Though giant columns were used in antiquity, they were first applied to building facades in Renaissance Italy. Any of the orders might be treated in this manner. The colossal order was revived in 18th-century Europe.
Colosseum Flavian Amphitheater in Rome, erected c. ad 70-82 under the emperors Vespasian and Titus. The name Colosseum was applied some time after the 8th century because of its immense size and capacity, hold¬ ing some 50,000 people. Unlike ear¬ lier amphitheaters, which were nearly all dug into hillsides for extra support, the Colosseum is a free¬ standing oval colonnaded structure of stone and concrete. It was the scene of combats between gladiators, contests of men with animals, and even mock naval engagements. The Colosseum was damaged by lightning and earthquakes in medieval times and, even more severely, by vandals. A restoration project was undertaken in the 1990s, and in 2000 the Colosseum staged a series of plays that marked the first time in more than 1,500 years that live performances had been held there.
Colossus of Rhodes See Colossus of Rhodes
colostomy \k9-Tas-t3-me\ Surgical formation of an artificial anus by making an opening from the colon through the abdominal wall. It may be done to decompress an obstructed colon, to allow excretion when part of the colon must be removed, or to permit healing of the colon. Colos¬ tomy may be temporary or permanent. A sigmoid colostomy, the most common type of permanent colostomy, requires no appliances (though a light pouch is sometimes worn for reassurance) and allows a normal life except for the route of fecal excretion. See also ostomy.
colour Aspect of any object that may be described in terms of hue, brightness, and saturation. It is associated with the visible wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, which stimulate the sensor cells of the eye. Red light has the longest wavelengths, while blue has the shortest, with other colours such as orange, yellow, and green between. Hue refers to domi¬ nant wavelengths. Brightness refers to the intensity or degree of shading. Saturation pertains to purity, or the amount of white light mixed with a hue. The colours red, yellow, and blue, known as primary colours, can be combined in varying proportions to produce all other colours. Primary colours combined in equal proportions produce secondary colours. Two colours that combine to form white light are said to be complementary.
colour blindness Inability to distinguish one or more colours. The human retina contains three types of cone cells that absorb light in dif¬ ferent parts of the spectrum. Absence of these types causes colour blind¬ ness to red, green, and blue. Colour blindness is a sex-linked recessive trait (see recessiveness) 20 times more common in men than in women.
colour index In igneous petrology, the sum of the volume percentages of the coloured, or dark, minerals in the rock. The most common light- coloured minerals are feldspars, feldspathoids, and silica or quartz; abun¬ dant dark-coloured minerals include olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, biotite, garnet, tourmaline, iron oxides, sulfides, and metals.
colour printing Specialized printing technique using coloured inks and modified presses. Juxtaposition of colours is achieved by submitting each sheet to successive impressions by typeforms each of which prints only
on areas designed to carry a single colour and inked only in that colour. Three colours of ink can reconstitute the visual effect of all the range of colours by combining them appropriately; if all three inks are applied to an area, it almost appears black. Standard colour printing, called four- colour printing, employs magenta, yellow, cyan (blue), and black inks.
Colt, Samuel (b. July 19, 1814, Hartford, Conn., U.S.—d. Jan. 10, 1862, Hartford) U.S. inventor. He worked in his father’s textile factory before going to sea in 1830. On a voyage to India he conceived the idea for his first revolver, which he later patented (1835-36). Colt’s six- shooters were slow to gain acceptance, and his company in Paterson, N.J., failed in 1842. He invented a naval mine with the first remotely controlled explosive in 1843 and conducted a telegraph business that used the first underwater cable. Soldiers’ favourable reports prompted an order for 1,000 pistols during the Mexican War, and Colt resumed manufacture in 1847. Assisted by Eli Whitney, Jr., he advanced the development of inter¬ changeable parts and the assembly une. His firm, based in Hartford, pro¬ duced the revolvers most widely used in the American Civil War and in the settlement of the West, including the famous Colt .45.
Colter, John (b. c. 1775, in or near Staunton, Va.—d. 1813, in present- day Missouri, U.S.) U.S. explorer. A member of the Lewis and Clark Expe¬ dition (1803-06), in 1807 he was sent to make contact with Indian tribes in the Yellowstone River area; he became the first white man to see and describe the region. In three expeditions to the head of the Missouri River (1808-10), he narrowly escaped death in battles with Indians. He retired to a farm on the Missouri.
Colton, Gardner (Quincy) (b. Feb. 7, 1814, Georgia, Vt., U.S.—d. Aug. 9, 1898, Rotterdam, Neth.) U.S. anesthetist and inventor. He was among the first to use nitrous oxide as an anesthetic in dentistry; after a dentist suggested it, he safely used it in extracting thousands of teeth. He also invented an electric motor, exhibited in 1847.
Coltrane, John (William) (b. Sept. 23,1926, Hamlet, N.C., U.S.—d. July 17, 1967, Huntington, N.Y.)
U.S. saxophonist and composer.
After growing up in Philadelphia, he gained early experience in the bands of Dizzy Gillespie and Johnny Hodges.
Associations with Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk in the 1950s estab¬ lished Coltrane’s place in the van¬ guard of modem jazz, and his quartet of the early 1960s is one of the out¬ standing groups in jazz history. His style encompassed the modal jazz first explored with Davis, the com¬ plex chord structures of his own compositions, and ultimately the extremes of timbre, dynamics, and register associated with free jazz.
Coltrane’s total mastery of the tenor and soprano saxophones, the rich harmonic density of his composi¬ tions, and his clear projection of emotion enabled him to reconcile technical virtuosity with an often spiritual profundity.
Columba, Saint or Colum or Columcille Vksl-om-.kiH (b. c. 521, Tyrconnell—d. June 8/9, 597, Iona; feast day June 9) Irish abbot and mis¬ sionary. A member of the warrior aristocracy, he was excommunicated for his part in a bloody battle. Exiled, he set out to do penance as a mission¬ ary. He founded two famous monasteries in Ireland before taking 12 dis¬ ciples to the Scottish island of Iona (c. 563), where they built a church and monastery that served as a base for the conversion of the Scottish Picts, and thereby Scotland, to Christianity.
Columban, Saint (b. c. 543, Leinster, Ireland—d. Nov. 23, 615, Bob- bio, Italy; feast day November 23) Irish abbot and missionary. One of the greatest missionaries of the Celtic church, he initiated a revival of spiri¬ tuality on the European continent. He left Ireland c. 590 with 12 monks, and the Merovingian king Guntram granted him land in the Vosges Moun¬ tains in Gaul, where he established several monasteries, including the great intellectual and religious house at Luxeuil. He was disciplined for keeping Easter according to the Celtic usage, and he ran afoul with the Frankish clergy for his indictment of their moral laxity. He was forced
Colossal order, court facade of Blen¬ heim Palace, Oxfordshire, England, by Sir John Vanbrugh, begun 1705
John Coltrane, 1966.
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436 I Columbia ► Comanche
into exile for his criticism of the sins of the powerful queen Brunhild and her court and then moved into what is now Switzerland, where he preached to the Alemanni. He later settled in Italy and founded the mon¬ astery of Bobbio (c. 612), a centre of medieval culture known for its great library.