itself against the new consti- tution, and appointed Comonfort chief of a new government; but by a new pronuncia- miento of Jan. 11, 1858, they discarded him altogether, and the insurrection which broke out on that day in the capital led to a bloody struggle of several days. Appointing Juarez, president of the supreme court, provisional president, Comonfort vainly attempted to re- gain his authority by force of arms. On the morning of Jan. 21 the capital was in the hands of the insurgents. The house of representa- tives, convoked on the same day by Zuloaga, appointed that general provisional president, while Juarez convened a congress at Guana- juato to guard the rights of Comonfort. The latter in the mean time, deserted by his sol- diers, took his departure from Mexico in Feb- ruary, 1858, and repaired to the United States, and afterward went to France. Juarez, having triumphed over Miramon and the church party, was chosen president in 1861. Shortly after the close of 1861 Comonfort returned to Mexi- co, and offered his services to Juarez, by whom he was appointed commander of the army. He was on his way from Mexico to San Luis Potosi when he was murdered by banditti. COMORIN, Cape. See CAPE COMORIN. COMORN, or Komorn (Hun., Komdrom). I. A county of Hungary, on both sides of the Danube, and watered by its affluents the Waag and the Neutra; area, 1,145 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 143,090, almost all Magyars. It is level and exceedingly fertile in its northern portions ; the southern are hilly or mountainous. The district around Neszmely, near the S. bank of the Danube, produces the excellent wine of that name. Among the principal towns is Dotis (Hun. Tata). II. A fortified town, capital of the county, situated on the eastern extremity of the island of Schtitt, at the junction of the Danube and the Waag, 85 m. S. E. of Vienna; pop. in 1870, 12,256. Among the principal buildings are four Eoman Catholic and two Protestant churches, a Greek church, and a synagogue. The town contains several learned and charita- ble institutions, a cannon foundery, and a manu- factory of firearms. The fortress, defended by extensive works on both sides of the Danube, was founded by Matthias Corvinus in the second half of the 15th century, and has been rendered one of the strongest places in the world by the additional fortifications erected since 1805. Its impregnability was tested in the revolution of 1848-'9, when it withstood a long siege and bombardment under Mack, Guy on, and Klapka, and finally came into the possession of the Austrians by a voluntary capitulation (Sept. 27, 1849). The treasury of the national bank was deposited here when the Prussians threat- ened Vienna in 1866. COMORO ISLES, or Comoros, a group of high volcanic islands in the Mozambique channel, between Africa and the N. W. coast of Mada- gascar, consisting of the islands of Angaziya or Great Comoro, Anzooan or Johanna, Mayotta, and Mohilla, lying between lat. 11 and 13 S., and Ion. 43 and 45 30' E. ; area, 1,050 sq. m. ; pop. estimated at from 50,000 to 80,000. They are fertile in most of the productions of the tropics. The rivers abound in fish, and vast herds of cattle range the meadows. Cocoa- nuts, cocoanut oil, and tortoise shell are the chief exports. Sugar has recently been culti- vated with success, and now forms an article of export. The inhabitants are Arabs and ne- groes, who generally profess Mohammedanism, but fetishism is practised to some extent. Coarse cloths, jewelry, and firearms are manu- factured. The Comoros are governed by sul- tans, one of whom resides in nearly every town. The island of Mayotta was ceded to France in 1841, and the cession was confirmed in 1845. Comoro, the largest island, is 30 m, long and 12 m. broad. It has a large town on the E. side, but is seldom visited by Europeans, and contains no spring water. The drink of the inhabitants is the milk of the cocoanut. COMPARATIVE ANATOMY, the science which treats of the structure and relations of organs in the various branches of the animal kingdom, without a knowledge of which it is impossible to understand the beautifully progressive de- velopment of organization ; necessary even for the full comprehension of the uses of many parts of the human body, which, apparently