zircarbite

[English zir ( con ), carbonate ), and suff. -ite ( Min.).] Mineralogy : A name given by C. U. Shepard to a doubtful mineral whose chemical composition was undetermined. Stated to have been found with cyrtolite, at the granite quarries of Rock port, Ma achusetts. zir-côn, zir-con-ite, s . [The Cingalese name.] Min.: A mineral occurring only in crystals or crystalline grains. Crystallization, tetragonal. Hardne , 7.5; specific gravity, 4.05-4.75; luster, adamantine; color, very variable, shades of red, yellow, brown, green, .; translucent to transpar ent. Composition: Silica, 330; zirconia, 670-100, hence the formula ZrO2SiO2. Dana adopts the fol. lowing altered varieties as sub-species: Malacone, Cyrtolite, Tachyaphaltite, Erstedite, Auerbachite, and Bragite. (See these words.) IMG:content-1130.png:[blocks in formation] Chem.: Zirconia in combination with bases. zir-con-ite, s. [ZIRCON.] zir-cō-ni-ŭm, subst. [Mod. Lat., from zircon (q. v.).] Chem.: A tetratomic element intermediate be zirl-ite, subst. [After Zirl, Tyrol, where found; suff. -ite ( Min.).] Min.: A name given by Pichler to an opal-like hydrate of alumina, probably identical with gibbsite (q. v.). zither, zithern (as tzit-er, tzit-ern), s. [Ger., from Lat. cithara (q. v.).] [CITTERN.] Music : A development of the instrument known to the Greeks as cithara (q. v.). In the early part of the nineteenth century it became a favorite with the peasantry of the Styrian and Bavarian Alps, and was introduced into England about 1850, chiefly by Herr Curt Schulz. The zither consists of a resonance-box, with a large circular sound-hole near the middle; the strings, thirty-two in number, in some cases increased to forty and even forty-six, being made of steel, bra , catgut, and silk covered with fine silver or copper wire, and tuned by pegs at one end. Five of the strings are stretched over a fretted key-board, and are used to play the mel ody, the fingers of the left hand stopping the strings 00000 Zither. on the frets, the right-hand thumb, armed with a metal ring, striking the strings, which are tuned in fifths, and have a chromatic range from c in the second space of the ba staff to D on the sixth ledger line above the treble. The remainder, called the accompaniment strings, are struck by the first three fingers of the right hand, and, as they are not stopped, produce only the single note to which they are tuned. While playing the performer rests the instrument on a table with the key-board side nearest to him. The viola zither, in which the resonance-box is heart-shaped, is tuned like the violin (q. v.), and is played with a bow. The form of the instrument is like that of the viola, but the body rests on the lap of the seated player, while the head is placed on the edge of a table. zi-zā-ni-ą, subst. [Lat., from Gr. zizanion = the darnel.] Bot.: A genus of Oryzee. A gra with monœcio us flowers, the males being above and the females below on the panicle. Males with small, round, membranous glumes and two pales, the inferior one five nerved and the superior one three-nerved. Females without glumes; pales two, the lower seven-nerved, the upper three-nerved. Known species five. Zizania aquatic a is Canada rice. It has a pyramidal panicle of flowers, and is commonly met with in streams in North America, from Canada to Florida. The seeds, which are bland and farinaceous, are largely eaten by the North American Indians, and also support multitudes of wild fowl. zi-zěl, s. [SOUSLIK.]