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or granular substance which consists principally of potassium carbonate, and has a strong alkaline reaction. It is obtained by lixiviating wood ashes, and evaporating the lye, and has been an important source of potassium compounds. It is used in making soap, glass, etc.

4O4, formed by condensation of the anhydride of phthalic acid and phenol. Its solution in alkalies is brilliant red, but is decolorized by acids. This reaction, being very delicate, is used as an indicator.

oducts of the phenols with phthalic acid, and well represented by phenol phthaleïn. Their alkaline solutions are fluorescent. Phenol phthalein, a white or yellowish white crystalline substance made from phthalic acid and phenol. Its solution in alkalies is brilliant red, but is decolorized by acids, and as this reactio…

ular cryptocrystalline mineral of a dull grayish or greenish white color. It is a hydrous alkaline silicate, and is derived from the alteration of other minerals, as iolite.

xide of potassium hydrate, a hard white brittle substance, KOH, having strong caustic and alkaline properties; -- hence called also caustic potash.

An Alkali element, occurring abundantly but always combined, as in the chloride, sulphate, carbonate, or silicate, in the minerals sylvite, kainite, orthoclase, muscovite, etc. Atomic weight 39.0. Symbol K (Kalium).

genous substance found in the spermatic fluid of salmon. It is soluble in water, which an alkaline reaction, and unites with acids and metallic bases.

A body now known as alkali albumin, but originally considered to be the basis of all albuminous substances, whence its name. Protein crystal. (Bot.) See Crystalloid, n., 2.

The dung of dogs, used as an alkaline steep in tanning. Simmonds.

(Quillaja Saponaria), native of Chili. The bark is finely laminated, and very heavy with alkaline substances, and is used commonly by the Chilians instead of soap. Also called soap bark.

luid. When the blood stagnates in any part, it first coagulates, then resolves, and turns alkaline. Arbuthhnot.

lar shrub (Artemisia tridentata), of the order Compositæ, covering vast tracts of the dry alkaline regions of the American plains; -- called also sagebush, and wild sage.

; -- so called because erroneously supposed to be composed of two salts, one acid and one alkaline. -- Sal diureticus Etym: [NL.] (Old Med. Chem.), potassium acetate. -- Sal enixum Etym: [NL.] (Old Chem.), acid potassium sulphate. -- Sal gemm\'91 Etym: [NL.] (Old Min.), common salt occuring native. -- Sal Jovis Ety…

Aërated salt; a white crystalline substance having an alkaline taste and reaction, consisting of sodium bicarbonate (see under Sodium.) It is lagerly used in cooking, with sour milk (lactic acid) or cream of tartar as a substitute for yeast. It is also an ingridient of most baking powders, and is used in the preparatio…

weak base, is an acid salt in this sense, though theoretically it is a neutral salt. -- Alkaline salt (Chem.), a salt which gives an alkaline reaction, as sodium carbonate. -- Amphid salt (Old Chem.), a salt of the oxy type, formerly regarded as composed of two oxides, an acid and a basic oxide. [Obsolescent] -- Bas…

on into soap; specifically (Chem.), the decomposition of fats and other ethereal salts by alkalies; as, the saponification of ethyl acetate.

A soapy mixture obtained by treating an essential oil with an alkali; hence, any similar compound of an essential oil. [Written also saponule.] [Obs.]

lather, and is used as a cleansing agent. Soap is produced by combining fats or oils with alkalies or alkaline earths, usually by boiling, and consists of salts of sodium, potassium, etc., with the fatty acids (oleic, stearic, palmitic, etc.). See the Note below, and cf. Saponification. By extension, any compound of si…

sidue or side product in the ordinary Leblanc process of soda manufacture; -- called also alkali waste. -- Soda water, originally, a beverage consisting of a weak solution of sodium bicarbonate, with some acid to cause effervescence; now, in common usage, a beverage consisting of water highly charged with carbon dioxi…

A common metallic element of the alkali group, in nature always occuring combined, as in common salt, in albite, etc. It is isolated as a soft, waxy, white, unstable metal, so readily oxidized that it combines violently with water, and to be preserved must be kept under petroleum or some similar liquid. Sodium is used…