issued a decree confiscating chnrcli property, fol- lowing it, on 28 June, by another, forbidding the clergy to hold landed estate. These measures caused several revolts, and, though they were promptly quelled, the country remained in an un- settled state. On 11 March, 1857, congress pro- mulgated a new constitution, vesting in itself all control over religious and military affairs. Comon- fort was proclaimed constitutional president, with extraordinary powers ; but the opposition of the clergy and the army rendered his position critical. Zuloaga's brigade, the last to remain faithful, de- clared against him on 11 Jan., 1858, and, after a bloody struggle of several days, the rebels gained possession of the capital on 21 Jan. Juarez, who had been appointed provisional president by Comonfort, while the latter took the field in per- son, convened a congress at Guanajuato in his friend's interest ; but Comonfort, finding all efforts in vain, fled to the United States in February, and then to France. Soon after the success of Juarez over the church party, in 1859, and on the first movement of the French for the invasion of Mexico. Comonfort returned, was appointed com- mander-in-chief of the troops, and showed great skill and bravery. On his way from Mexico to San Luis Potosi he was murdered by banditti.
COMPOSTELA, Diego Evelino de (kom-pos-
tay'-lah), bishop of Cuba and Florida, b. in Coruna,
Spain, in 1635 : d. in Havana, 27 Aug., 1704. He
was appointed bishop of Cuba and Florida in 1685,
but did not take possession of his office until No-
vember, 1687. He was a man of exemplary con-
duct and morals. He established in Havana a
foundling asylum, the first college for girls in
Cuba, a seminary for boys, several piiblic schools,
hospitals, charitable institutions, and many
churches in the interior of the island, which were
the beginning of new towns and cities. As bishojj
of Florida, he established many missions there.
COMSTOCK, Andrew, elocutionist, b. in New
York city in 1795; d. there in 1874. He was a
professor of elocution, a lecturer on oratory, and
author of a " New System of Phonetics," " Phonetic
Speaker," " Phonetic Testament," '• Reader," *' His-
toria Sacra," and " Elocution " (16th ed., 1854).
COMSTOCK, Cyrus Ballou, soldier, b. in West
Wrentham, Mass., 3 Feb., 1831. He was gradu-
ated at the U. S. military academy in 1855, stand-
ing first in his class, and became second lieuten-
ant in the corps of engineers. Prom that time
until 1859 he was engaged in the construction of
Fort Taylor, Fla., and Fort Carroll, Md., after
which he was assistant professor of natural and
experimental philosophy at West Point. During
the civil war he served in the defences of Wash-
ington, D. C, becoming in August, 1861, assistant
to the chief of engineers in the Army of the Poto-
mac. He continued with this army through the
peninsular campaign of 1862, and the Maryland
campaign, and was made chief engineer in No-
vember, 1862. After Fredericksburg and Chan-
eellorsville he was transferred to the Army of
the Tennessee, and was its chief engineer, being
present at the siege of Vicksburg. Later he
became assistant inspector of the military divis-
ion of the Mississippi, and from March, 1864, till
the close of the war was senior aide-de-camp to
Gen. U. S. Grant, serving in the Richmond cam-
paign of 1864^'5, at Fort Fisher, and in Gen. Canby's
Mobile campaign. From 1866 till 1870 he served
as aide to the general-in-chief at Washington,
and since that time has been occupied as superin-
tendent of geodetic survey of the northern and
northwestern lakes, and on other important sur-
veys, including the improvements of the mouth of
the Mississippi. In 1881 he became lieutenant-
colonel in the engineer corps, and he holds the
brevet ranks of brigadier-general in the regular
army and major-general of volunteers. He was
appointed in 1882 a member of the board of en-
gineers for fortifications and river and harbor im-
provements. Gen. Comstoek was elected a mem-
ber of the National academy of sciences in 1884.
He has published " Notes on European Surveys "
(Washington, 1876) ; " Survey of the Northwestern
Lakes " (1877) ; and " Primarv Triangulation, U. S.
Lake Survey " (1882). He was retired in 1895.
COMSTOCK, John Henry, naturalist, b. in
Janesville, Wis., 24 Feb., 1849. He was graduated
at Cornell in 1874, where, from 1873 till 1877, he
was instructor. In 1877 he was made assistant
professor of entomology at Cornell, and also de-
livered a course of lectures at Vassar college. Hav-
ing obtained leave of absence from the university,
he was, during 1879-'81, U. S. entomologist at
Washington, and in 1882 became jjrofessor of en-
tomology and general invertebrate zoology at Cor-
nell. Besides numerous articles contributed to
various entomological and agricultural journals,
he has published " Notes on Entomology " (Ithaca,
1875) ; " Annual Reports of Entomologist " (Wash-
ington, 1879-'81) ; " Report on Cotton Insects "
(1879) ; " Second Annual Report of the Depart-
ment of Entomology of Cornell University," in-
cluding a monograph on " Diaspinae " (Ithaca,
1883), and the article on " Hymenoptera " in the
" Standard Natural History " (Boston, 1884).
COMSTOCK, John Lee, author, b. in Lyme,
Conn., in 1789 ; d. in Hartford, Conn., 21 Nov.,
1858. After receiving a common-school education
he studied medicine, and, a few months after re-
ceiving his diploma, became assistant surgeon in
the 25th infantry. He served at Fort Trumbidl,
New London, Conn., during part of the war of
1812, and then on the northern frontier, where he
had charge of three hospitals. At the close of the
war he settled in Hartford, Conn., and about 1830
began compiling school-books. He possessed much
mechanical ingenuity, was a skilful draughtsman,
and made the drawings for most of the illustra-
tions of his works. His books include text-books
on natural philosophy, chemistry, mineralogy,
botany, geology, physiology, natural history, and
physical geography, a " History of the Greek Revo-
lution " (New York, 1828), and a " History of the
Precious Metals" (Hartford, 1849). His "Intro- «
duction to Mineralogy " (1832) was used at West
Point, and his " System of Natural Philosophy "
(1831) had a sale of nearly 900,000 copies, was
translated into several foreign languages, and re-
published in Ijondon and Edinburgh.
COMSTOCK, Theodore Bryant, geologist, b. in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, 27 July, 1849. He was graduated at the Pennsylvania state college in 1868, and at Cornell in 1870, where, in 1886, he received the degree of Ph. D. In 1870 he accompanied Hartt's expedition to Brazil as pliotographer and assistant geologist, and in 1873 was geologist to Capt. W. A. Jones's Wyoming expedition. He was director of the Kirtland summer school of natural history in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1875, and from that date till 1879 was professor of general and economic geology in Cornell. From 1879 till 1884 he was general manager of the Niagara consolidated mining company in Silverton, Col., for which he built and operated ore-sampling and concentrating works, after which he was elected to the chair of mining engineering and physics in Illinois university at Champaign. He has been
