Part 45

COLUMBIA, a city and the county-seat of Maury county, Tennessee, U.S.A., situated on the Duck river, in the central part of the state, 46 m. S. of Nashville. Pop. (1890) 5370; (1900) 6052 (2716 negroes); (1910) 5754. Columbia is served by the Louisville & Nashville, and the Nashville, Chattanooga & St Louis railways. It is the seat of the Columbia Institute for girls (under Protestant Episcopal control), founded in 1836, and of the Columbia Military Academy. Columbia is in a fine farming region; is engaged extensively in the mining and shipping of phosphates; has an important trade in live-stock, especially mules; manufactures cotton, lumber, flour, bricks, pumps and woollen goods; and has marble and stone works. Columbia was settled about 1807 and was incorporated in 1822. During the Civil War it was the base from which General N. B. Forrest operated in 1862-1863, and was alternately occupied by Confederate and Federal forces during General Hood's Nashville campaign (November-December 1864).

COLUMBIA RIVER, a stream of the north-west United States and south-west Canada, about 939 m. in length, draining a basin of about 250,000 sq. m., of which 38,395 are in British Columbia; some 105,000 sq. m. belong to the valley of the Snake and 11,700 to that of the Willamette. The source of the river is partly in the Yellowstone country, partly near the Titon peaks, and partly in the pine-clad mountains of British Columbia. Some American geographers regard the head as that of the Clark Fork, but it is most generally taken to be in British Columbia about 80 m. north of the United States line. From this point it runs some 150 m. to the north-west to the "Big Bend," and then in a great curve southward, enclosing the superb ranges of the Selkirks, crossing the international line near the boundary of Washington and Idaho, where it is joined by the Pend Oreille river, or Clark Fork, already referred to. This latter river rises in the Rocky Mountains west of Helena, Montana, falls with a heavy slope (1323 ft. in 167 m.) to its confluence with the Flathead, flows through Lake Pend Oreille (27 m.) in northern Idaho, and runs in deep canyons (falling 900 ft. in 200 m.) to its junction with the Columbia, which from this point continues almost due south for more than 106 m. Here the Columbia is joined by the Spokane, a large river with heavy fall, and enters the "Great Plain of the Columbia," an area of some 22,000 sq. m., resembling the "parks" of Colorado, shut in on all sides by mountains: the Moses range to the north, the Bitter Root and Coeur d'Alène on the east, the Blue on the south, and the Cascades on the west. The soil is rich, yielding great harvests of grain, and the mountains rich in minerals as yet only slightly prospected. After breaking into this basin the river turns sharply to the west and skirts the northern mountain barrier for about 105 m. Where it strikes the confines of the Cascades, it is joined by the Okanogan, turns due south in the second Big Bend, and flows about 200 m. to its junction with the Snake near Wallula.

After the confluence of the Snake with the Columbia the greater river turns west toward the Pacific. Throughout its course to this point it may be said that the Columbia has no flood plain; everywhere it is cutting its bed; almost everywhere it is characterized by canyons, although above the Spokane the valley is much broken down and there is considerable timbered and fertile bench land. Below the Spokane the canyon becomes more steep and rugged. From the mouth of the Okanogan to Priests Rapids extends a superb canyon, with precipitous walls of black columnar basalt 1000 to 3000 ft. in height. The finest portion is below the Rock Island Rapids. In this part of its course, along the Cascade range in the Great Plain and at its passage of the range westward, rapids and cascades particularly obstruct the imperfectly opened bed. In the lower Columbia, navigation is first interrupted 160 m. from the mouth at the Cascades, a narrow gorge across the Cascade range 4.5 m. long, where the river falls 24 ft. in 2500; the rapids are evaded by a canal constructed (1878-1896) by the Federal government, and by a portage railway (1890-1891). Fifty-three miles above this are the Dalles, a series of falls, rapids and rock obstructions extending some 12 m. and ending at Celilo, 115m. below Wallula, with a fall of 20 ft. There are also impediments just below the mouth of the Snake; others in the lower course of this river below Riparia; and almost continuous obstructions in the Columbia above Priests Rapids. The commerce of the Columbia is very important, especially that from Portland, Vancouver, Astoria, and other outlets of the Willamette valley and the lower Columbia. The grain region of the Great Plain, the bottom-land orchards and grain field on the plateaus of the Snake, have not since 1880 been dependent upon the water navigation for freighting, but in their interest costly attempts have been made to open the river below the Snake uninterruptedly to commerce.

The Columbia is one of the greatest salmon streams of the world (see OREGON). The tonnage of deep-sea vessels in and out over the bar at the river's mouth from 1890-1899 was 9,423,637 tons. From 1872-1899 the United States government expended for improvement of the Snake and Columbia $6,925,649. The mouth of the latter is the only deep-water harbour between San Francisco and Cape Flattery (700 m.), and the only fresh water harbour of the Pacific coast. To facilitate its entrance, which, owing to bars, tides, winds, and the great discharge of the river, has always been difficult, a great jetty has been constructed (1885-1895, later enlarged) to scour the bars. It was about 4.5 miles long, and in 1903 work was begun to make it 2.5 miles longer. The tides are perceptible 150 m. above the mouth (mean tide at Astoria _c._ 6.2 ft.), the average tidal flow at the mouth being about 1,000,000 cub. ft. per second; while the fresh water outflow is from 90,000 to 300,000 cub. ft. according to the stage of water, and as high as 1,000,000 cub. ft. in time of flood. Improvements were undertaken by the Federal government and a state commission in 1902 in order to secure a 25-ft. channel from Portland to the sea.

In 1792, and possibly also in 1788, the river mouth was entered by Captain Robert Gray (1755-1806) of Boston, Mass., who named the river after his own vessel, "Columbia," which name has wholly supplanted the earlier name, "Oregon." In 1804-1805 the river was explored by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Upon these discoveries the United States primarily based its claim to the territory now embraced in the states of Oregon and Washington.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, one of the oldest and most important of the higher institutions of learning in the United States, located for the most part on Morningside Heights, New York city. It embraces Columbia College, founded as King's College in 1754; a school of medicine (the College of Physicians and Surgeons) founded in 1767, in West 59th Street; a school of law, founded in 1858; schools of applied science, including a school of mines and schools of chemistry and engineering, separately organized in 1896; a school of architecture, organized in 1881; graduate schools of political science, organized in 1880, philosophy, organized in 1890, and pure science, organized in 1892; and a school of journalism; closely affiliated with it are the College of Pharmacy, founded in 1829, in West 68th Street; Teachers' College, founded in 1886, as the New York College for the Training of Teachers, and essentially a part of the university since 1899; and Barnard College (for women) founded in 1889, and essentially a part of the university since 1900. Reciprocal relations also exist between the university and both the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church and the Union Theological Seminary, thus practically adding to the university a theological department. Columbia also nominates the American professors who lecture at German universities by the reciprocal arrangement made in 1905, the German professors lecturing in America being nominated by the Prussian ministry of education. Women are now admitted to all the university courses except those in law, medicine, technology and architecture. Since 1900 a summer session has been held for six weeks and attended largely by teachers. Teachers and others, under the direction of the Teachers' College, are afforded an opportunity to pursue courses _in absentia_ and so meet some of the requirements for an academic degree or a teacher's diploma. All students of good ability are enabled to complete the requirements for the bachelor's degree together with any one of the professional degrees by six years of study at the university. Several courses of lectures designed especially for the public--notably the Hewitt Lectures, in co-operation with Cooper Union--are delivered at different places in the city and at the university.

In 1908 there were in Columbia University in all departments 609 instructors and 4096 students; of these 420 were in Barnard College, 850 were in the Teachers' College, and 229 were in the College of Pharmacy. The numerous University publications include works embodying the results of original research published by the University Press; "Studies" published in the form of a series by each of several departments, various periodicals edited by some members of the faculty, such as the _Columbia University Quarterly_, the _Political Science Quarterly_, and the _School of Mines Quarterly_; and several papers or periodicals published by the students, among which are the _Columbia Spectator_, a daily paper, the _Columbia Law Review_, the _Columbia Monthly_ and the _Columbia Jester_.

With two or three unimportant exceptions the buildings of the university on Morningside Heights have been erected since 1896. They include, besides the several department buildings, a library building, a university hall (with gymnasium), Earl Hall (for social purposes), St Paul's chapel (dedicated in 1907), two residence halls for men, and one for women. The library contains about 450,000 volumes exclusive of duplicates and unbound pamphlets. The highest authority in the government of the institution is vested in a board of twenty-four trustees, vacancies in which are filled by co-optation; but the immediate educational interests are directed largely by the members of the university council, which is composed of the president of the university, the dean and one other representative from the faculty of each school. The institution is maintained by the proceeds from an endowment fund exceeding $15,000,000, by tuition fees ranging, according to the school, from $150 to $250 for each student, and by occasional gifts for particular objects.

The charter (1754) providing for the establishment of King's College was so free from narrow sectarianism as to name ministers of five different denominations for ex-officio governors, and the purpose of the institution as set forth by its first president, Dr Samuel Johnson (1696-1772) was about as broad as that now realised. In 1756 the erection of the first building was begun at the lower end of Manhattan Island, near the Hudson, and the institution prospered from the beginning. From 1776 to 1784, during the War of Independence, the exercises of the college were suspended and the library and apparatus were stored in the New York city hall. In 1784 the name was changed to Columbia College, and an act of the legislature was passed for creating a state university, of which Columbia was to be the basis. But the plan was not a success, and three years later, in 1787, the act was repealed and the administration of Columbia was entrusted to a board of trustees of which the present board is a successor. In 1857 there was an extensive re-organization by which the scope of the institution was much enlarged, and at the same time it was removed to a new site on Madison Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets. From 1890 to 1895 much centralization in its administration was effected, in 1896 the name of Columbia University was adopted, and in the autumn of 1897 the old site and buildings were again abandoned for new, this time on Morningside Heights.

See _A History of Columbia University_, by members of the faculty (New York, 1904); and J. B. Pine, "King's College, now Columbia University," in _Historic New York_ (New York, 1897).

COLUMBINE (Ital. _columbina_, from _columba_, a dove), in pantomime (q.v.) the fairy-like dancer who is courted by Harlequin. In the medieval Italian popular comedy she was Harlequin's daughter.

COLUMBINE, an erect perennial herbaceous plant known botanically as _Aquilegia vulgaris_ (natural order Ranunculaceae). In Med. Latin it was known as _Columbina sc. herba_, the dove's plant. The slender stem bears delicate, long-stalked, deeply divided leaves with blunt segments, and a loose panicle of handsome drooping blue or white flowers, which are characterized by having all the five petals spurred. The plant occurs wild in woods and thickets in England and Ireland, and flowers in early summer. It is well known in cultivation as a favourite spring flower, in many varieties, some of which have red flowers.

COLUMBITE, a rare mineral consisting of iron niobate, FeNb2O6, in which the iron and niobium are replaced by varying amounts of manganese and tantalum respectively, the general formula being (Fe, Mn) (Nb, Ta)2O6. It was in this mineral that Charles Hatchett discovered, in 1801, the element niobium, which he himself called columbium after the country (Columbia or America) whence came the specimen in the British Museum collection which he examined. The species has also been called niobite. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic system, and the black, opaque crystals are often very brilliant with a sub-metallic lustre. Twinned crystals are not uncommon, and there is a distinct cleavage parallel to the face marked _b_ in the figure. Hardness 6; specific gravity 5.3. With increasing amount of tantalum the specific gravity increases up to 7.3, and members at this end of the series are known as tantalite (FeTa2O6). Specimens in which the iron is largely replaced by manganese are known as manganocolumbite or manganotantalite, according as they contain more niobium or more tantalum. Columbite occurs as crystals and compact masses in granite and pegmatite at Rabenstein in Lower Bavaria, the Ilmen Mountains in the Urals, Haddam in Connecticut, and several other localities in the United States; also in the cryolite of Greenland. Tantalite is from Finland, and it has recently been found in some abundance in the deposits of cassiterite in the tin-field of Greenbushes in the Blackwood district, Western Australia.

[Illustration: Crystal of Columbite.]

Dimorphous with columbite and tantalite are the tetragonal minerals tapiolite (= skogbölite) and mossite, so that the four form an isodimorphous group with the general formula (Fe, Mn) (Nb, Ta)2O6. Mossite is from a pegmatite vein near Moss in Norway, and tapiolite is from Finland. All these minerals contain tin in small amount. (L. J. S.)

COLUMBIUM, or NIOBIUM (symbol Cb or Nb, atomic weight 94), one of the metallic elements of the nitrogen group, first detected in 1801 by C. Hatchett in a specimen of columbite (niobite) from Massachusetts (_Phil. Trans._ 1802, 49). It is usually found associated with tantalum, the chief minerals containing these two elements being tantalite, columbite, fergusonite and yttrotantalite; it is also a constituent of pyrochlor, euxenite and samarskite. Columbium compounds are usually prepared by fusing columbite with an excess of acid potassium sulphate, boiling out the fused mass with much water, and removing tin and tungsten from the residue by digestion with ammonium sulphide, any iron present being simultaneously converted into ferrous sulphide. The residue is washed, extracted by dilute hydrochloric acid, and again well washed with boiling water. It is then dissolved in hydrofluoric acid and heated in order to expel silicon fluoride; finally the columbium, tantalum and titanium fluorides are separated by the different solubilities of their double fluorides (C. Marignac, _Ann. chim. et phys._ 1866 [4], 8, p. 63; 1868, 13, p. 28; see also W. Gibbs, _Jahresb._ 1864, p. 685; R. D. Hall and E. F. Smith, _Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc._ 1905, 44, p. 177).

The metal was first obtained by C. W. Blomstrand (_Journ. prak. Chem._ 1866, 97, p. 37) by reducing the chloride with hydrogen; it has more recently been prepared by H. Moissan by reducing the oxide with carbon in the electric furnace (the product obtained always contains from 2-3% of combined carbon), and by H. Goldschmidt and C. Vautin (_Journ. Soc. Chem. Industry_, 1898, 19, p. 543) by reducing the oxide with aluminium powder. As obtained by the reduction of the chloride, it is a steel grey powder of specific gravity 7.06. It burns on heating in air; and is scarcely attacked by hydrochloric or nitric acids, or by _aqua regia_; it is soluble in warm concentrated sulphuric acid.

_Columbium hydride_, CbH, is obtained as a greyish metallic powder, when the double fluoride, CbF5, 2KF, is reduced with sodium. It burns when heated in air, and is soluble in warm concentrated sulphuric acid. Three oxides of columbium are certainly known, namely the _dioxide_, Cb2O2, the _tetroxide_, Cb2O4, and the _pentoxide_, Cb2O5, whilst a fourth oxide, _columbium trioxide_, Cb2O3, has been described by E. F. Smith and P. Maas (_Zeit. f. anorg. Chem._ 1894, 7, p. 97). _Columbium dioxide_, Cb2O2, is formed when dry potassium columbium oxyfluoride is reduced by sodium (H. Rose, _Pogg. Ann._ 1858, 104, p. 312). It burns readily in air, and is converted into the pentoxide when fused with acid potassium sulphate. _Columbium_ _tetroxide_, Cb2O4 is obtained as a black powder when the pentoxide is heated to a high temperature in a current of hydrogen. It is unattacked by acids. _Columbium pentoxide_ (columbic acid), Cb2O5, is obtained from columbite, after the removal of tantalum (see above). The mother liquors are concentrated, and the double salt of composition 2KF·CbOF3·H2O, which separates, is decomposed by sulphuric acid, or by continued boiling with water (C. Marignac; see also G. Krüss and L. F. Nilson, _Ber._ 1887, 20, p. 1676). It is a white amorphous infusible powder, which when strongly heated in sulphuretted hydrogen, yields an oxysulphide. Several hydrated forms are known, yielding salts known as _columbates_. A _percolumbic acid_, HCbO4·nH2O, has been prepared by P. Melikoff and L. Pissarjewsky (_Zeit. f. anorg. Chem._ 1899, 20, p. 341), as a yellow amorphous powder by the action of dilute sulphuric acid on the potassium salt, which is formed when columbic acid is fused in a silver crucible with eight times its weight of caustic potash (_loc. cit._). Salts of the acid H3CbO8 have been described by C. W. Balke and E. F. Smith (_Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc._ 1908, 30, p. 1637).

_Columbium trichloride_, CbCl3, is obtained in needles or crystalline crusts, when the vapour of the pentachloride is slowly passed through a red-hot tube. When heated in a current of carbon dioxide it forms the oxychloride CbOCl3, and carbon monoxide. _Columbium pentachloride_, CbCl5, is obtained in yellow needles when a mixture of the pentoxide and sugar charcoal is heated in a current of air-free chlorine. It melts at 194° C. (H. Deville) and boils at 240.5° C. It is decomposed by water, and dissolves in hydrochloric acid. _Columbium oxychloride_, CbOCl3, is formed when carbon tetrachloride, and columbic acid are heated together at 440° C.: 3CCl4 + Cb2O5 = 2CbOCl3 + 3COCl2, and also by distilling the pentachloride, in a current of carbon dioxide, over ignited columbic acid. It forms a white silky mass which volatilizes at about 400° C. It deliquesces in moist air, and is decomposed violently by water. _Columbium pentafluoride_, CbF5, is obtained when the pentoxide is dissolved in hydrofluoric acid. It is only known in solution; evaporation of the solution yields the pentoxide. The _oxyfluoride_, CbOF3, results when a mixture of the pentoxide and fluorspar is heated in a current of hydrochloric acid. It forms many double salts with other metallic fluorides.

_Columbium oxysulphide_, CbOS3, is obtained as a dark bronze coloured powder when the pentoxide is heated to a white heat in a current of carbon bisulphide vapour; or by gently heating the oxychloride in a current of sulphuretted hydrogen. It burns when heated in air, forming the pentoxide and sulphur dioxide.

_Columbium nitride_, Cb3N5 (?), is formed when dry ammonia gas is passed into an ethereal solution of the chloride. A heavy white precipitate, consisting of ammonium chloride and columbium nitride, is thrown down, and the ammonium chloride is removed by washing it out with hot water, when the columbium nitride remains as an amorphous residue (Hall and Smith, _loc. cit._).

_Potassium fluoxy percolumbate_, K2CbO2F5·H2O, is prepared by dissolving potassium columbium oxyfluoride in a 3% solution of hydrogen peroxide. The solution turns yellow in colour, and, when saturated, deposits a pasty mass of crystals. The salt separates from solutions containing hydrofluoric acid in large plates, which are greenish yellow in colour.

The atomic weight was determined by C. Marignac (_Ann. chim. et phys._ 1866 (4), 8, p. 16) to be 94 from the analysis of potassium columbium oxyfluoride, and the same value has been obtained by T. W. Richards (_Journ. Amer. Chem. Soc._ 1898, 20, p. 543).

COLUMBUS, CHRISTOPHER [in Spanish CRISTOBAL COLÓN] (c. 1446, or perhaps rather 1451,-1506) was the eldest son of Domenico Colombo and Suzanna Fontanarossa, and was born at Genoa either about 1446 or in 1451, the exact date being uncertain. His father was a wool-comber, of some small means, who lived till 1498. According to the life of Columbus by his son Ferdinand (a statement supported by Las Casas), young Christopher was sent to the university of Pavia, where he devoted himself to astronomy, geometry and cosmography. Yet, according to the admiral's own statement, he became a sailor at fourteen. Evidently this statement, however, cannot mean the abandonment of all other employment, for in 1470, 1472, and 1473 we find him engaged in trade at Genoa, following the family business of weaving, and (in 1473) residing at the neighbouring Savona. In 1474-1475 he appears to have visited Chios, where he may have resided some time, returning to Genoa perhaps early in 1476. Thence he seems to have again set out on a voyage in the summer of 1476, perhaps bound for England; on the 13th of August 1476, the four Genoese vessels he accompanied were attacked off Cape St Vincent by a privateer, one Guillaume de Casenove, surnamed Coullon or Colombo ("Columbus"); two of the four ships escaped, with Christopher, to Lisbon. In December 1476, the latter resumed their voyage to England, probably carrying with them Columbus, who, after a short stay in England, claims to have made a voyage in the northern seas, and even to have visited Iceland about February 1477. This last pretension is gravely disputed, but it is perhaps not to be rejected, and we may also trace the Genoese about this time at Bristol, at Galway, and probably among the islands west and north of Scotland. Soon after this he returned to Portugal, where (probably in 1478) he married a lady of some rank, Felipa Moñiz de Perestrello, daughter of Bartholomew Perestrello, a captain in the service of Prince Henry the Navigator, and one of the early colonists and first governor of Porto Santo. Felipa was also a cousin of the archbishop of Lisbon at this time (1478).

Idea of western passage to Asia.