Imperator
a title originally bestowed upon a victorious leader on the field of battle by his soldiers; toward the end of the commonwealth it was conferred by the Senate. Augustus and his successors constantly assumed this title, and it became the peculiar appellation of supreme power. Still later it became equivalent to the modern emperor. In zoölogy, a genus of gasteropodous mollusks, family Turbinidæ. About 20 species are known from South Africa, India, Australia, and New Zealand. IMPERATORIN C12H12O3, peucedanin, a neutral substance (im-per-ä-tor'in), destitute of taste and smell, obtained from the root of the masterwort by digesting it in boiling alcohol and purifying, by means of ether, from a brown resinous body with which it is contaminated.
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Imperial
pertaining to an emperor or empire; thus, an imperial crown is such as is worn by the German emperor; the Imperial Parliament is that of the United Kingdom. A size of paper, measuring 30 inches by 22, is also called imperial.
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Imperial City
a designation of Rome, for ages the mistress of the world. IMPERIAL INSTITUTE. The Imperial Institute of the United Kingdom, the Colonies, and India, designed to commemorate the jubilee of Queen Victoria (1887), aims at comprising complete collections of the products of the various parts of the British empire, a commercial intelligence department for the promotion of trade and industry, and a great school of modern Oriental languages (opened in 1890).
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Imperial Service Order
THE, a British order, organized in 1902 by King Edward VII, membership being confined to officials under the British crown in the British Isles, colonies, and dependencies. The head of the order is the reigning sovereign, and the members are called companions, the number of whom is not allowed to exceed 450. A condition of entry is a continuous service of 25 years, though this is reduced to a minimum of 16 years in the cases of parts of the world unfavorable to the health of Europeans. A majority of the members consist of those engaged in service in Great Britain.
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Impersonation
Mediums who are controlled by the spirit of a deceased person frequently impersonate that person, imitate his voice and gestures, his physical peculiarities and manners, and exhibit the symptoms of any disease from which he may have suffered. (See Trance Personalities .)
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Importance of Fixing
Whatever kind of pendulum is used, it will not keep time unless it is rigidly fixed. Just as engineer clockmakers invariably make their escape wheels and other moving parts too heavy, so clockmakers always seem afraid to put enough metal in their pendulum cocks and brackets, which have rarely enough base either. The beneficial effect of the heavy pendulum bobs, which it has been the custom recently to use for regulator and turret clocks, is often quite lost for want of sufficient fixing for the pendulum. For a regulator, the pendulum should be supported on a cast-iron bracket with a base at least 10 inches square, bolted right through the back of the case, which should be not less than an inch and a quarter thick. For a turret clock a bracket of a proportional size should be used, bolted to one of the main walls of the building, or, if attached to the clock frame, the rigid connection of the latter with the walls by means of girders or cantilevers should not be lost sight of. A timber frame fixing for a turret clock pendulum will never be satisfactory.
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Imports
. See Commerce
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Impost
a tax, a toll, a tribute, a duty; a custom or duty levied upon goods imported. In architecture, the point where an arch rests on a wall or column; the upper member of a pillar, column, or entablature, upon which an arch or superstructure rests; a plat band; 1; the upper stone of a pier or abutment, upon which the springing or bottom stone of an arch is imposed; a "continuous impost" is one in which the arch moldings are carried down the pier without interruption, and without having a capital or distinction of any kind at the spring of the arch; a "discontinuous impost," one in which the arch moldings abut and are stopped on the pier; a "shafted impost," one in which the arch moldings spring from a capital, and are different from those of the pier; and a "banded impost," one in which the pier and arch have the same moldings.
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Impressionism
the system in art or literature which, avoiding elaboration, seeks to depict scenes in nature as they are first vividly impressed on the mind of the artist or writer.
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Impressment
the forcible levying of seamen for service in the navy.
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Imprimatur
a license which, in countries subjected to the censorship of by a public by the press, must be granted functionary appointed for the purpose before any book can be printed.
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Imprisonment
the restraint of one's liberty under the custody, charge, or keeping of another. No man can be imprisoned except by the law of the land, and no man is to be imprisoned except as the law directs, either by command and order of a court of record, or by lawful warrant.
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Impropriation
in the English Church, the transfer benefice to the possession of layman, the annexing of benefices to ecclesiastical corporations being called "appropriation," though they are sometimes identical. IMPROVISATORE (im-prō-vēz-ätōr-ä), one who composes and recites or sings extemporaneous or impromptu verses upon any given subject without premeditation. The Italians particularly excel in this species of composition, owing, no doubt, in great measure, to the richness and flexibility of their language.
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Improved Electropoion Fluid
Important: Safety Warning
This page describes trade processes that use dangerously toxic materials such as cyanide solutions, mercury amalgams, or strong acids. These processes require training, equipment, and precautions far beyond what the text describes.
This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon.
Add one part (by volume) of sulphuric acid to 10 parts of water. Of 10 pounds (or pints) of the dilute acid, add from 1 to 2 pounds of chromic acid, according to the strength of current desired. Where constant action over a long time is desired, rather than maximum energy, omit part or all of the sulphuric acid. Bichromate of potash is no longer used for batteries by intelligent workers. It owes its virtues to a small amount of chromic acid which can be obtained from it by reaction. Pure chromic acid is cheaper for the same work, and is free from many of the difficulties attendant on the use of the bichromate.
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