Each of these 15 subjects appears in only one of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. None is long enough to carry a page by itself, so they are gathered here by letter. Anything that grows moves out to a page of its own.
The wire which connects the pallet staff of a clock to the pendulum and by which the pendulum is kept in motion. This wire enters a longitudinal slot in the pendulum rod, if the rod be made of wood, or is made in the form of a U if the rod be a metal one. The slot is usually lined with brass. A clock with long wooden pendulum is usually brought to beat by either moving the crutch on the pallet staff or by bending the crutch itself.
Only in American Watchmaker and Jeweler
a mineral composed of aluminum, sodium, and fluorine. It is found in large quantities in Greenland. The name, which signifies ice or frost stone, was given it by Abildgaard, who discovered it in 1800. It also occurs in the Ural Mountains, but not abundantly. The mines at Ivigtut, Greenland, have been worked since 1857, and are apparently inexhaustible. None of the finest specimens, however, reach the United States, as the mines are owned by the Danish government and the best of their product is taken to Copenhagen. Among the resulting products are soap, baking soda, washing soda, aluminum sulphate, and a kind of glass which resembles porcelain. subterranean
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
originally a cell or cave, especially one constructed for sepulture. From the usage of these by the early Christians crypt came to signify a church underground or the lower story of a cathedral or church. It is usually set apart for monumental purposes, and is sometimes used as a chapel. The crypt is a common feature of cathedrals, being always at the east end, under the chancel or apse. The largest in England is that of Canterbury Cathedral.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
the art of writing in secret characters or cipher, or with sympathetic ink. The simplest method consists in choosing for every letter of the alphabet sor some sign, or another letter or group of letters. Even the more complex, however, present, as a rule, only temporary difficulty to an expert. The fact that the most frequently recurring letter in the English language is letter e, that the common double vowels are ea and ou, that r, s, and t are the most frequent terminal letters, etc., are of no small assistance in forming a key to any given cryptogram. See CIPHER WRITING.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a fierce carnivorous animal of Madagascar, forming a genus and species by itself. It is plantigrade, but resembles a weasel, three feet long, and attacks the largest animals with great ferocity.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a building erected at Sydenham, a southern suburb of London, in 1854. It was built of materials from the buildings of the great exhibition of 1851. The name is derived from the great quantity of glass used in the construction. The building is 1,600 feet long, 380 feet wide, and 200 feet high at the center. It cost about $4,500,000. It is now devoted to sculpture, architecture, painting, natural history, fossils, and manufactured articles. The building is surrounded by grounds, comprising 200 acres, adorned with trees, walks, statues, fountains, and flower gardens. The whole constitutes an instructive combination of park and museum. See Exhibition; Skyscraper
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
a name given to all rocks having a crystalline structure. The crystalline texture may either be original or superinduced. Thus some crystalline rocks, such as certain calcareous masses , owe their origin to chemical precipitation from water, while others again, such as lavas, have consolidated from a state of igneous fusion . There is another large class of crystalline rocks, the crystalline granules of which present a remarkable foliated characterthat is, they are arranged in more or less parallel layers. This peculiar schistose structure appears to have been superinduced the original rocks having been either fragmental or crystalline or both and the result of great heat and pressure. Such highly altered rocks occur in the neighborhood of masses of granite, and cover wide regions, where there is abundant evidence to show that the strata have been subjected to enormous compression. It is therefore believed that pressure and the heat engendered by great earth -movements, and the intrusion of plutonic igneous matter, are among the most potent agencies in the production of schistose structure.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
minute non-polarizing bodies (the result of incipient crystallization) occurring in the vitreous portions of igneous rocks .
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
an order of Actinozoa, consisting of marine animals which swim by means of ctenophores . The body, which is gelatinous and transparent, is generally more or less oval in form. Most of the species have a pair of very extensible filiform tentacles. There are two tribes, eurystomata and stenostomata, the first containing the family beroidæ, and the second the families saccatæ, lobatæ, and tæniatæ. The ctenophora are found in all seas.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a Greek historian of about 400 B. C., contemporary with Xenophon and partly with Herodotus. He was a physician, and lived for 17 years at the court of Persia. He wrote a "History of Persia," of which little remains .
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a name of the Chobe, a tributary of the Zambesi.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a genus of hypogenous exogens, order Piperaceæ, tribe Piperidæ. The flowers are diœcious, invested by sessile bracts; the fruits contracted at the base into what look like pedicels. They are found in Asia and Africa.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
painters, belonging to the group called post-impressionists, who claim to see in the perspective of natural objects a series of cubical forms which they endeavor to depict in their art.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a Roman measure of length supposed to equal the length of the fore-arm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. It was 12 Roman feet (17/½ English inches). The English cubit is 1½ English feet. The cubit of Scripture is generally estimated at 22 inches.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
SIR WILLIAM, an English engineer; born in Dilham, Norfolk, in 1785, was a miller, cabinet-maker, and millwright until 1812, when he became a chief-engineer. In 1823 he joined the Institution of Civil Engineers. The im- German minister was given his pass-provement of the Severn and of Boulogne port, the Bute docks at Cardiff, and the water-works for Berlin are among his works. He also invented the treadmill, and constructed the South- Eastern railway; and for his services in connection with the erection of the Great Exhibition buildings he was knighted in 1851. He died Oct. 13, 1861.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia