LIMELIGHT 



3434 



LIMESTONE 



hair from hides in tanning, for making .certain 

 varieties of glass (which see) and certain fungi- 

 cides, such as lime-sulphur and Bordeaux mix- 

 ture, and for restoring the fertility of soils 

 that have become sour or acid. For this last 

 purpose, however, finely-ground limestone is 

 often better than lime itself. When lime is 

 mixed with sand and the mixture is raised to 

 a high temperature the two fuse and form a 

 liquid glass in which many mineral substances 

 will dissolve; for this reason limestone is em- 

 ployed as a flux in smelting iron ore (see IRON). 



Chemistry cf Lime. Chemically, limestone 

 and air-slaked lime are calcium carbonate; 

 quicklime is calcium oxide; and water-slaked 

 lime is calcium hydroxide. Limewater is a 

 solution of water-slaked lime .in water, and 

 milk of lime is a mixture of limewater with 

 undissolved slaked lime. Limewater is used 

 in medicine and milk of lime in sugar refining, 

 water purification and many other chemical 

 industries. Hydraulic lime has the property of 

 hardening under water, hence the name. See 

 CALCIUM; FERTILIZER. J.F.S. 



LIMELIGHT, or OXYHYDROGEN, ok si hi' 

 dro jen, LIGHT, a very intense white light, 

 produced when solid lime, or the oxides of 

 magnesium, thorium, etc., are heated to a high 

 temperature. Limelight is produced by heat- 

 ing the lime with what is known as an oxy- 

 hydrogen flame; that is, a flame of hydrogen 

 in an atmosphere of oxygen. The burners are 

 so constructed that the gases are mixed as they 

 issue from a tube having an inverted opening; 

 the flame is of a bluish color, and the point 

 strikes the piece of lime, which soon becomes 

 white-hot. Limelight is used in gas mantles, 

 which are made by soaking a cotton web in a 

 calcium (lime) solution. The cotton burns 

 away, leaving the calcium oxide web. It is 

 also used to a limited extent in stereopticons 

 and for producing lighting effects in theaters 

 where electricity cannot be introduced, but for 

 these purposes ordinary illuminating gas takes 

 the place of the hydrogen. 



LIMERICK, lim'erik, fourth in importance 

 among the seaports of Ireland and the leading 

 port on the west coast. It is the capital of 

 Limerick County, and is built on both sides of 

 the Shannon River, about 106 miles south- 

 southwest of Dublin. The town is divided into 

 three parts, the English town, Irish town and 

 Newtown-Pery, the latter dating from 176D, 

 now the finest portion of the city. The indus- 

 tries include the curing of bacon, flax spinning 

 and weaving, and lace making. 



In the ninth century Limerick was an impor- 

 tant Danish settlement and remained so until 

 the Danes were expelled by the Irish two cen- 

 turies later. In 1174 the town fell into English 

 hands. Limerick was the last stronghold of 

 James II in Ireland. It surrendered to Wil- 

 liam III in 1691. By the terms of the treaty 

 of Limerick the greater part of the Irish army 

 was permitted to enlist in the military service 

 of France, and the Roman Catholics were guar- 

 anteed full religious and political liberty. The 

 violation of the civil part of this treaty during 

 the reigns of William III and. Queen Anne, 

 down to the nineteenth century, has given to 

 Limerick the name of the "City of the Vio- 

 lated Treaty." Population in 1911, 38,403. 



LIMERICK, a popular nonsense verse of a 

 special form, supposed to have derived its name 

 from the chorus of an old song of that meter 

 in which the city of Limerick is mentioned. 

 It consists of five lines, the first two and the 

 last rhyming, and the third and fourth. The 

 third and fourth are shorter than the other 

 three, as in this example: 



There was a young man who said, "Why 

 Can't I look in my ear with my eye? 



If I give my mind to it 



I know I can do it ; 

 You never can tell till you try." 



Perhaps the best production thus far in print, 

 embodying in it an unusual play on words, is 

 the following: 



One day the great Brooklyn preacher 

 Said "That hen is a wonderful creature." 



When the fowl heard of that 



She laid an eggr in his hat, 

 And thus did the hen reward Beecher. 



LIMESTONE. A large part of the earth's 

 crust is composed of a coarse, gray rock and 

 the soil that has been formed from it. If we 

 put small pieces of this rock into any strong 

 acid, especially muriatic acid, bubbles will rise. 

 These bubbles are carbonic-acid gas, and the 

 stone from which they come is limestone, which 

 is a rock composed of this gas and lime. There 

 are many varieties of limestone, and while most 

 of it is of a grayish color, all colors from white, 

 as in statuary marble, to black may be found. 

 Pure limestone sometimes forms in crystals, 

 which from their resemblance to a dog's teeth 

 are given the name of dog-tooth spar. Some 

 limestones are composed almost entirely of 

 fossils; when these have been crystallized by 

 heat they form marble (which see). 



Limestone was formed by sediment, settling 

 at the bottom of bodies of still water. It usu- 



