ELECTROTYPING 



2001 



ELEGY 



scope can be made by suspending a pith ball 

 by a silk thread from a glass support. If a 

 body charged with 

 positive electric- 

 ity is brought 

 near the ball the 

 latter will be at- 

 tracted to the 

 object, become 

 itself positively 

 charged, and then 

 be repelled. A 

 much more sen- 

 sitive instrument 

 consists of two 

 slender strips of 

 gold leaf, sus- 

 pended in a glass 

 bottle from a 

 metallic rod (see 

 illustration). The ELECTROSCOPE 



rod extends through the cork of the bottle 

 and terminates in a knob. If an object 

 charged with electricity is brought near the 

 knob the leaves become electrified, and since 

 like charges repel each other, they fly apart 

 and hang like a V upside down. Remove the 

 object and the leaves resume their vertical- 

 position. 



The electroscope is said to be charged when 

 the electrified object is placed in contact with 

 the metallic knob: In that case the leaves 

 separate and remain apart. If a positively- 

 charged body is brought near a positively- 

 charged electroscope, the leaves will fly far- 

 ther apart, but if the object has a negative 

 charge they will fall toward each other. In 

 both instances they resume their original 

 charged positions when the outside electrified 

 object is removed. The electroscope may be 

 discharged by touching the knob with the 

 hand, causing the leaves to collapse. Thus 

 the electroscope may be used to determine 

 the nature of the charge of any body brought 

 near to it. 



ELECTROTYPING, e lek ' tro type ing, the 

 process of making metal reproductions of type, 

 engravings or etchings, by applying the prin- 

 ciples of electroplating. The type or other 

 matter to be plated is first carefully cleaned 

 and then dusted with finely-powdered graph- 

 ite. An impression of the type or engraving 

 is then taken on a sheet of beeswax, which is 

 coated with -powdered graphite to make it a 

 conductor of electricity. The next important 

 step is to suspend the wax mold in a bath, 



usually composed of two parts of sulphate of 

 copper and one part of sulphuric acid slightly 

 diluted in water. The negative pole of a bat- 

 tery is then connected with the wax mold, and 

 the positive pole with a sheet of copper hung 

 in front of the mold. 



When the electric circuit is thus completed 

 the copper is drawn from the plate and de- 

 posited on the wax. After several hours a 

 thin shell of copper is found adhering to the 

 wax. This shell is then backed up with lead 

 or type metal to a standard thickness, and 

 when the metal has cooled the back is planed 

 smooth. The edges are then beveled, and the 

 plate is ready for the press. 



There are a number of minor variations 

 possible in this process. Some electrotypes 

 are made directly from the original plate, 

 without the use of a wax mold. The surface 

 of the original is first washed with a very 

 weak solution of wax in turpentine, to pre- 

 vent adhesion, and is then immersed in the 

 copper sulphate bath. The thin copper shell 

 formed on the original may then be used in 

 turn as an original and an electrotype may be 

 made from it. A wax-mold is supposed to 

 give better results than this method, but the 

 untrained eye cannot distinguish between the 

 two kinds of electrotypes. 



ELEGY, el'eji, a poem in which the pre- 

 vailing tone is that of melancholy. In Eng- 

 lish poetry the elegy is usually a lamentation 

 over the death of a loved one, or a medita- 

 tive poem whose mournful theme is inspired 

 by the thoughts of death. Shelley's Adonais, 

 in which the poet expresses nis grief at the loss 

 of his beloved friend, John Keats, is one of 

 the most beautiful elegies of the former class. 

 Another admirable example is Lowell's Thre- 

 nodia, a tribute to his little son. 



The greatest elegy of the meditative type 

 in English literature is Gray's Elegy Written 

 in a Country Churchyard. In this the poet 

 passes from his contemplation of evening and 

 the graves of the dead to a general reflection 

 on the nature of human life, which is sum- 

 marized in the famous lines: 



The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 

 And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 



Await alike the inevitable hour : 



The paths of glory lead but to the grave. 



Still another form, known as the pastoral 

 elegy, is illustrated by Milton's Lycidas, where 

 the poet's sorrow over the loss of a friend is 

 given a background of rural narrative. The 

 Greek elegy was a short poem written in stan- 



