In philosophy, an attribute is a quality or property of a substance, as whiteness or hardness. A substance is known to us only as a congeries of attributes.
In the fine arts an attribute is a symbol regularly accompanying and marking out some personage. Thus the caduceus, purse, winged hat, and sandals are attributes of Mercury, the trampled dragon of St George. Research Attribute
Grey describes the infinite shades of colour between brilliant white and black.
Pearly - A very pale bluish-grey colour, paler than slate grey.
Silver - A greyish-white.
Slate - A pale bluish-grey colour. Slate grey implies hardness, conjuring images of the hard, cold natural stone.
Steel - A pale bluish-grey colour. Steel grey implies hardness in much the same way as slate grey, but with the image of the metal rather than the mineral.
The cornel or cornelian tree (Cornus mascula) is a species of dogwood tree of the family Cornaceae. It is native to Asia and southern Europe. It is distinguished by the hardness of its wood and is cultivated as an ornamental plant in Britain. Its leaves are oval; the flowers, in small heads, are yellow; the berries are red and rather harsh, but were formerly made into sweetmeats. Research Cornel
Hippopotamus (also known as Behemoth) is the popular name of the two remaining species of herbivorous ungulate mammal of the family Hippopotamidae now only found in Africa, but formally found across Britain, Europe and Asia.
The common Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibious) is a large, semi-aquatic herbivorous mammal found in tropical Africa that spends most of its time in rivers. It has a thick and square head, a very large muzzle, small eyes and ears, thick and heavy body, short legs terminated by four toes, a short tail, two ventral teats, skin about five centimeters thick on the back and sides, and without hair, except at the extremity of the tail. The incisors and canines of the lower jaw are of great strength and size, the canines or tusks being long and curved forward. These tusks sometimes reach the length of 60 cm and more, and weigh upwards of 3 kg. The animal has longe been hunted by the natives partly as food, but also on account of the tusks and teeth, their hardness being superior to that of ivory, and less liable to turn yellow. The hippopotamus has been found of the length of five meters, and stands about 1.5 meters high. It delights in water, living in lakes, rivers, and estuaries, and feeding on water-plants or on the herbage growing near the water. It is an excellent swimmer and diver, and can remain under water a considerable time. The behemoth of Job is considered by commentators to be the hippopotamus, as the description of his size, manners, food, and haunts is not unlike those of the latter animal. Among the ancient Egyptians it was revered as a divinity, as it is among the natives in some localities.
The Pygmy Hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis) is smaller, about the size of a domestic pig, and is found only in lowland forests in west Africa. The Pygmy Hippopotamus is more terrestrial than the Common Hippopotamus, but spends a lot of time in swamps. While the Common Hippopotamus is a social animal, the Pygmy Hippopotamus is solitary, feeding at night on aquatic plants, grass, algae and bushes. Research Hippopotamus More pictures of Hippopotamus
The jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) is an Australian tree bearing timber of great hardness and durability. The timber was formerly used in Britain for street paving at the start of the 20th century. Research Jarrah
Sponges (Porifera) are a group of simple animals. They possess a porous ' spongy' texture and no definite external organs or form. They vary in shape and hardness. The sponge body consists of a mass of cells of various kinds forming a delicate tissue, and this is supported on a skeleton of minute rods, or spicules, of calcite, silica or of a horny organic substance. Research Sponge
The Dorians were one of the four great branches of the Greek nation who migrated from Thessaly southwards, settling for a time in the mountainous district of Doris in Northern Greece and finally in Peloponnesus. Their migration to the latter was said to have taken place in 1104 BC; and as among their leaders were certain descendants of Hercules (or Heracles), it was known as the return of the Heraclidae. The Dorians ruled in Sparta with great renown as a strong and warlike people, though less cultivated than the other Greeks in arts and letters. Their laws were severe and rigid, as typified in the codes of the great Doric legislators Minos and Lycurgus. The Doric dialect was characterized by its broadness and hardness, yet on account of its venerable and antique style was often used in solemn odes and choruses. Research Dorians
Sir Richard Arkwright was an English inventor. He was born in 1732 at Preston, Lancashire and died in 1792. The youngest of thirteen children, he was a barber by trade, while travelling the country dealing in hair for wigs he became interested in the slow and clumsy processes used for spinning and weavingcotton, and when about thirty-five years of age he gave himself up exclusively to the subject of inventions for spinningcotton. The thread spun by Hargreaves' jenny could not be used except as weft, being destitute of the firmness or hardness required in the longitudinal threads or warp. But Richard Arkwright supplied this deficiency by the invention of the spinning-frame, which spins a vast number of threads of any degree of fineness and hardness, leaving the operator merely to feed the machine with cotton and to join the threads when they happen to break.
His invention introduced the system of spinning by rollers, the carding, or roving as it is technically termed (that is, the soft, loose strip of cotton), passing through one pair of rollers, and being received by a second pair, which are made to revolve with (as the case may be) three, four, or five times the velocity of the first pair. By this contrivance the roving is drawn out into a thread of the desired degree of tenuity and hardness. His inventions being brought into a pretty advanced state, Richard Arkwright removed to Nottingham in 1768 in order to avoid the attacks of the same lawless rabble that had driven Hargreaves out of Lancashire. Here his operations were at first greatly fettered by a want of capital; but two gentlemen of means having entered into partnership with him, the necessary funds were obtained, and Richard Arkwright erected his first mill, which was driven by horses, at Nottingham, and took out a patent for spinning by rollers in 1769. As the mode of working the machinery by horse-power was found too expensive he built a second factory on a much larger scale at Cromford, in Derbyshire, in 1771, the machinery of which was turned by a water-wheel. Having made several additional discoveries and improvements in the processes of carding, roving, and spinning, he took out a fresh patent for the whole in 1775, and thus completed a series of the most ingenious and complicated machinery. Notwithstanding a series of lawsuits in defence of his patent rights, and the destruction of his property by mobs, he amassed a large fortune. He was knighted by George III in 1786. Research Richard Arkwright
Dentine (dentin) is the main substance of the tooth, composing the bulk of the crown and root of the tooth. Dentine is similar in hardness to compact bonetissue, found throughout the skeleton, and features about 30% organictissue. Like the enamel, no cells or vessels penetrate the
dentine, so that damage to the dentine (as in the case of a dental cavity) cannot be repaired. In some teeth, a secondary dentine may form as an accretive patch over damaged or occluded toothtissue, however. Though no cells or vessels penetrate the dentine, small tubules do penetrate into the dentine matrix from the pulp cavity. Within these tubules are housed odontoblasts in a protoplasmic base. These tubules make the dentinal matrix sensitive to contact or temperature changes. Research Dentine
The enamel (substantia adamantina) covers the crown of the tooth and is the hardest known substance in the body. This hardness is necessary to survive the powerful forces exerted on the tooth surface during chewing.
Enamel is composed predominantly by calciumsalts, with less than five percent of its weight being due to organic tissues. Since no cells or vessels penetrate into the enamel, it is not considered living tissue. Because of this, damage to the enamel of a tooth (as in the case of a dental cavity) cannot repair itself.
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Attribute
