Lime water

“ If 1⁄4lb freshly made chloride of lime is added to each gallon of the caustic lime white wash the certainty of success is insured. Lime water has the advantage of being applicable to grassy surfaces, without proving hurtful to the vegetation. ”

“ The rain-water that descends upon the land holds in solution carbonic acid which it has absorbed from the air. But water charged with carbonic acid is capable of dissolving carbonate of lime, and thus year after year the rains slowly remove as they sink to the drains, or run over the surface, a portion of the lime which the soil contains. Acid substances are also formed naturally in the land, by which another portion of the lime is rendered easily soluble in water, and, therefore, readily removable by every shower that falls. ”

“ In the first place the lime in the water is calcium hydroxide and when you blow through the lime water the carbon dioxide in your breath acts on the calcium hydroxide and forms a white insoluble powder commonly known as limestone. ”

“ Obs. Cold water dissolves more lime than hot water. 1 pint of water at 32° Fahr. dissolves 131⁄4 gr., at 60° it dissolves 111⁄2 gr., but at 212° only 61⁄2 gr. (Phillips.)
Uses, &c. Lime water is antacid, astringent, antilithic, tonic and vermifuge.—Dose. A wine-glassful, or more, 2 or 3 times a day, in milk or broth; in dyspepsia, diarrhœa, calculous affections, &c.; and, externally, as a detersive and discutient lotion. ”

“ In this form it is slightly soluble in water containing carbon dioxid, and hence lime has become a universal component of all soils and is very generally found in natural waters, in which it furnishes the chief ingredient necessary for the formation of the shells and skeletons of the various tribes of mollusca and corals. In combination with sulfuric acid calcium forms the rock gypsum. Lime is not only a necessary plant food, but influences in a marked degree the physical condition of the soil and the progress of nitrification. ”

“ The hard water, that comes through limestone rocks, adds lime in solution to the ocean water. All the shellfish of the sea, and the creatures with bony skeletons, take in the bone-building, shell-making lime with their food. Generations of these inhabitants of the sea have died, and their shells and bones have accumulated and been transformed into thick beds of limestone on the ocean floor. ”

“ It may also be presumed that a blue water, containing limestone in full solution, should become green when lime is added to it. This is illustrated on the north shore of the Lake of Achen, where the blue waters of the deep lake become chrome-green when they break over the limestone pebbles of the strand, and, generally, in the greener color of the bottom and shore waters of seas and lakes. Other substances than lime, particularly silica and alumina, may produce the same effects, but their action is more complicated. ”

“ If a lump about the size of the fist be placed in a large porcelain basin and suffused with a small quantity of water, preferably poured in a thin stream, the lime, if properly burned, will continue to absorb the water for a considerable time, like a sponge, and will very soon give evidence of a brisk reaction by increasing in bulk and generating such an amount of heat as to cause the immediate evaporation of a few drops of water allowed to fall on the surface of the mass. ”

“ Slowly and gradually do they descend the hill sides. On the very hill-tops the bare rock peeps forth, but the slopes are covered with a few inches of debris, over and through which the rain water courses, gradually abstracting the soluble part, the carbonate of lime, and mechanically "moving on" the other ingredients, until they arrive of the lowest point. ”

“ We must drink a certain amount of water each day to keep the body in perfect health. The lime in this water goes chiefly to the building of our bones. Plant roots take up lime in the water that mounts as sap through the plant bodies. We get some of the lime we need in vegetable foods we eat.
All of the kingdom of vertebrate animals, from the lowest forms to the highest, all of the shell-bearing animals of sea and land, require lime. Many of the lower creatures especially these in the sea, such as corals and their near relatives, encase themselves in body walls of lime. ”

“ Streaks of lime in a rock readily absorb water, which gradually dissolves and absorbs its particles, inviting the roots to enter these new passages and feed upon the disintegrating minerals. Dead leaves decay, and the acids the trickling water absorbs from them are especially active in disintegrating lime rocks.
From such small beginnings has resulted the shattering of great rock masses by the growth of plants upon them. Tree roots that grow in rock crevices exert a power that is irresistible. The roots of smaller plants do the same great work in a quieter way. ”

“ Nature made the value of land as a producer of food utterly dependent upon the activity of lime, and at the same time gave it some power to shirk its work. In a normal soil is a percentage of lime that came from the disintegration of rock of the region or was transported by action of water on a huge scale. Possibly rarely would it be in insufficient amount to keep a soil in a condition friendly to plant life, and to feed the plant, if it stayed where nature placed it and kept in form available for the needs it was intended to meet. ”

“ The lime causes the minute separate particles of clay to flocculate or group themselves together into larger compound grains between which air and water can percolate more freely. It is this power of creating a more crumbly tilth on stiff clays that makes lime so valuable to the farmer. Lime also assists in the decomposition of the organic matter or humus in the soil and promotes nitrification; hence it is of great value after green manuring or where the land contains much humus from the addition of bulky manures such as farm-yard dung. ”

“ So much for the mechanical action of rain, in the shape of ice. Now a few words on its chemical action.
Rain water is seldom pure. It carries in it carbonic acid; and that acid, beating in shower after shower against the face of a cliff—especially if it be a limestone cliff—weathers the rock chemically; changing (in case of limestone) the insoluble carbonate of lime into a soluble bicarbonate, and carrying that away in water, which, however clear, is still hard. Hard water is usually water which has invisible lime in it ”

“ We have already noted the fact that everywhere in ordinary rocks there are crevices through which water, moving under the pressure of the fluid which is above, may find its way slowly downward. In the limestone roofs of caverns, particularly in those of the upper story, this ooze of water passes through myriads of unseen fissures at a rate so slow that it often evaporates in the dry air without dropping to the floor. When it comes out of the rocks the water is charged with various salts of lime; when it evaporates it leaves the material behind on the roof. ”

“ Combined with carbonic acid (26) it forms limestone (140) , chalk, and marble; all of which are capable of being converted into lime by burning. Lime may also be obtained from oyster and other sea shells. When pure, it is of white colour, and moderately hard substance, though it is easily reducible to powder. Its taste is burning and acrid; and, like the alkalies, it changes vegetable blue colours to green. It has likewise the property of corroding and destroying animal substances. Lime, when pure, absorbs water rapidly, becomes hot, and falls into powder. ”

“ Some of them yield a lime which possesses in a most eminent degree the property of setting under water: these are generally the thinest strata, are of a light blue colour and compact earthy texture; on each surface of the stratum, and at the joints the colour is changed to a light brownish yellow or cream colour, which is of different thicknesses, in some places extending so far into the interior of the stratum that the blue colour is nearly obliterated. I very rarely found organic remains in these beds. ”

“ But it is plain that no river sinks from sight unless it finds porous or honeycombed rocks that let it through. The water seeks the nearest and easiest route to the sea. Its weight presses toward the lowest level, always. The more water absorbs of acid, the more powerfully does it attack and carry away the substance of lime rocks through which it passes. ”

“ For those who use larger quantities of lime, several pits should be constructed in preference to one larger reservoir. When the lime is wanted for use it may be dug out with a spade, and readily diluted with a sufficient quantity of water. ”

“ If clouds should appear in the sky while he is at work, he takes lime in the hollow of his hand and blows it towards them. The lime, being so very dry, is obviously well adapted to disperse the damp clouds. Should rain afterwards be wanted, he has only to pour water on his fire, and immediately the rain will descend in sheets. ”

“ Fill a barrel with water, add as much lime as the water will absorb, stir briskly, and then allow the lime to settle. The clear fluid, freely used from an ordinary water-can, will bring the worms from their burrows in hundreds, and at the same time benefit the grass. ”

“ The water enters the earth back on the mountain, travels underground in contact with hot lava, rises through limestone, from which the boiling water takes into solution much carbonate of lime which is deposited when the water reaches the surface. ”

“ Wright accompanied us in visiting the lime-factory already mentioned as located at the edge of the water at the northern portion of the city; in which the shells and deposits of a calcareous nature from the island are worked up into a beautiful white lime. There is a small steam-engine for working the ventilating apparatus, which acts upon the furnace, and the fuel being placed beneath the mass of materials a heat is generated which transforms the shell into the gray crude lime. ”

“ In the solution of salt we saw a solid become fluid under the influence of water; in the slaking of lime the fluid water enters into the structure of a solid. 80If more water is added, this solid dissolves or becomes liquid, as the salt did, and the solution is called limewater. By carefully managed evaporation of the water the lime may be recovered in the form of crystals, just as the salt was recovered. ”

“ Fire does not enter into the pores of the lime by burning. The mineral commonly used for procuring quick lime is the carbonate of lime, or common limestone, which is composed of carbonic acid with a small quantity of water, 43, and lime 57, in 100 parts. By submiting it to a strong heat, the carbonic acid is driven off, and the quick or pure lime remains, which is an oxide of calcium. ”

“ Limestone rock, on the other hand, is commonly laid down in horizontal strata, and while a succession of strata may frequently give rapid slopes, marshes are very common, existing even on the tops of the hills. The drinking water is always to be suspected as to quality because, in the first place, it is hard from absorption of lime, and in the next place, cavities and seams in the rock allow polluting material to travel for long distances. ”

“ Animals did not create the lime which they secrete from the sea-water, and therefore we have every reason to believe that the inorganic sources which originally supplied it still keep up that supply, though perhaps in diminished quantity. ”

“ There the amount of evaporation is often sufficient to cause a re-deposit of the mineral in solution. If it be lime, a white crust gathers along the sides of the stream, delicately enveloping grass-stalks, leaves, twigs, snail-shells, and other objects, which it may meet with in its progress. Such "petrifying" springs, as they are popularly termed, occur abundantly in our limestone districts. It should be borne in mind, however, that they only produce an incrustation round the organic nucleus, and do not petrify it. ”

“ There is also a kind of powder which from natural causes produces astonishing results. It is found in the neighbourhood of Baiae and in the country belonging to the towns round about Mt. Vesuvius. This substance, when mixed with lime and rubble, not only lends strength to buildings of other kinds, but even when piers of it are constructed in the sea, they set hard under water. ”

“ By some mysterious process of nature, or rather of Divine benevolence, the production of this useful salt is continually going on. This cave also produces some other salts in small quantities: nitrate of lime, nitrate of magnesia, sulphate of lime, &c.
Where the basis of the country is limestone, the waters always take up a great quantity of lime, and some of them possess great petrifying powers. I saw many specimens of petrifactions: a tuft of moss, the form perfectly preserved; leaves, bark, and branches of trees; insects, and many others. ”

“ On the other hand, we find very little hydrated lime on the market that has not had sufficient exposure to the air to become changed in some part to an air-slaked condition, or has had refuse mixed with it. ”

“ These extremes ought to be carefully avoided. When the lime is deficient, or a pattern comes out of a dirty grey, and the sediment does not change its colour, there is scarcely any effervescence on the vat; the liquor smells only of lime, or of the lixivium of lime. ”

“ The chief purpose of liming land is to provide a base with which acid may combine, so that the soil may be friendly to plant life. Lime has little power to distribute itself through a soil, and harmful acid may remain only a few inches distant from the point where lime has been placed. ”

“ Liming must form the foundation of a new order of things. The ability to grow the clovers and to furnish rich vegetable matter to the soil, which naturally is poor in humus, rests upon lime application first, and then upon any supply of plant food that may continue to be lacking. ”