Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1879-07-24


| The Philadelphia Trade Journal pre-
I faces list Of misnomers sppIied 70 ar
ticles well knowa in trade By saying /:
Why should trade not have . Johnson
or Webster 10 classify and correct the
mass Of Inconsistencies that 20 20 make
up its nomenclature We not only tax
our brains % invent fantastic names
for every new fabric, vsgied perhaps
only BY thread OF shade from what
our grandparents wore century ago.
bot there are In use positive nisnomers
/ for many sfspie sFfisIee 81 meFf handise.
The following imperfect list, cuIled
from sources ready at hand, wall give q
faint idea Of them:
Acid (sourl, applied in chemistry to
class Of bodies 10 which souFness
is only accidental. ard by no means q
universal characteristic. Thus rock,
crystal, quartz, flint, etc., are chemical
acids, though no particle Of aeidiiy be-
longs 10 them.
Black lead does not contain single
particle Of lead, being composed of car
bon and iron.
Brazilian grass does not come from Bra
| zIl, or even grow there; nor is IL grass
at all. il consists OF strips off palm
leaf (ehamor0ps argenfea) and 10 inn
ported chiefly from Cuba.
Burgundy pitch is not pitch, nor is it
manufactured IN or exported from Bur-
guEdy. The best - a resinous substance
prepared from common franklin cense
and brought from Hamburg; but by far
the greater quantity is mixture Of re-
sin and palm oil.
China, as q name for porcelain, gives
rise 10 the contradictory expressions,
British china, Dutch china, Chelsea
china, etc., like wooden milestones, iron
mIlestones, brass shoe-hoFns, iron pens,
steel pens.
Cutie bone is not bone al oil, but q
structure OF pure. chalk, once embodied
loosely in The substance of certain ex-
tinct species of cutie fish. Its en-
closed in q membraneous sac, within
The body Of the fish, and drops out when
the sac is opened, bss it has no connec-
lion whatever with the sack or the cut
tie fish.
Gaivanized iron Is not galvanized. II
Is simply iron coated with zinc; and this
is done by dipping il in zinc bath con-
tanning muriaiic acid.
German silver is not silver at all, nor
was the metallic alloy called by that
name invented BY a German, but has
been in use in China time oua OF mind.
Honey soap contains no honey, nor is
honey any way employed m It's manu-
facture. II is a mixture of palm oil soap
and olive OIL soap, each one part. with
three parts Of card soap. or yellow soap,
scented.
Japan lacquer contains no lac ct all,
but Is made from q kind Of nut tree
called anacardiace!
Kid gloves are not made from kid
skins, but OF lamb or sheep SKINS. At
present many oi them ale made Of rat
skins.
Meerschaum is not petrifed "sea-
foam," IS its name implies. but is
composition Of silica, magnesia and wa
ter.
Mosaic gold has no connection with
Moses sorthe netal gold. Itis an alloy Of
copper and zinc, used IN the ancient
y
musivum or tesselated work.
/ Mother Of pearl is the inner layer Of
several sorts OF shells. II is not The
mother of pearl, as its name indicates,
but in seme cases the matrix Of the
pearl.
Pen means a feather (Latin peanG. a
wing). A steel pen is not very choice
expression.
Prusslan blue does no: come from
Prussia, but is the precipltate OF The salt
Of protoxide Of iron with prusslate Of
potassa.
Salad oil 10 not oil for salad, but oil
for cleaning sallades, 1. g. helmets.
Salt is not salt at all, and has long
been excluded from the class Of bodies
denominated "salts."
Sealing wax is not wax al eli, nor
does ii contain single particle of wax.
II is made-of shellse, Venice turpentine
and cinnabar. Cinnabar gives il deep.
red color. and the turpentine renders
Tire shellac soft and less brittle.
Sperm oil properly means s'seed oil.
(Laiin, sperma. seed) from the notion
that Il was spermdeefi (the sperm or
melt Of whalel. The sperm whale is
the whale whieh gives the "seed OIL"
which is taken chiefly. but not wholly.
from the head.
Whalebone is not bone at al, nor does
il possess any Of the properties of bone.
II Is substance attached TO the upper
Jaw of the whale, and serves 20 strain
the water which the creature takes up
in large mouihfuls.