252 



ELEUTEIATE 



most exquisite character and colour can, by a little careful manipulation, bo thus 

 produced. 



ELECTROTYPE. Soe ELECTRO-METALLURGY. 



ELECTRUM, or ELECTRON Amber was so called by the Greeks, and from 

 it we derive our word ' electricity.' The Romans used the term at first, ^or a compound of 

 gold and silver, which was of the colour of amber ; subsequently it was applied to a 

 definite mixture of gold and silver, used for coins. 



Native alloys of gold and silver are now called electrums, when they contain 

 sufficient silver to make their colour lighter, and their specific gravity loss than that 

 of gold. According to Klaproth, olcctrum is composed of gold 64, silver 36. JI.-nis- 

 mann applied the term to all native alloys that contain from 20 to 60 por cent, of silver. 



A base metal in modern use has received the name of eloctrum. It is an alloy of 

 copper, zinc, and tin, with sometimes nickel. 



ELEMENTS. This name is now given to bodies which have not been reduced 

 to any more simple form of matter than that in which wo find them. The elements 

 of the ancients, air, fire, earth, and water, had quite a different moaning from the 

 elements of the modern chemist ; so had the salt, sulphur and mercuri/ of the early 

 alchemists. In their philosophy those terms represented the ultimate forms into which 

 matter could be resolved, or out of which all matter could be created. The number 

 of elements at present known is 63 : 



Table of Chemical Elements. 



A list of the more important of these elements, with their symbols and atomic 

 weights, will bo found under the article ATOMIC WEIGHTS. 



For a full examination of the laws regulating the chemical relations of those bodies, 

 their atomic constitution, &c. see Watts's ' Dictionary of Chemistry.' 



ELEIVII. This appears to bo the resinous product of various torebinthinous trees. 

 The Edinburgh College states it to be a ' concrete resinous exudation from one or 

 more unascertained plants.' And the London Pharmacopeia describes it as a concrete 

 turpentine derived from an unknown plant. In the former edition Aniyris Elemifera 

 was named as the plant producing this resin. This error was duo to Linnaeus, who 

 confounded under one name two distinct plants. The larger quantities of olomi come 

 to us from the Dutch settlements through Holland. It is imported in ' tlic lump' :m<l 

 in masses weighing from one to two pounds, each enveloped in a palm-leaf. Elomi is 

 employed in making lacquer. Soe VAUNISK. 



ELEPHANTS' TUSKS. See IVOUY. 



ELEPHANTS' ITRINE. The celebrated Indian yellow, or Purree, is said to bo 

 a mixture of the earthy phosphate and urea deposited from this. 



ELEUTRIATE. (Soutimr, Fr. ; Schlcmmcn, Ger.) When any insoluble powder, 

 such as chalk, is diffused through a largo body of water, and then allowed to snbsido 

 slowly, of course the larger pai*.icles will by their gravity bo the first to subside. If 

 then the supernatant liquor is paired off, or bettor, if drawn off by a siphon, the finer 



