 CHAPTER XIII. Soap, candles, tallow tree, spermaceti, wax, mahogany, Indian rubber, or cat chalk, sponge, coral, lime, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, gas, hydrogen, chalk, and marble. Of what is soap composed? Of soda or potash and various oily substances. It is so useful for domestic and other purposes that it may be regarded as one of the necessaries of life. Immense quantities of it are consumed in all civilized countries. Soft soap is generally made of a lye of wood ashes and quick lime, boiled up with tallow or oil. Common household soap of soda and tallow, or of potash and tallow, when potash is used. A large portion of common salt, which contains soda, is added to harden it. The finest white soaps are made of olive oil and a lye consisting of soda and quick lime. Soaps are sometimes added, or various coloring matters stirred in to give the soap a variegated appearance. The ancient Greeks and Hebrews appear to have been acquainted with the art of making soap, or a composition very similar to it, and also the ancient Gauls and Germans. A soap boiler shop with soap in it was found in the city of Pompeii in Italy, which was overwhelmed by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, AD 79. What is soda? Soda or borilla is obtained from the ashes of marine plants, and by the decomposition of common salt. Its great depository is the ocean, soda being the basis of salt. The marine plants from which the soda is obtained are endowed with the property of decomposing the sea salt which they imbibe, and of absorbing the soda which it contains. It is found native in Egypt, and is there called Natron, a name similar to that which it bore among the Jews and Greeks. Storhouse, place where anything is lodged. Imbibe, to drink in, to absorb. Of what are candles made? Of tallow, which means animal fat melted and clarified, that is, cleansed or purified from filth. Tallow is procured from many animals, but the most esteemed and the most used is that made from oxen, sheep, swine, goats, deer, and bears, some of which tallows or fats are used in medicine, some in soap and in dressing leather, others in the manufacture of candles, etc. For the last mentioned article, that of sheep and oxen is most used. Candles of a better sort are likewise made of wax and spermaceti. Candles are kept burning by means of a wick of cotton or rush placed in the center of the tallow which is molded into a cylindrical form. Cylindrical having the form of a cylinder. Is there not a tree which yields a vegetable tallow? Yes. China possesses a tree producing a substance like our tallow, of which the Chinese make their candles. This tallow is extracted from the stone of the fruit, the tallow being a white pulp which surrounds it. In America likewise there is a shrub, a native of the temperate parts, especially towards the seaside, the seeds of which contain a waxy substance used for the same purpose, and which is extracted by boiling. This shrub is a species of myrtle and is not attained to any great size. Extracted Drawn from What is spermaceti? A whitish, flaky, unctuous substance, prepared from an oil of the same name, drawn from a particular kind of whale, distinguished from the common whale by having teeth and a hunch on its back. Flaky having the nature of flakes. What is wax? A soft, yellow, concrete matter collected from vegetables by the bee, of which this industrious and useful insect constructs its cell. Wax forms a considerable article of trade. It is of two kinds, the yellow and the white. The yellow is the native wax as it is taken from the hive, and the white is the same, washed, purified, and exposed to the air. Concrete, grown together, solid. That tree makes the beautiful and well-known wood so much used in making the various articles of household furniture. The mahogany tree, growing in America, and the East and West Indies, it frequently grows in the crevices of rocks and other places of the same description. This wood was not used for making furniture till near the end of the seventeenth century. A London physician had a brother, the captain of a West India ship, who on his return to England, having on board several logs of mahogany for the purpose of ballast, made him a present of the wood. He being engaged in a building project, his carpenter, however, threw it aside, observing that it was too hard to be wrought. Some time after, the lady of the physician being in want of a box to hold candles, the cabinet maker was directed to make it of this wood. He also made the same objection and declared that it spoiled his tools. Being urged, however, to make another trial, he at length succeeded. When the box was polished, the beautiful color of the wood was so novel that it became an object of great curiosity. Before this time, mahogany had been used partially in the West Indies for shipbuilding, but this new discovery of its beauty soon brought it into general use for making furniture. Crevice. A rent. A crack. Ballast. The heavy matter placed in the hold of a vessel to keep it steady. That is Indie-Rubber or Kautchuk. An elastic, resinous substance produced from a tree growing abundantly at Cayenne, Keto, and other parts of South America, also in some parts of the Indies. The tree which produces it is large, straight, and about sixty feet high. There is, however, a small species found in Sumatra and Java and some of the neighboring islands. How is the Kautchuk obtained from the tree? By making incisions in the trunk of the tree, from which the fluid resin issues in great abundance, appearing of a milky whiteness at first, but gradually becoming of a dark reddish color, soft and elastic to the touch. To what use is this substance put? The Indians make of it boots, shoes, bottles, flambos, and a species of cloth. Amongst us it is combined with sulfur, forming the vulcanized rubber of commerce, which is used for many purposes. A greater proportion of sulfur produces vulcanite, a hard black substance resembling jet. Flambeau torches burnt to give light. What is sponge? A marine substance found adhering to rocks and shells under the seawater or on the sides of rocks near the shore. Sponge was formerly imagined by some naturalists to be a vegetable production, by others a mineral or a collection of seamud, but it has since been discovered to be the fabric inhabitation of a species of worm or polypus. What do you mean by polypus? A species of animals called zoophytes, by which are meant beings having such an admixture of the characteristics of both plants and animals as to render it difficult to decide which division they properly belong. They are animal and substance possessed indeed of a stomach, but without the other animal characteristics of blood vessels, bones, or organs of sense. These creatures live chiefly in water and are mostly incapable of motion. They increased by buds or excretes from the parent zoophyte, and if cut off will grow again and multiply, each part becoming a perfect animal. Myriads of the different species of zoophytes reside in small cells of coral, sponge, etc., or in forms like plants, and multiply in such numbers as to create rocks and whole islands in many seas by their untiring industry. Polypus signifies having many feet or roots. It is derived from the Greek. Myriads, countless numbers. Whence are the best and greatest number of sponges brought? From the Mediterranean, especially from Nicaria, an island near the coast of Asia. The collection of sponges forms, in some of these islands, the principal support of their inhabitants. They are procured by diving under water, an exercise in which both men, women, and children are skilled from their earliest years. The fine, small sponges are esteemed the best, and usually come from Constantinople. The larger and coarser sorts are brought from Tunis and Algiers on the coast of Africa. Sponges are very useful in the arts as well as for domestic purposes. What is coral? A substance which, like sponge, was considered as a vegetable production until about the year 1720, when a French gentleman of Marseille commenced and continued for thirty years a series of observations and ascertained that the coral was a living animal of the polypous tribe. The general name of zoophytes, or plant animals, has since been applied to them. These animals are furnished with minute glands, secreting a milky juice, this juice, when excluded from the animal, becomes fixed and hard. Is this substance considered by naturalists as the habitation of the insect? Not merely as the habitation, but as a part of the animal itself, in the same manner that the shell of a snail or an oyster is of those animals, and without which they cannot long exist. By means of this juice or secretion, the coral insects, at a vast but unknown depth below the surface of the sea, attach themselves to the points and ridges of rocks, which form the bottom of the ocean, upon which foundation the little architects labor, building up by the aid of the above-mentioned secretion, pile upon pile of their rocky habitations, until at length the work rises above the sea, and is continued to such a height as to leave it almost dry, when the insects leave building on that part and begin afresh in another direction under the water. Huge masses of rocky substance are thus raised by this wonderful little insect, capable of resisting the tremendous power of the ocean, when agitated to the highest pitch by winds or tempests. Architect One Who Builds How do these coral rocks become islands? After the formation of this solid, rocky sea base, seashells, fragments of coral, and sea sand, thrown up by each returning tide, are broken and mixed together by the action of the waves. These, in time, become a sort of stone, and thus raise the surface higher and higher. Meanwhile, the ever-acting surf continues to throw up the shells of marine animals and other substances, which fill up the crevices between the stones. The undisturbed sand on its surface offers to the seeds of trees and plants cast upon it by the waves, a soil upon which they rapidly grow and overshadow the dazzling whiteness of the new formed land. Trunks of trees, washed into the sea by the rivers from other countries and islands, here find a resting place, and with these come small animals, chiefly of the lizard and insect tribe. Even before the trees form a wood, the sea birds nestle among their branches, and the stray land bird soon takes refuge in the bushes. At last, man arrives and builds his hut upon the fruitful soil formed by the corruption of the vegetation, and calls himself Lord and Master of this new creation. Where is the coral insect found? It is nearly all great seas, but particularly in the Mediterranean, where it produces corallines of the most beautiful forms and colors. It is in the Pacific Ocean, however, where these tiny workmen are affecting these mighty changes, which exceed the most wonderful works of man. What is that part of the Pacific called where the coral rocks are most abundant? The coral sea, from which the number of coral reefs and sunken islands, with which it abounds, includes a region of many miles in extent, the whole of which is studded with numberless reefs, rocks, islands, and columns of coral, continually joining and advancing towards each other. All navigators who have visited these seas state that no charts or maps are of any service after a few years, owing to the number of fresh rocks and reefs which are continually rising to the surface. The wonderful instinct of these animals leads them to continue working without ceasing until their labors are finished or their lives extinct. Reef, a chain or line of rocks lying near the surface of the water, extinct, at an end, dead. What are the names of the principal islands of coral formation? The new Hebrides, the friendly Isles, the navigators Isles, the society islands, the Marquesas, the Gambier Group, and others. These groups are separated from each other by channels or seas, wider than those which divide the individual islands which form the respective groups. But all these waters abound with shoals and minor islets, which point out the existence of a common base and show that the work by which they will afterwards be united above the level of the sea is continually going forward. Shoals, shallows, places where the water is of little depth. Minor, less, smaller than others. Existence, being. What is a singular characteristic of the coral islands? On all of them a plentiful supply of sweet and fresh water may be obtained by digging three or four feet into the coral, and even within one yard of high water mark such a supply is to be found. They are mostly covered with a deep, rich soil and well wooded with trees and evergreens of different kinds. These islands vary in extent as well as in the degree of finish to which they have arrived. Some of the largest being about 30 miles in diameter and the smallest something less than a mile, all of various shapes and all formed of living color. Is coral put to any use by man? White coral, which is nowhere so abundant as about the shores of Ceylon and others of the neighboring Indian coasts, is employed as lime by the inhabitants of that part of the world, for building houses, etc., by burning it after the matter of hour-line. This coral lies in vast banks which are uncovered at low water. Coral, particularly the beautiful redsort, is likewise made into various ornaments as necklaces, etc. Of what is our lime composed? Out of a useful earth which absorbs moisture and carbonic acid and exists as limestone or in marble and chalk, which when burnt become lime. In its native state it is called carbonate of lime and is burnt to disengage the carbonic acid. When made into a paste, with one part water and three parts lime, and mixed with some other mineral or metallic substances, it forms plastic, cements, and mortars. And afterwards, imbibing carbonic acid from the atmosphere, it becomes again carbonate of lime, as hard as it first, and hence its use in building. Plastic, yielding, capable of being spread out or molded. What do you mean by carbon? A simple substance, whose most common form is purified charcoal, it is in fact the base of charcoal, divested of all impurities, combined with oxygen, it forms carbonic acid gas, formerly called fixed air. It is diffused through all animal and vegetable bodies, and may be obtained by exposing them to a red heat. In its pure crystallized state it constitutes the diamond, and as graphite is used in making the so-called lead pencils. What is oxygen? Air, mentioned in the first chapter of this work as the gaseous substance which composes the atmosphere, is formed by a mixture of two distinctive elements, one called nitrogen, or azote, the other oxygen. Oxygen is therefore an element or simple substance diffused generally through nature, and its different combinations are essential to animal life and combustion. It is in fact the most active agent in nature and the principle of acidity and combustion. So wholesome and necessary is oxygen to life that it is often called vital air. Agent, an actor, a person or thing possessing the faculty of action. Essential, necessary. What are the properties of nitrogen or azote? Nitrogen is a substance also generally diffused through nature, and particularly in animal bodies, and causes great changes in those absorbing or exposed to it. This gas, combined with oxygen and hydrogen, produces neither light, heat nor combustion, but serves to dilute the others. Of itself, it is hurtful to animal life. Nitrogen makes the principle part of the salt we call neater. What is meant by combustion? The decomposition of bodies by the action of fire, the union of combustible bodies with the oxygen of the atmosphere. The greater access the air has to a burning body, the more rapid and complete is the process. Combustible, capable of taking fire. Are all bodies equally combustible? No, some are more so than others, and burn with a bright flame as wood, dry vegetables, resins, oils, fats, et cetera. Others with difficulty and without any sensible flame as soot, coal, the ashes of plants, et cetera. There are bodies also which are in combustible, that is incapable of taking fire as some alkali, earth, et cetera. What is caloric? Caloric is that invisible agent which produces the sensation of heat. It exists in all bodies. It is a force we are ever in want of, and thus it is hid in everything around us, and penetrates all matter, however different may be its nature or properties. What is meant by gas? All highly elastic fluids are called gases. Some are salutary, but many extremely nauseous, especially as those arising from the putification of animal bodies, the burning of charcoal, corrupted air at the bottom of mines, sellers, et cetera. The inflammable gas, which lights our streets, churches, shops, et cetera, is procured chiefly from coal, burnt in furnaces for the purpose the gas being passed through metal pipes, conveyed underground to the places where light is required, escaping at the orifice prepared for it. It is lighted when wanted and burns with a brilliant flame. This gas consists of hydrogen and carbon and the oxygen of the air combined with the hydrogen causes light as long as hydrogen and oxygen exist and combine. Salutary, wholesome, healthful, noxious, hurtful, unwholesome, putification, decay, orifice, opening, whole. What is hydrogen? One of the most abundant principles in nature, one part of it and aid of oxygen form water. It is only met with in a gaseous form, it is also very inflammable and is the gas called the fire damp, so often fatal to miners. It is the chief constituent of oils, fats, spirits, et cetera, and is produced by the decomposition of water. Constituent, that which forms an essential part of anything. What is chalk? The white fossil substance by some reckoned a stone but of a friable kind, which cannot therefore be polished as marble by others more properly ranked among the earths. It is of two sorts, one a hard dry chalk used for making lime, the other a soft, unctuous kind used in maneuvering land, et cetera. Chalk always contains quantities of Flintstone and the fossil remains of shells, coral, animal bones, marine plants, et cetera, from which circumstance there can be no doubt that chalk is the deposited mud of a former ocean. The chemical name of chalk is carbonate of lime. It effervesces strongly with an acid. Effervesce, to froth or foam up. Deposited, placed on anything. Where is chalk found? In large beds or in strata in the earth. Chalk on account of its abundance in England forms an important feature in the scenery and geology of that country. It causes the whiteness of its sea cliffs. Scotland and Wales are entirely without chalk. The white chalk is found with interruptions over a space above 1,100 miles long, extending from the north of Ireland through England, France, Belgium, Germany, Poland and southern Russia to the Crimea with the breadth of more than 800 miles. The island of Crete, now called Candia, situated in the Mediterranean, was formerly noted for its chalk. This substance is very useful in many of the arts and manufacturers. Where is the Crimea? The peninsula of the Crimea is a part of Russia, lying on the Black Sea, by which it is bounded on the west and south. Are there any other kinds of this earth besides the common white chalk? Yes, there are various kinds of chalk, distinguished by their different colors, as white, black, red, et cetera, found in various parts of the world, of great use to the painter, both in oil and watercolors, and for drawing on paper. What is marble? A kind of stone remarkable for its hardness and firm and grain, and for being susceptible of the finest polish. It is dug in great masses from pits or quarries, and is much used in ornamental buildings and for statues, altars, tombs, chimney pieces, et cetera. The word is derived from the French marbre, marble. Marble is supposed to be formed deep within the bowels of the earth from a loose and porous carbonate of lime subjected to enormous heat and pressure. Sceptible, easily admitting anything additional. Porous, full of holes or interstices. Are there different sorts of this stone? Marbles are of many different kinds, usually named either from their color or country, some of one simple color, as white or black, others streaked or variegated with different colors. They are classified as ancient and modern. The ancient are those found in quarries now lost or inaccessible to us, and of which there are only some rot pieces remaining. The modern, those from quarries still open, and out of which blocks of marble continue to be taken. In what countries is marble found? The United States, Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Africa, Egypt, and many other countries produce marbles of different colors and qualities, some more beautiful, valuable, and more highly esteemed than others, as those of Egypt, Italy, et cetera. Those also have different places in the same country frequently differ from each other in quality and appearance of the European marbles that of Italy is the most valuable. What kind appears to have been held in the greatest esteem by the ancients? A beautiful white marble called the Perian, of which the Grecian statues were mostly made. By some it is supposed to have taken its name from the island of Peros in the Mediterranean, but by others from Perias, a famous statuary, who made it celebrated by cutting in it a statue of Venus. Perian marble is often mentioned by ancient authors. Statues, figures of men, animals, et cetera, cut in stone or marble. Statuary, one who makes statues. Who is Venus? The goddess of love and beauty, who was an object of adoration in the idolatrous ages, when men ignorantly knelt down and worshiped stocks and stones, which their own hands had fashioned after the likeness of things on the earth, or imaginary creations of their fancy, or again the sun, moon, and stars, instead of the one and only true God. In those times every nation had its peculiar deities, to whom were paid divine rites and honors, and to whose names costly temples were dedicated. These deities were divided into two classes, superior and inferior. Venus was one of the Grecian goddesses supposed by them to have sprung from the froth of the sea. Kings and celebrated warriors and sages too, after death, frequently received divine honors, as Confucius, the founder of the Chinese empire, who after death was worshiped by that people as a god. Romulus, the first king of Rome, likewise, was thus adored by the Romans, and many similar instances of the same species of idolatry, amongst other nations, might be recorded. Deities, fabulous gods or goddesses, idolatrous, given to the worship of idols. End of chapter 13. Chapter 14 of a catechism of familiar things. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, visit LibriVox.org. A catechism of familiar things. Chapter 14. Gold, silver, lead, tin, platina, sulfur, gems or precious stones as diamonds, rubies, emeralds, turquoise, pearls, mother of pearls, and ivory. What is gold? The purest and most precious of metals. It is sometimes found in solid masses, as in California, Peru, Hungary, et cetera. In a shape resembling the branches of plants, in thin plates covering other bodies, as in Siberia, sometimes in a crystal form. It, however, generally occurs in a metallic state and most commonly in the form of grains. What is it called when found in a perfect metallic form? Native gold. It is, however, seldom met with perfectly pure, being frequently alloyed with silver, copper, iron, or platina, sometimes concealed in other minerals, from which, if sufficiently abundant, it is extracted by art. Where and in what manner is gold generally found? All parts of the earth afford gold, though with great difference in point of purity and abundance. It is chiefly obtained for mines. Many rivers contain gold in their sands, especially those of California and Guinea. Gold mines are of rare occurrence in Europe, but the metal is found in some of its rivers. Among its mines, those of Upper Hungary are the most considerable. China and Japan are rich in this metal. Many parts of Asia also possess it. Australia produces quantities of the metal. It is also found in the eastern parts and interior of Africa, where gold dust is collected in great quantities from earth deposited by the rivers. But it is in America that gold is found in the greatest abundance, particularly in the state of California and in some parts of South America, as Brazil, Peru, Chile, et cetera. Guinea, a country of West Africa. What are the uses of gold? It is used for money, jewelry, plate, et cetera. It is also employed in various ways in the arts. What is the character of gold? Gold is so ductile and malleable that an ounce of it may be drawn into a thread of 73 leagues in length or beaten into 160 leaves of nine inches square and thin enough to be carried away by the slightest wind. It readily assumes any form that human art can bestow upon it. Its color is unalterable and the beautiful polish of which it is susceptible renders it the best of all metals for ornamental purposes. It is indestructible by air, water, or fire. Gold is the heaviest of all metals, except platina. It is neither very elastic nor very hard. League, a measure of length containing three miles. Indestructible, incapable of being destroyed. Is not the use of gold quite ancient? Yes, it appears to have been very early known to the inhabitants of the world. In the 13th chapter of Genesis, Abram is spoken of as very rich in silver and gold. And in the second chapter of the same book, the land of Hevalath, now in the eastern part of Arabia, Felix, is pointed out as having gold. Arabia was famed for the fineness and quality of its gold. In the time of Solomon, the gold of Ophir seems to have been much esteemed, as it is recorded that the gold used in the building of the temple was brought from that place by the merchant vessels of Hyrum, king of Tyre. Ophir is supposed to have been situated somewhere in the east endes. What is silver? A beautiful white shining metal next to gold in value and like that precious substance of great antiquity. It is found in Sweden, Norway, and the polar latitudes. When it occurs in hot climates, it is generally amidst mountains, covered with perpetual snow. Latitude, breadth, width. In geography, the distance of a place in degrees north or south from the equator. Where are the richest silver mines found? In South America, especially among the Andes, the mines of Mexico and those of Nevada also are rich in this metal. The richest and most important silver mines in Europe are those of Konigsberg in Norway and of Andalusia in Spain. With the exception of gold, silver is the most ductile of all metals. A single grain may be extended into a plate 126 inches long and half an inch broad. It is capable of still further extension, but its tenacity is inferior even to that of iron or copper. A silver wire, one tenth of an inch thick will scarcely bear a weight of 290 pounds. Whilst a gold wire of the same thickness will support nearly double that weight. Like some other metals, it is unalterable by air or moisture, but by an intense heat may be volatilized being sometimes found in the soot of chimneys where large quantities are melted. Volatilized, made to fly off by evaporation. In what state is silver usually found? It is rarely found in a state of purity being generally mixed with other metals as gold, lead, et cetera. Masses of native silver are of no determinant form being found sometimes in small branches, sometimes in threads or very frequently in leaves as in the Siberian mines. Native or pure silver is chiefly found in the mines of Potosi. Silver was used as money in commerce 1100 years before the foundation of Rome, commerce, trade of one nation with another or different persons, et cetera, with each other. What is 10? A white metal, softer than any other accepting lead, more elastic and more sonorous. Though 10 is the lightest of all metals, its ore is, when rich, the heaviest of all metallic ores. It has both smell and taste, is less ductile than some harder metals, though it may be beaten into very thin leaves. And it fuses so quickly that it requires a heat much less than is sufficient to make it red hot. Was not the use of 10 very early known? 10 was found in Britain from the earliest ages. The Phoenicians traded to Cornwall for this metal 600 years before Christ. Where are the principal 10 mines? In Saxony, Cornwall, and Bohemia. 10 is also found in Spain, Sumatra, Siam, Mexico, and Chile. A few specimens have been found at Goshen in Massachusetts. Specimens, samples. In what state is 10 generally found? 10 is sometimes found native or pure, but most frequently alloyed with other metals. The working of 10 mines is attended with much difficulty on account of their great depth and the hard rocks, which obstruct the progress of the miners, who are often obliged to cut through them. This metal is very useful in the making of domestic utensils for coating the inside of copper and iron vessels and for various other purposes. Obstruct to stand in the way. What is lead? A coarse, heavy metal of a bluish-gray color. It is so soft and flexible that it is easily cut with a knife and rolled out into sheets, et cetera. It is very fusible and inelastic, but less ductile and sonorous than any other metal. Next to gold, platinum and mercury, it is the heaviest of the metals, being 11 times heavier than an equal bulk of water. This metal loses its malleability in proportion as it is heated. As soon as it melts, it calcines, and grayish-colored ashes are formed on its surface. When returning from a fluid to a solid state, it is easily divided into small grains or powder or formed in a shot, et cetera. Lead was in common use among the ancients. Flexible, yielding easily bent. Sonorous, giving sound when struck. Where is lead found? In various countries, but it abounds principally in Great Britain and Spain. The lead mines of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa are among the richest in the world. Lead is a metal of great utility. It easily melts and mixes with gold, silver, and copper. Hence, it is employed in refining gold and silver as it separates all the dirt and impurities from them. It is much used in building, particularly for covering gutters, pipes, et cetera. Lead is also used in varnishes and oil painting and makes the basis of the glazing of all the earthen and pottery wares. Refining Cleansing, purifying Varnishes, preparations for beautifying and preserving various articles. What is peculiar to the ore of lead? The ore of this metal is so poisonous that the steam arising from the furnaces in which it is smelted infects the grass of all the neighboring places and kills the animals which feed on it. Culinary vessels lined with a mixture of tin and lead are apt to convey pernicious qualities to the food prepared in them. There are various preparations of lead serving for different purposes. Infects Corrupts Culinary Adapted to the purposes of cooking Pernicious, hurtful, or dangerous. Or the mineral soil, earth, or stone dug out of the mines, which contains the metal. What is black lead? It is a kind of mineral of a deep shining black or a bluish color soft and unctuous to the touch. It is insoluble in acids and infusible by fire. Black lead has been found in many parts of the world in a state of greater or less purity but is the English black lead which is the most esteemed? Insoluble, incapable of dissolving. Infusible, not capable of being melted. Is black lead a proper term for this mineral? No. Because in reality there is not a particle of lead in it on the spot where it is procured it is called by two or three different names but the most usual is plumbago where is the best black lead found? The best and greatest quantity is found in England in a mine near Keswick in Cumberland it is much used for pencils or crayons for writing, drawing, etc. For this purpose it is sawn into slips and fitted into a groove in a strip of soft wood as cedar, etc. over which another is placed and fastened with glue. What is platina? A metallic substance more recently discovered than the metals already described and analogous to the perfect metals especially gold many of whose properties it possesses analogous, bearing, or resemblance whence is its name derived? It is the diminutive of plata to which it appears very similar platina being a silver colored metal in small grains diminutive, a word lessening the meaning of the original whence is it obtained? mostly from Russia and also from South America its color does not tarnish by exposure to the air and appears to be equally permanent with that of pure gold the metal is indestructible by fire platina is capable of being alloyed with all metals is fused with difficulty but by great labor may be rendered malleable it is also the heaviest metal being twenty one times heavier than water permanent lasting Are there any other metals beside those already mentioned? in addition to the metals known and used by the ancients the chemical science of later ages has by decomposing other earths added more than thirty to the number of metals some of them more curious than useful several of these are lighter than water all the metals possess different and distinct properties from each other they are divided into two classes the malleable and the brittle metals these last may be again divided into two others namely those which are easily and those which are with difficulty fused what do you mean by metallurgy? the art of obtaining metals from their ores comprising the processes of assaying refining smelting etc. by assaying is meant the particular manner of examining and or or mixed metal according to its nature so as to discover not only what metals and what proportions of metal may be obtained from it but also what other mineral substances or earths may be contained in it what do the terms refining and smelting signify? refining is the art of rendering the metal free from all impurities smelting means the melting of a metal from its ore in a smelting furnace in order to separate the metallic parts from the sulfur or arsenic and the earthy and stony substances with which they may be combined what is sulfur? an inflammable fossil substance of a dry solid friable nature melting with a small proportion of heat when fired in the open air burning almost entirely away with a blue flame and noxious vapor it is abundantly diffused in many places especially where metallic minerals are found but more particularly in those districts where subterranean fires and volcanoes exist it is also found combined with many different substances describe the nature of sulfur and the places where it is mostly found sulfur almost pure called native or virgin sulfur is found in volcanoes and gratoes in the form of transparent crystals but the greatest quantity which exists naturally is combined with metals in ores sulfur is both fusible and volatile which qualities enable us to procure it from those minerals by the process of sublimation it unites easily in different degrees with all metallic matters accepting gold, platina, and zinc sublimation the act of bringing a solid substance into the state of vapor by heat and condensing it again by cold are not its uses very extensive yes, both in the arts and in chemistry it is well known to be a principal ingredient in the preparation of gunpowder and fireworks it is also used for whitening wool straw, silk, etc many other matters exposed to the vapors of sulfur when burning quickly lose their color which no other substance had been able to destroy sulfur is also frequently found in mineral waters whence are the greatest quantities of sulfur brought the largest quantities are brought from Saxony in regular masses which are afterwards melted and cast into small rolls there are about four species of sulfur namely the yellow native sulfur which is in its purest state clear and of a pale straw color found in the gold mines of Peru in Hungary and some other places the green native sulfur which is harder than the other is found in small crust like masses this sort is chiefly confined to Mount Vesuvius and the gray native sulfur common in Iceland and many other places native sulfur is also found at the coal mines near Richmond to Virginia in Connecticut, Pennsylvania and other parts of the United States which is the most rare and beautiful of all the kinds the red native sulfur it is mostly of a fine glowing red very bright and transparent it is found like the first mentioned sort in the gold mines of Peru common sulfur such as is used in trade in the arts is of a pale yellow color and possesses a peculiar and disagreeable smell particularly when heated or rubbed this is mostly extracted from the metallic sulfurettes and is commonly called brimstone it is the sort employed in making matches is there not any other substance also employed in the manufacture of matches yes phosphorus a peculiar substance chiefly of animal origin it is mostly procured by the decomposition of the phosphoric acid which is found in bones it was accidentally discovered at Hamburg in 1669 by an alchemist named Brant alchemist once killed in alchemy what is the nature of phosphorus it is a solid inflammable substance which burns when in contact with atmospheric air it is used in various chemical experiments and for making matches for various kinds of fireworks etc it will combine with all metals except gold and zinc and also with some earths some animals as the glow worm possess very peculiar phosphorescent qualities phosphorescent having a phosphoric property emitting peculiar light like phosphorus what is arsenic a heavy metallic substance very volatile and highly inflammable so caustic or corrosive to animals as to become a violent poison in all its states in its metallic state it is used in several of the arts it is employed in the manufacture of factitious metals it is of use to the dire in forming some of his colors and for that purpose is generally combined with potasa it is used in the making of small shot and also in the manufacture of glass to which it gives transparency in whitening copper in calico printing in the preparation of colors for the painter and in the working of platina and some other metals to render them more easily fusible caustic dry burning corrosive to corrode to eat away to penetrate how is the white powdered arsenic prepared by submitting the ore to a strong heat in a peculiar kind of furnace this produces a dark grey powder which is again heated in close iron vessels this separates it from its impurities and the arsenic is obtained in thick solid masses these by exposure to the air fall into a fine white powder from what is the word arsenic derived from a greek word signifying masculine powerful as a poison arsenic is dug out of mines in Saxony near Glossar in Bohemia in England in the Mendip Hills in great quantities it has so strong a corrosive quality as sometimes to burn the hands and feet of the miners it is a deadly poison for all known animals this poisonous mineral is not found native in its perfect form being generally united with metallic ores what do you mean by gems the word gem is used as a common name for all precious stones or jewels they consist of the salacious earths and are much valued for their luster, transparency color, hardness, and rarity there are many different kinds of precious stones each distinguished by its peculiar character how are they divided into the pelucid gems which are of great luster and extremely hard as the diamond the semi-pelucid those which are not so transparent but yet of great beauty those of one color as the emerald or turquoise and those variegated or veined with different colors gems are sometimes found of regular shapes with a natural polish near the beds of rivers after great rains these are of the pebble kind sometimes they are found of irregular shapes with a rough coat in mines and the clefs of rocks pearls, though not stones are also ranked among the number of gems pelucid clear as a drop of water semi-pelucid half-pelucid describe the diamond the diamond is a precious stone the first in rank of all the gems and valued for its beautiful luster it is the hardest of all stones as well as the most valuable the most esteemed are colorless a diamond in its natural state as it comes out of the mine and before it is cut is called rough because it has no brilliancy but is covered with an earthy crust the diamond is the adamant of the ancients hence the expression hard as adamant from its being the hardest substance in nature the cutting of diamonds is a work of labor and requires great skill the polishing is performed by a mill of simple construction where are they mostly found? in yellow ochreous earths in mines and likewise in torrents which have torn them from their beds in former times all the diamonds that were known were brought from the famous mines of Goldkonda in Handostan the islands of Moluca and Borneo have also produced many valuable stones the diamond mines of Goldkonda are now so exhausted that they are not thought worth the expense of working these gems are now brought chiefly from Brazil in South America what is meant by ochreous? consisting of ochre a kind of earth with a rough and dusty surface composed of fine soft clay particles which readily separate in water there are various colored ochreous as red, yellow, blue, green, etc they are very useful in many of the arts what term is used to denote the quality of the diamond? in speaking of the value of diamonds we distinguish them as diamonds of the first water meaning those which possess the greatest perfection and purity which ought to be that of the clearest drop of water when they fall short of this perfection they are said to be of the second or third water and so on till the stone may properly be called a colored one what is the ruby? a beautiful gem of a red color in its perfect state it is of great value the ruby is often found perfectly pure and free from all spots or blemishes but its value is much more frequently lessened by them especially in the larger stones it is very hard being second only to the diamond in this respect and is often naturally so bright and pure on the surface as to need no polishing it is often worn in rings, etc. in its rough or native state the color of rubies varies from the deepest to the palest red all having more or less of a purplish tinge which is plainly perceived in the deeper colored specimens than in the paler ones where are rubies found? they are mostly found in gold mines we have the true rubies only from the east the Isle of Ceylon has long been celebrated for these gems they are found in a river which descends from the mountains they are brighter and more beautiful than those obtained in other parts but are very rare some crystals are frequently found tanged with the true color of the ruby but these want its luster and hardness describe the Emerald it is a precious stone of a beautiful transparent green color and when in a state of perfection nearly equal to the ruby in hardness the finest and best are found in America especially among the mountains of Peru they are also obtained from a few places in the east these gems are often counterfeited as are most of the precious stones there being even false diamonds the genuine may be known by their extreme hardness and brilliancy counterfeited imitated with a view to defraud genuine true real what is the turquoise? a beautiful blue stone it is one of the softest of the gems and some varieties are often used for seals as they admit of being engraved upon the turquoise is easily imitated and that often so perfectly as to render it very difficult to distinguish the counterfeit from the true gem in what countries are they found? the oriental turquoise comes from Persia the Indies and some parts of Turkey the turquoise is also found in various parts of Europe as Germany, Spain and France what is engraving? the art of cutting metals or precious stones and representing there on figures, letters and devices the term is, however, more particularly applied to the art of producing figures or designs on metal, etc. for the purpose of being subsequently imprinted on paper the ancients are well known to have excelled in engraving on precious stones many specimens have been preserved which surpass anything of the kind produced by the moderns this art is frequently alluded to in the Bible engraving on wood, according to some authors was introduced into Europe from China by Venetian merchants it is certain the art was practiced in eastern and northern Italy as early as the 13th century the invention of copper plate engraving has been ascribed to a goldsmith of Florence about the year 1460 device, that which is formed by design design, a representation of a thing by an outline, a sketch describe wood engraving the subject is drawn on a block of box or pear tree wood with a black lead pencil or with a pen and India ink the wood is then cut away so as to leave the lines which have been drawn as raised parts the ink is next applied and by pressing damp paper upon the block the impressions are obtained Albert Durer, a celebrated painter of Germany brought the art of engraving on wood and metal and taking off impressions on paper, etc. to great perfection how is engraving on copper, steel, etc. performed this sort of engraving is performed with a sharp pointed instrument called a graver by means of which figures, landscapes, etc. are traced upon a flat surface of the metal the lines are then filled with ink or a similar composition and the paper pressed on the plate when taken off an exact copy of the plate is impressed upon its surface what is lithography a species of engraving on stone from which impressions can be taken much more expeditiously and economically than from metal the process depends upon the following principles first the facility with which calcareous stones imbibe water second the power of oily substances to repel water when drawings are executed upon this stone with crayons composed of oily materials and the surface of the stone is washed over with water the moisture is imbibed by the stone but repelled from the engraving and when the ink which also contains oily substances is applied it adheres only to the drawing and not to the other portions of the stone the block is then passed through a press and the impressions are taken off as many as 70,000 perfect copies have been obtained from a single stone expeditiously with celerity or dispatch economically with economy with frugality you describe pearls as being ranked among the number of gems although they are not stones what kind of substance are they pearls are excrescences found in the shells of a large species of oyster which are supposed to be produced by a disease of the fish the best pearls are generally taken from the most fleshy part of the oyster near the hinge of the shell but inferior kinds are found in all parts of the fish and adhering to the shells pearls from many illusions made to them in the Old Testament were not only known to the ancients but were regarded by them as costly and precious gems how do they get the oysters which contain them by diving underwater and picking the oysters from the large beds at the bottom of the sea or the rocks to which they adhere the divers cast all the oysters they take into their boats and carry them ashore to deposit them in heaps they are then left till they become putrid this being necessary in order to remove the pearls easily from the rough matter by which they are surrounded what sea produces the best and greatest number of pearls the finest and greatest quantities are obtained off the coast of Ceylon the pearl oyster is also found in the seas of the east and these in those of America and in some parts of the European seas but these last are much inferior the oriental pearls are the finest on account of their size, color, and beauty being of a silvery white while the occidental pearls are smaller and frequently tinged with a yellow or blackish hue tinged slightly colored does not the pearl oyster produce a substance called mother of pearl? no the beautiful substance so much used for inlaying boxes and for ornamental knife handles, etc is produced from the shell not of the pearl oyster but of another sea fish of the oyster kind what is inlaying? the art of ornamenting a plain surface of wood or other material with thin slices or leaves of a finer wood of a different kind as mahogany inlaid with ebony, etc or with ivory and other substances there are two kinds of inlaying one of the more ordinary sort which consists only of compartments of different kinds of wood inlaid with one another the other requiring greater skill represents flowers, birds, and other figures the thin plates of wood or other substance being sawed into slips and cut into the required forms are carefully joined and afterwards strongly glued down on the block of wood, etc intended to be thus ornamented compartment, a division, a separate part what is ebony? a hard black colored wood growing in the countries of the Levant, etc there are, however, several black woods of different kinds which are also called ebony what is ivory? the tooth or tusk of the elephant which grows on each side of his trunk it is somewhat like a horn in shape ivory is much esteemed for its beautiful white color polish and fine grain when wrought it has been used from the remotest ages of antiquity in the scriptures we read of Solomon's ivory throne and also of vessels of ivory and beds of ivory by which it appears to have been a chief article of luxury as well as of trade remotest, most distant of what countries is the elephant and inhabitant? of many parts of Asia and Africa the elephant is the largest quadruped now in existence it is extremely sagacious, docile and friendly in the countries where they live they are trained to useful labor and by their great strength are enabled to perform tasks which a man or horse could not accomplish among the native princes they were, and even still are used in war with them the inhabitants are able to hunt and destroy the lion tiger and other beasts of prey with their long trunk or proboscis they can perform almost everything which man can with his hands quadruped and animal with four feet and of Chapter 14 of a Catechism of Common Things read by Dennis Sayers in Modesto, California for LibriVox May 2008 Chapter 15 of a Catechism of Familiar Things This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org A Catechism of Familiar Things Their History and the Events Which Led to their Discovery by Benziger Brothers Chapter 15 Starch, Arrowroot, Tapioca, Isenglass, Caviar, The Vine Wine, Gin, Rum, Brandy, Vinegar, Indigo Gumbuge, Longwood, Tar, Pitch, Camphor, Musk, Murr, Frankincense and Turpentine What is starch? A white, powdery sediment procured from the bottom of vessels in which flour or meal has been steeped in water Pure starch is of a fine white color without taste or smell It will not dissolve in cold water but with warm forms of jelly in which form it is generally used It is made by crushing, soaking and fermenting the grains of the cereals and then washing in pure water The water is then evaporated leaving behind the starch Sediment, matter subsided to the bottom of liquors For what is starch used? To stiffen linen after washing to make hair powder and for other purposes in the arts From what vegetables is starch obtained? All perinaceous vegetable substances afford it as the potato, horse, chestnut, etc Starch being the nutritive part of the vegetable forms an excellent food for invalids and constitutes the principal part of arrow root, tapioca, etc The different flavor of these substances being derived from the mixture of a small portion of foreign matter peculiar to the plants which yield them Starch is procured from potatoes by crushing them to powder and then preceding as in the manufacture of wheat starch What is arrow root? The starch obtained from the root of an American plant by pulverization It is often adulterated with potato starch and the latter is even sold instead of it for the two kinds resemble each other so closely that they can hardly be distinguished Pulverization, the act of reducing to powder adulterated, corrupted by foreign mixture What is tapioca? Tapioca is another kind of starch obtained from the root of the manioc plant which is cultivated in most hot climates in Asia, Africa, and America A flower is also prepared from it which is used for making bread It is particularly cultivated in the tropical parts of America and in the West India Islands where it forms a very important article of food for the Negro population Negro, a name given to the black inhabitants of Africa and their descendants Population, inhabitants of a place or country What is isenglass? One of the purest and finest of animal glues It is the produce of several kinds of fish but especially of the sturgeon which inhabits the seas of Northern Europe and America From what part of the fish is it prepared? From the air bladder and certain parts of the entrails These are taken out while fresh, cut open washed and exposed to the air a short time to stiffen The outside skin is then taken off and the remaining part formed into rolls fastened together with pegs and hung up to dry The isenglass is then separated into threads of different sizes or formed into flakes Immense quantities are annually prepared in this manner in Russia What are its uses? Dissolving readily in water or milk it yields a mild nutriment for the sick and enters into the composition of many delicacies for the table such as jellies, etc. It is mixed with gum to give luster to silk and satin It is also used in making quart plaster and for clarifying various liquors Gelatin, now much used on account of its being less expensive is a similar preparation but of an inferior quality What else does the sturgeon supply? Its row furnishes the delicacy called caviar which is, in fact, merely that part of the fish separated from the membranes and washed in vinegar and white wine and dried in the air It is then well salted and packed up in barrels ready for sale This is the method of preparing it in Russia where large quantities of it are consumed It is largely exported to Italy where it is highly esteemed It is unwholesome and at present the demand for it except in Russia and Italy is very limited The best is dry and of a brown color and is eaten with lemon juice on bread To what other uses is the fruit of the vine applied besides drying it for raisins as described in the sixth chapter The well-known plant called the vine has been an object of culture from the earliest stages of the world for the sake of the fermented liquor obtained from its fruit Soon after the flood, Noah, who appears to have been the first husbandman is mentioned as having planted a vineyard and drank of the juice of the grape In all those countries where it flourishes it is inseparably connected with their religious rights and wine, like corn, formed one of the principal articles which they offered on their altars to the gods whom they worshipped Husbandman, one who cultivates the fruits of the earth Alter, the place where sacrifices were anciently offered to some deity What countries produce the best wines? The wines of France are generally admitted to be the finest The principal ones are champagne, burgundy, and claret Of each of these there are several varieties celebrated for their peculiar flavor They are generally named after the places where they are made Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Hungary, Sicily, Greece, and California also produce their various sorts of wine, each esteemed in its kind May wine be extracted from other vegetable bodies? The word is appropriated in a more particular form to the fermented juice of the grape but nearly all vegetable productions may be made to afford wine That produced from apples is called cider, that from pears, peri A kind of wine called mead is prepared from honey and water Appropriated, applied to What is honey? A sweet vegetable juice collected from the flowers of various plants by the bees What honey was reckoned by the ancients the best in the world? The honey of Hibla, on the coast of Sicily, and of Hemedis, a mountain of Greece near Athens What other fluid is drawn from wine? Spirits, by this term is understood, a volatile fluid called Spirits of wine, or alcohol, obtained by distillation from wine, beer, and all fermented liquors It is colorless and of a strong penetrating taste and smell It is of great use in chemistry, in dyeing, to prepare the stuff for receiving colors, and in many of the arts What is the vessel called which is used in distilling? A still It is a vessel so formed as to collect the vapor, which is the spirit or alcohol, separated from the liquid from which it is drawn This liquid product is itself returned to the still and the same process is several times repeated, till the alcohol or spirit is sufficiently strong and pure There are three principle spirits used in this country, as gin, rum, and brandy Product, thing produced What is gin? A spirit procured from raw barley, oats, and malt, mixed together in certain proportions There are several varieties of this spirit, all obtained from grain The peculiar flavor of gin is given by infusing a few hops and some of the berries of the juniper fur What is malt? Malt is barley prepared by being steeped in water and fermented and then dried in a kiln It is used for making beer, etc Of what are hops the produce? Of a graceful climbing plant, the blossoms of which are used in making beer, to preserve it and improve its flavor What is rum? A spirit obtained from molasses, the fluid which draws from sugar while it is crystallizing What is brandy? A spirit distilled from any wine, but the best is procured from weak French wines, which are unfit for exportation Brandy, from whatever wine it has been obtained, is at first colorless Different methods are employed to give it the color by which it is distinguished Exportation, the act of sending articles from one country to another What is vinegar? An agreeable acid penetrating liquor prepared from wine, beer, etc To make vinegar the wine or beer is made to undergo a second fermentation called the acid or acidus fermentation The first which the vegetable juice had to undergo in order to convert it into wine or beer being called the vinius fermentation Vinegar is of great use in cookery and medicine The word is derived from the French for wine, vin, and agre, sour The agents had several kinds of vinegar which they used as drinks, but it is most likely that these vinegars were different from that so-called among us and were probably more a kind of wine Acitus, sour, vinius, wine-like What materials are used for the dyeing and coloring of our manufacturers? There are many mineral and vegetable earths which furnish mankind with different colors for beautifying their various manufacturers and assisting them in the arts Some species of insect also come to their aid, as for instance the cocconeels These insects are killed by the application of heat and thus form the drug used for giving red colors, especially crimson and scarlet, and for making carmine The beautiful and permanent blue called indigo is the produce of a small shrub, two or three feet in height From what part is the dye obtained? From the leaves, the color is produced by soaking them some hours in water, in large vessels constructed for the purpose The sediment of the blue liquor drawn from them is afterwards dried and sold in the form of small grains For the painter they are mixed with oil or diluted and made up into small cakes with gum water In what countries is indigo cultivated? It is native in both Indies and in South America where its cultivation affords employment to many of the inhabitants It grows wild in parts of Palestine and is much cultivated both in Syria and Egypt It once formed one of the staples of the southern states but has in a great measure given way to the cultivation of cotton Has indigo been long known? The culture and preparation of indigo were known to the Oriental nations long before it was introduced into Europe The inhabitants of ancient Britain painted their bodies with the blue dye which they obtained from woad The plant which grows wild in France and along the shores of the Baltic and which greatly resembles indigo in all its properties except its brilliancy of color What is gum-bouge? The concrete, resinous juice of a species of gum-tree growing in Cambodia and other parts of the Indies It is brought over in large cakes or rolls of a yellowish-brown color outside and inside of a deep yellow or orange which changes to a pale bright yellow on being moistened What are the uses of gum-bouge? Dissolved in water it forms a beautiful and useful color for the painter It is also used in medicine Gum-bouge is soluble in either water or spirits of wine Mixed with a blue color it forms green in various shades according to the different proportions of the ingredients What is logwood? The wood of a tree which grows in parts of America and the West Indies It is imported in great quantities What is tar? A coarse, resinous liquor issuing from the wood and bark of pine or fir trees It is, in fact, the oily juices of the sap thickened and colored by the heat of the sun or by age It is extracted for use by burning the wood of the trees under a heavy covering of turf or earth The tar exudes during the slow combustion and is collected into a cavity dug in the ground for the purpose Tar is exported in great quantities from Norway, Sweden and our southern states What are its uses? It is applied to the sides of ships and boats and their rigging to preserve them from the effects of the weather It is used instead of paint for palings, etc. and sometimes also in medicine A kind called mineral tar is also drawn from coal by the process of distillation Mineral tar is also found native in some parts of the earth What is pitch? A kind of juice or gum likewise drawn from unctuous woods, chiefly those of the pine and fir It is used for nearly the same purposes as tar in shipping, medicine and various other arts Pitch is properly a juice of the wild pine or pitch tree It is of a glossy black color, dry, brittle and less bitter and pungent than the liquid tar What is camphor? A vegetable substance, chiefly procured from a kind of laurel, laurus camphora growing in Borneo, Japan and many East Indian islands It is also produced from other plants and shrubs though in very small quantities How and from what part of the tree is it taken? All parts of the tree are impregnated with camphor but it is principally extracted from the roots and trunk by distillation It is white and of a crystal form Its odor is extremely fragrant In this state it is called rough camphor and is thus exported The Greeks and Romans do not appear to have been acquainted with this valuable drug and we are indebted to the Arabians for a knowledge of it What are the properties and uses of camphor? It is a firm, dry crystal matter with a hot, sharp, aromatic taste It is highly odorous and so inflammable as to burn and preserve its flame in water It totally vanishes or evaporates in the open air and in spirits of wine it entirely dissolves Camphor has various uses as in fireworks, etc. It is an excellent preservative of animal and vegetable bodies as it resists worms and other insects In the courts of Eastern princes it is burnt at night with wax Its principal use with us is in medicine Preservative, a preventative of decay What is musk? A dry, friable substance of a dark color taken from a little bag under the belly of a small animal called a Tibetan musk which is a native of the Indies, Tonquin, and China It inhabits the woods and forests where the natives hunt it down Musk is so strong a perfume as to be agreeable only in the smallest quantities or when mingled with some other scent It is used in perfumery, etc. Is there not another animal which produces a similar scent? Yes, an animal of Arabian origin produces an odiferous substance called civet from which it takes its name of civet cat There are several species of this animal which produce it but it is from the civet cat that it is most commonly taken Civets are found in all the warm parts of Asia and Africa in Madagascar and in the East Indian islands It was formerly in high esteem but is at present very little used except to increase the power of other perfumes What is myrrh? A kind of gum resin issuing from the trunk of a tree growing in Arabia, Egypt, and Abyssinia It flows either naturally or by incision and is sent to us in small lumps of a reddish brown or yellow color Its smell is strong but not disagreeable Our myrrh is the same drug that was used by the ancients under the above name Its chief use now is in medicine The ancient Egyptians employed it as an ingredient in the embalming of dead bodies Embalming Preserving the bodies of the dead from decaying or putifying by impregnating them with aromatics and other substances which resist putification Where is Abyssinia? Abyssinia is a large kingdom situated in eastern Africa What is frankincense? An odiferous aromatic gum resin which distills in the heat of summer from incisions made in the bark of a tree which produces it Notwithstanding the great use of the gum both in ancient systems of religious worship and in modern medicine authors have been much divided in opinion with regard to the kind of tree from which it is obtained It is a species of turpentine tree belonging to an order of resinous and fragrant trees and shrubs inhabiting the tropical parts of the world For what was it formerly used? The ancients burnt it in their temples as a perfume and to do honor to the divinities that were worshiped in them It appears to have been applied to the same purposes by people of all religions Murr and frankincense were reckoned by the eastern nations amongst their most costly perfumes We are informed by St. Matthew's Gospel in the New Testament that the wise men who came to Bethlehem to worship our savior at his birth brought gifts of gold, frankincense and murr Many of the primitive Christians were put to death because they would not offer incense to idols In the Catholic Church we still retain its use in many ceremonies Primitive, early Incense, perfumes burnt in religious rites or as an offering to some deity What is the appearance of frankincense? It is generally imported in white or yellowish pieces or drops which possess a bitter, disagreeable taste It is very inflammable and burns with a strong and pleasant odor That brought from the indies is inferior to that from Arabia and inclines to a reddish color The common frankincense is softer, more resinous and possesses less value than the former What is turpentine? The resinous juice of many trees as the pitch, larch, fur, etc. It is, in fact, the juice that renders them evergreen and when, in an overabundant quantity, bursts through their bark and oozes out Common turpentine is that produced by incisions from the wild pine There are several kinds of turpentine procured from various resinous trees Some are of use in medicine and most of them in making different kinds of varnishes for preserving and beautifying boxes, paintings, etc. Ooze, to flow gently Is there not a tree more particularly designed to the turpentine tree? Yes, the terabinth or turpentine tree of Palestine in the east It is one of the most common forest trees of those regions and is regarded with respect and distinction similar to that awarded to the oak in England What part of it produces the gum? The gum, or rather the resin, distills from the trunk It is called cypress or chion turpentine much of it being brought from the aisles of cypress and ceo, or chios and is procured by incision about the month of July This turpentine, owing to its superior quality as well as its scarcity each tree seldom yielding over two or three pounds is very costly End of Chapter 15 Chapter 16 of A Catechism of Familiar Things This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org A Catechism of Familiar Things Their history and the events which led to their discovery by Benziger Brothers Chapter 16 Bricks, mortar, granite, slate, limestone, or calcidious rocks Steel, earths, volcanoes, and earthquakes Of what are bricks composed? Of clay, dried by the heat of the sun or burnt in kilns Their color varies with the different degrees of heat to which they are subjected and burning In the east, bricks were baked in the sun The Romans used them crude only laying them to dry in the air for a long space of time Crude in the rough, unbaked state just as they were formed How long have bricks been in use for building? Bricks appear to have been in use at a very remote period of antiquity both from the account of them in the holy scriptures and from the remains of them which have been found The Tower of Babel and the Walls of Babylon were built of them They were in early use among the Egyptians as appears from the history of the Jews before their deliverance by Moses In the Book of Exodus we are told that this captive people were compelled to make bricks for that nation The Romans under their first kings built with massive square stones but towards the end of the Republic they began to use brick borrowing the practice from the Greeks and the greatest and most durable buildings of the succeeding emperors were composed of them as the Pantheon, etc. Massive, bulky and heavy By whom was the Tower of Babel erected and why? By the descendants of Noah's three sons Shem, Shem and Jepeht They were extremely numerous and dwelt in the land of Sennar becoming ambitious of distinguishing themselves they set about building a tower whose summit might reach to heaven Sennar was the original name of the country about Babylon Descendants, those descended from a particular person or family What remarkable event followed their foolish pride The Almighty suddenly frustrated their purpose by confusing their language and causing them all to express their words by different sounds hence arose the numbers of different languages spoken by the nations of the earth and thus what they imagined would be a monument of glory was made an awful memento of their pride and folly Frustrated, prevented Monument, anything by which the memory of persons or things is preserved Memento, a hint to awaken the memory of anything that which reminds What good effect did this event produce? God, who at all times can bring good out of evil by this means caused the other parts of the earth to be peopled for this visitation having effectually broken up their scheme they emigrated in parties and dispersed themselves over different parts of the world emigrated, removed from one country to another dispersed, separated Where was Babylon? This celebrated city, so often mentioned in Holy Rite and remarkable for the minuteness with which its destruction was foretold by the prophets was the capital of the Assyrian Empire and situated on the river Euphrates After the destruction of Nineveh, the ancient capital of this empire Babylon became the most famous city of the east minuteness, particularity What is meant by the Assyrian Empire? The country of Assyria in Asia For what was this city particularly celebrated? For its hanging gardens, palaces, temples and walls the latter of which are said to have been 350 feet high and so broad that six chariots could go abreast upon them The city was so strongly fortified both by nature and art just to be thought impregnable fortified, defended impregnable, incapable of being taken or destroyed by an enemy By whom was it destroyed and when? By Cyrus, 538 years before the birth of Christ just 50 years after Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the city of Jerusalem in its temple Who was Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire? Who was Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon? What was the Pantheon? A temple of a circular form which was dedicated to all the gods or all the saints That of all others the most celebrated is the Pantheon of ancient Rome and its remains are the most perfect amongst the wonders of that city at the present day Circular Having the form of a circle round By whom was it built? By Agrippa, the consul of Rome 25 years before Christ It was dedicated by him to Jupiter The name Pantheon was given on account of the great number of statues of the gods ranged in niches all round it and because it was built in a circular form to represent heaven the residence of the gods It was afterwards converted into a church by Pope Boniface IV and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs under the title of Our Lady of the Rotunda Agrippa likewise built the Pantheon at Athens which was but little inferior to that of Rome The Greek Christians afterwards converted it into a church dedicating it to the Blessed Virgin but the Turks when they subdued Greece changed it into a mosque Dedicated appropriated to a particular person or to a sacred use residence dwelling habitation martyr one who is put to death for the cause of religion mosque a Mohammedan temple what is understood by a consul the chief magistrate of the Roman Republic or Commonwealth after the Romans had expelled their kings they were governed by two consuls these were established in the year of Rome 245 the consuls were the head of the senate they commanded the armies of the republic and judged all the differences between the citizens they held their offices for the space of a year at the end of which time new ones were elected consuls were even continued under the emperors after the republic was destroyed but it was then little more than an honorary title and at last was totally abolished expelled turned out abolished annulled made void to what is the term consul applied at the present time to an officer established by a commission from a king or state to reside in a foreign country of any considerable trade to facilitate and dispatch business protect the merchants of the state, etc. commission a trust imposed command authority facilitate to render easy what is meant by a senate an assembly or council of senators that is of the principal inhabitants of a state who have a share in the government what is the government of the United States it is one of limited and definite powers defined by a written constitution how are the legislative powers granted to the government vested in a congress consisting of a senate of two senators from each state chosen by the legislature thereof and a house of representatives consisting of one or more members from each state elected by the people in equal electoral districts legislative giving or enacting laws how are our laws made bills passed by the house of representatives and the senate on receiving the sanction of the president become laws or vetoed by the president may be passed by two-thirds of both houses who is Jupiter the principal deity of the pagan world what is used to cement bricks firmly together mortar a composition of lime, sand, gravel, etc. mixed up with water the ancients had a kind of mortar so very hard in binding that even to this day it is next to impossible to separate the parts of some of their buildings what is granite a rock which has been formed by the union of three different minerals in the state of fusion these on cooling have crystallized and become distinct from each other in the mass it is remarkable for the beauty of its colors, its hardness and durability there are granites of many different colors as red or rose colored gray, green, variegated, etc. fusion, a melted state mass, a body, a lump what form does it bear? granite does not generally form one extensive mass but remains in separate and large fragments rudely compacted together besides the three minerals of which it is composed particles of other stones or metallic earths are often accidentally mixed with it it is called granite from its granulus structure compacted, joined together granulus, consisting of small grains where is granite found? granite occurs in all the larger mountain ranges and in isolated masses in every country not being a stratified rock and being excessively hard it is difficult to get it out in manageable masses in Arabia, Petraea, the whole country abounds in masses of different granites isolated, alone, separated, detached stratified, consisting of strata or beds what mode is usually employed in this country and obtaining it? blasting or blowing up with gunpowder the force of which detaches pieces from the rock which are hewn roughly into forms on the spot by a small pickaxe granite is also quarried by cutting a deep line some yards long and placing strong iron wedges at equal distance along this line these wedges are struck in secession with heavy hammers till the mass splits down another method of detaching masses of rock is by driving wooden wedges into a deep artificial or natural crack or fissure the wedges are then wet and in consequence of swelling burst the rock asunder quarried from to quarry a term used for the getting of stone from a quarry or place where stones are dug from the earth or detached from a large mass of rock detach to separate for what is this rock used? on account of its great hardness it is used for large public structures as bridges, churches, etc the ancient temples and other buildings in Egypt Asia and Italy were built of different colored granites especially the beautiful oriental red granite what is slate? the common name for a bluish fossil stone very soft when dug out of the earth and easily cut or split into thin plates a property which renders it invaluable for a variety of purposes invaluable, extremely valuable for what is it used? slate has superseded the use of lead for covering roofs even of the largest buildings being lighter and more durable it is preferable to tile it is also employed for slabs to form cisterns shelves for diaries and other purposes on account of its strength coolness and the ease with which it can be cleaned the latter quality renders it also of great value in the business of education as a cheap substitute for paper the ancients were unacquainted with the use of slate what other kinds of stone are used in building? limestone or the calciferous rocks of the geologist of these there are many varieties those which are easily cut and polished are termed marbles and are used in sculpture and in ornamental architecture the coarser marbles are used for the common purposes of building calciferous, partaking of the nature or calcs or lime a term employed to describe chalk, marble and all other combinations of lime with carbonic acid geologist, one who studies the science of geology of what do calciferous earths or stones consist? calciferous earth stones or rocks consist of lime or pure calciferous earth, carbonic acid and water what is quick lime? limestone deprived of its carbonic acid and water by being subjected to an intense heat and a kiln how are these stones wrought? to whatever purpose the stones are to be applied the larger blocks obtained from the quarry must be cut into smaller and more manageable pieces by sawing the saw used is a long blade of steel without teeth fixed in a heavy wooden frame these huge saws are worked by one or two men who sit in boxes to shelter them from the weather water is caused to drip constantly into the cut to facilitate the motion of the saw and keep it cool so as to prevent it from losing its temper huge, very large, temper, hardness in speaking of metals it signifies the state to which they are reduced and especially with regard to their hardness what is steel? iron combined with a small portion of carbon its chemical main is carborite of iron it is not so malleable as iron in its ordinary state but is much harder, more elastic and susceptible of a higher polish of this material are manufactured knives, swords and all kinds of cutting instruments and edge tools used for domestic purposes and in the arts from the ponderous pit saw to the finest lancet good steel is much more ductile than iron and a finer wire may be drawn from it than from any other metal the excellence of edge tools depends upon their temper ponderous, heavy you say that a geologist is one who studies geology what is meant by this term a science which enables us to read in the simple language of nature the changes which have taken place on the surface of the earth in its structure and mineral construction it describes the different materials and the strata of which the crust of the earth is composed and investigates the causes of its physical features simple, easily read what are strata? layers of rock and other substances of which the whole earth seems to be composed these rocks are found lying one above another in regular order beneath them are the unstratified rocks which seem to form the basis or foundations upon which the others have been deposited the various layers seem to have been formed during progressive stages of vegetable and animal organization these rocks and strata are divided into five classes or formations progressive, moving forwards organization, formation or structure of bodies name them the primitive or lower formations supposed to have been formed in the chaotic state of the earth because they have no trace of organized beings or petrifications they are chiefly composed of salacious and argolacious earths as granite, slate, etc transition rocks supposed to have been formed during the transition of the earth into a habitable state they differ from the primitive in containing the remains of marine animals the secondary rocks containing the remains of animals and vegetables and consequently formed after their creation the tertiary formation composed of layers of clay, gravel and marl and containing peculiar organic remains and the alluvial formation constituted of parts of previous rocks separated by water, etc and deposited in beds petrification, an animal or vegetable substance turned to stone salacious, consisting of flint transition, change from one state to another argolacious, clayy, consisting of clay chaotic, resembling chaos, confused chaos, confusion, a mingled heap a term used in speaking of the world while yet without form a Greek word signifying a confused mass alluvial, deposited from water of what is this last compounded? the alluvial formation is composed of sand, gravel, loam, clay, turf, etc and contains plants, roots, moss, bones, petrified wood and skeletons of animals it is distinguished from the tertiary formation chiefly by its superior position and by extending over regions where existing streams or other causes now in action could have produced it some geologists mention another formation called the volcanic because composed of minerals thrown from the crater of a volcano such as pumice stones, lava, etc crater, the mouth or opening of a volcano petrified, hardened into stone you mentioned salacious and argolacious earths is not, then, the earthy covering of our globe of one common character? no, by earth is understood a combination of many distinct bodies chemists, by separating earths from each other and from foreign matters connected with them have discovered 9 or 10 primitive earths all of these, except silex, are compounds of oxygen with metallic bases chemist, one who understands the science of chemistry of which of these simple or primitive earths are the solid portions of the globe principally composed of flint or silex, lime or calcarius earth and clay or argol, in various degrees of combination the greatest parts of the mountains and plains and the whole of what we commonly understand by soil, mold, earth, etc are composed these, however, though forming nearly all of the solid portions of the world are constantly mixed with foreign matters metals, particularly iron and acids as carbonic acid what are the properties of silex? silex or pure flint will not dissolve in water nor can it be melted by itself in any heat but combined with alkalis as soda or potash it forms glass it is the principal ingredient of most of the precious stones what are the chief uses of silex? it is the most durable article for the formation of roads unnecessary ingredient in earthenware, porcelain and cements and the principal material of glass and vitreous substances the making of paste or artificial gems is a branch of the art of glassmaking the basis used is a very hard and pure silex basis, that part of any mixture which is the ground or base the first principle or element of a substance describe the properties of lime it is of a white color and possesses a hot, caustic taste it forms peculiar salts with acids changes vegetable blues to greens will not fuse, gives out a quantity of caloric when united with water and absorbs carbonic acid when exposed to air lime is very useful in the arts and manufacturers in medicine, etc. the farmers use it as a manure to fertilize land caustic, burning, corroding the term applied to substances which eat away and burn anything with which they are brought in contact in what state is lime found in nature? never native but combined with other substances generally with an acid and most plentifully with carbonic acid as in chalk, marble, etc. it is also found in vegetables and is the basis of animal bones it likewise occurs in the water of the ocean and in that of all springs and rivers the acid of procuring lime from chalk, marble, limestone, oyster shells, etc. has already been described in a former chapter what are the properties of clay? argill or pure clay, also called alumina from its being the basis of alum, is soft to the touch adhesive and emits a peculiar odor when moistened forms a paste with water and hardens in the fire its uses are so various and important it would have been almost impossible for man to have attained his present degree of civilization if it had not been given him by nature in such abundance its uses have already been described in the arts of brick making, pottery, etc. besides these three principle primitive earths just described there are seven others having several different properties in common yet each possessing its different and specific properties and evidently designed by nature for different purposes of utility specific belonging to its particular species utility, usefulness what is a volcano? an opening in the surface of the earth or in a mountain from which are ejected smoke, flames, stones, lava, etc. beneath the outer crust of the earth inflammable materials appear to exist which different causes excite into combustion volcanoes are supposed to owe their origin to the metals and minerals which form the basis of earths and alkalis and which when ignited expand shake the rocky foundations and sometimes bursting through produce all the destructive effects of earthquakes they break forth under the sea as well as the land and throw up mountains which rise above the level of the water during interruption of Asubias, A.D. 79 three cities, Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Stabe were overwhelmed and lay buried beneath the matter ejected from the volcano until within a few years when excavations were made and many relics discovered streets, houses, papyri, manuscripts grain, fruit, bread, medicines, etc. all in a remarkable state of preservation have been found just as they were left by the terrified inhabitants at the time of the eruption an issuing or breaking forth with violence ejected, thrown out are there many volcanoes? there are upwards of 200 volcanoes upon the globe more than one half of them are in America and Oceanica the most noted volcanoes in America are Cotopaxi, the highest in the world near Quito Papacotopetal, in Mexico Cosiguana, and the water volcano in Guatemala in France, Spain, Portugal, and many other countries there are districts which show the former existence of volcanoes which have been long extinct near Naples, in an area of 200 square miles there are 60 craters some of them larger than Vesuvius in one of these, the town of Cumia has stood for 3,000 years what can you say of new islands formed by a volcanic agency? many examples of new islands rising out of the sea by volcanic action are on record some of them are permanent, but others after a time disappear Tenerife, Iceland, Sicily, St. Helena part of Sumatra, Java, Japan, and the Sandwich Islands seem to have been upheaved by a volcanic agency Hawaii, the largest of the last named group contains an area of 4,000 square miles and rises 18,000 feet above the ocean what are earthquakes? shakings or vibrations of the ground sometimes accompanied by rents and rockings or heavings of the surface so as to overthrow buildings and swallow up towns and large tracts of country they are attended with terrible subterranean noise like thunder and sometimes with an eruption of fire or water or else of smoke or winds subterranean, underground what is supposed to cause them? an electrical action between the atmosphere and some deep substratta or the sudden formation of gaseous matter beneath the surface of the earth by internal volcanic fires many hot countries where much electrical disturbance takes place are very subject to them earthquakes almost always precede volcanic eruptions and open volcano also probably diminishes the force of earthquakes by the vent which it affords earthquakes at different times have been productive of the most terrific effects towns and cities have been swallowed up and thousands of people destroyed by them the island of Jamaica is remarkable for the earthquakes which frequently happen there proceed to go before vent opening terrific full of terror dreadful where is Jamaica situated? in the West Indies a large group of fertile islands which lie between North and South America Jamaica is the principal one of those which belong to the English end of chapter 16