KE'LOID, or CIIELOM, a semi-malignant growth of the skin situated on the trunk and extremities, generally occurring in those who are otherwise in good health. The growths are generally flat and expanded, and of an oval, round, or irregular shape. They sometimes remain stationary for years, but have a tendency to ulcerate and bleed, although they often advance slowly, leaving a red, contracted cicatrix behind them. Negro:2s are said to be more subject to the disease than whites. Similar growths some tithes follow the imperfect cicatrization of burns or blisters, which are more warty and vascular, and often cause much itching and burning. Cooling applications afford tem porary relief, but the proper treatment is • excision with the knife, which should be thoroughly done, as the bordering parts appear to have a tendency to malignant degen eration, and do not easily heal, repeated operations often being necessary. See Tumons.
KELP (Fr. tarec) is the crude alkaline matter produced by the combustion of sea weeds, of which the most valued for this purpose are, fucus vesiculosus, nodosus, serrates, lanzinaria digitata, L. belbosa, flinzanthalia lorea, and chorda filunz. These are dried in the sun, and then burned in shallow excavations at a low heat. About 20 or 24 tons of sea-weed yield one ton of kelp. xvhich, as met with in commerce, consists of hard, dark-gray or bluish masses, which have an acrid, caustic taste, and are composed of chloride, of sodium, of carbonate of soda (formed by the decomposition of the organic salts of soda), sulphates of soda and potash, chloride of potassium, iodide of potassium or sodium, insoluble salts, and coloring matter. It used to be the great source of soda (the crude carbonate); but as this salt can now be obtained at a lower price and a better quality from the decomposition of sea-salt, it is prepared in far less quantity than formerly. A ton of good kelp will yield about 8 lbs. of iodine (which is solely
obtained from this source), large quantities of chloride of potassium, and additionally, "by destructive distillation, a large quantity (front 4 to 10 galls.) of volatile oil, front 4 to 15 galls. of paratline oil, 3 to 4 galls. of naphtha, and from 14, to 4 cwt. of sulphate of ammonia."—Ansted's Channel _Islands, p. 515. Except the iodine and chloride of potassium, none of these substances are obtained under the present treat ment.
In Brittany the total annual production of kelp is as much as 24,000 tons, while in all the British islands the total manufacture is only 10,000 tons. Prof. Ansted, in the work already quoted, shows that the manufacture of kelp might be made a source of great wealth to the Channel isles. The Guernsey sea-weed is stated by prof. Graham to be the richest known source of iodine, and the increasing demand for that substance for photographic purposes renders the subject highly important. From the numerical data given in pp 514, 515, of the Cluinnd Islands, it appears that they might yield annually about 10,000 tons of kelp, worth about £4 per ton. The British supply would thus be exactly doubled.
Before the remission of the duty on salt and on Spanish barn:, the kelp manufac ture was carried on to a very large extent, and the value of many estates in the Scottish Highlands and Hebrides greatlyi ncreased in consequence of IL The rent of some farms in the Orkneys rose from £40 to £300 a year. Many thousand tons were made annually on the shores of Great Britain, which sold for £7 to £10 per ton, and employment was given to a great number of people. The regular cultivation of the sea-weed was even proposed, and to some extent carried into effect, by placing large stones within tide mark upon sandy shores, which were soon covered with it.