16 KIESERITE 



The kermes called Coccus fragarie is found principally in Siberia, upon the root of 

 the common strawberry. 



The Coccus uva ursi is twice the size of the Polish kermes, and dyes with alum a fine 

 red. It occurs in Kussia. 



Kermes is found not only upon the Lycopodium complanatum in the Ukraine, but upon 

 a great many other plants. 



Good kermes is plump, of a deep red colour, of an agreeable smoll, and a rough and 

 pungent taste. Its colouring matter is soluble in water and alcohol : it becomes yel- 

 lowish or brownish with acids, and violet or crimson with alkalis. Sulphate of iron 

 blackens it. With alum it dyes a blood-red ; with copperas, an agate-grey ; with 

 sulphate of copper and tartar, an olive-green ; with tartar and salt of tin, a lively cin- 

 namon-yellow ; with more alum and tartar, a lilac ; with sulphate of zinc and tartar, 

 a violet. Scarlet and crimson dyed with kermes were called grain colours. The red 

 caps for the Levant are dyed at Orleans with equal parts of kermes and madder, and 

 occasionally with an addition of Brazil-wood. Kermes is but little used in England at 

 present as a dyeing substance. 



KERMES, MINERAL. Pure mineral kermes is regarded by Berzelius, Fuchs, 

 and Eose, as an amorphous tersulphuret of antimony. As the preparation has but 

 little use in the arts except as an artist's colour, for its mode of preparation and its 

 chemical constitution, we refer to Watts's ' Dictionary of Chemistry.' 



KERMESXTE. Bed antimony ore, composed of oxygen, 5'29 ; antimony, 74-45 ; 

 sulphur, 20 P 49. It occurs in the form of tufts of cherry-red hair-like crystals, at 

 Braunsdorf, near Freiberg, in Saxony, and at a few other localities. 

 KERNEL ROASTING. See COPPER. 



XEROSINE. A name given to one of the mineral oils, obtained from the oil- 

 wells and oil-shales of America, and other places. 



KERSEY. A coarse stuff woven from long wool, chiefly manufactured in the 

 north of England. 



KERSEYMERE. Commonly spelt cassimere. A. fine fabric woven plain from the 

 finest wools ; a manufacture of the west of England principally. 



KETCHUP. A name derived from the Japanese Mtjap. It is prepared from 

 mushrooms, especially from the Agaricus campestris, by sprinkling them with salt, 

 letting them drain, and boiling the juice with spices. Walnut-ketchup is made from 

 green walnuts in a similar manner. 



KETONES. A class of organic bodies derived from aldehydes by substitution of 

 one atom of hydrogen for one atom of an alcohol-radical. For example, acetone is 

 acetic ketone ; that is, it may be regarded as acetic aldehyde in which one atom of 

 hydrogen is replaced by the radical methyl. See Watts's ' Dictionary of Chemistry.' 



KHAYA. One of the largest and handsomest trees growing on the western 



coast of Africa. The wood is of fine quality, and of a reddish colour like mahogany. 



XXABOCCA WOOD, called also Amboyna wood. This wood is said to be the 



excrescence or burr of the Pterospermnm indicum, or of the Pterocarpus draco, from 



the Moluccas, the Island of Borneo, Amboyna, &c. 



KIBBLE, a mining term. A bucket usually made of iron, in which the ore is 

 drawn to the surface from the depths of the mine. 



KIDDERMINSTER-CARPET. A carpeting* so called from the place of its 

 early manufacture. This kind of carpet is now principally made in Scotland. 

 Kidderminster is composed of two webs, each consisting of a separate warped woof. 

 The two are interwoven at intervals to produce the figures. The two webs being passed 

 at intervals through each other, each part being at one time above and the other 

 below, it will be evident, when the webs are of different colours, that the figures will 

 be the same on both sides, only the colours will be reversed. These carpets should 

 be made entirely of wool. 



KIESERITE. A hydrous sulphate of magnesia, containing MgO.SO* + HO 

 (MgSO 4 + H 2 O). It occurs in large quantities in the upper part of the great saline 

 deposits overlying the rock-salt of Stassfurt, near Magdeberg, in Prussian Saxony. 

 The kieserite is specially characteristic of a zone of the deposits, known as the 

 kieserite region, which occurs below the carnallite, and above the polyhalite region. 

 Kieserite forms about 17 per cent, of the salts in that portion of the deposit to 

 which it gives its name. It is separated from the associated salts by solution and 

 crystallisation. Large quantities of sulphate of magnesia prepared from kieserito 

 are now sent into the market by the Stassfurt manufacturers. 



The first attempts to economise kieserite were made in 1864, when it was pro- 

 posed to employ it in the preparation of sulphate of potash. Since that time the 

 applications have greatly increased, and it has now become an important article of 

 commerce. 

 The largest quantity of the raw material is sent to this country, where it takes the 



