ง A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND MINES: CONTAINING A CLEAR EXPOSITION OF THEIR PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE. BY ANDREW URE, M.D. F.R.S. M.G.S. M.A.S. LOND.; M. ACAD. N.S. PHILAD.; S. PH. SOC. N. GERM. HANOV.; MULII. ETC. ETC. Ellustrated with nearly Sirteen Hundred Engravings on TWood. FOURTH EDITION, CORRECTED AND GREATLY ENLARGED. IN TWO VOLUMES.-VOL. II. BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN AND CO. HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY Astronomical Observa Ebservatory BOSTON: PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON, 22. Scwool STREST. A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND MINES. K. KALI. The Arabs gave this name to an annual plant which grows near the seashore; now known under the name of salsola soda, and from whose ashes they extracted a substance, which they called alkali, for making soap. The term kali is used by German chemists to denote caustic potash; and kalium, its metallic basis; instead of our potassa and potassium, of preposterous pedigree, being derived from the words pot ashes, that is ashes prepared in a pot. KAOLIN, (Terre à porcelaine, Fr.; Porzellanerde, Germ.), is the name given by the Chinese to the fine white clay with which they fabricate the biscuit of their porcelains. See CLAY. Berthier's analyses of two porcelain earths are as follows: — KARABE', a name of amber, of Arabic origin, in use upon the Continent. KELP; (Varec, Fr.; Wareck, Germ), is the crude alkaline matter produced by incinerating various species of fuci, or sea-weed. They are cut with sickles from the rocks in the summer season, dried and then burned, with much stirring of the pasty ash. I have analyzed many specimens of kelp, and found the quantity of soluble matter in 100 parts of the best to be from 53 to 62, while the insoluble was from 47 to 38. The soluble consisted of — The first of these specimens was from Heisker, the second from Rona, both in the Isle of Skye, upon the property of Lord Macdonald. From these and many other VOL. II. B |