Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/201

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COMUS weeks after others. See " Comte's Philosophy of the Sciences," by G. H. Lewes (London, 1853) ; " The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Corate," by Harriet Martineau (1854) ; Cours de philosophic positive, with a preface by . Littre" (6 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1864); Notice sur Fcsuvre et sur la vie d) Auguste Comte, by Dr. Bobinet (2d ed., 1864) ; Auguste Comte et la philosophic positive, by . Littre" (1864) ; and "Comte and Positivism," by J. S. Mill (1865). COMUS, in the later Greek mythology, the god of festive mirth. He is represented as a winged youth, intoxicated and languid after feasting, his head sunk on his breast, his legs crossed, his countenance flushed with wine. In one hand he feebly grasps a hunting spear, in the other an inverted torch. CONANT. I. Thomas Jefferson, an American Biblical scholar, born at Brandon, Vt., Dec. 13, 1802. He graduated at Middlebury college in 1823, pursued philological studies for two years in New York, was for a short time tutor in Columbian college at Washington, and after- ward professor of languages in Waterville col- lege, Maine. He resigned this post in 1833, and took up his residence near Boston, where he could more advantageously prosecute his studies in the oriental languages. He had be- come convinced of the necessity of a fresh translation of the Scriptures, which should ful- ly represent the original text ; and to this his life has been chiefly devoted. In 1835 he ac- cepted the appointment of professor of Biblical literature and criticism in the Baptist theologi- cal seminary at Hamilton, N. Y., which he held till 1850, although two of the intervening years were spent in Europe, mainly in Halle and Berlin. While professor at Hamilton he translated the Hebrew grammar of Gesenius, with the additions of Rodiger, a work which has become the standard text book in America and Great Britain. In 1850 he became pro- fessor of Biblical literature in the theological seminary of Rochester, but resigned in 1857, and removed to Brooklyn, to devote himself exclusively to the labor of Biblical revision, in the service of the American Bible union. His work in this department consists of revised versions, with critical and explanatory notes, of "The Book of Job" (1857), "The Gospel by Matthew " (1860), " The Book of Genesis " (1868), "The Book of Psalms " (1868; also, with some additional notes, in the American edition of Lange's " Commentary," 1872), and " The Book of Proverbs " (1872). In 1860 he published ""Ba7nvm> : its Meaning and Use philologically and historically investigated." He is now (1873) a member of the Old Testa- ment company of the American committee, cooperating with the committee of the convo- cation of Canterbury, England, in the revision of the authorized English version of the Bible. II. Hannah Chaplin, wife of the preceding, born at Danvers, Mass., in 1809, died in Brooklyn, N. Y., Feb. 18, 1865. She was the daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Chaplin, president of CONCENTAINA 197 Waterville college, and was married to Mr. Conant in 1830. She was a frequent contribu- tor to literary and religious periodicals, and in 1838 became editor of the " Mother's Journal," a monthly periodical. In 1844 she translated "Lea, or the Baptism in the Jordan," from the German of Strauss, the evangelical court preacher of Berlin. In 1850-'52 she translated the commentaries of Neander on the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians, on the Epistle of James, and on the first Epistle of John. In 1855 she wrote "The Earnest Man," a bio- graphical sketch of the missionary Judson ; and in 1857 translated from the German "The New England Theocracy," a sketch of the early ecclesiastical history of New England, by Uhden. Her most elaborate work is "The English Bible ; a History of the Translation of the Holy Scriptures into the English Tongue " (New York, 1856). CONCAff, North and Sonth, a maritime tract of the Bombay presidency, British India, extend- ing from the Portuguese settlement of Goa on the south to the river Damaun on the north, bounded W. by the Indian ocean and E. by the Ghauts; area, about 1,000 sq. m. ; pop. about 1,500,000. The surface is rugged, and the mountains on the E. frontier attain in some places an elevation of 4,700 ft. Deep ravines and thick forests occupy the E. portion, whence the surface slopes by degrees toward the sea- coast, where the mean elevation is not more than 100 ft. Part of the country is fertile, populous, and susceptible of high cultivation. One of the most remarkable characteristics of the climate is the violence of the monsoon rains, the mean annual fall in some places amounting to 239 inches. There are numerous bays and harbors, which for ages afforded se- cure retreats to pirates. The Great Mogul maintained a fleet for the purpose of check- ing them, the Portuguese frequently attacked them, and from the year 1756 numerous expe- ditions from Bombay were despatched against them by the British ; but the piratical system was not wholly suppressed till 1812. When the Hindoos conquered the country they gave it to a tribe of Brahmans, from whom it was wrested by the Mohammedan kings of Bejapoor. In the 17th century it passed into the possession of Sevajee, the founder of the Mahratta empire. Toward the close of the same century the pi- rate chief Conajee Angria established a king- dom here, extending 120 m. along the coast, and inland as far as the Ghauts. In 1756 most of this territory was restored to the peishwa by the united British and Mahratta forces. North Corican, which is inhabited by wild un- civilized tribes called Bheels, was once held by the Portuguese. The territory was ceded to Great Britain in 1817. South Concan passed under British rule, partly by cession, partly by conquest, in 1818. CONCENTAINA, a town of Spain, in the prov- ince and 28 m. N. of the city of Alicante ; pop. about 6,600. It has manufactures of linen,