Bone black (also known as drop black, ivory black and animal charcoal) is a black pigment produced by burning bones and other animal refuse in a closed retort. Bone black is usually supplied ground in turpentine as it tends to retard the drying of oil. Bone black also possesses the valuable property of arresting and absorbing into itself the colouring matter of liquids which are passed through it. Hence it was extensively used in the process of sugar-refining, when cylinders of large dimensions filled with this substance were used as filters. After a certain amount of absorption the charcoal became saturated and ceased to act. It had then to be restored by reheating, or could be used to make bone-ash. Bone black has also the property of absorbing odours, and so may serve as a disinfectant of clothing, rooms, etc. Research Bone Black
The Chair of St Peter at Rome is a wooden chair overlaid with ivory work and gold, first mentioned by Ennodius in 500, and in honour of which a feast was instituted by Paul IV in 1558. Research Chair of St Peter
Chryselephantine is a term meaning made of gold and ivory combined. The term is applied to statues executed in these two substances by the ancient Greeks, such as Pheidias's great statue of Athena. Research Chryselephantine
A comb is an instrument with teeth, formerly made of tortoise-shell, ivory, horn, wood, bone or metal and now most often made from plastic, used for dressing the hair, and by women for keeping the hair in its place when dressed. Combs have been used from the earliest times by all races of people. Research Comb
The ISO (International Standards Organisation) assigns a two character code to each country name. These codes are used by Internet 'whois' databases (these two character abbreviations are the whois country codes) and also other applications.
A feretory was a bier or shrine containing the relics of saints borne in processions, which was usually done on their feast-days, as a token of gratitude in times of public rejoicing, or to obtain some favour in seasons of calamity.
A feretory is a type of coffin, but the form is usually that of a ridged chest, with a roof-like top, generally ornamented with pierced work, with the sides and top engraved and enamelled, and sometimes having images in high relief. They were made of precious metals - typically gold, wood, or ivory. Research Feretory
Grafting is an operation by which a bud or scion of an individual plant is inserted upon another individual, so as to become organically united with the stock on which it has been placed. Grafting can only take place between plants which have a certain affinity, individuals of the same species, genus, or order. The graft does not become identified with the stock to which it is united, but retains its own peculiarities of variety or species. The parts between which grafting is effected must be actively vegetating.
The advantages derived from grafting are the preservation of remarkable varieties, which could not be reproduced from seed; the more rapid multiplication of particular species, and the anticipation of the period of fructification, which may thus be advanced by several years. The principal methods of grafting are 1. By approach This process is intended to unite at one or more points two plants growing from separate roots. Plates of bark of equal size are removed, the wounds are kept together and protected from air. Stems, branches, or roots may be united in this way. 2. By scions - Under this head there are a variety of methods, such as whip, splice, cleft, saddle, crown grafting, etc.
In whip-grafting ot tongue-grafting the stock is cut obliquely across and a slit or very narrow angular incision is made in its centre downwards across the cut surface, a similar deep incision is made in the scion upwards, at a corresponding angle, and, a projecting tongue left, which being inserted in the incision in the stock, they are fastened closely together.
Splice-grafting is performed by cutting the ends of the scion and stock completely across in an oblique direction, in such a way that the sections are of the same shape, then laying the oblique surfaces together so that the one exactly fits the other, and securing them by tying or otherwise.
In cleft-grafting, the stock is cleft down, and the graft, cut in the shape of a wedge at its lower end, is inserted into the cleft; while, in saddle-grafting, the end of the stock is cut into the form of a wedge, and the base of the scion, slit up or cleft for the purpose, is affixed.
Crown-grafting or rind-grafting is performed by cutting the lower end of the scion in a sloping direction, while the head of the stock is cut over horizontally and a slit is made through the inner bark. A piece of wood, bone, ivory, or other such substance, resembling the thinned end of the scion, is inserted in the top of the slit between the alburnum and inner bark and pushed down in order to raise the bark, so that the thin end of the scion may be introduced without being bruised. The edges of the bark on each side are then brought close to the scion, and the whole is bound with matting and a lump of clay put round it.
3. By buds - This consists in transferring to another stock a plate of bark, to which one or more buds adhere. Bud-grafting is the most commonly practised, especially for multiplying fruit-trees and roses, owing to the facility with which it may be performed. Research Grafting
Ivory is an opaque, creamy white, hard, fine-grained, modified dentin that composes the upper incisor teeth of an elephant. Ivory is composed of curved layers of dentine alternating in shade, that intersect one another; the resulting lozenge-shaped structure is elastic and finely grained. The layers of a tusk are deposited from the central pulp, so that the innermost layer is the newest. Most commercial elephant ivory is obtained from the tusks of the African elephant, mainly from eastern and central Africa. (Most of the ivory of the western half of Africa is hard, whereas that from the eastern half is soft. Hard ivory is glassier in texture, harder to cut and more likely to crack than soft ivory.)
Fossil ivory, called odontolite, is a blue variety that is found in small quantities in the frozen soil of northern Siberia. Odontolite was produced by the mammoths of the Pleistocene geological epoch; its blue colour results from saturation by metallic salts. Carved ivory has been used for decorative purposes since the time of the ancient Egyptians. Small pieces of ivory are used for high-quality furniture inlays, chess pieces, and small jewellery. Larger pieces of ivory sometimes have been used in the manufacture of billiard balls, piano keys, and toilet articles.
During the late 1980s, as Africa's elephant herds declined, environmentalists led a world-wide effort to shut down the ivory trade; in 1989 the USA and the European Union banned all ivory imports. Tusks of several other animals such as hippopotamuses, narwhals, sperm whales, and walruses are commonly called ivory and have similar physical properties, and many plastic substitutes for ivory have been developed. Several ivory-like vegetable parts are also used in imitation of ivory; the ivory palm, for example, produces large, white, hard seeds, called ivory nuts, the endosperm of which is commonly known as vegetable ivory. In painting, ivory is a delicate colour deeper in tone than off-white, but not so deep as cream. Research Ivory
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
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