Chair de Poule (chicken’s flesh). An ornamentation of the surface of pottery with little hemispheric points; a Chinese method.
Chaisel, Old Fr. (1) An upper garment. (2) A kind of fine linen, of which smocks were often made.
Chalameau, Fr. Stem or straw-pipe. The lower notes of the clarionet are called the chalameau tone, from the ancient shawm.
Chalcanthum (χάλκ-ανθον, i. e. that which is thrown off by copper). Shoemaker’s black or copperas, used for imparting a dark colour to boot-leather. (See Atramentum.)
Chalcedony. (See Calcedony.)
Chalcidicum (Χαλκιδικὸν, i. e. pertaining to the city of Chalcis). The exact meaning of this term is unknown. According to some, it was a portico; according to others, a kind of long hall or transept.
Chalciœcia (χαλκι-οίκια, brazen house). A Spartan festival in honour of Athena under that designation.
Chalcography (χαλκὸς, copper). Engraving on copper. Chalcography was discovered in Florence, in the 15th century, and early introduced into England. Caxton’s “Golden Legend,” containing copper-plate prints, was published in 1483. The process is as follows:—A perfectly smooth plate of copper, having been highly polished, is heated in an oven, and then white wax rubbed over it until the whole surface is covered with a thin layer. A tracing is laid over the wax, with the black-lead lines downwards, which transfers the design to the wax. Then the tracing-paper is removed, and the engraver goes over the lines lightly with a fine steel point, so as just to penetrate the wax, and scratch a delicate outline upon the copper. The wax is then melted off, and the engraving finished with the graver, or burin, a steel instrument with a peculiar pyramidal point. Should the lines be cut too deeply, a smooth tool, about three inches long, called a burnisher, is used to soften them down, and to burnish out scratches in the copper. The ridges or burrs that rise on each side of the engraved lines are scraped off by a tool about six inches long, called a scraper, made of steel, with three sharp edges. This method has for printing purposes been generally superseded by other processes, principally etching.
Chalcus (χαλκοῦς). A Greek copper coin, somewhat less than a farthing.
