LILAC DYE

See Calico-printing and Dyeing . LIMESTONE ( Calcaire , Fr.; Kalkstein , Germ.); may be cla ed under the following heads :— 1. Calcareous spar occurs in colourle crystals or crystalline ma es; di olves with effervescence in muriatic acid; is scratched by soft iron, but not by the nail; specific gravity 2·7; loses 46 per cent. by the expulsion of carbonic acid, and calcines into quicklime. 2. Calcsinter , or stalactitic carbonate of lime , called also concretionary limestone, because formed of zones more or le undulated, and nearly parallel. These zones have a fibrous structure, arising from the succe ive deposits of the crystalline limestone from its solvent water. The long conical pieces called stalactites, show fibres converging to the axis. The tubercular consists of irregular lumps often sprinkled over with small crystals, and a ociated so as to exhibit the appearance of cauliflower. The stratiform, commonly called stalagmite, or alabaster limestone, represents zones not concentric, but spread out, waving, and parallel; its texture is sometimes lamellar, and sometimes fibrous. These waving strata are distinguishable from one another by their different densities, and by their degrees of translucency. This stalagmitic ma bears the name of oriental alabaster, when it is reddish-yellow with distinct zones, and is susceptible of a fine polish. Stalactites are formed in the large excavations of calcareous rocks. The water percolating down through them, and dropping from the roofs of the caverns, is usually charged with carbonate of lime held in suspension by an exce of carbonic acid. The exposure to air, the motion, and the consequent diminution of pre ure, cause the precipitation of the carbonate of lime in the solid state. Each drop of water, on falling through the vault, abandons a small film of limestone, which enlarges by degrees, and forms either a cylinder or solid ma . This alabaster differs from marble in its parallel and waving layers, and its faint degree of transparency. This alabaster serves for the decoration of public buildings, and is occasionally introduced into certain pieces of furniture. The fine Egyptian alabaster was anciently brought from the mountains of the Thebaid, between the Nile and the Red Sea, near a town called A lab a str on, whence probably the name. Very fine red alabaster, of great hardne , was found at one time in the quarries of Montmartre, but the stock was soon exhausted.