and
thus the stresses in the mechanism due to the inertia of the
reciprocating parts are lessened. This compression, moreover, obviates
the shock which would otherwise be caused by the admission of the fresh
steam for the return stroke. In internal combustion engines it is a
necessary condition of economy to compress the explosive mixture before
it is ignited: in the Otto cycle, for instance, the second stroke of the
piston effects the compression of the charge which has been drawn into
the cylinder by the first forward stroke.

COMPROMISE (pronounced _compr[)o]mize_; through Fr. from Lat.
_compromittere_), a term, meaning strictly a joint agreement, which has
come to signify such a settlement as involves a mutual adjustment, with
a surrender of part of each party's claim. From the element of danger
involved has arisen an invidious sense of the word, imputing discredit,
so that being "compromised" commonly means injured in reputation.

COMPROMISE MEASURES OF 1850, in American history, a series of measures
the object of which was the settlement of five questions in dispute
between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States.
Three of these questions grew out of the annexation of Texas and the
acquisition of western territory as a result of the Mexican War. The
settlers who had flocked to California after the discovery of gold in
1848 adopted an anti-slavery state constitution on the 13th of October
1849, and applied for admission into the Union. In the second place it
was necessary to form a territorial government for the remainder of the
territory acquired from Mexico, including that now occupied by Nevada
and Utah, and parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. The
fundamental issue was in regard to the admission of slavery into, or the
exclusion of slavery from, this region. Thirdly, there was a dispute
over the western boundary of Texas. Should the Rio Grande be the line of
division north of Mexico, or should an arbitrary boundary be established
farther to the eastward; in other words, should a considerable part of
the new territory be certainly opened to slavery as a part of Texas, or
possibly closed to it as a part of the organized territorial section?
Underlying all of these issues was of course the great moral and
political problem as to whether slavery was to be confined to the
south-eastern section of the country or be permitted to spread to the
Pacific. The two question