rSIVEUSITY. 



URANIUM. 



tit* political incorporation. the privileged jurisdiction and power of 

 makii.. th (ciiltim and mode* of conferring degrees which 



custom had established. But the altered circumstances of society 

 1 oonid<-rl>ly Uirir external relations. The territorial division* 

 nf r.iimpe had come to be more sharply defined, and the autli 

 the novi-rviKii to be more energetically enforced liy more perfect civil 

 and military organwation. The day of foiul.il lord*, of municipalitica 

 mid ..tli.-r privileged corporations, each itaiuling upon his or iU 



knowledging a limited and precarious subjection to the nominal 

 liege, was past ; the day of great state*, of territorial governments, had 

 come. The same political power could not and would not be conceded 

 to universities that had formerly been given to them. The old were 

 restricted in their privileges ; the new never received them. The pro- 

 tracted strife betw. thr Koniish and Protestant churches also had ita 

 effect : universities, though no longer allowed to lay down the law, were 

 cherished as advocates of a party. Koman Catholic and Protestant 

 universities were erected to da battle fur tlioir respective creeds. 

 Lastly, other sciences had bad their practical utility recognised, in the 

 same way as the sciences of law and medicine had had theirs at an 

 earlier period. The application of mathematical science to the pur- 

 pose* of war and navigation hod given an impetus to their cultivation : 

 these new practical pursuits never produced a new faculty, but they 

 lent greater importance to the miscellaneous faculty known as the 

 faculty of arts. 



The number of universities founded in Europe from the time of the 

 Reformation down to the French Revolution was considerable. But 

 many events occurred during this period to lower universities in the 

 public estimation. The extension of elementary and secondary schools 

 had raised the standard of education among the classes which did not 

 receive a university education. The invention of printing, increasing 

 the facilities of private study, had operated in the same direction. 

 The diminished privileges and restricted jurisdiction of universities 

 had brought them to be regarded merely as schools of a higher order. 

 The increasing number of learned societies raised up a body of non- 

 academical literati, hostile in many instances to the academical ; and 

 the public, looking only to the transactions of these societies, forgot 

 that their members were indebted for their training to the universities. 

 Amateur dabblers in science undervalued these institutions ; and, in 

 the feverUh spirit of innovation which occasioned or accompanied the 

 French Revolution, they too were denounced. In France the old 

 universities have entirely disappeared. In the rest of Europe, as soon 

 as the storms of the Revolution were passed over, they revived ; and 

 adapting themselves more to the social necessities of the age, have in 

 many instances started with increased energy on a fresh career of 

 utility. In England two new universities, London and Durham, have 

 been constituted, great improvements have been made in those of 

 Oxford and Cambridge, and further reforms are about to be introduced, 

 as well as into the universities of Scotland. 



In the United States of North America the medical and legal pro- 

 fessions are educated principally in distinct schools ; and this is in the 

 latter country the case also in a great measure with the students of 

 theology. The colleges or universities contain therefore in general 

 only a faculty of arts. 



rSIVEKSITY. This word is the English form of the Latin 

 nnirmitat, which is often used by the bent Latin writers. The 

 adjective " universus " signifies the whole of anything, as contrasted 

 with its ]rts ; the plural " universi " also is often used to express an 

 entire number of persons or things, as opposed to individual persons 

 or thing*. The uses of the word universitas may be derived from the 

 meaning of uni venni.t. The word universitas applies either to a number 

 of things, or of persons, or of rights, viewed as a whole. The Koman 

 jurists expressed by the term " universitas bonorum " the whole of a 

 pi"pTty as contrasted with the parts (singular res) which composed it. 

 Such a universitas might be the object of a universal succession, a 

 which signified the immediate passing from one ]xrson to 

 :ii.'.tiicT of all that could be c.mpicli. nd.-d under such a universitaa of 

 iy. The Roman hercdita* is an instance of such universal 



RighU and duties arc properly attached to individuals as their sub- 

 ject* : but a number of individuals may be viewed for certain legal 

 purposes as one person or as a unity. Thus the notion of a number of 

 persons forming a juristical person, oj- a universitas, obtained among 

 the Roman*, and universitas was a general name for various associa- 

 tion* of individuals, who were also indicated by the names of collegia 

 nd corpora. The essential character of these universitates of persons, 

 viewed as juristical persons, was the capacity of having and aci|iiii ini; 

 property. The property, when bad or acquired, might be applied to 

 any purposes which the nature of the association m|uire<l : but it was 

 the capacity of the association to have and acquire, like .111 inilivnln.il. 

 that was the essential characteristic of tin' 1.,-dy as a uuivcrsitas ; and 

 tin- purposes for which tlir pru|>erty might be had or acquired were no 

 more a part of the notion of a universitas, than the purposes for which 

 an individual ha* or acquires property are part of hi* capacity to have 

 or acquire. 



The universities or corporate bodies at Rome were very numerous. 

 There were corporations of bakers, publican! or fanners of the revenue, 

 of scribe, and others. The name was also applied in the sense above 

 explained to civitates, municipta, and republics! ; and also to the 



component parts of them, as curia, vici, fura, cunciliabula, and 



.,- 1 . 



IV .in the Roman words universitas, collegium, corpus, are derived 

 the terms university, college, and corporation of modern languages; 

 and though these words hare obtained modified significations in 

 modern time*, so as not to be Indifferently applicable to the same 

 things, they all agree in retaining the fundamental signification 

 terms, whatever may have been superadded to them. There i i 

 university, college, or corporation which is not a juristical jx-i 

 the sense above explained : wherever these words are applied to any 

 association of persons not stamped with this mark, it is an abuse of 

 terms which requires no further comment. 



The word university, in its modern acceptation, has often been mis- 

 understood. IU proper meaning is explained in tins artirle ; anil the 

 application of the term to associations of teachers or pupil* i_ex j 

 in the article I'MVKHM 



UNLAWFUL ASSKMULY. [Riot.] 



UNLIMITED. This term i frequently used by matin i... 

 writers, in the same manner as I.\i > IM 1 1: to avoid the entrance of 

 the word INFINITE. It is also used to describe a problem which may 

 have an infinite number of answers, and which is called an unlimited 

 problem. 



UNSTABLE EQUILIBRIUM. [STABLE AND UNSTABLE ; STABILITY.] 



UPAS POISON. [ANTIABIK.] 



URAMIL. [Unic Onorr.] 



URAMILIC ACID. [Lime GROIT.] 



URANIC ACID. [fiiANiCM.] 



URANIUM (U), a metal discovered by Klaproth, in 1 :>'.'. who 

 named it after the planet Uranus, the discovery of which had occurred 

 in 1781 : the mineral from which it was first obtained is called 

 pcciililendf, which contains about 80 per cent, of the black ON 

 uranium (2UO.U.O,). This and other minerals from which uranium 

 is extracted are described in the NATURAL HISTORY DIVISION of this 

 Cyclopedia. 



M. Pcligot obtains this metal by decomposing its chloride by means 

 of potassium or sodium, a process which has been successfully adopted 

 for procuring aluminum and magnesium : the metal so separated is 

 partly in the state .of a black powder, and partly agglomerated ; by 

 carefully detaching the portions which adhere to the sides of the 

 crucible, plates of a metallic lustre comparable to that of silver, are 

 obtained ; these are susceptible of being filed, but possess a certain 

 degree of malleability, and have evidently undergone incipient fusion. 

 Uranium in very combustible ; at a moderate degree of heat, in < 

 with the air, it burns with a remarkably white and shining light ; the 

 combustion occurs at so low a temperature, that it may take place on 

 paper without causing it to burn. If small particles be shaken 

 the filter on which the metal in powder has been collected, portions so 

 minute as to be scarcely visible burn with brilliant sparks on coming 

 near the flame of a candle. When heated in a capsule, uranium 

 brilliantly, and is converted into a deep green-coloured oxide, the bulk 

 of which is considerably greater than that of the metal employed. 



Uranium docs not appear to suffer any alteration by exposure to thr 

 air. nor does it decompose water at common temperatures, but when 



Eut into diluted acids it dissolves in them with the evolut. 

 ydrogen gas. It somewhat resembles iron and manganese in its 

 chemical character. Its equivalent number is 60. 



Having now described the properties of uranium we proceed to con- 

 sider the compounds which it forms with other bodies. 



Oxy.i ' n mm. According to M. Pcligot, there exist, or may 



be formed, three oxides of uranium : the protoxide, formerly con- 

 sidered as metallic uranium ; that prepared by calcining the n 

 known by the name of deutoxide of uranium, or uranous acid ; lastly, 

 the peroxide, uranic acid, which enters into the composition of the 

 yellow salts. Besides these oxides, it is stated, by the chemist 

 named, that there are two suboxides of uranium produced by the 

 decomposition of the subchloride by ammonia, and an oxide inter- 

 mediate between protoxide and peroxide of uranium, which is formed 

 when the oxide obtained by calcining the nitrate is submitted to the 

 action of oxygen. 



fulnij-iilf of Cranium (U.O,). When ammonia is added to a solution 

 of iiubchloridc of uranium a brown precipitate is formed, which 

 undergoes various changes of colour and composition by absorbing 

 oxygen. Its extreme instability renders its analysis very difficult. It 

 decomposes water, to combine with its oxygen to form the apple-green 

 suboxide, the analysis of which is equally dillicult. 



I'l-'itaside of Uranium (U 0), formerly regarded as metallic uranium. 

 This may be prepared by several processes ; one of the best consists in 

 decomposing the yellow oxalate of uranium by hydrogen : the process 

 requires several precautions. Pre[>ared in thi* manner the prot 

 is extreme pyrophoric, the access of air causing it to burn \\ith 

 incandi m erting it into black peroxide : It is of a cinnamon- 



brown colour. When the protoxide of uranium in obtained by 

 ledin 'inn the double i -lilori.il' of potaxxiuiu and uranium, not by means 

 of hydrogen, it is obtained in cryctalline scales possessing a hi^h 

 degree of lustre, and Wing then in a higher state of aggregation it is 

 ii"t pyi-oplmric ; and when procured by decomposing the nitrate, the 

 protoxide is of a maroon colour. When thus prepared in the dry v. ., \ , 

 it is not acted upon either by hydrochloric or sulphuric acid when 



