COL 



COL 



probably containing both water and acid. 

 Those earths which contain a large pro- 

 portion of iron have rather an orange co- 

 lour. According to the analysis of M. 

 Sage of Paris, who has the merit of pre- 

 serving to his countrymen the immense 

 gains acquired by the Dutch from con- 

 verting this yellow earth into what is there 

 called "English red/' it contains ^0 per 

 cent, argil, 40 oxide of iron, 10 of water, 

 acidulated by sulphuric acid. The 3d fami- 

 ly, or black; black chalk is of a greyish 

 black colour; fracture imperfectly curved 

 slaty : fragments partly flat, partly long 

 splintery ; adheres slightly to the tongue, 

 feels smooth, assumes a polish from a 

 knife ;. gives a black streak, and marks 

 black : in water does not readily moulder, 

 but if taken out cracks in a short time ; 

 does not effervesce with acids, nor easily 

 dissolve in them; heated to redness, it 

 crackles and becomes reddish grey, and 

 contains somewhat vitriolic . The 4th fami- 

 ly, green earth, is of a greyish green co- 

 lour ; found generally in lumps in the ca- 

 vities of other stones, or externally invest- 

 ing them : fracture, earthy, sometimes 

 uneven,sometimes verging to the conchoi- 

 dal ; sp. gr. 2.637, sometimes feels smooth, 

 does not assume a polish from the knife, 

 nor adhere to the tongue, nor stain the 

 fingers, nor mark while dry, and when wet 

 but lightly in water, it often crumbles 

 after standing about half an hour ; does 

 not effervesce with acids, nor is easily 

 soluble in them; heated to redness, it 

 crackles and becomes of a dark reddish 

 cream colour ; at 147, a specimen was 

 melted into a black compact glass, re- 

 sembling that of basalt ; which shews it 

 to consist of silex, argil, iron, not much 

 oxygenated, and oxyde of nickel, from 

 which the green colour is derived, be- 

 sides water. 



COLOSSUS, a statue of enormous or 

 gigantic size. The most eminent of this 

 kind was the colossus of Rhodes, one of 

 the wonders of the world, a brazen statue 

 of Apollo, so high, that ships passed with 

 full sails betwixt its legs. It was the work- 

 manship of Chares, a disciple of Lysippus, 

 who spent twelve years in making it : it 

 was at length overthrown by an earth- 

 quake, B.C. 224. after having stood about 

 sixty-six years. Its height was a hundred 

 and five feet : there were few people who 

 could encompass its thumb, which is said 

 to have been a fathom in circumference, 

 and its nngers were larger than most sta- 

 tues. It was liollow, and in its cavities 

 were large stones employed by the artifi- 



VOL. HI, 



cer to counterbalance its weight, and ren- 

 der it steady on its pedestal. 



On occasion of the damage, which the 

 city of Rhodes sustained by the above- 

 mentioned earthquake, the inhabitants 

 sent ambassadors to all the princes and 

 states of Greek origin, in order to solicit 

 assistance for repairing it ; and they ob- 

 tained large sums, particularly from the 

 kings of Egypt, Macedon, Syria, Pontus, 

 and Bythinia, which amounted to a sum 

 five times exceeding the damages which 

 they had suffered. But instead of setting 

 up the Colossus again, for which purpose 

 the greatest part of it was given, they 

 pretended that the oracle of Delphos 

 had forbidden it, and converted the mo- 

 ney to other uses. Accordingly the Co- 

 lossus lay neglected on the ground for 

 the space of 894 years, at the expiration 

 of which period, or about the year of 

 our Lord 653, or 672, Moawyas, the 6th 

 caliph or emperor of the Saracens, made 

 himself master of Rhodes, and afterwards 

 sold their statue, reduced to fragments, 

 to a Jewish merchant, who loaded 900 

 camels with the metal, so that, allowing 

 800 pounds weight for each load, the 

 brass of the Colossus, after the diminution 

 which it had sustained by rust, and pro- 

 bably by theft, amounted to 720 thousand 

 pounds weight. The basis that support- 

 ed it was of a triangular figure : its ex- 

 tremities were sustained by sixty pillars 

 of marble. There was a winding stair- 

 case to go up to the top of it ; from 

 whence one might discover Syria, and 

 the ships that went to Egypt, in a great 

 looking-glass, that was hung about the 

 neck of the statue. This enormous sta- 

 tue was not the only one that attracted 

 attention in the city of Rhodes. Pliny 

 reckons 100 other colossuses not so large, 

 which rose majestically in its different 

 quarters. 



COLOUR means that property of bo- 

 dies which affects the sight only ; thus 

 the grass in the fields has a green colour, 

 blood has a red colour, the sky generally 

 appears of a blue colour, and so forth : 

 nor can those colours be distinguished by 

 any of our other senses besides the sight. 

 The variety of colours, as they are pre- 

 sented to us by the substances that sur- 

 round us, is immense, and from them 

 arises the admirable beauty of the works 

 of nature in the animal, in the vegetable, 

 and in the mineral kingdom, or, more 

 properly speaking, in the universe. The 

 science which examines and explains the 

 various properties of the colours of light 

 and of natural bodies, and wUich forms a 



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