CHEESE 767 



where the internal uso of charcoal has been found beneficial, I should think that 

 platinised charcoal may be advantageously substituted. In Bunsen's carbon battery 

 also the employment of platinised charcoal may, I think, be advantageously tried. 



' It is clear that the amount of platinum in the charcoal may be varied almost at 

 pleasure, according to the strength of the platinum solution employed in its prepara- 

 tion, and the purposes to which the charcoal is intended to be applied. Almost any 

 form, and even very considerable dimensions, may bo given to the platinised charcoal 

 circumstances which greatly extend the range of its applications." 



CHARCOaLS. The name by which the best tin plates are known; theso are 

 always made by charcoal fires. 



CHASCHISCH, or Hashash. HadscJiy is not the correct term for this narcotic 

 drug, for Hadschy means a pilgrim ; the true name is, according to pronunciation, 

 Chaschisch, the Arab word for hemp (Cannabis saliva). By this name, all intoxicating 

 drugs whose chief constituent is this herb are well known over the whole of the East. 

 The mode of preparing chaschisch is the following : 



The tops and all the tender parts of the hemp plant are collected after the period of 

 inflorescence ; dried and kept for use. It must be premised that the hemp plant is in 

 the East distinguished by its narcotic properties, although botanists are unable to 

 detect any difference between this and the European species. The dried hemp or 

 chaschisch, is used 



1st. Boiled in fat, butter, or oil, with a little water ; the filtered product is employed 

 in all kinds of pastry. 



2nd. Powdered for smoking : 5 or 10 grains of the powder are smoked from a 

 common pipe (tsubuk) with ordinary tobacco (tutwri), or from a water-pipe (nargiele) 

 with another kind of tobacco (tomJbeki). The tombeki is probably the leaf of a species 

 of lobelia ; it is smoked in a nargiele, and is uncommonly narcotic ; so much so, that 

 it is ordinarily steeped in water for a few hours before it is used, to weaken it, and the 

 pipe is charged with it whilst it is yet wet. 



3rd. Formed with tragacanth mucilage into pastiles, which are placed upon a pipe 

 and smoked in similar doses. These last two preparations are termed esrar (esrar 

 is the Arab word for secret] ; they are the most active of all the preparations of 

 chaschisch, and the first pipe will cause cerebral congestion in beginners. 



4th. Made into an electuary with dates or figs and honey. This preparation is of 

 a dark brown, almost black colour, and tastes of dates and hemp ; it is less active 

 than the esrar. 



5th. Lastly, another electuary is prepared of the same ingredients with the addition 

 of spices, clove, cinnamon, pepper, amber, and musk. This preparation is used as an 

 aphrodisiac. 



Chaschisch is said not to produce stupor, but the most pleasant species of intoxica- 

 tion. The person under its influence feels with perfect consciousness in the best 

 of all humours ; all impressions from without produce the most grateful sensations ; 

 pleasant illusions pass before his eyes, and he feels comfortably happy ; he thinks 

 himself the happiest man on earth, and the world appears to him Paradise. From 

 this imaginative state he passes into the every-day state, with a perfect recollection 

 of all sensations, and of everything he has done and of every word he has spoken. 

 The effects of a continual use of the narcotic are emaciation and nervous debility. 



CHATHAM LIGHT. A flash-light used for military purposes, obtained by 

 blowing a mixture of powdered resin and magnesium through a spirit flame. 



CHAT BOOT. The root of the Oldenlandia umbellata, a plant grown on the 

 Coromandel Coast in India, and valued for the red dye-stuff which it yields. 



CHECK. A cloth in which coloured lines or stripes cross each other rectangularly. 

 Blackburn in England, and Kirkaldy in Scotland, are f .e principal centres of the 

 check manufacture. See WEAVING. 



CHEESE. (Fromage, Fr.; Kiise, Ger.) The curd of milk which has been allowed to 

 undergo a peculiar change, by which it acquires the well-known flavour. The most cele- 

 brated English cheeses are manufactured in Cheshire, Gloucestershire, and Somersetshire. 

 The milk of animals contains three principles, which are, by very slight changes, sepa- 

 rated from each other. By a short repose, an oily portion rises to the surface of the 

 milk this consists of the cream globules, which are readily converted into butter. 

 If any acid be added to the milk, a curd separates ; this is the caseous matter, or 

 casein, which being pressed in moulds, becomes cheese ; the third portion being the 

 serum or whey. The cheesy matter which exists in milk in a soluble state, is usually 

 separated by means of rennet {see RENNET) that is, it is coagulated by it, or ren- 

 dered insoluble. The action of rennet upon milk is still very imperfectly understood. 

 In order to investigate the subject, Ber/olius washed and dried the stomach of a calf, 

 and yet he found that one part of this, mixed with nearly 2,000 parts of skimmed 

 milk, and heated to 120 F., so completely coagulated the caseous matter that no 

 trace of it remained in solution. All acids curdle milk muriatic (hydrochloric) 



