Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/570

 564 CALAMBUCO CALAMINE Eaphaol, Guido Reni, and of Rubcns's portrait of himself. His remains wore transferred to Noliant, tho country residence of Madame George Sand. His wife, JOSEPHINE, excels as a painter of religious subjects. I'ALAMBUCO, a valuable timber tree, found only in the northern provinces of the island of Luzon. For ship building it is esteemed superior to live oak or teak. It resembles the latter when dressed, has the same dark unctuous appear- ance, and like it is never attacked by the de- structive white ant of tho Malay archipelago. Vessels built of it are said to be seaworthy for 50 years. A great variety of agricultural, me- chanical, and warlike instruments are made from this wood. This name is also given to a tree which produces the odoriferous agila or eagle wood and aloes wood of commerce. It is found chiefly in Siam, the Malay peninsula, and in the northern portion of Sumatra ; but it is also found in the Indian peninsula, where it is called agharu, and hence it is sometimes named by the Malays ~kayugliaru. The per- fumed wood is supposed to be a diseased tumor in the tree, arising from the wound of a timber worm. The thickened, resinous sap formed in these tumors is used as an incense in all eastern countries. There is much discrepancy in the statements relative to the tree yielding the genuine agila, and this perfume and aloes wood have been supposed to be the products of different trees; but it is the heart of the TcayuTcalamlialc, or calambuco tree, which pro- duces the aloes wood, and in the bark the agila is formed. The agila does not yield its aroma until burned ; but the calambuco or aloes dif- fuses its fragrance when rubbed in the hands. C.ILAMK, Alexandra, a Swiss painter, born at Vevay, May 28, 1810, died at Mentone, March 19, 1864. He early lost his father, but through the assistance of the banker Diodati he was enabled to study at Geneva under Di- day, whom he eventually succeeded as princi- pal of the school of painting in that city. He explored picturesque sites in Switzerland and France, and produced between 1838 and 1844 many pictures of Alpine scenery, among the best of which are the passes of Monte Rosa and Mont Oervin, the "Storm in a Forest," and the "Lake of the Four Cantons." In 1845 he went to Italy ; and his best pictures of Italian scenery represent the ruins of Paes- tum. He also produced many fine engravings. He spent the latter part of his life in Geneva. CALAMIANES, a group of islands of the Philip- pine archipelago, intersected by lat. 12 N., Ion. 120 E. It consists of the large islands Busva- gon, Calamian, Linacapan, Coron, Dumaran, Yloe, Lutaya, Carandaga, and about 240 unim- portant islands and islets. This group and the northern portion of the island of Palawan, called Paragua, constitute the province of Cala- mianes, the poorest and least populous of the Spanish Philippines. Area, about 2,300 sq. m. ; pop. about 20,000. The inhabitants of the group and of the Spanish portion of Palawan are of the Bisaya race, and have been convert- ed to Christianity by the Spanish missionaries. There is a Spanish settlement and residence of an alcalde on Calamian. The colonists are en- gaged chiefly in pearl fisheries. CALA3IINE, a name given to two different ores of zinc, the silicate and the carbonate. The most common ore worked for zinc is the anhydrous carbonate. It occurs crystallized in rhomboidal forms, of vitreous lustre, and a little pearly, of white, yellowish gray, or brown color, semi-transparent or opaque, in forms bo- tryoidal, stalactitic, and reniform, and in crys- talline incrustations ; hardness 5, specific grav- ity 4 to 4'45. It contains oxide of zinc 64-81, and carbonic acid 35'19. It dissolves with ef- fervescence in acids, and is also soluble in am- monia moderately heated. It occurs in thick beds and irregular masses, among calcareous rocks of the secondary and metamorphic for- mations. It is rarely found unmixed with ox- ide of iron and the silicate of zinc. It is exten- sively worked for the production of zinc paint at Vieille Montagne, between Liege and Aix- la-Chapelle. In this country it is found asso- ciated with hematite iron ores, and also with the sulphuret of lead or galena. It is worked near Bethlehem, Lehigh co., Penn., and in the vicinity of Lancaster. In Dana's " Mineralogy " it is called smithsonite. The hydrous silicate of zinc, also called electric calamine, often ac- companies the anhydrous carbonate, and it is usually the two minerals mixed which are desig- nated by the name of calamine. It occurs in forms similar to those of the carbonate, and in crystals derived from a rhomboidal prism. Its hardness is 4'5, or when crystallized, 5; its specific gravity from 3-16 to 3'49. It dissolves by the aid of heat in sulphuric or muriatic acid, and gelatinizes on cooling. It becomes strongly electric by heat, to which property it owes its name. Its composition is, silica 25'1, oxide of zinc 67'4, and water 7'5. In pharma- cy, the term calamine is applied only to the native carbonate, which has always been em- ployed in an impure state. It is often sold, too, of a spurious quality, consisting principally of sulphate of baryta and carbonate of lime, with mere traces of zinc. It is said that the miners in England recognize two kinds of cala- mine : one, which they call brass calamine, is sold to the makers of brass; and the other, baryta calamine, which is the amorphous sul- phate of baryta, is sold to the druggists for native carbonate of zinc. In medical prepa- rations calamine is heated to redness, and reduced to an impalpable powder. By this calcination it is converted into oxide of zinc, mixed with the impurities of the ore. In this state it is called prepared calamine. It is used as an external application only, sometimes in the form of cerate, but more commonly it is dusted upon ulcerated and excoriated parts, upon which it acts as a mild astringent and ex- siccant. In consequence of the impurities of this article, carbonate of zinc obtained by pre-