CAL 



CAL 



and without knots or j oints: 3, The flow- 

 ers have no petals. 



CAL A MIX A HIS, or lapis calammaris, 

 9. mineral containing zinc, united with 

 iron and other substances It is heavy, 

 hard, and brittle, or of a consistence be- 

 tween stone and earth. The colour is 

 whitish or grey, sometimes inclining to 

 yellow, and sometimes to black. It is 

 found in great plenty in many parts of 

 Europe ; but the best is obtained in this 

 couniry. It seldom lies deep, and in 

 many parts it is found mixed with lead 

 ores. Calamine is the only true ore from 

 which zinc is obtained by calcination. 

 See Zisc. 



CALAMUS, in botany, a genus of the 

 Hexandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Natural order Tripetaloideze. Palmac, Jus- 

 sieu. Essential character: calyx six- 

 leaved ; corolla none ; berry dried, one- 

 seeded, imbricate backwards. According 

 to Martyn, there is but one species, 

 though Loareiro has discriminated six ; 

 viz. C. rotang, rattan, has u perennial 

 stem, quite simple or unbranched, with- 

 out any tendrils : leaves alternate, sub- 

 lanceolate, quite entire, scarcely a foot 

 long: flowers commonly hermaphrodite, 

 almost terminating on one spadix or more. 

 The rattan seems to form the connecting 

 link between the palms and the gramine- 

 ous plants, having the flower of the form- 

 er, but the habit of the latter. The palm 

 called raphia has the embryo placed in 

 the same manner, namely, on a lateral 

 cavity of the horny albumen; in the fruit 

 and spadix it agrees nearly with this in 

 form, only they are much larger : the 

 flowers differ but little, except that they 

 are monoecous, as the flowers of the rat- 

 tan probably are. 



CALCAR, corollac, in botany, the spur 

 of the corolla. The nectarium, so called, 

 which terminates the corolla behind, like 

 a cock's spur, in valerian, orchis, violet, 

 balsam, larkspur, &c. 



CALCEOLARIA, in botany, a genus of 

 the Diandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Natural order of Corydales. Scrophula- 

 rise, Jussieu. Essential character: corolla 

 ringent, inflated; capsule two-celled, two- 

 valved ; calyx four-parted, equal. There 

 are seven species, of which C. pinnata, 

 pinnated slipper- wort, has an annual root ; 

 stem erect, two feet high, round, brittle, 

 with a thick down, and from sixteen to 

 twenty joints; flowers from each top and 

 stalk double; corollas yellow; upper-lip 

 subglobular, inflated, emarginate in front, 

 with a cleft for the prominent anthers; 

 capsule thin, from a swelling base, dimin- 



ishing to a pyramidal top ; seeds very 

 small, almost cylindric, sreaked : native of 

 Peru, in moist places. 



CALCINATION, in chemistry. A sub- 

 stance is said u> be calcined, when it has 

 been exposed to heat of a sufficient inten- 

 sity to drive off every thing volatile, but 

 short of that by which it might be fused : 

 a calyx, therefore, was formerly under- 

 stood to be a pulverulent substance, no 

 longer combustible, or capable of fur- 

 ther alteration by fire than that of vitrifi- 

 cation. As most metals were found to 

 be reducible to such a form by the con- 

 tinuance of the melting heat, the term 

 " calces of metals" wasj long appropri- 

 ated to them, and is stiJI partially retained, 

 though it has been chiefly supplanted 

 by the more characteristic appellation of 

 oxide, which expresses the peculiar 

 change that occurs in metallic bodies by 

 the absorption of oxygen Calcination 

 expresses the mode, by which, in metals, 

 this change is produced, and oxydation 

 the circumstance of change. It is, how- 

 ever, improper to consider the term cal- 

 cination as synonymous with oxydation, 

 even in speaking of metals, since the 

 former term implies the agency of fire ; 

 whereas oxydation may be produced as 

 well by the action of acids, as by heat and 

 air. 



CALCITRAPA, in botany, a genus of 

 the Tetrandria Monogynia class and or- 

 der; calyx four-cleft; corolla four-cleft ; 

 berry four-seeded. There are twelve spe- 

 cies, found in both Indies, Cochin-China, 

 and Japan. 



CALCULATION, the act of comput- 

 ing several sums, by adding, substracting, 

 multiplying, or dividing. See ARITH- 

 METIC. 



An error in calculation is never protect- 

 ed or secured by any sentence, decree, 

 &c. for in stating accounts it is always un- 

 derstood that errors of calculation are 

 excepted. 



CALCULATION is more particularly used 

 to signify the computations in astronomy 

 and geometry, for making tables of loga- 

 rithms, ephemerides, finding the time of 

 eclipses, &c. 



CALCUCATIOF, in music : many emi- 

 nent mathematicians suppose that a good 

 ear, and strong hand on instruments, 

 where the tone depends on the performer, 

 are the musician's best guide, without 

 having recourse to calculation. On this 

 subject the celebrated D'Alembert says, 

 "It is an achievement of no small im- 

 portance, to have deduced the principal 

 facts to a system from one experiment, 



