My Web Site Page 287 Ovations 05

Ovations

Sitemaps

In truth, the firm was a mystery in Wall Street, and its largest creditors were in the greatest darkness concerning it. Some one has truly said that in a great commercial city men are known only by their enterprises and their successes; that their antecedents become lost in the magnitude and rapidity with which events revolve. This is particularly so with us. The firm of Topman & Gusher had fixed itself in Pearl Street, and gone quietly into business without friends, acquaintances, or endorsers; and in a single year had secured both credit and respectability. And it had done this on what is too frequently mistaken for energy and enterprise--show and pretension.

~Hot air~ is the oxidising agent in roasting operations. The sulphur and arsenic of such minerals as mispickel and pyrites are oxidised by the hot air and pass off as sulphur dioxide and "white arsenic." The metals generally remain in the form of oxide, mixed with more or less sulphate and arsenate. The residue may remain as a powdery substance (a calx), in which case the process of roasting is termed calcination; or it may be a pasty mass or liquid. In the calcination of somewhat fusible minerals, the roasting should be done at a low temperature to avoid clotting; arsenic and sulphur being with difficulty burnt off from the clotted mineral. A low temperature, however, favours the formation of sulphates; and these (if not removed) would reappear in a subsequent reduction as sulphides. These sulphates may be decomposed by a higher temperature towards the end of the operation; their removal is rendered more certain by rubbing up the calx with some culm and re-roasting, or by strongly heating the calx after the addition of solid ammonic carbonate. In roasting operations, as large a surface of the substance as possible should be exposed to the air. If done in a crucible, the crucible should be of the Cornish type, short and open, not long and narrow. For calcinations, _roasting dishes_ are useful: these are broad and shallow, not unlike saucers, but unglazed. In those cases in which the products of the roasting are liquid at the temperature used, a _scorifier_ (fig. 38) is suitable if it is desired to keep the liquid; but if the liquid is best drained off as quickly as it is formed, a _cupel_ (fig. 5) should be used.

After thus successfully accomplishing the great object of their expedition, it was to have been hoped that they would leave the island and return to their Danish homes. But they evinced no disposition to do this. On the contrary, they commenced a course of ravage and conquest in all parts of England, which continued for several years. The parts of the country which attempted to oppose them they destroyed by fire and sword. They seized cities, garrisoned and occupied them, and settled in them as if to make them their permanent homes. One kingdom after another was subdued. The kingdom of Wessex seemed alone to remain, and that was the subject of contest. Ethelred was the king. The Danes advanced into his dominions to attack him. In the battle that ensued, Ethelred was killed. The successor to his throne was his brother Alfred, the subject of this history, who thus found himself suddenly and unexpectedly called upon to assume the responsibilities and powers of supreme command, in as dark and trying a crisis of national calamity and danger as can well be conceived. The manner in which Alfred acted in the emergency, rescuing his country from her perils, and laying the foundations, as he did, of all the greatness and glory which has since accrued to her, has caused his memory to be held in the highest estimation among all nations, and has immortalized his name.

This page is Copyright © Cake Placebo. All Rights Reserved. My Web Site Page 287 is a production of Cake Placebo and may not be reproduced electronically or graphically for commercial uses. Personal reproductions and browser or search engine caching are acceptable.

Ovations provided by My Web Site Page 287 are included only for information. The entertainment value of My Web Site Page 287's ovations may vary on the basis of your personal needs. Cake Placebo and My Web Site Page 287 take no responsibility for the content provided by other Web sites. Links are provided "as is" without liability or warranty.