Calamine

“ In our melting-houses it is employed, without much nicety in the choice, for making zinc or brass87.
What here appears to me most singular is, that the ancients should have given the same names to furnace-calamine as they gave to ores that contained zinc. The affinity of these substances they could conjecture only from their effects, or perhaps they were induced to do so from observing that furnace-calamine was not produced but when the different kinds of cadmia, as they were called, were melted; that is, when yellow and not red copper was obtained. ”

“ Fig. 1235. is a longitudinal section of the furnace for calcining calamine in Upper Silesia; fig. 1236. is a ground-plan of the furnace. a, is the orifice in the vault or dome, for the introduction of the ore; b, b, apertures in the side-walls, shut with doors, through which the matter may be turned over; c, the chimney; d, the fire-bridge; e, the grate; f, the feed opening of the fire, the fuel being pitcoal. The calamine is stirred about every hour; and after being well calcined during 5 or 6 hours, it is withdrawn; and a new charge is put in. These Silesian furnaces admit of 30 cwt. ”

“ Nothing is clearer than the intervention of subterranean waters in the origin of many masses of calamine, in which zinc occurs in the condition of a carbonate and a hydrated silicate, at Veielle-Montagne, for example, not far from Aix-la-Chapelle. The mining works have enabled us to recognize and follow the channels of the generating springs in all their details. The calcareous walls between which they made their way have been attacked, and, as we have just seen to have been done with peroxide of iron, zinc mineral has been gradually substituted for carbonate of lime. ”

“ The plaster called phœnicinum, that from calamine, the myrsinatum, and the like, are also applicable in such cases. For ulcers of difficult cicatrization: Of wax, of myrtle-oil, of each, dr. vj; of calamine, oz. vj; of lead, of frankincense, of each, dr. ij; of fissile alum, of burnt copper, of each, oz. j; of scraped verdigris, dr. ij; dissolve them singly. For chronic ulcers, and such as are of difficult cicatrization: Of calamine, dr. viij; of chrysocolla, dr. viij; of fissile alum, dr. viij; of verdigris, of the flakes of copper, of each, dr. j; of pine-rosin, dr. xl; of wax, dr. c ”

“ In almost every point of England where that metalliferous limestone appears, there are explorations for lead and zinc ores. The neighbourhood of Alston-moor in Cumberland, of Castleton and Matlock in Derbyshire, and the small metalliferous belt of Flintshire, are peculiarly marked for their mineral riches. On the north side of the last county, calamine is mined in a rich vein of galena at Holywell, where it presents the singular appearance of occurring only in the ramifications that the lead vein makes from east to west, and never in those from north to south ”

“ The colour of the pure mineral is white; more often it is brownish, sometimes green or blue: a bright-yellow variety containing cadmium has been found in Arkansas, and is known locally as “turkey-fat ore.” The pure material contains 52% of zinc, but this is often partly replaced isomorphously by small amounts of iron and manganese, traces of calcium and magnesium, and sometimes by copper or cadmium.
Calamine is found in beds and veins in limestone rocks, and is often associated with galena and blende. ”

“ As this furnace-calamine assumes various appearances, according to the manner of melting, and according to many other circumstances that in part cannot be defined, and as the ancients comprehend all its varieties under the general name of cadmia, and give to each variety, according to its form, consistence and colour, a particular name also, a confusion of names has hence arisen which cannot now be cleared up, especially as it is not thought worth while to distinguish all its incidental variations. Our physicians esteem only the pure oxide of zinc ”

“ One successful method is to dissolve India rubber in chloroform and then paint the skin, where exposed, with this solution, by means of a soft camel’s-hair brush. When the chloroform has evaporated, which it very soon does, a thin film of India rubber is left over the face. This relieves itching and irritation, and permits the patient to be more comfortable in addition to preventing the pitting. Another suggestion is to keep the whole body, face and all, covered with calamine, or native carbonate of zinc, which must be purified and pulverized for the purpose. ”

“ Caffeinae Sodio-Salicylas (Caff. Sod. Salicyl.) , Caffeine Sodio-Salicylate, N.F.—Represents equal parts of caffeine and sodium salicylate.
White, odorless powder. Freely soluble in water (1:2) .
Dosage: 0.2 Gm. or 3 grains (N.F.) . [Pg 46]
Calamina Praeparata (Calamin. Praep.) , Prepared Calamine, N.F. (Lapis Calaminaris) .—Native zinc carbonate.
A pink powder. Insoluble in water.
Action and Uses: Protective, similar to zinc oxide, over which it has no therapeutic advantage; has the cosmetic advantage of being slightly pink.
Unguentum Calaminae (Ung. Calamin.) ”

“ She was also an illegitimate daughter of the duke, and died on 2 Nov. 1794 (Chester, Registers of Westminster, p. 453) . The first public announcement of the name of Smithson is in the second contribution to the ‘Transactions’ of the Royal Society, being ‘A Chemical Analysis of some Calamines, by James Smithson, Esq.,’ read on 18 Nov. 1802 (Phil. Trans. xciii. 12) . This analysis quite upset the opinion of the Abbé Haüy that calamines were all mere oxides or ‘calces’ of zinc, and established these minerals in the rank of true carbonates. ”

“ Iron and manganese are detected in all vegetable productions, and it is probable other metallic bodies might be found to exist in vegetable or animal matters, if we had tests to detect them in very minute quantities. Manganese and calamy are found in beds like iron near the surface of the earth, and in a calciform state, which countenances their modern production. The recent production of calamy, one of the ores of zinc, appears from its frequently incrusting calcareous spar in its descent from the surface of the earth into the uppermost fissures of the limestone mountains of Derbyshire. ”

“ As our material increases it will be possible to further simplify the nomenclature for Calamarian plants, but it is unwise to allow our desire for a simpler terminology to lead us into proposals which are based rather on suppositions than on established fact. If it were possible to discriminate between pith-casts of stems having the different anatomical characters designated by the three sub-genera, Arthropitys, Arthrodendron and Calamodendron, the genus Calamites might be used in a much narrower and probably more natural sense than that which we have adopted. ”

“ It there attaches its grape-like eggs to some convenient stone or growing alga, and delights occasionally to sink to the bottom, and there to rest half covered by the sand, a habit for which the form of its body is well adapted. But the calamaries—they of the horny pen—prefer the wide waters of the open ocean; and although they, too, especially the smaller species, are common upon the coasts, they are frequently met with far out at sea, and away from any land. ”

“ The genuineness of calomel may be ascertained by boiling, for a few minutes, one part, with 1/32 part of muriate of ammonia in ten parts of distilled water. When carbonate of potash is added to the filtered solution, no precipitation will ensue if the calomel be pure.
Indeed, some of the most common and cheap drugs do not escape the adulterating hand of the unprincipled druggist. Syrup of buckthorn, for example, instead of being prepared from the juice of buckthorn berries, (rhamnus catharticus,) is made from the fruit of the blackberry bearing alder, and the dogberry tree. ”

“ China clays and kaolins are not appreciably affected by dilute acids, but some specimens are partially decomposed by boiling concentrated hydrochloric acid (26) and all are decomposed by boiling sulphuric [107] acid, the alumina being dissolved and the silica liberated in a form easily soluble in solutions of caustic soda or potash. This has led to the conclusion that some kaolins may have been produced by weathering, as the bulk of true kaolinitic clays (such as Cornish china clay) is not affected by boiling hydrochloric acid (p. 81) . ”

“ The exceptionally favourable conditions under which specimens of calamitean plants have been preserved, have enabled us to become almost as familiar with the minute structure of their stems and roots, as well as with their spore-producing organs, as with those of a living species. In short, it is thoroughly established that Calamites agrees in most essential respects with our well known Equisetum, and must be included in the same order, or at least sub-class, as the recent genus of Equisetaceae. ”

“ In France they are well exposed on the coast of Calvados between Trouville and Dives, where the marls and clays are 200 ft. thick. In the Ardennes clays bearing pyrites and oolitic limonite are about 30 ft. thick. Around Poitiers the Callovian is 100 ft. thick, but the formation thins in the direction of the Jura.
Clays and shales with ferruginous oolites represent the Callovian of Germany; while in Russia the deposits of this age are mainly argillaceous. In North America Callovian fossils are found in California; in South America in Bolivia. ”

“ The calamus root met with in commerce is the creeping root-stock of a plant (Acorus Calamus) , occurring in all countries of the northern hemisphere, and frequent in European and American swamps. The root-stock is spongy, about as thick as a finger, many-jointed, and of a yellowish color, with many dark streaks and dots. Inside the color is reddish-white. The odor is strong and the taste sharp and burning. ”

“ P. Hoglan has made experiments toward ascertaining whether calomel is liable to decomposition in the human system, with the production of corrosive sublimate. He has found that calomel may be slowly decomposed and corrosive sublimate formed by the action of water at the temperature of the body, and that the change is accelerated by the presence of citric acid, sodium chloride, or sugar. ”

“ Calamus has ever been a favorite popular remedy. Its principal use seems to have been that of a tonic and blood purifier, for which purpose bits of the dried rhizomes are masticated and the saliva swallowed. It undoubtedly is a tonic and it also has a beneficial, stimulating and antiseptic effect upon gums and teeth. Chewing the rhizomes is also said to clear the voice. Calamus is, or has been, used in flavoring beer and gin. Country, people add it to whisky, wine and brandy to make a tonic bitters for the weak and dyspeptic. ”

“ Meyer and von Reiche evaporated the aqueous decoction of canella, and removed from the bitter extract by alcohol 8 per cent. of mannite, which they ascertained to be the so-called Canellin described in 1822 by Petroz and Robinet.
The bark yielded the German chemists 6 per cent. of ash, chiefly carbonate of calcium. The bitter principle has not yet been isolated. An aqueous infusion is not blackened by a persalt of iron.
Commerce—Canella alba is collected in the Bahama Islands and shipped to Europe from Nassau in New Providence, the chief seat of trade in the group. ”

“ Evaporate tincture of calumba root (made with rectified spirit) to dryness; dissolve the residuum in water, and agitate the solution with an equal bulk of ether; after repose for a short time, decant390 the ethereal portion, distil off most of the ether, and set the liquid aside to crystallise.
Prop., &c. Impure calumbine occurs as a yellow-brown mass; when pure, it forms rhombic prismatic crystals or delicate white needles; it is only slightly soluble in alcohol, ether, and water; 40 parts of boiling rectified spirit take up only 1 part of calumbine. Its best solvent is acetic acid ”

“ The caladium is only called taro by the natives when they think they are speaking English; there are many varieties grown in dry ground on the hills, as well as in the skilfully irrigated gardens of Aurora. The giant caladium, via alike in the Banks' Islands and Madagascar, is eaten in the New Hebrides and the Solomon Islands. Bananas supply much food in numerous varieties; in Lepers' Island the fruit seems to be eaten in larger proportion than elsewhere. ”

“ The genus Calamites was originally founded in the longitudinally « 167 » ribbed and jointed stems so frequent in the coal-formation, and of which the common C. Suckovii is a typical form. The most perfect of these stems represent the outer surface immediately within the epidermis, in which case transverse lines or constrictions mark the nodes, and at the nodes there are rounded spots, sometimes indicating radial processes of the pith, first described by Williamson; in other cases, the attachment of branchlets, or in some specimens both. ”

“ One of the earliest notices of Calamites in the present century is by Steinhauer [585] , who published a memoir in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society in 1818 on Fossil reliquia of unknown vegetables in the Carboniferous rocks. He gives some good figures of Calamitean casts under the generic name of Phytolithus, one of those general terms often used by the older writers on fossils. Among English authors, Martin [586] may be mentioned as figuring casts of Calamites, which he describes as probably grass stems. ”

“ First, calaminaris levigated, half a dram, rose water, 2 oz.—Second, take white vitrol, 15 grains, rose water, 2 oz.—With either of these, the eyes may be washed at discretion, in all hot defluctions; but when the sight decays from dryness, or a defect in the optic nerve, such things can avail but little.—When a poultice is necessary, you may take half a pint of the decoction of linseed, and as much flour of linseed as is sufficient to make it a proper consistency. ”