COMAYA'GUA (formerly VALLADOLID LA NUEVA), chief city of Honduras, Central America, 100 In. e. of Guatemala. in a fine but unhealthy valley, 1800 ft. above the sea, on the right hank of the Humuva, which flows into the Pacific. The city was founded in 1540, is the see of a bishop, has a cathedral college, ecclesiastical seminary, several convents, and a rich hospital. Pop. 8,000; it was 18,000 previous to 1827, when the city was burned by the monarchical faction of Guatemala, and has never since wholly recovered, COMB (Sax. canal)). Combs seem to have been used by the ancients rather for adjusting than for fastening the hair, the pin or bodkin (aces) having been chiefly employed for the latter purpose. Both the Greek and Roman combs were generally made of boxwood, which was obtained from the shores of the Euxine; but latterly, ivory combs came into general use amongst the Romans, as they had long before been amongst the Egyptians. The precious metals were also used for the purpose, as we may infer from the golden combs ascribed to the goddesses; but till?, was probably rarer in ancient than in modern and mediaeval times from the circumstance of the C. not having been then used as an ornamental fastening. Of the early use of gold combs by our own Countrywomen, we have a monument in the well-known ballad of Sir Patrick Spew: "0 lang, lang, may their ladyes sit, their gowd kames in their hair." An ancient Irish long rack C. is in the museum of the royal Irish academy. The sides are hog-backed, and between them are set the pectinated portions, varying in breadth from half an inch to an inch and a quarter, according to the size of the bone out of which they were rut` The whole istastened together with riveted. By this contrivance, any damaged portion could easily be replaced.
Combs are made of tortoise-sheil, ivory, horn, wood, bone, metal, and India-rubber.
The material is first made into plates of the size, shape, and thickness of the C., and then the teeth are cut. The old method of cutting the teeth is by the stadda or double saw, which has two blades of steel set parallel to each other, with a space between them equal to the thickness of the intended tooth. Combs with 50 or 60 teeth to the in. may be cut in this manner. The teeth are then thinned, smoothed, and finished by means of thin wedge-shaped files. Instead of hand-saws, circular-saws of similar construction have been more recently used.
Many combs are now made by a method called "parting." By the processes of cut ting above described, the material corresponding to the spaces between the teeth is of course wasted; by the method of parting, this is made available to form the teeth of a second comb. The plate of horn, tortoise-shell, etc., is cut through by means of a stamping-cutter, consisting of two thin chisels inclined to each other, which represent their edges; between these, and connecting the ends is a small cross-chisel. When this compound cutter descends with sufficient force upon the plate it will cut one of the teeth. By simple machinery, the table carrying the plate is made to advance a dis tance equal to the thickness of one tooth while the cutter is rising, and thus the succes sive cuts are made. A slight pull is now sufficient to part the plate into two combs, the teeth of which only require filing and finishing.
India-rubber combs, now so extensively used, are manufactured by pressing the caou'chouc to the required form in molds, and "vulcanizing" or combining it with sulphur afterwards. By this means a high degree of hardness can be obtained.