Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/483

LIMBUKG-ON-THE-LAHN LIME 477 pensation for that part of Luxemburg which had been ceded by Holland to Belgium. III. The Belgian province, bounded N. E. and E. by the preceding, S. by Liege, W. by Brabant and Antwerp, and N. by North Brabant ; area, 931 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 200,336. The sur- face is flat, underlaid with fossiliferous lime- stone. The portion bordering on the Maas affords good pasturage, and the south and cen- tral parts contain much arable land, but the other portions are mainly barren heath. Cat- tle and swine are raised ; iron, lead, calamine, and other minerals are mined; and brandy, beet sugar, and straw hats are manufactured. The principal towns are Hasselt, the capital, St. Trond, Tongern, and Maaseyck. IV. A town of Belgium, once the capital of the ter- ritory of Limburg, now in the province and 16 m. E. of the city of Liege ; pop. about 3,000. It was once populous and strongly fortified, but is now almost a ruin, its most important part being Dolhain, a suburb of the old city. It is on the Vesdre river, and is finely situated on an eminence. The church of St. George, damaged by fire in 1833, but since restored, contains a Gothic tabernacle and a monument to a princess of Baden. Cloth is manufactured, and zinc and coal mines are worked in the vicinity. The celebrated Limburg cheese is mostly made in the neighboring town of Herve. LIMBURG-ON-THE-LAHN, a town of Prussia, in the province of Hesse-Nassau, 16 m. N. E. Cathedral of St. George. of Ems; pop. in 1867, 4,487. It is a very old town, celebrated for the picturesque situation of the superb cathedral of St. George, with seven towers, which exhibits the latest Byzan- tine architecture in its mixture with the earliest pointed Gothic. It is one of the finest church- es in Germany, and was built in the 13th cen- tury on the site of one founded in the begin- ning of the 10th. The town contains a Roman Catholic seminary and other schools, and has manufactories of cloth, machines, and pottery, and a large marble quarry. It was of consider- able importance in the middle ages, and pos- sesses a valuable source of the early German history in the so-called " Limburg Chronicle," said to have been commenced in 1336 ; it was continued down to 1612, and edited by Faust of Aschaffenburg (Worms, 1617), and by Yogel (Marburg, 1826 ; new ed., 1828). Limburg was next to Wiesbaden one of the principal towns of the former duchy of Nassau. LIME, oxide of calcium, or quicklime, a white, alkaline, earthy substance, obtained by calcin- ing some of the various carbonates of lime, such as pure limestones, marbles, and marine shells. It is brittle and pulverizable, and has a specific gravity, depending on its porosity, from 2*3 to 3'8. Its symbol is CaO, containing 40 parts of the metal calcium and 16 of oxygen, by weight. It has not been decomposed by heat, and is only fused in the oxyhydrogen blow- pipe and the voltaic arch. When subjected to this heat it gives out a most intense light (Drummond light). When lime is made from pure limestone or from pure dolomite (see DOLOMITE), it is called rich ; when it contains impurities so as to diminish its value as an ingredient of mortar, it is called poor ; when it contains silica and alumina in certain pro- portions which cause it to set quickly in the presence of water, it is called hydraulic lime. (For the preparation of mortar, see CEMENTS, and CONCRETE.) The calcining or burning of lime is performed in kilns, of which there is a great variety, classified into periodic and continuous kilns. Periodic kilns are those in which the limestone and fuel are mingled (most of the fuel being placed be- neath), and after the operation is completed removed, which requires of course an inter- mission to clear out the kiln before repeating the process. These kilns are usually bowl- shaped, and are erected upon a slope of ground which admits of easy access to the top of the kiln. The sides are walled up with sandstone or granite, and an opening is left at one side of the bottom. In charging the kiln a quan- tity of wood, sometimes mingled with anthra- cite coal, is placed in the bottom, then a quan- tity of limestone broken into fragments is thrown in ; then a layer of wood, and over this again a quantity of broken limestone, the alternation being repeated until the kiln is filled. It is then covered with turf or sod, and a flame kindled below. The continuous kiln is constructed in such a manner that the lime may be drawn off at one side without ex- tinguishing the fire. These are to be preferred when fuel is expensive, because great loss of heat is involved in letting the fires go out.