Combustion. The phenomena attending intense chemical actions which are accompanied by heat and light. Usually restricted to the burning of bodies by their union with oxygen. It is difficult to draw the line where combustion ends and [explosion] begins.
Combustion, Velocity of. Is the space passed over by the surface of combustion in a second of time, measured in a direction perpendicular to its surface. It has been determined that the velocity of combustion of dry French war-powder is 0.48 inch, and of English powder, which American powder closely resembles, is 0.4 inch.
Comes. Was with the Romans an officer with territorial jurisdiction in the provinces, and especially on the frontiers.
Comigne (Fr.). A shell of extreme magnitude, which takes its name from the person who originally invented it.
Comines, or Commines. A town of France, situated on the Lys, opposite the Belgian town of the same name. Near here Oliver de Clisson defeated the Flemings in 1382.
Command. In fortification, the height of the top of a parapet above the ground or another work.
Command. A body of troops, or any naval or military force or post, under the command of a particular officer. The word command, when applied to ground is synonymous with overlook; and any place thus commanded by heights within range of cannon is difficult to defend, if the enemy have been able to seize the heights.
Command. The 62d Article of War (new, 122) states who shall command when different corps of the army happen to join or do duty together, but as the wording of this article has been interpreted differently by different officers, it is thought best to give a decision rendered by President Fillmore on October 25, 1851, in General Orders from the War Department. The 62d Article of War provides that “If upon marches, guards, or in quarters, different corps of the army shall happen to join, or to do duty together, the officer highest in rank of the line of the army, marine corps, or militia, by commission there, on duty, or in quarters, shall command the whole and give orders for what is needful to the service, unless otherwise specially directed by the President of the United States, according to the nature of the case.” The interpretation of this act has long been a subject of controversy. The difficulty arises from the vague and uncertain meaning of the words “line of the army,” which neither in the English service nor in our own have a well-defined and invariable meaning. By some they are understood to designate the regular army as distinguished from the militia; by others as meant to discriminate between officers by ordinary commissions and those by brevet; and finally, by others, to designate an officer not belonging to the staff.
The President states that “He has maturely considered the question, and finds himself compelled to differ from some for whose opinions he entertains a very high respect. His opinion is, that although these words may sometimes be used in a different sense (to be determined by the context and subject-matter), in the 62d Article of War they are used to designate those officers of the army who do not belong to the staff, in contradistinction to those who do, and that the article intended, in the case contemplated by it, to confer the command exclusively on the former.” In the discussion which took place in 1828 relating to ordinary rank and rank by brevet, the then Secretary of War (Gen. Porter) says, “Rank in the line of the army or lineal rank, as understood by the President, is applicable to the existing organization of that portion only of the army which is intended for field operations or the exertion of physical force against an enemy. It is commonly used in contradistinction to the staff,” etc. He then goes on to show that in the 62d Article it has another meaning,—House Document 58, 20th Congress, 2d session, page 13. In the same discussion, Mr. Drayton, as chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives, expresses the same opinion. He says, “Rank in the [line] of the army is conceived to be rank in a military body specially organized for the exertion of physical force, or in other words, for combating an enemy; and an officer in such a body has a direct and paramount command over the troops which compose it. The expressions ‘rank in the line of the army,’ ‘rank in the line,’ ‘lineal rank,’ are generally used in contradistinction to staff appointments.” He adds, “and to rank which confers upon officers only an occasional right to command, including brevet officers,” etc. Thus we see that these gentlemen admit that these words, in their proper and usual signification, are employed to distinguish the combatant from the staff or non-combatant portions of the army.
If we look at the policy of the law, we can discover no reasons of expediency which compel us to depart from the plain and ordinary import of the terms; on the contrary, we may suppose strong reasons why it may have been deemed proper, in the case referred to by the article, to exclude officers of the staff from command. In the first place, the command of troops might frequently interfere with their appropriate duties, and thereby occasion serious embarrassment to the service. In the next place, the officers of some of the staff corps are not qualified by their habits of education for the command of troops, and although others are so qualified, it arises from the fact that (by laws passed long subsequently to the article in question) the officers of the corps to which they belong are required to be appointed from the “line of the army.” Lastly, officers of the staff corps seldom have troops of their own corps serving under their command, and if the words “officers of the line” are understood to apply to them, the effect would often be to give them command over the officers and men of all the other corps when not a man of their own was present, an anomaly always to be avoided, where it is possible to do so. Whatever doubts may be entertained on this subject in regard to the officers of other staff corps, none can exist in regard to those of the Medical Department and the Pay Department. The law of 1847 expressly excludes them from command. Now the officers of these corps are not a distinct and independent body, but are a part of the army, and as they cannot command, it follows that when on duty they must be commanded.