Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/89

"ANN lights In shady places, on a calca- reous soil, also flowers in July and August ; and is described by Wi- therikg, p. 313, and Engl. Bot, T. 40S. It is stated to possess properties similar to the former, though cat- tle refuse to browze upon it, on account of its hard stalks, which often attain die height of four feet. 3. The Dwarf Bnrnet-Saxifrage, or Pimpinella clioica, L. is rather a rare plant in this country it only grows on hilly pastures and calca- reous soils, for instance, on St. Vincent's Rock, near Bristol, and above Uphill, in Somersetshire. It bears flowers in May and June ; is described by Withering, p. 313 ; and delineated in Gerard's Herbal, 10.54. 3. Its properties are not sufficiently ascertained ; but being a dwarfish plant, the two preceding species in every respect deserve the prefer- ence. ANNEALING, by artificers called 7icaling, is a part of the pro- cess of making, or finishing, glass ; and consists in placing bottles and oilier vessels, while hot, in a kind of oven or furnace, where they are suffered gradually to cool. The difference between unan- nealed, and annealed glass, is very remarkable. When a glass vessel that has not undergone this process, is broken, it often flies into a small powder, with a violence apparent- ly disproportionate to the stroke which it received. In general, it is in greater danger of being broken from a very slight blow, than from a more considerable one. Such vessel will often resist the effects of a pistol bullet dropt into it from the height of two or three feet, yet a grain of sand falling into it, will break it into small fragments. This NO. i. — vol. I. ANN to sometimes takes place immediately on dropping the sand into it, but the vessel will frequently remain apparently sound, for several mi- nutes after ; when, without the least touch, it will suddenly fly to pieces. If the glass be very thin* this effect, does not take place j and, on the contrary, it seems to possess all the properties of such as are annealed. Glass is one of those bodies which increase in bulk, on passing from a fluid to a solid state. When it is allowed to crystallize regularly, the particles are so arranged, that it has a fibrous texture; but, when a mass of melted glass is suddenly exposed to a cold temperature, the surface crystallizes, and forms a firm shell round the interior fluid parts, by which they become solid, and are prevented from expanding. By the process of annealing, the glass is preserved for some time in a state approaching to fluidity ; the heat increases the bulk of the crys- tallized part, and renders it so soft, that the internal fibres have an op- portunity of expanding and forming a regular crystallization. A similar process is now used for rendering kettles, and other ves- sels of cast iron, less brittle; which admits of the same explanation a> that above stated. The greater number of metals diminish in bulk when they pass from a fluid to a solid state. Iron, on the contrary, expands. ANNUITY implies a sum of money payable yearly, half-yearly, or quarterly, to continue for a cer- tain number of years, for life, or for ever. An annuity is called an arrear, when it continues unpaid after it becomes due ; and is said to be in reversion, when the purchaser, T upon