CAL 



CAL 



CALENTURE, in medicine, a feverish 

 disorder incident to sailors in hot climates; 

 the principal symptom of which is, their 

 imagining the sea to be green fields: 

 hence, attempting to walk abroad in these 

 imaginary places of delight, they are fre- 

 quently lost. 



CALIBER, or CALIPER, properly de- 

 notes the diameter of any body; thus we 

 say, two columns of the same caliber, the 

 caliber of the bore of a gun, the caliber 

 of a bullet, &c. 



CALIBER, compasses, the name of an 

 instrument, made either of wood, iron, 

 steel, or brass : that used for measuring 

 bullets consists of two branches bending 

 inwards, with a tongue fixed to one of 

 them, and the other graduated in such 

 a manner, that if the bullet be compress- 

 ed by the ends of the two branches, and 

 the tongue be applied to the graduated 

 branch, it will shew the weight of the 

 bullet. 



On these rulers are a variety of scales, 

 tables, proportions, &c. which are reckon- 

 ed very useful to gunners. On the best 

 caliber compasses we have the measure 

 of convex and concave diameters in inches. 

 2. The weight of iron shot from given 

 diameters. 3. The weight of iron shot 

 from given gun bores. 4. The degrees 

 of a semi-circle. 5. The proportion of 

 troy and avoirdupois weight. 6. The 

 proportion of English and French feet 

 and pounds. 7. Factors used in circu- 

 lar and spherical figures. 8. Tables of 

 the specific gravities and weights of bo- 

 dies. 9. Tables of the quantity of pow- 

 der necessary for proof and service of 

 brass and iron guns. 10. Rules for com- 

 puting the number of shot or shells in a 

 finished pile. 11. Rules concerning the 

 fall of heavy bodies. 12. Rules for raising 

 water and for firing artillery and mortars. 

 13. A line of inches. 14. Logarithmic 

 scales of numbers, sines, versed sines, 

 and tangents. 15. A sectoral line of 

 equal parts, or the line of lines. 16. A 

 sectoral line of planes and superficies. 17. 

 A sectoral line of solids. 



CALIBER also signifies an instrument 

 used by carpenters, joiners, and brick- 

 layers, to see whether their work be well 

 squared. 



CALICO, a species of cloth of cotton 

 thread, manufactured formerly in the 

 East Indies; but now we have in this 

 country established manufactories which 

 equal those in the East. It is said that 

 in this business, and in the printing of 

 calicoes, there are 150,000 persons em- 

 ployed. Cotton, in its raw state, is im- 



ported into this country, but calicoes 

 are prohibited under the severest penal" 

 ties. 



Cn co -printing : the art of cloth print- 

 ing or calico-printing : in other words, of 

 dyeing in certain colours particular spots 

 of the cloth, or figures impressed on it, 

 while the ground shall be of a different 

 colour or entirely white, affords perhaps 

 the most direct and obvious illustration 

 of the application of these principles. 

 The mordant which is principally used 

 in this process is the acetate of argil. It 

 is prepared by dissolving 3lbs. of alum 

 and lib. of acetate of lead in 8lbs. of warm 

 water. An exchange of the principles of 

 these salts takes place : the sulphuric acid 

 of the alum combines with the oxide of 

 lead, and the compound thus formed 

 being insoluble is precipitated, the acetic 

 acid remains united with the argil of the 

 alum in solution. There are added at 

 the same time two ounces of the potash 

 of commerce, and two ounces of chalk ; 

 the principal use of which appears to be, 

 to neutralize the excess of acid that might 

 act on the colouring matter, and alter its 

 shade. 



The superiority of this acetate of argil 

 as a mordant to the cheaper sulphate of 

 argil of alum arises principally from two 

 circumstances, from the affinity between 

 its principles being weaker, in conse- 

 quence of which the argil more easily se- 

 parates from the acid, and unites with 

 the cloth and the colouring matter : and 

 2dly, from the acetic acid disengaged in 

 the process not acting 1 with the same 

 force on the colouring matter as the sul- 

 phuric acid would do. The acetate being 

 also very soluble, and having little ten- 

 dency to crystallize, can be more equally 

 mixed and applied. The discovery of 

 this mordant, so essential in the art of 

 calico-printing, was altogether accidental, 

 or rather empirical. The recipes of the 

 calico-printers were at one time very 

 complicated : different articles were from 

 time- to time omitted or changed, until at 

 length the simple mixture of alum and 

 acetate of lead was found to answer as a 

 mordant, equally with compositions more 

 complicated ; and even after its discovery, 

 its operation for a time was far from be- 

 ing understood by the artist. The mor- 

 dant thus prepared is thickened with 

 gum or starch ; or in this country, within 

 these few years, with the mucilage pre- 

 pared from lichens scalded and boiled 

 with a little potash. It is applied by 

 wooden blocks, or stamps, to the parts 

 of the cloth on which the figures cut in 



