Evaporation
Evaporation Is The Transformation Of A Liquid Into A Gaseous State By The Action Of Heat. If Any Liquid Be Placed In An Open Vessel, It Gradually Diminishes In Quantity By Evaporation, And At Length Disappears. The Quantity Of Vapour Produced In A Given Time Is Proportional To The Area ...
Excise Duties
Excise Duties. This Name Is Given To Taxes Or Duties Levied Upon Articles Of Con Sumption Which Are Produced Within The King Dom ; And Also Upon Licences To Permit Persons To Carry On Certain Trades, The Post-horse Du Ties, And Others Of A Similar Kind. Excise Duties Are Said ...
Extracts
Extracts Are Medicinal Preparations Of Vegetable Principles, Obtained In Various Ways. Sometimes They Are Merely The Juices Ex Pressed From The Fresh Plants, Brought By Careful Evaporation To The Consistence Of Honey, And Then More Properly Denominated Inspissated Juices; At Other Times They Consist Of Certain Principles Of The Fresh ...
Factor
Factor Is A Mercantile Agent, Who Buys And Sells The Goods Of Others, And Transacts Their Business On Commission. He Is In Trusted With The Management And Disposal Of The Goods, And He Buys And Sells In His Own Name, In Which Particulars Consists The Main Difference Between Factors And ...
Factories Factory System
Factories; Factory-system. The Word Factory Has Had Two Different Meanings. It Formerly Meant An Establishment Of Mer Chants And Factors Resident In Foreign Coun Tries, Who Were Governed By Certain Regula Tions Adopted For Their Mutual Support And Assistance Against The Undue Encroachments Or Interference Of The Government Of The ...
Facture
Facture.] In A Purely Metallic State, Lead Produces No Action On The Human System Except Such As Arises From Its Mechanical Properties; But, As Soon As It Becomes Oxidised, It Can Combine With The Contents Of The Stomach, And Pro Duce Different Effects, According To The Nature Of The Substances ...
Fair
Fair. Anciently, Before Any Flourishing Towns Were Established, And The Necessaries Or Ornaments Of Life, From The Convenience Of Communication And The Increase Of Provincial Towns, Could Be Procured In Various Places, Goods And Commodities Of Every Kind Were Chiefly Sold At Fairs; To Which, As To One Uni Versal ...
Falkland Islands
Falkland Islands. These Remote Islands Will In Time Acquire Commercial Im Portance. They Are Situated In The South Atlantic, And Consist Of Two Islands Of Conside Rable Size, And Many Smaller Ones. East Falk Land Is About 90 Miles Long, And On An Ave Rage 40 Miles Wide ; West ...
Fallow
Fallow Is A Portion Of Land In Which No Seed Is Sown For A Whole Year, In Order That The Soil May Be Left Exposed To The Influence Of The Atmosphere, The Weeds Destroyed By Re Peated Ploughings And Harrowings, And The Fertility Improved At A Less Expense Of Manure ...
Fan Manufacture
Fan Manufacture. The Manufac Ture Of Ladies' Fans Is A Larger Department Of Industry Than Many Persons Would Suppose. After A Considerable Interval, During Which Fans Were Little Used, They Have Lately Come Again Into Favour ; And The Manufacture Is Conducted In France On A Considerable Scale. The Firm ...
Farm
Farm. In The Present State Of Agriculture, A Man Who Takes A Farm Of 200 Acres Of Arable Land, Or Land Partly Arable And Partly Good Pasture, Will Require From 16001. To 20001. ; And It Is Not The Interest Either Of The Landlord Or The Tenant That He Should ...
Feathers
Feathers. The Principal Uses To Which Feathers Are Applied Are For Personal Decora Tion, As Plumes For Ladies' Head-dresses, Or For The Hats Of Military Officers ; As A Soft And Highly Elastic Material For Filling Beds, Cush Ions And Pillows ; Or, In The Case Of The Larger _quill-feathers, ...
Felt Felting
Felt ; Felting. Under Hat Manu Facture Will Be Found A Description Of That Peculiar Process Whereby Woollen And Fur Fibres Are Felted Into A Material Fitted For Bats. Woollen Fibres Are Sometimes Combined By The Felting Instead Of The Weaving Process For Carpets And Various Kinds Of Cloth. Among ...
Fences
Fences. When A Park Is Inclosed To Ktep In Deer And Game, The Best Fence Is A Stone Or Brick Wall, Well Built With Lime Mortar ; But, As This Is Expensive Where Stone And Lime Are Not At Hand, The Common Park Paling Is More Frequently Met With. This ...
Fermentation
Fermentation. This Is A General Name For Certain Changes Which Occur In Vege Table And Animal Matters, And By Which There Are Produced New Fluids And Gaseous Com Pounds. Fermentation Is Of Three Kinds The Vinous, Producing Alcohol ; The Aeetous, Yielding Vinegar ; And The Putrefactive, Of Which The ...
Fibrin
Fibrin, Is A Substance Contained In The Bodies Of Animals Both In A Fluid And In A Solid State ; In The Fluid State It Exists In The Blood, And In The Solid State In Muscular Fibre, But The Fibrin Of Venous Blood Differs From That Of Arterial Blood. When ...
Fifeshire
Fifeshire Is One Of The Best Cultivated Counties In Scotland. Tho Soil Is Of Various Kinds. In The Most Fertile Districts It Consists Principally Of A Rich Loam : In The Poorer Tracts It Is Mostly A Wet Clay, Resting On A Cold Bed Of Till. A Level Tract Of ...
Figs
Figs. Figs Belong To The Ficus Genus Of Plants. The Number Of Species Of Ficus Is Very Considerable, Perhaps As Great As That Of Any Arborescent Genus. They Are All Either Tropi Cal Or Inhabitants Of Warm Countries. Some Are Small Plants Creeping Upon The Surface Of Rocks And Walls, ...
File Manufacture
File Manufacture. A File, As Every One Knows, Is A Steel Instrument Having Fiat Or Curved Surfaces So Notched Or Serrated As To Produce 1), Series Of Fine Teeth Or Cutting Edges, Which Are Employed For The Abrasion Of Metal, Ivory, Wood, &fc. Steel For Making Files, Being Required To ...
Filter
Filter. The Smaller Kinds Of Filters Are Strainers Used In Chemical Operations For Ren Dering Fluids Transparent By Separating The Suspended Impurities Which Make Them Turbid ; Or For Separating And Washing The Precipitates Resulting From Chemical Analysis. They Are Usually Made Of Unsized Or Blotting Paper ; And They ...
Fine Arts
Arts, Fine. The Fine Arts Are Generally Understood To Comprehend Those Productions Of Human Genius And Skill Which Are More Or Less Addressed To The Sentiment Of Taste. They Were First Employed In Embellishing Objects Of Mere Utility, But Their Highest Office Is To Meet Our Impressions Of Beauty Or ...
Finistere
Finistere. This Department Of France, In Brittany Or Bretagne, Produces, Besides The Usual Kinds Of Crops, Flax, Hemp, Tobacco, And Cider Fruits. The Cider Produce Is About 1,600,000 Gallons Annually. Eels, Trout, Sal Mon, Lobsters, And Oysters Are Plentiful ; But The Pilchard Fisheries Along The Coast Afford The Most ...
Fire Annihilator
Annihilator, Fire. In Addition To Themachines Noticed Under Fire Engine And Fran Escape, A New Mode Of Attacking The Devouring Element Is Mr. Phillips's Fire Anni Hilator. Mr. Phillips Took Out His Patent In 1849. The Materials Employed Consist Of Sugar And Chlorate Of Potash, Mixed And Boiled Together Into ...
Fire Engine
Fire-engine. In Rome Under The Emperors There Were Bands Of Trained Firemen Kept. Ctesibius Is Believed To Have Invented Some Engine For The Extinction Of Fires In The Time Of The Ptolemies ; And A Few Indications Of Similar Inventions Are Met With In Other Quarters. But The First Fire-engine ...
Fire Escape
Fire-escape. Numerous Contrivances Have Been Brought Before Public Notice From Time To Time For Saving The Lives Of Persons Who May Be In A Building While It Is Burning. Mr. Meseres Devised A Kind Of Chair Of Straps, By Which A Person Could Lower Himself From The Window. Mr. Davis ...
Fire Proof Buildings
Fire-proof Buildings. The Most Obvious Method Of Rendering Houses And Other Buildings Indestructible By Fire Is To Construct Them Entirely Of Incombustible Ma Terials, Such As Stone, Brick, And Iron. Such A Mode Of Construction, However, Is Of Very Limited Application. The Use Of Iron, And Especially Of Cast Iron, ...
Fire Wood Manufacture
Fire-wood Manufacture. The Manufacture Of Such An Article As Fire-wood Would Only Be Thought Of In A Large And Po Pulous City, Far Distant From Woodland And Copses. The Neat Appearance Of Our London Bundles And Net Works And Wheels Of Fire. Wood Has To This Day An Air Of ...
Fisheries
Fisheries Are Localities Frequented At Certain Seasons By Great Numbers Of Fish, Where They Are Taken Upon A Large Scale. Of The British Fisheries, Some Are Carried On In Rivers Or Their Estuaries, And Others In The Bays Or Along The Coasts. Our Principal Cod Fishery Is On The Banks ...
Flanders
Flanders. There Are Two Provinces Of This Name In Belgium, East And West. East Flanders, Is Low And Level. In Many Parts Of The Province There Are Beds Of Peat. The Chief Productions Of The Earth Are Wheat, Rye, Barley, Oats, Potatoes, Flax, Hemp, Hops, Madder, And Tobacco. There Is ...
Flax Manufacture
Flax Manufacture. Flax Is An Annual Plant, Cultivated From Time Immemorial For Its Textile Fibres, Which Are Spun Into Thread And Woven Into Linen Cloth. It Has A Green Stem From A Foot And A Half To Two Feet High, And A Blue Flower, Which Is Succeeded By A Capsule ...
Flexibility Flexure
Flexibility; Flexure. Flexibility Is A Property Of Bodies By Which They Yield Transversely, On The Application Of Some Power : This Property Is Distinct From Elasticity, As It Does Not Necessarily Follow That The Bodies Acted On Recover Their Original Figures When The Power Is Removed. Dia.txma.s, Strength Of; Ropes.] ...
Flint
Flint. The True Native Place Of This Well Known Mineral Is The Upper Bed Of The Chalk Formation, Where It Occurs In Regular Beds. Gravel Consists Principally Of Flints Which Have Been Rounded By Attrition, And, By Exposure To Air And Moisture, Have Acquired A Yellowish Red Colour. Flint Is ...
Floor Cloth Manufacture
Floor-cloth Manufacture. This Useful Production Is Made Partly Of Hemp And Partly Of Flax, The Former Being The Cheaper Of The Two, But The Latter Better Fitted To Retain The Oil And Paint On The Surface. As A Means Of Avoiding The Necessity For Seams Or Joinings In The Cloth, ...
Food
Food. All Organized Bodies Are Nourished 7 The Introduction Into Their Internal Sir-m Ores Of Materials From Without, Which Form Lie Numerous Kinds Of Food So Familiar To Us. <hough Man Derives His Food From Both The Vegetable And Animal Kingdoms, It Is Found That The Animals Which Are Consumed ...
Force
Force, In Mechanical And Scientific Mat Ters, Is A Term Employed To Denote The Un Known Cause Of Any Mechanical Effect. Thus The Cause Of Motion And The Cause Of Pressure Are Both Forces : Again, Difference Of Effects Must Be Attributed To Difference In The Pro Clueing Causes : ...
Forests Forest Science
Forests ; Forest-science. A Forest Is A Large Tract Of Ground Overgrown With Trees And Underwood. As Civilization And Population Advance, Forests Lessen In Every Country. It Has Been Notably So In Great Britain. Ireland Has Few Forests. In Norway The Mountains Are Covered With Wood; Birch, Maple, Pine, And ...
Forfarshire
Forfarshire. The Grampian Hills, In This Scottish Are Of Granite, Having Frequently Topazes And Rock Crystal In Its Cavities And Fissures. There Are Also Lime Stone Slate, Porphyry, And Lead Ore. In The Strathmore District There Is A Shell-marl, Which Is Procured In Large Quantities From Beneath Beds Of Peat-moss ...
Founding
Founding. This Important Mechanical Art Embraces All The Operations Of Reducing Ores, And Of Smelting And Casting Metals. There Are Various Branches Of The Art, And Some Difference Prevails In The Minor Details Of The Processes, As In Iron, Brass, And Bronze Founding, In Casting Guns And Cannon, Types For ...
Fountain
Fountain. A Fountain Is A Jet Or Jets Of Water, Flowing Either Naturally Out Of The Earth, Or From Structures Formed By Art. Artificial Fountains Consist Of Water Flowing From Statues, Vases, Or Architectural Buildings Combined With Sculptured Figures And Other Ornamental Decorations. At Pompeii Not Only The Streets But ...
France
France. This Important Country Has A Varied Though Perhaps Not Very Rich Supply Of Mineral Wealth. Granite, Sienite, Porphyry, Variolites, And Serpentine Are Quarried In Some Of The Departments ; Lava In Others; Marble, Limestone, And Slate In Others ; While Various Parts Of France Yield Lithographic Stone, Por Celain ...
Frankfort
Frankfort. With The Exception Of Sachsenhausen And Its 5000 Inhabitants, Who Are Principally Agriculturists, Gardeners, And Day-labourers, The Citizens Of Frankfort-on-the' Main Derive Their Subsistence From Commerce, Money Operations, And Manufactures. It Is A Place Of Considerable Transit For German And Foreign Produce. The Chief Articles Of Trade Are Wines, ...
Freezing Mixtures
Freezing Mixtures. Freezing Is The Solidification Of Fluid Bodies By The Ab Straction Of The Heat Necessary To Their Fluid Form. Freezing Mixtures Are Such As Produce Cold By The Liquefaction Of Their Solid Ingre Dient. Such Mixtures Reduce The Temperature Of Substances Immersed In Them On The Prin Ciple ...
Freight
Freight, In Commercial Matters, Is The Charge Made For The Carriage Of Merchandise In A Ship. The Amount Of The Freight Is Gen Erally Specified In The Bill Of Lading. It Fre. Quently Happens That The Whole Ship Is Hired By A Merchant For A Voyage, And A Certain Amount ...
Fresco Painting
Fresco Painting. A Painting Is Said To Be A Fresco, Or Painted In Fresco (sul Fresco Intonaco, Upon The Fresh Coat), When It Is Exe Cuted In Water-colours Upon Wet Plaster. Fresco Is The Most Noble And Imposing Of All Methods Of Painting. Colouring In Fresco Was Practised By The ...
Friction
Friction. All Surfaces Have Certain De Grees Of Roughness Arising From The Innume Rable Small Asperities With Which They Are Covered ; And From These, When Two Surfaces Move Upon One Another, There Arises A Force Acting In A Direction Opposite To That In Which The Surfaces Move. This Is ...
Fuel
Fuel Is Any Combustible Matter Employed For The Purpose Of Creating And Maintaining Heat. In The Early Ages Of The World, Wood Must Have Constituted, As Indeed In Many Countries It Does To This Day, The Principal Fuel Employed. Charcoal, Another Kind Of Fuel, Is Merely Wood That Has Undergone ...
Fumigation
Fumigation. The Vapours Of Hot Vine Gar, Burning Sulphur, And Of Aromatic Vege Table Matters, Have Been Long Used To Coun Teract Unpleasant Or Unwholesome Smells : This Is Effected Chiefly By The Formation Of Such As Are Stronger. The Most Important Kind Of Fumigation Is That Which Consists In ...
Fur Trade Furdressing
Fur Trade ; Fur Dressing. The Use Of Furs Appears To Have Been Introduced Into Civilised Europe By The Northern Con Querors. The Fur Trade Was Taken Up By The French Colonists Of Canada; And, Through The Igno Rance Of The Indians, The Traders At First Made Very Great Profits. ...
Furnace
Furnace. The Common Grate Is The Most Familiar Example Of A Furnace; And In The Smaller Chemical Operations Various Con Trivances Are Used, Midway In Character Be Tween A Grate And A Furnace; But The Furnaces Usually So Called Are The Following :— The Wind Furnace Gives A Very High ...
Furniture Manufacture
Furniture Manufacture. It Is Supposed That There Are About 50,000 Workers In Wood In The Metropolis, And 350,000 In The Kingdom, Of Whom A Very Large Number Are Employed In Making Articles Of Household Fur Niture. There Has Also Been A Rough Estimate That About 100,000 Average Timber Trees Are ...
Fustian Velvet
Fustian; Velvet. Power-weaving.—in 1678 M. De. Genes Invented A Rude Kind Of 'weaving Machine, Intended To Increase The Power Of The Common Loom; And Other Looms Were Invented Which Were To Be Worked By A Winch, By •ater-power Or By Some Contrivance More Expeditions Thar The Common Hand-weaving ; But ...
Galway
Galway. The Greater Part Of This Irish County Is Comparatively Flat, And Much Of It Encumbered With Bogs. The Whole District West Of Lough Corrib And Lough Mask Is Known The General Name Of Connamara, And Has Of Late Years Attracted Much Attention By Its Capabilities Of Improvement. Westward From ...
Gard
Gard. In This Department Of The South Of France, Iron, Coal, And Silver-lead Mines Are Worked. Silver, Copper, And Calamine Are Found ; But The Working Of The Mines Has Been Abandoned. Sulphate Of Iron, Manga Nese, Kaolin, Antimony, Fuller's And Potter's Clay, Plaster Of Paris, Building Stone, &c., Are ...
Garden Engines
Garden Engines. The Engines Em Ployed For Watering Plants In Gardens Are Very Similar In Principle To Fire-engines. The Water Is Either Poured Into Them From Buckets, Or Drawn In By A Suction-pump ; While It Is Ex Pelled In A Continuous Stream By A Forcing Pump, Easily Worked By ...
Gardens
Gardens. A Garden, As Distinguished From A Farm, Is A Piece Of Ground Designed For The Cultivation Of Plants Not Actually Indispen Sable To Man For Food. While Corn For Flour, Various Roots And Herbs For The Sustenance Of Cattle, Or Tracts Of Pasture Land On Which Ani Mals Destined ...
Gas Lighting
Gas-lighting. When Coal, Oil, Wax, Wood, Or Any Other Organic Inflammable Sub Stance Is Exposed To Destructive Distillation In Close Vessels, An Inflammable Gas Is The Result. This Gas Is Some Compound Of Hydrogen And Carbon: More Or Less Brilliant When Ignited, According To Its Constitution. That The Gas Obtainable ...
Gems Jewels
Gems; Jewels. Besides Mere Purpo Ses Of Ornament, The Hard And Beautiful Stones Or Crystals Which Constitute Gems Are Applied To Many Useful Purposes. The Application Of Gems In Watches Is Noticed Elsewhere [jewelling Of Watches.] A Well-known Application Of The Diamond Is In Cutting Glass [dianosn]. Gems Are Occa ...
George Birkbeck
Birkbeck, George, M.d., One Of The Warmest Friends And Kindest Instructors Of The Operative Classes, Was Born In 1776, At Settle, In Yorkshire, Where His Father Was A Merchant And Banker. He Displayed An Early Predilection For Mechanical And Scientific Sub Jects, Which Led Him To Select The Medical Profession ...
Germany
Germany. This Large And Important Country, Including The States Which Form The Zollverein Or German Customs Union, Will Occupy An Important Position At The Exhibi• Tion Of The Industry Of All Nations. In Addi Tion To The Brief Details Given Under The Heads Of The Component Countries, [baden ; Priiasra; ...
Gers
Gers. In This Department Of France, Wheat, Maize, Peas, Beans, Oats, And Rye Are Grown In Quantity More Than Sufficient For The Consumption. Marble, Building-stone, Plaster Of-paris, Marl, Potters' Clay, And A Fusible Spar Used In Glass And China Works Are Found. Some Mineral Springs, But No Metals, Are Found ...
Gilding
Gilding. In The Gilding Of Articles Of Metal, Pure Gold Is First Combined Or Amalga Mated With Quicksilver, By Boiling The Gold In Five Or Six Times Its Weight Of Quicksilver. The Boiling Mixture Is Poured Into Cold Water, By Which It Loses A Great Deal Of Its Fluidity ; ...
Gironde
Gironde, The Largest Department Of France, Is Rendered Remarkable, In An Agri Cultural Point Of View, By The District Called The Landes. These Landes Are Sandy Heaths, Of Which Only A Small Part Has Been Brought Into Cultivation, And Which Occupy Nearly Half Of The Department, Extending From The Sea ...
Glamorganshire
Glamorganshire. This Is The Most Commercial And Manufacturing County In Wales. It Has All The Elements Of Increasing Greatness. Its Canals, Its Railways, Its Mines, Its Manufactures, Its Shipping, Are All Important. The Chief Rivers, Such As The Taff, The Daw, The Ogmore, The Avon, The Neath, The Tawe, The ...
Glasgow
Glasgow. This City And Its River Are Among The Wonders Of Our Empire. Until 1775 The Clyde Was Only Navigable By Vessels Of Very Small Burthen; But Since That Time Large Sums Have Been Expended In Its Im Provement, The Banks Have Been Widened, The Bed Deepened, And The Numerous ...
Glass Manufacture
Glass Manufacture. This Trans Parent And Beautiful Substance, Though Ex Ceedingly Brittle While Cold, Is Rendered So Flexible And Tenacious By A High Degree Of Heat That It May With The Utmost Facility Be Moulded Into Any Form. It Is So Ductile While Heated, That It May Be Spun Into ...
Globe Making
Globe -making. This Is In Many Respects A Remarkable Branch Of Art. It Is Said That There Are Only Four Globe-makers In England And One In Scotland; And That The Annual Sale Of Globes Is Only About A Thousand Pair. The Price Of A Pair Of Globes Varies From Six ...
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire. The Commerce Of This County Is Greatly Aided By Canals. The Thames And Severn Canal Connects Those Two Great Navigable Rivers ; It Commences At Lech Lade, And Joins The Stroudwater Canal At Wallbridge, Near Stroud ; Its Length Is About 30 Miles ; It Has A Tunnel At ...
Glove Making
Glove-making. The Great Seats Of The Leather Glove Manufacture In England At Present Are —worcester, Woodstock, Yeovil, Leominster, Ludlow, And London. The Number Made Every Year In The Town And Im Mediate Neighbourhood Of Worcester Has Been Estimated To Exceed 6,000,000 Pairs. It Is Almost Entirely A Hand Manufacture. Worsted ...
Gold
Gold. This Costly And Beautiful Metal Has Been Known From The Remotest Antiquity, And Has Been Un Versally Employed As A Me Dium Of Exchange. Although The Quantity Of Gold Which Is Found, When Compared With That Of Other Metals, Is Small, Yet It Occurs In Greater Or Less Abundance ...
Gold Beating Goldbeaters
Gold - Beating; Gold - Beaters' Skin. The Peculiar Substance Called Gold Beaters' Skin Is Prepared From The Outer Or Peritoneal Membrane Of The Large Intestine Of The Ox, By Successive Processes Of Soaking, Scra Ping, Washing, Alkalising, 8r.c. The Manufacture, Called In France (where It Is Chiefly Carried On) ...
Gold Weighing Machine
Gold-weighing Machine. In 1843 Mr. Oldham Described Before The Institution Of Civil Engineers The Beimtiful Gold-weighing Balance, Invented By Mr. Cotton, At That Time Governor Of The Bank Of England. In The Transactions Between The Mint And The Bank On The One Hand, And Between The Bank Awl The Public ...
Gold Working
Gold-working. We Are In The Habit Of Associating Our Ideas Of Mines Of Gold With A Few Favoured Spots ; But In Truth This Precious Metal Is Very Widely Diffused Through Out The World. Spain Has Gold Among The Sands Of The Tagus, But In Too Small Quan Tity To ...
Goniometer
Gonio'meter Is An Instrument Em Ployed To Determine The Angle At Which The Planes Of Crystals Are Inclined To Each Other. The Common Goniometer Consists Of Two Arms Of Metal, Like The Letter X, Turning On A Joint At The Intersection. Two Contiguous Planes Of The Crystal Are Placed Between ...
Graduating Instruments
Graduating Instruments. The Name Of Graduation Is Given To The Marking Of Degrees And Fractions Of A Degree, On Mathe Matical And Astronomical Instruments. This Graduation, Or, As The Workmen More Generally Style It, Dividing, Is Performed In Two Ways, By Making A Copy Of A System Of Divisions Already ...
Grain
Grain. In The Common Weights And Measures Of This Country, A Grain Is The Smallest Weight Now In Use. It Is Of About The Weight Of A Seed Of Wheat Corn, And Must Therefore Be Considered Rather As A Theoretical Aliquot Part Of A Larger Weight Than As Itself A ...
Granada
Granada. This Beautiful Spanish Pro Vince Is Covered With A Luxuriant Vegetation. The Sumach And The Cork Trees, The Oak Bearing The Edible Fruit, And Many Other Valuable Trees And Shrubs, Form The Extensive Thickets Of The Sierras. The Soil Is Very Productive And The Agriculture Good. Metals Are Abundant ...
Granite
Granite. This Is One Of The Most Abun Dant Rocks Seen At Or Near The Surface Of The Earth. It Underlies The Stratified Rocks, And Appears At Some Remote Geological Mra To Have Been In A Fluid State From The Effect Of Intense Heat. Granite Is One Of The Most ...
Grape Shot
Grape-shot Is An Assemblage, In The Form Of A Column, Of Nine Balls Resting On A Circular Plate, Through Which Passes A Pin Serving As An Axis. The Ball Are Contained In A Strong Canvass Bag, And Are Bound Together On The Exterior Of The Latter By A Cord Disposed ...
Greece
Greece. This Once Celebrated Country Has Little To Interest Us In Respect To Its Present Industry And Commerce. In The Plains Of The Morea The Peasantry Are Not Proprietors, All The Land Belonging Either To The State Or To The Wealthy Families Of The Primates Or Archontes. In The Mountains ...
Greek Fire
Fire, Greek, An Invention Of The Middle Ages Which Was Often Employed In The Wars Of The Christians And Saracens. According To Gibbon, This Combustible Was Need At The Sieges Of Constantinople In The Ith And 8th Centuries. It Was Afterwards Employed By The Caliphs Against The Crusadevs ; But ...
Guano
Guano. This Valuable Manure Is The Excrement Of Sea- Fowl, And Appears To Have Been Used As A Manure Long Before Pera Was Visited By The Spaniards. A Recent German Traveller, Meyer, Says, 'along Almost The Whole Coast Of Peru This Excrementitious Matter Covers The Small Islands And Cliffs Near ...
Guatacum
Guatacum. This Is The Name Of A Genus Of Small Crooked Trees Inhabiting Several Of The West India Islands, In Low Places Near The Sea. The Most Remarkable Species Yields The Hard, Compact, Black-green Wood Called Lignum Tito, Which Is So Heavy That It Sinks In Water, And From Which ...
Guitar
Guitar. This Musical Instrument, In Various Shapes, May Be Traced To The Remotest Periods Of Antiquity. It Was Often Called Citlern And Gillern By The Old English Poets. The English And French Guitar Of The Last Century Was Wide And Thin In Body, Short In The Neck, And Strung With ...
Gun Cotton
Gun-cotton Was First Discovered By M. Schimbein Of Basel, And Made Known In The Year 1846. It Is Prepared With Cotton Wool, And Explodes At Fahr. Gunpowder Ex Plodes At 600°. In Consequence Of This, Gun Cotton May Be Fired On Gunpowder Without Igniting It. This Peculiarity Results From The ...
Gun Making
Gun Making. The Manufacture Of Mus Kets And Fowling-pieces Is Carried On To A Very Large Extent At Birminghani. More Than Five Million Pieces Of Fire-arms Were Made In That Town Between 1804 And 1818. Yet There Are No Gun-factories Properly So Called. The Same Gun Travels About From Factory ...
Gunpowder
Gunpowder. The Date Of Invention Of This Explosive Composition Is Involved In Ob Scurity. It Has Been Said That It Was Used In China As Early As The Year A. D. 85, And That The Knowledge Of It Was Conveyed To Us From The Arabs On The Return Of The ...