Knight's cyclopædia of the industry of all nations, 1851 / [edited by George Dodd].

Date:
[1851]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Knight's cyclopædia of the industry of all nations, 1851 / [edited by George Dodd]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    951/1000
    U ULMIC ACID, or ULMINE. Some trees, and more especially the elm, when it is old, secrete a liquid which di-ies as it exudes ; the residue consists principally of mucilaginous matteK, with some cai-bonate or acetate of potash, and eventually the mucilaginous matter undergoes a change, and, combining with the potash, forms a substance which was first examined by Vauquelin and Klaproth, and Dr. Thomson gave it the name of Ulmin. It is of a deep brown colour, very brittle, and brealcs in angular fragments, and is almost insoluble in water. It may be procm-ed from soils, rotten leaves, bog-eai-th, wood-soot, or txu-f. It is an important element in manures and soils; and what is called moss-ivater owes its pecuUar properties to its presence. It is a powerful maiwe, especially when combined with lime or ■with ammonia. ULTRAMARINE, is a well-known bkie pigment of extraordinary beauty and great pei-manence. Ultramarine was originally prepared from the lajns lazuli or lazulite. This mineral presents itself in small masses of granular sti-ucture, in a rock of heterogeneous struc- ture ; this rock, which in commerce is called lapis, sells for a higher or lower price for pigments according to the proportion of lazulite which it is found to contain. The most perfect specimens of lazuhte ai-e used as gems ; while the less perfect ai-e used in the preparation of ultramarine. The lazulite is made red hot, quenched, pounded to powder, washed, dried, made into a paste with pure linseed oil and certain resinous substances, kneaded, diffused in hot water, and allowed to settle until the ultramarine (leaving all the other ingredients) falls to the bottom. The whole of these processes require great care. This colour is now prepared at a very moderate price, and equal in beauty to that obtained from the lazulite. M. Gmelin of Tiibingen considers that sulpluu-et of sodium is the colouring principle both of the natural mineral and the artificial products. The arti- ficial ultramarine is stated to be prepared by adding freshly-precipitated silica and alumina, mixed with sulphur, to a solution of caustic soda, and the mixture is to be evaporated to dryness: the residue is put into a covered cracible and exposed to a white heat, by which, when the air has partial access to it, a dark pure bluo mass is obtained. The pro- VOI.. I. duct is then reduced to impalpable powder. The proportions of materials to be used are, about 36 silica, 3d alumina, 2-i soda, and 3 sulphur. UMBER, is an' ore of iron and manganese, employed as a brown pigment. The stnicture is earthy, and the colour varied from red to brown. It occurs in beds with brown jasper in the Isle of Cyprus. UNGUENTS. [OiNTJiEKTS.] UNITED STATES. The foUomng de- tails will illustrate a few among the many aspects under which the produce, industiy, and commerce of the United States of America present themselves to our notice. In the year ending June 1850, the United States imported 247,951 tons of bar iron, 14,700 tons of hammered iron, 10,104 tons of scrap iron, and 74,874 tons of pig u'on. New York exported 4,844,574 dollars' worth of produce and commodities in that j'ear, more than two- fifths of which went to Liverpool alone. The cotton exported in the same year was 635,381,604 lbs., being far below the average of recent years. The exports from the United States in the year ending June 1849 amounted in value to 145,755,820 dollars of which two thirds were in United States' vessels. The imports (pa}'- ing duty) in the same period were 147,857,439 dollars; of which five-sixths were in United States' vessels. The domestic exports were thus made up:— Dollar Produce of Fisheries (fish, fish- oil, spermaceti, whalebone, &c Produce of Forests (timber, bark, dyes, potash, turpen- tine, tar, &c.) . ■ . Produce of Agricultm-e (cattle, meat, butter, cheese, corn, 1 111,059,378 cotton, &c.) . . . j Manufactiu-es and Miscellaneous, 13,141,929 2,547,654 5,917,994 132,666,955 The remainder of the expoi-ts(about 13,000,000 dollars) were re-exported foreign commodities. More than half of the entire exports of do- mestic produce were sent to Great Britain. In the next following year, that is, the yeai- ending June 1850, the exports of domestic produce fnom the United States wasl30,946,912 dollars, of which Great Britain and its depen- 8 s No. 41.