Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 54

The following notice, by the Editor of this work, appeared in 'The Veterinarian' for October, 1876:--

"Having in the course of my a.n.a.lytical practice had occasion to examine some samples of Ma.r.s.eilles earth-nut cake, I take the opportunity of communicating the results obtained, in the hope of furnishing interesting information respecting a material which is chiefly employed in the sophistication of the more expensive feeding cakes, but which I think might in some instances be with advantage subst.i.tuted for them.

"Arachis seeds const.i.tute one of the varieties of food termed pulse, and the oil which exists in them to the extent of from 40 to 50 per cent., is rapidly being introduced in the making of soap in this and other countries. It is an article also of the Indian Pharmacopia.

"By pressure the seeds yield all but about 7 per cent. of their oil, and the material which remains after the expression of the greater part of the oil is sent into commerce as earth-nut or ground-nut cake.

"Sometimes the husks of the seeds are first removed and only the kernels subjected to pressure for the sake of the oil; the cake so produced is called 'decorticated earth-nut cake,' at other times the entire seeds are subjected to this treatment, and then the resulting cake is known as 'undecorticated earth-nut cake.'

"The following table shows the composition in 100 parts of both descriptions of cake, as well as that of linseed cake of first-rate quality; the last a.n.a.lysis being added for the sake of comparison:--

_Table showing the Centesimal Composition of Decorticated and Undecorticated Earth-nut Cake and Linseed Cake._

Decorticated Undecorticated Linseed Earth-nut Cake. Earth-nut Cake. Cake.

Moisture 958 928 1172 Fat and heat producers Oil 740 699 1200 Starch digestible fibre, &c. 2763 2366 2529 Flesh-formers (alb.u.menoids) 4281[75] 3281[76] 3264 Indigestible fibre 787 2380 1179 Ash 471 345 647 ------ ------ ------ 10000 10000 10000

[Footnote 75: Containing 685 of nitrogen.]

[Footnote 76: Containing 525 of nitrogen.]

"From the foregoing a.n.a.lyses it will be seen that both descriptions of earth nut are exceedingly rich in flesh-formers, and that they contain a moderately large amount of oil. They also possess a sweet agreeable flavour, and are, I believe, very digestible. As these may, I am informed, be bought at from 6 to 8 per ton, it is evident that farmers would do well to give earth-nut cakes a trial in the feeding of their stock.

"Pure linseed cake does not contain starch, but in its stead mucilage. The feeding qualities of starch and mucilage are, however, very similar."

=ARAROBA.= _Syn._ ARAROBA POWDER. BAHIA POWDER. GOA POWDER. The pith or medulla of the stem and branches of a leguminous tree (a species of _Centrolobium_) growing in Brazil. It is in extensive use amongst the natives of India, who employ it in affections of the skin. It has been applied with success in shingles and ring-worm, in the form of ointment made as follows:--

Araroba in powder 20 grains.

Acetic acid 10 drops.

Benzoated lard 1 ounce.

Dr Attfield found the powder to contain from 80 to 84 per cent. of chrysophanic acid, to which substance its remedial powers are doubtless due. It is now the chief source of this acid.

=ARA'TION*.= In _agriculture_, ploughing; culture by ploughing; tillage.

Lands in a state of aration' are those under tillage.

=AR'BOR.= [L.] A tree. The seventh family of vegetables in Linnaeus's system. In _anatomy_ and _chemistry_, a term formerly applied to membranes and substances having some real or fancied resemblance to a tree or vegetation. An ar'boret is a little tree; an arborist, or ar'borator, is one who studies or cultivates trees.

=ARBUTIN.= C_{12}H_{16}O_{7}. A substance obtained by KAWALIER from the leaves of the red bearberry _Arctostophylos uva ursi_, and by ZWENGER and HIMMELMANN from the leaves of a species of winter-green, _Pyrola Umbellata_. It is prepared by precipitating the aqueous decoction of the leaves of either of these plants, with basic acetate of lead, filtering, removing the excess of lead with sulphuretted hydrogen, and either treating the filtrate with animal charcoal and leaving it to crystallise or evaporating and digesting the residue with a mixture of eight parts of ether and one part of alcohol, which dissolves out the arbutin, and deposits it on evaporation in the crystalline state.

=ARCA'NUM= [L.] _Syn._ ARCANE, Fr.; GEHEIMNIS, Ger. A secret. In _alchemy_, a term applied to various preparations without any precise meaning. "Arcanum is a thing secret, incorporeal, and immortal, which can only be known to man by experience; for it is the virtue of each thing, which operates a thousand times more than the thing itself." (Ruland) In _ancient medicine_ and _pharmacy_; a nostrum. The word is still occasionally used in the plural (ARCA'NA, secrets, mysteries), in the t.i.tles of books; as, 'Arcana of Chemistry,' a book professing to contain a full exposition of the mysteries of that art.

Among the old chemists, ARCANUM AL'b.u.m was 'pulvis Viennensis albus virgineus' (see POWDERS); A. BEC'CHIc.u.m, a sweetened aqueous solution of liver of sulphur; A. CORALLI'NUM, red oxide of mercury that had been digested in a solution of potash, washed with water, and then had spirit of wine burnt on it (once a favourite mercurial and escharotic); A.

DUPLICA'TUM, sulphate of potash; A. D. CATHOL'Ic.u.m, roots of colchic.u.m and plantain (worn as an amulet against fevers and pestilential diseases); A.

LUDEMAN'NI, oxide of zinc; A. TAR'TARI, acetate of pota.s.sa; A. VI'Tae, elixir vitae; &c.

=ARCHE'US= (-ke'-us; ar'*--Mayne). [L.] _Syn._ ARCHae'US, L. A term invented by Paracelsus, and employed by the alchemists and older physicians, to imply the occult cause of phenomena, as well as the sub-causes or agents by which the effects were accomplished. Van Helmont and Stahl ascribe certain vital functions to the influence and superintendence of a 'spiritus archaeus' or intelligent vital principle.

According to others, the powers of 'Archaeus' were indefinitely extended.

He or it was an occult power of nature, the artificer of all things, physician-general to the universe, &c. &c., to the utmost bounds of absurdity and confusion.

From this word comes the adj. ARCHE'AL or ARCHae'AL, hidden, operative.

=ARCH'IL= (artsh'-il). _Syn._ ARCH'EL*, OR'CHIL; ARCHIL'LA, ORCHIL'LA (ch as k), L.; ORSEILLE, Fr., Ger.; ORICELLO, It. A violet-red, purple or blue colouring matter or dye-stuff, obtained from several species of lichens, but of the finest quality from roccella tinctoria (DC.), and next from r.

fuciformis (DC.).

The archil of commerce is met with as a liquid paste, or as a thin liquid dye or stain of more or less intensity. The ordinary archil or orchil of the shops (ORCHIL-LIQUOR) is under the last form; and is known as either BLUE OR RED ARCHIL--distinctions which arise as follows:--

_Prep._ 1. BLUE ARCHIL:--The bruised or coa.r.s.ely ground lichen is steeped for some time in a mixture of stale urine, or bone-spirit, and lime or milk of lime, or in any similar ammoniacal solution, contained in covered wooden vessels in the cold; the process being repeated until all the colour is extracted.

2. RED OR CRIMSON ARCHIL:--The materials are the same as for the last variety, but rather less milk of lime is used, and the 'steep' is generally made in earthen jars placed in a room heated by steam, technically called a stove. The two kinds merely differ in the degree of their red or violet tint--the addition of a small quant.i.ty of lime or alkali to the one, or of an acid to the other, immediately bringing them both to the same shade of colour.

_Prop._ Archil has a disagreeable putrid ammoniacal odour. Its colouring matter is soluble in water, alcohol, urine, ammoniacal and alkaline lyes, and weak acid liquors; alkalies turn it blue, acids red; alum gives with it a brownish-red precipitate, and solution of tin a red one; the alcoholic solution gradually loses its colour when excluded from the air.

Its colouring matter consists chiefly of orcein.

_Pur._ Archil is frequently adulterated with extract of logwood, or of Lima or Sapan-wood. It may be tested as follows:--1. A solution of 50 or 60 drops of pure archil in about 3 fl. oz. of water slightly acidulated with acetic acid, almost entirely loses its colour, or presents only a yellowish tinge, when heated to ebullition in a flask along with 50 drops of a fresh solution of protochloride of tin made with 1 part of the salt to 2 parts of water:--2. A drop of fluid extract of logwood treated in the same way, gives a distinct violet tint, which resists several hours'

boiling; but when only 3 or 4 per cent. of logwood is present, the boiled liquid has a permanent grey tint:--3. If the boiled liquid retains its red hue, extract of Sapan-wood is present:--4. The boiled liquor, when the archil is pure, re-acquires its colour by exposure to the air, and the addition of an alkali, particularly ammonia; whilst the colour produced by logwood is destroyed only by an alkaline solution of tin, and is restored by acids.

_Uses, &c._ It is employed to tinge the spirit used to fill the tubes of thermometers, and to stain paper, wood, &c. The aqueous solution stains MARBLE, in the cold, of a beautiful violet colour, of considerable permanence when not exposed to a vivid light. "Marble thus tinged preserves its colour unchanged at the end of two years." (Dufay.) Its princ.i.p.al use is, however, in dyeing. By proper management it may be made to produce every shade of pink and crimson to blue and purple.

Unfortunately, although the hues it imparts to silk and wool possess an exquisite bloom or l.u.s.tre, they are far from permanent, and unless well managed, soon decay. It is hence generally employed in combination with other dye-stuffs, or as a finishing bath to impart a bloom to silk or woollens already dyed of permanent colours. In using it as a dye it is added to hot water in the required quant.i.ty, and the bath being raised to nearly the boiling-point, the materials are put in and pa.s.sed through it, until the desired shade is produced. A mordant of alum and tartar is sometimes used, but does not add to the permanence of the colour. Solution of tin added to the bath increases the durability, but turns the colour more on the scarlet. (h.e.l.lot.) Milk of lime or salt of tartar is added to darken it; acids or solution of tin to redden it. A beautiful crimson-red is obtained by first pa.s.sing the stuff through a mordant of tin and tartar, and then through a bath of archil mixed with a very little solution of tin. By the proper management of this dye, lilacs, violets, mallows, rosemary flower, soupes au vin, agates, and many other shades may be produced on silk or cloth, either alone or in conjunction with other dyes to modify it. 1/2 _lb._ of solid archil, or its equivalent in a liquid form, will dye 1 to 2 _lb._ of cloth. HERB-ARCHIL, it is a.s.serted, will bear boiling, and gives a more durable tint than the other lichens, especially with solution of tin. (h.e.l.lot.) Recently Mr Lightfoot has patented a process for dyeing with archil with the aid of oil, after the manner followed for producing Turkey-red on cottons.

Archil, Facti"tious:--1. From a mixture of onions (in a state of incipient putrefaction) with about 1-10th to 1-12th their weight of carbonate of potash and some ammonia, fermented together; and adding, after some days, 1-7th to 1-8th of the weight of the potash used in a salt of lead. The details of the process essential to success are, however, now unknown, the secret having died with a relative of the writer of this article.

2. Extract of logwood dissolved in juice of elderberries and putrid urine, with the addition of a little pearlash for the BLUE, and a very little oxalic acid or oil of vitriol for the RED variety. Used to stain wood.

=Arch'il, Herb.= Roccella tinctoria. See ARCHIL (_above_), LICHENS, and MOSSES.

=ARE= (ar; are--Eng.). [Fr.] See MEASURES.

=ARE'CA.= [L.] In _botany_ a genus of East Indian trees, of the nat. ord.

Palmae (DC.).

=Areca Cate'chu.= [L.; Linn.] _Syn._ ARE'CA, A. IN'DICA, A. FAUFEL, BE'TEL-NUT TREE. _Hab._ East Indies. Fruit (BETEL-NUT), astringent and narcotic; husk of fruit (PENANG or PINANG), sialagogue and stomachic; both are used as masticatories; wood and nut yield an inferior or b.a.s.t.a.r.d sort of catechu; charcoal of the nut highly esteemed as tooth-powder; also given in tape-worm in doses of 1/4 _oz._ and 1/2 _oz._; said to be more efficacious in coa.r.s.e than in fine powder.--_Doses for Animals_. HORSE, 4 to 6 drachms; CATTLE, 4 to 8 drachms; DOG, 30 grains to 2 drachms.

=Areca Globulif'era.= [L.] Properties similar to the last.

=Areca Olera'cea.= [L.; Willd.] Cabbage-palm.

=ARENA'CEOUS= (ar-e-). _Syn._ ARENA'CEUS, L.; AReNACe, SABLONNEUX, Fr.; SANDIG, SANDARTIG, Ger. In agriculture, mineralogy, &c., sandy; resembling sand; friable.

=ARENA"RIOUS= (-nare'-). _Syn._ ARENA"RIUS, L.; AReNAIRE, Fr. Sandy, arenaceous. In _agriculture_ and _botany_ applied to soils (ARENARIOUS SOILS) in which sand is the prevailing and characteristic ingredient; also to plants that grow in sandy or arid soils.

=ARENA'TION.= _Syn._ SABURRA'TION; ARENA'TIO, L.; AReNATION, Fr.; SANDBAD, Ger. In _medicine_ sandbathing; a practice formerly prevalent, in dropsy, of applying hot sand, either by immersion or otherwise, to the feet, legs, or even the whole body.

=ARENOSE'= (ar-e-nose'). _Syn._ AR'ENOUS*; ARENO'SUS, L.; AReNEUX, Fr.

Sandy; arenaceous (which _see_).

=AREOM'ETER= (a-re- or ar-re-; are-e--Smart). _Syn._ AREOM'ETRUM, L.; AReOMeTRE, Fr. Literally, a 'measure of lightness' or 'rarity,' originally applied to any instrument for determining the specific gravity of alcoholic and ethereal liquids; but since applied, like the word 'hydrometer,' to instruments adjusted to the densities of all liquids. In this country the term is princ.i.p.ally confined to the areometres of Baume, on account of their general use by Continental chemists. The relations and equivalents of Baume's scales, as now adopted in France, are shown in the first two of the following _Tables_:--

I.--_Corresponding_ DEGREES of BAUMe'S AREOMETERS and REAL SPECIFIC GRAVITIES:--