lved (see CHEMISTRY); a word is said to be a "compound"
when it is made up of different words or parts of different words. The
term is also used in an adjectival form with many applications; a
"compound engine" is one where the expansion of the steam is effected in
two or more stages (see STEAM-ENGINE); in zoology, the "compound eye"
possessed by insects and crustacea is one which is made up of several
_ocelli_ or simple eyes, set together so that the whole has the
appearance of being faceted (see EYE); in botany, the "compound leaf"
has two or more separate blades on a common leaf-stalk; in surgery, in a
"compound fracture" the skin is broken as well as the bone, and there is
a communication between the two. There are many mathematical and
arithmetical uses of the term, particularly of those forms of addition,
multiplication, division and subtraction which deal with quantities of
more than one denomination. Compound interest is interest paid upon
interest, the accumulation of interest forming, as it were, a secondary
principal. The verb "to compound" is used of the arrangement or
settlement of differences, and especially of an agreement made to accept
or to pay part of a debt in full discharge of the whole, and thus of the
arrangement made by an insolvent debtor with his creditors (see
BANKRUPTCY); similarly of the substitution of one payment for annual or
other periodic payments,--thus subscriptions, university or other dues,
&c., may be "compounded"; a particular instance of this is the system of
"compounding" for rates, where the occupier of premises pays an
increased rent, and the owner makes himself responsible for the payment
of the rates. The householder who thus compounds with the owner of the
premises he occupies is known as a "compound householder." The payment
of poor rate forming part of the qualification necessary for the
parliamentary franchise in the United Kingdom, various statutes, leading
up to the Compound Householders Act 1851, have enabled such occupiers to
claim to be placed on the rate. In law, to compound a felony is to agree
with the felon not to prosecute him for his crime, in return for
valuable consideration, or, in the case of a theft, on return of the
goods stolen. Such an agreement is a misdemeanour and is punishable with
fine and imprisonment.

The name "compounders" was given during the reign of William III. of
England to the members of a Jacobite faction, who were prepared to
restore J