7 August 2015

calx

[kalks]

noun, plural calxes, calces [kal-seez]
1. the oxide or ashy substance that remains after metals, minerals, etc., have been thoroughly roasted or burned.
2. lime1(def 1).

Origin of calx
Middle English, Old French, Latin late Middle English
1350-1400; late Middle English < Latin: lime; replacing Middle English cals < Old French < Latin

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for calx

Historical Examples

This calx further calcined by a moderate fire, the flame being reverberated on it, soon grows white.
Elements of the Theory and Practice of Chymistry, 5th ed.
Pierre Joseph Macquer

Heads of Lectures on a Course of Experimental Philosophy: Particularly Including Chemistry
Joseph Priestley

In this case no red sublimate arose as customarily takes place with that calx which is prepared by the acid of nitre.
Discovery of Oxygen, Part 2
Carl Wilhelm Scheele

Today’s quote

Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

– Francis of Assisi

On this day

7 August 1876 – birth of Mata Hari, (born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle), Dutch dancer, courtesan and spy. She was charged with espionage and executed by firing squad in France, after being accused of spying for Germany during World War I. (Died 1917).

7 August 1964 – birth of John Birmingham, Australian author.

7 August 1987 – US long distance swimmer, Lynne Cox, swims the freezing Bering Strait from Alaska to the Soviet Union in an effort to warm the relationship between the USA and the USSR. Unlike the reception that Matthius Rust received in May 1987 for illegally entering the Soviet Union, Lynne Cox was welcomed by the Eskimos of the Diomede Islands and Soviet soldiers stationed there. Her effort was praised by the both US President Ronald Reagan and USSR General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev.