ns drew attention to
him, and on the 3rd of November 1895 he entered the Bourgeois cabinet as
minister of public instruction, resigning with his colleagues on the
21st of April following. He actively supported the Waldeck-Rousseau
ministry, and upon its retirement in 1903 he was himself charged with
the formation of a cabinet. In this he took the portfolio of the
Interior, and the main energy of the government was devoted to the
struggle with clericalism. The parties of the Left in the chamber,
united upon this question in the _Bloc republicain_, supported Combes in
his application of the law of 1901 on the religious associations, and
voted the new bill on the congregations (1904), and under his guidance
France took the first definite steps toward the separation of church and
state. He was opposed with extreme violence by all the Conservative
parties, who regarded the secularization of the schools as a persecution
of religion. But his stubborn enforcement of the law won him the
applause of the people, who called him familiarly _le petit pere_.
Finally the defection of the Radical and Socialist groups induced him to
resign on the 17th of January 1905, although he had not met an adverse
vote in the Chamber. His policy was still carried on; and when the law
of the separation of church and state was passed, all the leaders of the
Radical parties entertained him at a noteworthy banquet in which they
openly recognized him as the real originator of the movement.

COMBINATION (Lat. _combinare_, to combine), a term meaning an
association or union of persons for the furtherance of a common object,
historically associated with agreements amongst workmen for the purpose
of raising their wages. Such a combination was for a long time expressly
prohibited by statute. See TRADE UNIONS; also CONSPIRACY and STRIKES AND
LOCK OUTS.

COMBINATORIAL ANALYSIS.

Historical Introduction.

The Combinatorial Analysis, as it was understood up to the end of the
18th century, was of limited scope and restricted application. P.
Nicholson, in his _Essays on the Combinatorial Analysis_, published in
1818, states that "the Combinatorial Analysis is a branch of mathematics
which teaches us to ascertain and exhibit all the possible ways in which
a given number of things may be associated and mixed together; so that
we may be certain that we have not missed any collection or arrangement
of these things that has not been enumerated." Writ