K A O 



talents. On one fide is a ilrikiiig likeiiefs of the pl.iliv 

 fopher, with the iafcription " Immanuel Kant nat. 1724." 

 On the rcverfe, the artift has ^.ttemptcd tu-tAprcfs the for-. 

 yiccswhichKanthasrcnderedtofpcci.il'. ''v, by 



afligning limits to its emparc, and to ;T, linic, 



the madncfs of attempting to pafs thoU : :,chas. 



rcprcfented by a Mmcrva feated, and hokung n:i iwl in her 

 right hand, which fhe prevents from flying, with the in- 

 fcription, ." AUius volantem arcuit." Mcntlily Magazine, 

 1805. Edinburgh Review, vol. i. Supp. to Kncy. Brit. 



KANTO, in Gtcgntphy, a town of japan, in tiie ifland 

 of Niphoji ; i.^o miles W. of Meaco. 



KAN'rOR, a country of Africa, en the fouth fide of 

 the Gambia, with a capital of the fame name. 



KANTREEF, or K.^NTtiiiv^ See Caktued. 



Iv.-iNTURK, in Gfo^-r.phy, a market and pcll-town of 

 the county of Cork, province of Miniftcr, Ireland, fituated 

 on the river Dalua; 125 miles 5.W. from Dublin, and 4 

 iii;lcs,S.E. from Nev.-market. . 



KAN\VARR.'-\H, a toun of Hindooflan, in the circar 

 ofGurrah; 30 miles S. cf Maluir. - 



KAO, one of the Frier.dly ilhnds, in the South Pacific 

 ncean, called a'.fo Agluio or Oghao, and Kaybay. S. lat. 

 19' 12'. E. lung.. 184'' cR'. 



• KAO-CHAN, a fmall ifiand in the Chincfc fea, and the 

 moil weilerly of thofe called Mi-a-tau ; 18 miles N.W. of 

 Tcng-teheou. 



KAQLIN, tlie name of one of llio two fubftances which 

 are ttie ingredients of china-ware. The other, which is 

 called pcttintje, is eafily vitrifiable, and this kaolin is fcarce at 

 all fo : whence the fire compofes from a mixture of them 

 both a femi-vitrification, which is china-ware. See Force- 



The kaolin, ufed in the compofition of porcelain, requires 

 lefs labour than the peti-mtfe. There are large mines of. it 

 in -the bofoms of certain mountains, the exterior ilrata of 

 which confift of a kind of red earth. Thefe mines are very 

 deep, and the kaolin is found in fmall lumps, that are 

 formed into bricks, after having undergone the fame pro- 

 cefs with the pduntfi ; which fee. Father d'EntrecolIes 

 thinks that the earth called terre de Multe, or St. Paul's 

 e.irth, has much affinity to the kaolin, although it has not 

 thofe fmall fhining particles which arc intcrfperfed in the 

 latter. 



M. Reaumur had an opportunity of examining this fub- 

 ftance, not in its native ftate, but only in form of fmall 

 bricks, made out of the pafte of the powder of the native 

 kaolin and water. He found it of a white colour, and 

 fprinkled all over with fine glittering particles ; but thefe he 

 did not judge to be fragments of a different fubftance mixed 

 aaiong the mafs, as are the fmall flakes of talc in our clays 

 and lands ; but that the whole mafs was compofed of fome 

 ilor.e reduced to powder, and made into a palle with water, 

 and that thefe larger fpangles were only eoarfer particles of 

 the pov/der; tiie examination of which he promil'ed himfelf 

 would difcover whit the ftone was of which they were 

 formed. And this was the more wortjiy of a diligent in- 

 qiiiry, fince the pctiintfe might eafily be fupplied by many 

 cf cur own earths and fands ; nothing being required of 

 that but a fubftance eafily running into a white glafs. But 

 tlie difficulty of vitrifying this other ingredient renders it a 

 thing much more difficult to be fupplied by one cf the fame 

 nature among ourfelve=. The comparifon of thefe, with 

 other mineral fubflances, foon proved that they were of the 

 nature of talc ; or, in other words, that kaolin, was talc 

 powdered, and made up into a pafte with water. And to 

 bo alf.ired whether the whole mafs was talc powdered, or 

 6 



KAO 



any thing elie with a mixture of talc, he feparated therr,' 

 tides of the kaolin by water, and found the fmall or 

 wholly the fame with the larger ; and that the larger, v.1: :. 

 reduced to powder alone, made witli water a paiie who' 

 the fame with tlie kaolin. It is well known, that the fr,,; - 

 ments of talc have a great refemblance to the pearlv p-.rt 1 r 

 fome fhell fiilics : and hence unqucftionably has srilen tiic 

 opinion of porcelain being made of fea ihells ; ignoiai.t ;rr- 

 fons having feen the talc of kaolin, and taken it fcr u ihelly 

 matter. Talc has not yet been fuccefsfully ufed in any of 

 our European manufaAures of porcelain ; but it is eaiy to 

 fee, from many unanfwerable reafons, that fince China 

 porcelain is made of a mixture of vitrifiable and unvitrifiable 

 matter, nothing is fo likely to fucceed with us in the place of 

 the laft of thefe as talc. 



1. We know no fubftance in the foffile world fo difEcuK 

 to reduce to glafs as talc, which, if put into the ftrongell 

 of our fires, in a crucible, is not to be vitrified, nor even- 

 calcined. 2. Vve know no fubftance which kee]^s fo much 

 brightnefs after having paffed the fire as talc, or that is of 

 fo pure. a white ; whence we may alfo learn that it is not to 

 the petuntfe alone, that the china-ware owes its whitcnefs, 

 but that the kaolin. is inftrumental to the giving it that colour. 

 3. Talc is tranfparent, nay, and in fome degree keeps its 

 tranfparence after the adiion of the mod violent fire. If 

 we are to make porcelain of a vitrifiable and unvitrifiable 

 matter mixed together, yet it is neceflary that the unvitri- 

 fiable one ftiould retain its tranfparence, otherwife it would 

 obfcure the mafs ; and talc is therefore the only knoun fub- 

 ftance qualified for this purpo-^e. Perfons who have been at 

 the china, works, fay, that the porcelain is made of equal 

 quantities of petuntfe and kaolin, and it is therefore a jull 

 and exacSl femi-vitrilicaticn. 4. Talc is well known to have 

 a great flexibdity or toughnefs, and as it is found to preferve 

 this even after it has pafiTed the fire ; it is very probable, that 

 it is. owing to this property of the kaolin that the china- 

 ware is fo much lefs brittle than glafs. Mem. Acad. Par, 

 1727. 



It has been before obferved, that we may eafily, in Europe, 

 be provided with different fubftances, which will, in our 

 porcelain manufactures, fupply the place of the petuntfe of 

 China, and talc appears equally quahfied to ferve inftead of 

 the kaolin. For this purpofe we may ufe the common Muf- 

 covy talc, or iiinglafs, ufed by our miniature-painters to 

 cover their piftures inftead of glafs, and, by the curious, 

 to preferve objefts for the microfcope ; or perhaps the Vc-- 

 netian talc of the druggifts would fucceed even better : at 

 leaft the procefs is fo rational, as to be extremely well worth 

 trying. 



But this kaolin is more jsrobably an argillaceous earth, 

 from its forming with water a mafs tenacious enough to be 

 made into the loaves into which it is brought over. M. Eo- 

 mare fays, that by analyfing fome Chinefe kaolin, he found 

 it was a compound eanli, confifting of clay, to which it 

 owed its tenacity ; of calcareous earth, which gave it a 

 mealy appean-nce ; of fparkling particles of mica, and of 

 finall gravel or particles of quartz cryftals. He fays, that 

 he has found a fimilar earth upon a llratr.m of granite, and 

 conje£lured that it may be deco.T.pofed gi-anite.. This 

 conjedure is the more probable, as kaolins are frequently 

 found ill the neighbourhood of granites. See Clay, Hoacuk, 

 and PoltCEl-AiN Earth. 



KAO-TCHEOU, in Geography, a city of China, of 

 the firll rank, in the province o! Quang-tong, fituated in a 

 delightful and fertile country, on a river, about 36 miles 

 from the fea. The tide ebbs and flows as far as this town, 

 und fcrvjs for bringing up to it the Chinefe barks. It has in 



