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PEDAL-BASE. 



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to the depth of iz inches, and the water is allowed to drain off slowly. 

 \Vbrn the prat begin* to dry, men fix board* to their feet and walk 

 ovrr it, so a> to compress it; and at soon as it will bear cutting, it U 

 cut with a spade made on purpose into oblong pieoea of the usual size 

 of peat, which i> about eight or nine inch lung and five wide ; the 

 trading and drying hare reduced the thickness to about four or five 

 inches. When completely solid, then peaU are et on edge, and af tor- 

 ward* itacked loosely, to that the air may paw through them. In 

 MM place* they have abed*, for the purpose of protecting them from 

 rain. They aoon become very hard, and burn more like wood or coal 

 than the peat which U cut immediately from a solid moss. They give 

 renr great heat, and form a cual which, when it it shut up in a clone 

 Teasel to atop the combustion, and allowed to cool, has a considerable 

 resemblance to charcoal 



1 hitch peat is used a* fuel for all the purposes of manufactures, 

 except for the forging of Iron, for which coals are imported from 

 Knghndand the Netherlands. The peat-fens in Holland, however, 

 begin to be exhausted, and the fuel is so dear, that it is found more 

 economical to import coals from England, which are used chiefly in 

 cast-iron stores. 



In Ireland, some years ago, the Irish Amelioration Society encou- 

 raged the conversion of peat into charcoal. The cliarcoal obtained 

 from this source is found to be valuable not only for smelting-fur- 

 naoea, but also as a deodoriser. Around each charcoal factory, in some 

 parts of Ireland, a rim of cottage gardens was gradually formed ; and 

 the land, relieved from the load of otherwise unprofitable peat, pro- 

 duced useful crops. Whether, however, from the commercial value of 

 the product having been overstated, or for some other cause, the mak- 

 ing of charcoal from peat still remains only a small branch of industry 

 in Ireland. A British and Irish Peat Company was afterwards formed, 

 suggested with reference to Dartmoor peat rather than to that of 

 Ireland ; but if available for one, it would also be for the other. The 

 company professed to be able to obtain naphtha, paraffin, fixed oil, 

 volatile oil, acetate of lime, and sulphate of ammonia, from peat, at 

 profitable prices ; and very sanguine accounts were published as to the 

 rate of profit obtainable. When the Earl of Clarendon was Lord 

 Lieutenant of Ireland, he commissioned Sir Kobert Kane to inquire 

 into and report upon the various proposed plans for economically apply- 

 ing the millions of acres of peat in Ireland. One difficulty is, that all 

 attempts to expel the water from wet peat by mechanical means alone 

 have been found defective ; and another ig, that the profitableness of 

 applying heat to evaporate the moisture is doubtful. In the peat 

 taken from the Bog of Allen, it is found that 100 tons of the 

 wet substance produce only 16 tons of dry peat. Mr. Reece, whose 

 patent led to the formation of the Irish Peat Company, found 

 that by the destructive distillation of 1000 parts of peat, he 

 obtained about eleven of sulphate of ammonia, seven of acetate 

 of lime, two of wood naphtha, one of (laraffin, seven of fixed oil, 

 and three of volatile oil When Sir Kobert Kane tested this 

 statement he found it to be pretty nearly correct; but when he 

 proceeded to inquire into the profitableness of the process as a manu- 

 facture of the above-named substances, the conflicting evidence quite 

 baffled him. From the reports of Kane and other authorities, the 

 area of all the bogs in Ireland, multiplied by the average thickness, 

 would it appears yield the enormous quantity of 4,000,000,000 tons 

 of peat even when quite dry ; and some enthusiasts have given to this 

 .1 money value of more than 1 ,000,000,OOOJ. for fuel. A village has 

 been lighted with peat gas in Westuicath. It remains true, neverthe- 

 less, that although a mass of peat is a vast storehouse of chemical 

 material, manufacturing operations relating thereto have not yet 

 become important. 



PECK, a measure of two gallons, or the fourth part of a bushel. 

 [BITSHP.L.J It is used as a measure of dry goods onlv. 



I'ECTASE. [PKCTIO ACID.] 



PECT1C ACID. PECTIN. The jelly of certain fruits, as the 

 currant, gooseberry, Ac., is distinguished from gelatin, or animal jelly, 

 in containing no nitrogen. Pectic acid was first obtained by Braconnot, 

 so named by him from the Greek ptcla (i)irrfi) ; and whenever pectin 

 is treated with an alkali, pectic acid is formed. As these substances 

 are intimately connected, they may be considered together. 



Pteii* Iu *y b* obtained from many fruits by carefully expressing 

 their juice, and evaporating it at a temperature not above 212. It 

 may also be procured by adding alcohol to recently expressed currant 

 or gooseberry juice; in a few hours a gelatinous substance separates, 

 which is to be washed with weak alcohol and then dried ; in this state 

 it resembles isinglass in appearance, and when immersed in cold water 

 it swells like starch. 



Another method has been given for preparing pectin, which is that 

 of mixing the clear expressed juice of currant* with that of sour cherries, 

 when pectin falls down ; the liquid being poured off, the pectin is to 

 be washed with cold water as long as it comes away coloured. 



Hot water has lew action upon dry pectin tlian cold water has : in 

 dilute and boiling alcohol it dissolves slightly; the solution however is 

 not very adhesive. Pectin has no acid properties, nor does it render 

 iodine blue like starch. When jiectin is treated with nitric acid, it 

 yield* oxalic acid and mucic acid, accompanied with a trace of a bitter 

 yellow matter : hy<lr.x-hloric acid is rendered of a fine red colour by it 

 when they are heated together, and red flakes separate, which are 



not soluble in ammonia. Pectin has also been found in the bark of 

 most trees. 



Ptttic acid is obtained whenever carbonate of potash is added to 

 pectin, but carbonate of soda does not produce this effect, nor does 

 ammonia. Lime-water, however, partially converts pectin into pectic 

 acid. 



Pectic acid is perhaps most conveniently obtained from the carrot ; 

 for this purpose the rasped root is to be washed with water, and 

 pressed, till it ceases to dissolve anything; then 100 parts of the 

 pressed carrot are to be boiled in water with five parts of bicarbonate 

 of potash; the root is to be again pressed, and the clear solution, 

 which is jiectate of potash, is to be decomposed by the addition of a 

 solution of chloride of calcium, which yields by double decomposition 

 on insoluble pectate of lime ; this is to be treated with dilute hydro- 

 chloric acid, which separates the pectic acid. 



Pectic acid lias the following properties: it is a colourless j-lly, 

 slightly acid, and reddens litmus paper very distinctly. When dis- 

 tilled it yields a product containing much euipyreuniatic oil, but no 

 trace whatever of ammonia. 



It is very little soluble in water, whether hot or cold, and the 

 filtered solution acts less powerfully on litmus than the gelatinous 

 acid. Although it contains so little of the acid, yet the solution 

 becomes gelatinous when alcohol or sugar is added to it ; lime or baryta 

 water also occasions precipitation in it. 



When gelatinous pectic acid is gently heated with an excess of cmmtic 

 potash or soda in a platinum crucible, a brown-coloured solution is 

 soon obtained ; and when thus evaporated to dryness, the pectic acid 

 is found almost entirely converted into oxalic acid. 



The neutral pectates of potash, soda, and ammonia, when dissolved 

 in water, are separated in a gelatinous state from solution by alcohol, 

 sugar, and saline solutions, &c. 



Pectic acid is decomposed by sulphuric acid when they arc heated 

 together, and nitric acid converts it into mucic and oxalic acid, &c. 

 Most of the stronger or mineral acids also decompose the saline com- 

 pounds of pectic acid ; but this is not the case with the greater number 

 of the vegetable acids. 



The substance originally contained in the currants, &.C., and from 

 which pectin is supposed to be derived by the influence of acids, has 

 been named pectote. This matter is also accompanied by a kind of 

 ferment, called pectate. Parapectin is produced by boiling a solution 

 of pectin for some hours. Metapectin is obtained by the tran^for- 

 mation of para pectin in contact with boiling dilute acids. Wlun 

 pcctase is added to a solution of pectic acid, a gelatinous body termed 

 pectogic add is formed. Parapectic add, uutapcctic add, and jiyropcctic 

 acid are also unimportant derivatives of pectin. 



Little is known as to the exact composition of these substances. 

 The foUowing formulae have been proposed by different investigators, 

 but they are all doubtful : 



Mctapcetic acid 

 Pyropectic acid 



C 8 U s O,-f2IIO 

 C lt H,O, 



PECTIN. [PECTIC ACID.] 



PECTOSE. [PECTIC A.CID.] 



PECTOSIC ACID. [PECTIC ACID.] 



PECULIARS, COURT OF, one of the ecclesiastical courts : whi.-h, 

 until the abolition of peculiars, took cognisance of all matters arising 

 therein. (Blockst. ' Cornin.,' Mr. Kerr's ed., v. iii.) 



PEDAL. In musical instruments pedals are of two kinds : 1, 

 those keys which are acted on by the feet of the performer ; 2, the 

 levers acting on the swell of the organ, and on the stops ; and also 

 those of the pianoforte and harp, the uses of which are too well known 

 to require explanation. 



The pedals, or foot-keys, of the organ were invented in the 15th 

 century, by a German named Bemhard ; but it was long before they 

 had travelled beyond the confines of the country to which they owed 

 their birth ; and strange to say, England was the last to adopt them, 

 though the first to introduce the organ generally into the church. 

 But by slow degrees their utility and importance were discovered and 

 acknowledged, and now no organ, except of small dimensions, is built 

 without these most desirable auxiliaries, and no organist is esteemed 

 who is not tolerably well skilled in the use of them. [ORGAN.] 



PEDAL-BASE (or Pcdnlc), in music, is a base which remains 

 stationary on one note, while the other parts continue moving and 

 fanning various chords, all of which, however, must be related to the 

 holding note, according to the laws of harmony. Example : 



6 120 

 4 



