commission as captain, and was retired. He was mysteriously murdered in Bridgeport. Capt. Colvocoresses was the author of a work on Wilkes's expedition, entitled “Four Years in a Government Exploring Expedition” (New York, 1855). — His son, George Partridge, naval officer, b. in Norwich, Vt., 3 April, 1847, was graduated at the U. S. naval academy in 1868, and had risen to the rank of lieutenant in 1875. He has served on most of the foreign naval stations, and in the hydrographic office at Washington, and in 1886 was assistant instructor in drawing at the U. S. naval academy.
COLWELL, Stephen, author, b. in Brooke coun-
ty, Va., 35 March, 1800 ; d. in Philadelpiiia, Pa.,
15 Jan., 1872. He was graduated in IHIK at Jeffer-
son college, Pa., studied law, and was admitted to
the bar of Virginia in 1831. Removing to Pitts-
burg, Pa., he practised law for ten years, when he
became an iron merchant in Philadelphia. He de-
voted much of his time to the study of political
economy, and soon began to write for the press.
He acquired large wealth, which he devoted to
charitable purposes, to the endowment of professor-
ships, to the encouragement of scientific investiga-
tion, and to the collection of a large and valuable
library, including a very complete selection of
works on his favorite topics of political and social
science. During the civil war Mr. Colwell was
among the foremost supporters of the National
government in its struggle against secession. He
lent his name and his money to the cause, and
strengthened the hands of the administration by
every means in his power. He was one of the
founders of the Union league of Philadelphia, and
an associate member of the U. S. sanitary commis-
sion. After the war he was appointed a commis-
sioner to examine the whole internal revenue system
of the United States, with a view to suggesting
such modifications as would distribute and lighten
the necessary burdens of taxation — a problem of
peculiar importance at that crisis of the nation's
history. To this work he devoted much time and
study, and his advice had due weight in determin-
ing the financial policy of the government. He
bequeathed his library to the University of Penn-
sylvania with an endowment for a professorship of
social science. His first published work, imder the
.signature of "Mr. Penn," was entitled " Letter to
Members of the Legislature of Pennsylvania on the
Removal of Deposits from the Bank of the United
States by Order of the President" (1884). Still
concealing his identity under the name of "Jona-
than B. Wise," he published "The Relative Position
in our Industry of Foreign Commerce, Domestic
Production, anil Liternal Trade " (Philadelphia,
1850). He was the author of " New Themes for
the Protestant Clergy " (1851) ; " Politics for Ameri-
can Christians " (1853); "Hints to Laymen," and
" Charity and the Clergy " (1858) ; " Position of
Christianity in the United States, in its Relation
with our Political System and Religious Instruction
in the Public Schools " (1855) ; " The South ; a Let-
ter from a Friend in the North with Reference to
the Etfects of Disunion upon Slavery " (1856). The
same year he edited, with notes, " List's Treatise on
National Economy." His last and most important
work is " The Ways and Means of Commercial
Payment " (1858). Besides these publications in
book-form, he was the author of a noteworthy arti-
cle in the " Merchant's Magazine," entitled " Money
of Account " (1853), and another essay on the same
subject in the " Banker's Magazine" (1855).
COLYAR, Arthur St. Clair, lawyer, b. in
Washington county, Tenn., 38 June, 1818. He was
self-educated, and achieved success as a lawyer.
He opposed secession in 1861, but became a mem-
ber of the Confederate congress, and served till
1865. After the war he reorganized the Tennessee
coal and railroad company, becoming its president,
and also engaged in manufacturing. He has done
nujch to develop the resources of liis state.
COLYER, Vincent, painter, b. in Blooming-
dale, N. Y., in 1835; d. on Contentment island,
Coim., 13 July, 1888. He studied four years in
New York with John R. Smith, and then was a
pupil at the National academy, of which he be-
cnme an associate member in 1849. and from that
time until the beginning of the civil war he painted
in New York city. After the war, during which
he had devoted all his time to his duties as a mem-
ber of the Christian and the Indian commissions,
he settled at Rowayton, in the town of Darien,
Conn. His works include " Johnson Straits, Brit-
ish Columbia " ; " Columbia River " (1875) ; " Pue-
blo " ; "Passing Shower" (1876); "Home of the
Yackamas, Oregon " ; " Darien Shore, Connecti-
cut " ; " Rainy Day on Connecticut Shore " (1881) ;
" Winter on Connecticut Shore " (1884) ; " Spring
Flowers " (1885) ; and " French Waiter " (1886).
COMAN, Charlotte B., painter, b. in Water-
ville, N. Y., about 1845. She studied in New
York under James R. Brevoort and H. Thompson,
and later in Paris under Bmile Vernier. After
painting in France and Holland for six years, she
returnetl to the United States, and opened a studio
in New York. Her best works are " French Vil-
lage " (1876) ; " Sunset at the Seaside, France "
(1877); "Peasant Home in Normandy" (1878);
"Cottage in Picardy " (1881) ; " Old Windmills in
Holland"; "Spring-Time in Picardy" (1883);
" View near Schiedam " (1883) ; " Farmer's Cottage
in Picardy " (1884); "Poppy-Field in Normandy"
(1885) ; and 1886 " A French Village."
COMBE, George, phrenologist, b. near Edinburgh. Scotland, 31 Oct., 1788 ; d. at Moor Park, Surrey, England, 14 Aug., 1858. He was educated at the high school and Edinburgh university, and in 1804 began the study of law. In 1813 he obtained his commission as a writer to the signet, and soon afterward that of notary public. He was
eminently successful as a lawyer, and his shrewdness and conscientiousness in dealing with his clients obtained him a large practice. In 1887 he devoted himself wholly to jihrenology. On the visit of Spurzheim to Edinburgh in 1816, Combe became a convert to his system of phrenology, and advocated it in his lectures and writings. In 1819
he published " Essays on Phrenology, or an Inquiry into the System of Gall and Spurzheim," which was subsequently developed into his " System of Phrenology " (3 vols., 8vo, 1834). His most important work, "The Constitution of Man" (1838). was designed to show that all the laws of nature were in harmony with one another", and that man could best fulfil God's will, and attain the greatest happiness, by discovering those laws and obeying them. In 1833, assisted by a few friends, George Combe and his brother Andrew, a physician, established the "Edinburgh Phrenological Journal," and for more tlian twenty-three years contributed gratuitously to its pages. In 1833 he married Cecilia
Siddons, a daughter of the famous actress. In 1887 he went to Germany; and in 1838, accompanied by his wife, he visited the United States, and during the two years he remained there delivered 158 lectures on phrenology, and the education and treatment of the criminal classes. On his return to Great Britain in June, 1840, he published his
"Moral Philosophy," and in the year following his "Notes on the United States of North America."
