EIDER-DOWN

is a kind of precious down, so called because it is obtained from the Eider -duck. These birds build their nests among precipitous rocks, and the female lines them with fine feathers plucked from her breast, among which she lays her five eggs. The natives of the districts frequented by the eider-ducks let themselves down by cords among the dangerous cliffs, to collect the down from the nests. It is used to fill coverlets, pillows, cushions, . ELAINE is the name given by Chevreul to the thin oil, which may be expelled from tallow, and other fats, solid or fluid, by pre ure either in their natural state, or after being saponified, so as to harden the stearine . It may be extracted also by digesting the fat in 7 or 8 times its weight of boiling alcohol, spec. grav. 0·798, till it di olves the whole. Upon cooling the solution, the stearine falls to the bottom, while the elaine collects in a layer like olive oil, upon the surface of the supernatant solution, reduced by evaporation to one eighth of its bulk. If this elaine be now exposed to a cold temperature, it will deposit its remaining stearine, and become pure. See Fat , Oils , and Stearine .