Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/454

COPPER. 392 COPPERHEADS. cipitants with different classes of ores would re- quire entering into details of too technical a character. In all cases, however, the copper is brought into solution as a sulphate or a chlo- ride, and precipitated from solution by means of iron as metallic copper, or, in exceptional cases, by other precipitants which produce compounds of copi)er. The electro-metallurgical method of extraction is mostly used in separating copper from alloys of copper and tlie precious metals. The process is as follows: The ingot of alloy is attached to a conductor from one pole of a dynamo and a sheet of copper is connected to the other pole, and both are immersed in acid solution of sul- phate of copper. A current is then passed through the solution between the two poles, the effect of which is to dissolve from the ingot the copper and deposit it on the copper plate, leaving the other metal, which falls as mud to the bot- tom of the tank. Strictly speaking, this is a refining process as applied to alloys rather than an extracting process, but it has been adapted to the extraction of copper from the ore and matte, although it has not been extensively employed for this purpose. This same process can be used for refining coarse copper, but it is too costly a process for simply purification and is seldom used unless the copper is alloyed with gold, silver, or nickel. The usual method of refining coarse copper is to fuse it in a reverberatory furnace, subjecting it to the oxidizing influence of the air, and then to reduce the cuprous oxide formed by stirring the molten mass with a green wood pole. Consult Peters, Modern Copper Hmelt- iwj (New York, 1899). COPPER, IN SiiiP-BuiLDiNQ. A ship which has her bottom sheathed with sheet copper is said to be coppered, or copper-bottomed. The copper so isecl is in sheets measuring about 48 inches by 14, and weighs 18 to 32 ounces per square foot. The copper is always applied over wood to which it is nailed; at ordinary draught, the line of the copper is usually well above water. It seems to keep the bottom free of serious marine growth, which readily attaches itself to wood and less readily to iron. Copper- ing checks the formation of marine growth in two ways, as a germicide — the carbonate of cop- per formed is a deadly poison to animal and vegetable life — and by " exfoliation, the film _ of copper salt peeling off quite readily, carrying with it the attached growths. When cheapness is more desired than strict efficiency, alloys of copper are used for sheathing. Iron and steel ships are coppered by first putting on a thick- ness or two of wood "planking; this is to avoid galvanic action, which may be serious if the hull and copper are connected. The question of cop- pering men-of-war is one still unsettled. In the United States Nj,vy very few vessels^ have been coppered, and the Board of Construction in the Xavy Department has decided against cop- pering. A wooden ship is copper-fastened when the bolts used in her under-water body are of copper instead of iron. Iron bolts rust rapidly when exposed to the action of.salt Avater. particu- larly when merely damp, or wetted and dried alternately. This' seriously reduces the strength of the ship. Copper bolts" are eaten away much less rapidly. COP'PERAS (ME. coperose, from OF., Fr. coiiperose, from !ML. coporosa, cvperosa, cuprosa, from Lat. cupri rasa, rose of copper). The name given to the commercial ferrous sulphate, and also a]>plied to the native mineral melanterite. COPPER BUTTERFLY. Any of .several small butterflies, so called in reference to their colors. In England collectors apply the name to those of the family Lycoenidie in general. In the United States it is restricted to the closely related forms of the genus Chrysophanus, which, however, is found also in the Old World. COP'PEREIELD, D.wid. See D.vviD Copper- field. COPPERHEAD. A venomous Xorth Ameri- can snake {Aucislrodon conlorlrix) of the rattle- snake family. It may exceed four feet in length, and has a burnished copper-colored liead, hazel- brown (sometimes golden) body, with y-shaped dark blotches on the sides, which usially meet over the back. The belly is marked with round black spots. The belly is tapered, greenish when young, chestnut in age, and has no rattle; nor THE COPPERHEAD. (Top of head, aud face view.) does the snake vibrate it against the grass, "and so produce a warning sound not unlike that of the rattlesnake," as "is often said, more than is the liabit of all snakes when excited. Another unfounded fable is that it waits until you pass and then strikes from the rear. The truth is it is sluggish, moving about mainly at night, and by day seeks to avoid notice and will not bite unless greatly alarmed or )irovoked; most acci- dents result from picking it up or touching it itli the hand in handling brush or stones in the woods, or clearing swamps. Its bite is as deadly as that of any snake of its size', and the absence of rattling makes it especially danger- ous. In the fall it seeks some underground den, where occasionally several have been found en- tangled together in dormancy; these are usually, if not always, pregnant females. When aroused in spring it seeks swamps and wet meadows, where its food (mainly mice) is most abundant, and where the young are brought forth alive in midsummer. This snake is known from !Massa- chusetts to the Rio Grande, especially in moun- tainous districts, and is still common in the rocky hills of the Hudson and Connecticut valleys. It has many names, such as 'pilot,' 'red-eye,' 'red adder,' 'copper-belly.' and. in the. South, 'cotton- month' and 'moccasin' — the last confusing it with its near relative, the tnie or water moc- casin (q.v). Consult Stejneger, "The Poison- ous Snakes of North America." in .4.)i)i. Rept. U. H. S(it. Museum for 1803 (Washington, 1895). See Plate of Rattlesnakes. COPPERHEADS. A name given by their po- litical opponents during the Civil War to those Xorthern men who. believing the conquest of the South impossible — though not necessarily sym- pathizing with the Southern cause — strenuously objected to the vigorous prosecution of the war by the administration. In some parts of the- country the name was uniformly used as synony-