(1801-11); William Harris, S.T.D. (1811-29); William A. Duer, LL.D. (1829-42); Nathaniel F. Moore, LL.D. (1842-49); Charles King, LL.D. (1849-64); Frederick A. P. Barnard, S.T.D., LL.D. (1864-89); Seth Low, LL.D. (1890-1902); Nicholas Murray Butler, Ph.D., LL.D. (1902—).
Consult: George H. Moore, The Origin and Early History of Columbia College (New York, 1890); John B. Pine, Charter, Acts, and Official Documents of Columbia College (New York, 1895); Brander Matthews, American Universities (New York, 1895); N. F. Moore, An Historical Sketch of Columbia College; J. Howard Van Amringe, Universities and their Sons (Boston, 1898); Circular of Information No. 3, 1900, Bureau of Education (Washington, D. C., 1900).
COLUMBIAN UNIVERSITY. An institution of higher education, situated at Washington, D. C. The university was founded in 1821 by members of the Baptist Church and until 1873 was known as Columbian College. At its inception the university comprised a theological, a classical, and a medical department. A law school, which was organized in 1826, was discontinued in 1827 and was not reopened until 1865. Differences that had arisen among the trustees caused, in 1827, the abandonment of the theological department. In the same year the financial troubles of the institution reached such an acute stage that all the departments were suspended. The college, however, reopened in 1828, and since then has maintained a steady growth. In 1843 it was freed from indebtedness, but it had still no permanent endowment. At the outbreak of the Civil War the greater part of the students left and the buildings were partially converted into Government hospitals. In 1884 a scientific school was established, named the ‘Corcoran Scientific School,’ in honor of Mr. W. W. Corcoran, one of the university's greatest benefactors; in 1887 a dental school was organized in connection with the university. At present Columbian University comprises the following schools: (1) Columbian College, offering courses partially elective, leading to the degrees of B.A. and B.S.; (2) the Corcoran Scientific School, conferring the B.S. degree: (3) the School of Graduate Studies, which confers the degrees of M.A., M.S., Ph.D., E.E., C.E., and Mech.E.; (4) the Law School, which confers the LL.B. and M.P.L. degrees; (5) the School of Jurisprudence and Diplomacy, which confers the degrees of M.Dip., D.C.L., and LL.M. ; and (6) the Medical and Dental Schools, conferring the degrees of M.D. and D.D.S., respectively. The university has a registration of 1420 students and a faculty of 180. Owing to the vast educational resources which the capital affords, including the National Library, the archives, and many special collections, the university is enabled to carry on its work on an endowment of $200,000. The property value of the university is about $1,000,000 and the library, which is mainly departmental, numbers about 20,000 volumes.
COL′UMBINE (Fr., It. Columbina, from Lat. columbinus, dove-like, from columba, dove). (1) A conventional character in old Italian comedy and the pantomime, first appearing about 1560. She was the daughter of Pantaloon and the object of Harlequin's adoration, and so ap- pears in English pantomime. See Pantomime. (2) A wild flower, emblematic of forsaken lovers, in old English verse.
| “ | The columbine in tawny often taken, Is then ascribed to such as are forsaken.” |
| (Browne's British Pastorals, 1613). |
COLUM′BITE. A mineral columbate containing some manganese and crystallizing in the orthorhombic system. It has a bluish iridescence, and is of an iron-black, grayish, or brownish color. This mineral occurs in granitic and feldspathic veins in the form of crystals, crystalline granules, and cleavable masses. It is found at various localities in Bavaria, Italy, Finland, Greenland, and in the Ural region; in the United States it is found in greater or less abundance in nearly all of the States bordering along the Appalachian Mountain system, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and in California and Colorado. It has some slight economic value for the preparation of salts of columbium and tantalum, but as only small quantities of these salts are used, the mineral is in but little demand. It is interesting to mention that the first occurrence of columbite in America was made known from a specimen sent by Governor Winthrop of Connecticut to Sir Hans Sloane, then President of the Royal Society of Great Britain.
COLUM′BIUM (Neo-Lat., from Columbia, United States of America) or Niobium. A metallic element discovered by Rose in 1846. It is found in the minerals columbite, from Haddam and Middletown, Conn., and tantalite, from near Falun and elsewhere in Sweden; also in small quantities in other minerals. In order to obtain the element the mineral is fused with acid potassium sulphate; the resulting mass, which is washed and boiled with concentrated hydrochloric acid, yields the hydroxide, which is then reduced. Columbium (symbol Cb or Nb, atomic weight 94) is a steel-gray powder with a specific gravity of 7.06. It forms three oxides with oxygen, of which the pentoxide, Cb2O5, forms salts called columbates or niobates.
COLUM′BUS. A city and county-seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, 135 miles southwest of Atlanta, at the head of navigation on the Chattahoochee River and on the Central of Georgia, the Southern, and the Seaboard Air Line railroads (Map: Georgia, B 3). The city, from its important manufactures called the ‘Lowell of the South,’ is the centre of a fertile agricultural region, and has vast water-power, the river having at that place a fall of 120 feet in three miles. The trade with adjoining States is extensive. Columbus receives annually 150,000 bales of cotton, and its manufactures of cotton goods are correspondingly large. It has also foundries and machine-shops, cottonseed-oil mills, refineries, barrel-factories, etc. There is a public library, besides one, the Eagle and Phenix, for mill operatives. The government is administered under a charter of 1890 by a mayor, elected for two years, and a city council whose members are elected on a general ticket. The executive has the power of appointment only in standing committees; all other officials are chosen by the council. Population, in 1890, 17,303; in 1900, 17,604.
Columbus was laid out in 1828 and incorporated in 1829. During the Civil War it was
