A bell is a hollow, somewhat cup-shaped, sounding instrument of metal. The metal from which bells are usually made (by founding) is an alloy, called bell-metal, commonly composed of eighty parts of copper and twenty of tin. The proportion of tin varies, however, from one-third to one-fifth of the weight of the copper, according to the sound required, the size of the bell, and the impulse to be given. The clearness and richness of the tone depend upon the metal used, the perfection of its casting, and also upon its shape; it having been shown by a number of experiments that the well-known shape with a thick lip is the best adapted to give a perfect sound. The depth of the tone of a bell increases in proportion to its size.
A bell is divided into the body or barrel, the ear or cannon, and the clapper or tongue. The lip or sound-bow is that part where the bell is struck by the clapper. It is uncertain whether the jangling instruments used by the Egyptians and Israelites can be correctly described as bells; but it is certain that bells of a considerable size were in early use in China and Japan, and that the Greeks and Romans used them for various purposes. They are said to have been first introduced into Christian churches about 400 AD by Paulinus, bishop of Nola, in Campania (whence campana and nola as old names of bells); although their adoption on a wide scale does not become apparent until after the year 550, when they were introduced into France.
Benedict Biscop, abbot of Wearmouth, seems to have imported bells from Italy to England in 680, but their use in Ireland and Scotland is probably of earlier date. The oldest of those existing in Great Britain and Ireland, such as the 'bell of St. Patrick's will' and St Ninian's bell, are quadrangular and made of thin iron plates hammered and riveted together.
Until the thirteenth century bells were of comparatively small size, but after the casting of the Jacqueline of Paris (6.5 tons) in 1400 their weight rapidly increased. Among the more famous bells are the bell of Cologne, 11. tons, 1448; of Dantzic, 6 tons, 1453; of Halberstadt, 7.5, 1457; of Rouen, 16, 1501; of Breslau, 11, 1507; of Lucerne, 71, 1636; of Oxford,7.5 1680; of Paris, 12.8, 1680; of Bruges, 10.5, 1680; of Vienna, 17.75, 1711; of Moscow (the monarch of all bells), 193, 1736; three other bells at Moscow ranging from 16 to 31 tons, and a fourth of 80 tons cast in 1819; the bell of Lincoln (Great Tom), 5.5, 1834; of YorkMinster (Great Peter), 10.75, 1845; of Montreal, 134, 1847; of Westminster (Big Ben), 15.5, 1856, (St Stephen), 13.5, 1858; the Great Bell of St. Paul's, 17.5, 1882. Others are the bells of Ghent (5 tons), Gorlitz (10.75 tons), St Peter's, Rome (8 tons), Antwerp (7.25 tons), Olmutz (18 tons), Sacred Heart, Paris (27 tons), Novgorod (31 tons), Pekin (53.5 tons).
Besides their use in churches bells are employed for various purposes, formerly the most common use being to summon attendants or domestics in private houses, hotels, etc. Bells for this purpose were of small size and may be held in the hand and rung, but most commonly were rung by means of wires stretched from the various apartments to the place where the bells were hung. Bells rung by electricity became common in hotels and other establishments around 1905.
Cologne earth is a kind of ochre, of a deep-brown colour, forming a durable pigment in water-colour painting. It is an earthy variety of lignite or partially fossilized wood. Research Cologne Earth
Cologne yellow is a pigment consisting of two parts yellow chromate of lead, one of sulphate of lead, and seven of sulphate of lime or gypsum. It is prepared by precipitating a mixture of nitrate of lead and nitrate of lime with sulphate of soda and chromate of potash. Research Cologne Yellow
Eau de Cologne is a perfume said to have been invented by the Italian chemist, Johann Maria Farina, who settled at Cologne in 1709. The original recipe is unknown, though several chemists in Cologne have long claimed to be the sole owners of it. The general principle of Eau de Cologne is alcoholic vegetable extracts, essential oils and rectified spirits. The usual recipe prescribes twelve drops of each of the essential oils, bergamot, citron, neroli, orange and rosemary, with one dram of Malabar cardamoms and a gallon of rectified spirits which are distilled together. Later recipes used highly purified spirits and made further distillation unnecessary. Research Eau de Cologne
Epistolae ObscurorumVirorum ('Letters of Obscure Men') is the title of a collection of satirical letters which appeared in Germany in 1515-1517, and professed to be the composition of certain ecclesiastics and professors in Cologne and other places. It is considered as one of the most masterly sarcasms in the history of literature, and its importance is enhanced by the effect it had in promoting the cause of the Reformation. The authorship of this satire has been a fertile subject of controversy, and is yet apparently far from being settled. Research Epistolae ObscurorumVirorum
Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great) was Count of Bollstadt and a distinguished German scholar of the thirteenth century. He was born in 1193 and died in 1280. He studied at Padua, became a monk of the Dominican order, teaching in the schools of Hildeslioini, Ratisbon, and Cologne, where Thomas Aquinas became his pupil. In 1245 he went to Paris and publicly expounded the doctrines of Aristotle, notwithstanding the prohibition of the church. He became rector of the school of Cologne in 1249; in 1254 he was made provincial of his order in Germany; and in 1260 he received from Pope Alexander IV the appointment of Bishop of Ratisbon. In 1263 he retired to his convent at Cologne, where he composed many works, especially commentaries on Aristotle. Owing to his profound knowledge he did not escape the imputation of using magical arts and trafficking with the 'Evil One'. Research Albertus Magnus
Clovis I was King of the Salian Franks. He was born in 465 and died in 511. He succeeded his father in 481. He defeated the Gallo-Romans near Soissons and the Alemanni near Cologne in 496. Research Clovis I
Edward Goodall was an English line-engraver. He was born in 1795 at Leeds and died in 1870. He was self-taught, and early in his career attracted the notice of Turner, a number of whose pictures he engraved, including the large plates of Tivoli and Cologne, and various plates in the England and Wales and Southern Coast series. He also engraved many plates for the Annuals, and the largest number of the landscapes after Turner that illustrate the elegant editions of Rogers' Italy and Poems. He engraved a number of plates for the Art Journal, several from pictures by his son, Frederick Goodall of which the Cranmer at the Traitors' Gate and the Happy Days of Charles I, both of large size, are the most important. Research Edward Goodall
Elector was the title of certain princes of the old German Empire who had the right of electing the emperors. In the reign of Conrad I, king of Germany from 912 to 918, the dukes and counts became gradually independent of the sovereign and assumed the right of choosing future monarchs. In the 13th century the number of these electors was seven - the Archbishops of Mainz, Cologne, and Treves, the King of Bohemia, the CountPalatine, the Duke of Saxony, and the Markgrave of Brandenburg. In 1648 an eighth electorate was created to make room for Bavaria, and Hanover was added as a ninth in 1692. The votes of the Palatinate and of Bavaria were merged in one in 1777. In 1802 the two ecclesiastical electors of Cologne and Treves were set aside, and Baden, Wurtemberg, Hesse - Cassel, and Salzburg declared electorates so that there were ten electors in 1806 when the old German empre was dissolved. Research Elector
Gottlieb Daimler was a German engineer. He was born in 1834 at Schorndorf, Wurtemberg and died in 1900. After arriving in England he was employed at the Whitworth works at Manchester. Returning to Germany with Dr Otto of Cologne he perfected the Otto gas engine. From 1882 he devoted himself to experimenting with high power gas and oil engines, and petroleum motors. Research Gottlieb Daimler
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