KEROSENE 



3233 



KEWANEE 



(3) The squares of the periods of complete 

 revolution round the sun of two planets are pro- 

 portional to the cubes of their mean distances 

 from the sun. 



KEROSENE, kcr' o seen, which succeeded 

 whale-oil and the tallow and beeswax candle 

 as the world's chief source of artificial light, 

 but is now giving way to gas and electricity, 

 is derived from petroleum. In some places it 

 is called coal oil, because it was first manu- 

 factured from coal. Paraffin oil, made from 

 shale in Scotland and elsewhere, is a similar 

 substance. 



Illuminating oil was first successfully pro- 

 duced from coal in France and England 

 shortly before Dr. Abraham Gesner, who gave 

 his product the name kerosene, developed a 

 commercial process for it in Prince Edward 

 Island, in 1846. The existence of petroleum had 

 been known from earliest times, but it had 

 been little used for lighting because it gave off 

 much smoke and soot. Dr. Silliman of Yale 

 College determined by experiments that kero- 

 sene was contained in petroleum. In 1856 a 

 well was bored in Pennsylvania, and kerosene 

 soon became a staple article. 



Until the gasoline engine came into common 

 use, kerosene was the chief product of petro- 

 leum, but to-day it is of secondary importance 

 and is becoming a drug on the market. This 

 is due to the fact that the quantity of kero- 

 sene increases with the increasing production 

 of gasoline. Experiments are now being made 

 /or the purpose of testing the value of kerosene 

 as a fuel for internal-combustion engines, and 

 should it be found practicable for this pur- 

 pose, undoubtedly it will some day rank with 

 gasoline as a marketable commodity. 



Good kerosene will not give off inflammable 

 gases at a lower temperature than 110 F. It 

 is generally a colorless liquid, though sometimes 

 it has a red tinge. See article PETROLEUM, 

 with which is a map of the petroleum fields 

 of the United States. 



KES'TREL, or WIND 'HOVER, a common 

 bird of prey belonging to the falcon family, 

 found throughout Europe and in Asia and 

 Northern Africa. It feeds principally on in- 

 sects, frogs, mice and other small animals, and 

 lays its five creamy-white, brown-spotted eggs 

 in the deserted nests of crows, among rocks, 

 in hollow trees or in ruins of buildings. It is 

 sometimes called windhover on account of its 

 habit of hanging in the air for a minute or 

 two in the same spot, beating its wings rap- 

 idly, with head turned windward. The kestrel 

 203 



is one of the smallest of its family, being only 

 about a foot in length ; it resembles the Ameri- 

 can sparrow hawk in size and color. The male 

 is ash-gray, and the female is a rusty reddish- 

 brown. In the days of falconry this bird was 

 used only by the lower classes, a custom which 

 gave rise to the term kestrel as an expression 

 of contempt. See FALCON. 



KETCH 'UP, or CAT 'SUP, a word derived 

 from the Malay kechap, is the name of a 

 sauce introduced from the East and widely 

 employed as a seasoning for gravies, meat 

 and fish. Formerly mushrooms constituted its. 

 chief ingredient, but now tomatoes (green and 

 red), cucumbers, walnuts, apples, etc., are used 

 in making a number of choice varieties. A 

 good recipe is as follows: Put into two quarts 

 of tomato pulp, one onion cut fine, two table- 

 spoonfuls of salt and three tablespoonfuls of 

 brown sugar. Boil until thick, then take from 

 the fire, straining carefully until it is all 

 through but the seeds. Return to the fire and 

 add two tablespoonfuls of mustard, one of 

 allspicej one of black pepper and one of cin- 

 namon, a teaspoonful of ground cloves, half a 

 teaspoonful of cayenne pepper, one grated 

 nutmeg and one pint of good vinegar. Boil 

 together until it will just run from the mouth 

 of a bottle. It should be stirred frequently 

 so as not to burn. Seal tight while hot in 

 large-mouthed bottles. For those who do not 

 like highly-seasoned foods, the quantity of 

 spice in the above recipe may be reduced. 



KEWANEE, ILL., a mining and manufactur- 

 ing city in Henry County, in the northeastern 

 part of the state. The Indian name, meaning 

 prairie chicken, was chosen by the first settlers, 

 who arrived from Wethersfield, Connecticut, in 

 1836. The town, which was chartered as a city 

 in 1897, adopted the commission form of gov- 

 ernment in 1910. 



Kewanee is on the Chicago, Burlington & 

 Quincy Railroad and the Galesburg & Kewanee 

 electric line, 132 miles west and south of Chi- 

 cago and fifty-five miles northwest of Peoria. 

 The area is three square miles. In 1910 there 

 were 9,307 inhabitants; the number had in- 

 creased by 1916 to 14,230 (Federal estimate), 

 and included many foreigners, principally 

 Swedes, Germans and Belgians. 



About 4,000 people are employed in the 

 manufacture of tubes and boilers, agricultural 

 implements, water-supply systems, gasoline 

 engines, steam-heating apparatus, pumps, work- 

 ingmen's gloves and mittens. Coal is mined 

 in the vicinity. 



