e ordered by the visitors of the
prison and confirmed by the home secretary.

CATABOLISM, or KATABOLISM (Gr. [Greek: kata], down, [Greek: Bole], a
throw), the biological term for the reverse of anabolism, namely the
breaking down of complex into simpler substances, destructive metabolism
(see PHYSIOLOGY).

CATACLYSM (Gr. [Greek: kataklusmos], a deluge), a great flood or deluge
(q.v.). The term is used in geology to denote an overwhelming
catastrophe which has produced sudden changes in the earth's surface;
and also, figuratively, of any great and violent change which sweeps
away the existing social or political order.

CATACOMB, a subterranean excavation for the interment of the dead or
burial-vault. In this sense the word "catacomb" has gained universal
acceptance, and has found a place in most modern languages. The original
term, _catacumbae_, however, had no connexion with sepulture, but was
simply the name of a particular locality in the environs of Rome. It was
derived from the Greek [Greek: kata] and [Greek: kumbe], "a hollow," and
had reference to the natural configuration of the ground. In the
district that bore this designation, lying close to the Appian Way, the
basilica of San Sebastiano was erected, and the extensive burial-vaults
beneath that church--in which, according to tradition, the bodies of the
apostles St Peter and St Paul rested for a year and seven months
previous to their removal to the basilicas which bear their names--were,
in very early times, called from it _coemeterium ad catacumbas_, or
_catacumbas_ alone. From the celebrity of this cemetery as an object of
pilgrimage its name became extensively known, and in entire
forgetfulness of the origin of the word, _catacumbae_ came to be
regarded as a generic appellation for all burial-places of the same
kind. This extension of the term to Christian burial-vaults generally
dates from the 9th century, and obtained gradual currency through the
Christian world. The original designation of these places of sepulture
is _crypta_ or _coemeterium_.

The largest number of Christian catacombs belong to the 3rd and the
early part of the 4th centuries. The custom of subterranean interment
gradually died out, and entirely ceased with the sack of Rome by Alaric,
A.D. 410. "The end of the catacomb graves," writes Mommsen (_Cont.
Rev._, May 1871), "is intimately connected with the end of the powerful
city itself.... Poverty took the place