HORNS make a considerable article in the arts and manufactures. Bullocks horns, softened by the fire, serve to make lanthorns, combs, knives, ink-horns, tobacco-boxes, &c.
Dyeing of Horn.—Black is performed by steeping brats in aqua fortis till it be returned green: with this the horn is to be washed once or twice, and then put into a warmed decoction of logwood and water. Green is begun by boiling it, &c. in alum-water; then with verdigris, ammoniac, and white-wine vinegar; keeping it hot therein till sufficiently green. Red is begun by boiling it in alum-water; and finished by decoction in a liquor compounded of quick-lime steeped in rain water, strained, and to every pint an ounce of Brazil-wood added. In this decoction the bone, &c. is to be boiled till sufficiently red.
Dr Lewis informs us that horns receive a deep black stain from solution of silver. It ought to be diluted to such a degree as not sensibly to corrode the subject; and applied two or three times, if necessary, at considerable intervals, the matter being exposed as much as possible to the sun, to hasten the appearance and deepening of the colour.
Dyeing or staining Horn to imitate Tortoise-shell.—The horn to be dyed must be first pressed into proper plates, scales, or other flat form; and the following mixture prepared. Take of quick-lime two parts, and of litharge one part; temper them together to the consistency of a soft paste with soap-ley. Put this paste over all the parts of the horn, except such as are proper to be left transparent, in order to give it a nearer resemblance of the tortoise-shell. The horn must remain in this manner covered with the paste till it be thoroughly dry; when, the paste being brushed off, the horn will be found partly opaque and partly transparent, in the manner of tortoise-shell; and when put over a foil, of the kind of latten called assidue, will be scarcely distinguishable from it. It requires some degree of fancy and judgment to dispose of the paste in such a manner as to form a variety of transparent parts, of different magnitudes and figures, to look like the effect of nature: and it will be an improvement to add semitransparent parts; which may be done by mixing whiting with some of the paste to weaken its operation in particular places; by which spots of a reddish brown will be produced, which if properly interspersed, especially on the edges of the dark parts, will greatly increase both the beauty of the work, and its similitude with the real tortoise-shell.
Horn. HORN is also a sort of musical instrument of the wind kind; chiefly used in hunting; to animate and bring together the dogs and the hunters. The term anciently was, wind a horn, all horns being in those times compassed; but since straight horns are come in fashion, they say blow a horn, and sometimes found a horn.—There are various lessons on a horn; as the reheat, double reheat, royal reheat, running or farewell reheat, &c. See REHEAT.
The French horn is no other than a wreathed or contorted trumpet. It labours under the same defects as the trumpet itself; but these have of late been so palliated, as to require no particular selection of keys for this instrument. In the beginning of the year 1773, a foreigner, named Spandau, layed in a concert at the opera-house a concerto, part whereof was in the key of C, with the minor-third; in the performance of which all the intervals seemed to be as perfect as in any wind-instrument. This improvement was effected by putting his right hand into the bottom or bell of the instrument, and tempering the sounds by the application of his fingers to different parts of the tube.
The Hebrews made use of horns, formed of rams horns, to proclaim the jubilee; whence the name JUBILEE.
Cape-Horn. See Terra del Fuego.
Horn-Beam. See CARPINUS, BOTANY Index.
Horn-Bill. See BUCELOS, ORNITHOLOGY Index.
Horn-Blede, a species of mineral. See MINERALOGY Index.
Human Horns. In Dr Charles Leigh's natural history of Lancashire, Cheshire, and the Peak in Derbyshire, is the print of a woman with two horns on her head. When she was 28 years of age an excrescence grew upon her head like a wen, which continued 30 years, and then grew into two horns. After four years she cast them, and in their place grew two others. After four years she cast these also; and the horns which were on her head in 1668 (the time when the account was written) were then loose. Her picture and one of her horns are in Ashmole's museum. In the university library at Edinburgh is preserved a horn which was cut from the head of Elizabeth Love, in the 50th year of her age. It grew three inches above the ear, and was growing seven years.
Horn Distemper, a disease incident to horned cattle, affecting the internal substance of the horn commonly called the pith, which it insensibly wastes, and leaves the horn hollow. The pith is a spongy bone, the cells of which are filled with an unclous matter. It is furnished with a great number of small blood vessels, is overspread with a thin membrane, and appears to be united by sutures with the bones of the head. According to an account of this distemper, published by Dr Toits in the Memoirs of the American Academy, vol. i. the said spongy bone is sometimes partly, and sometimes entirely wasted. The horn loses its natural heat, and a degree of coldness is felt upon handling it. The distemper, however, is seldom suspected without a particular acquaintance with the other symptoms, which are a dulness in the countenance of the beast, a sluggishness in moving, a failure of appetite, an inclination to lie down, and, when accompanied with an inflammation of brain, a giddiness and frequent tossing of the head. The limbs are sometimes affected with stiffness, as in a
rheumatism; in cows the milk often fails, the udder is hard, and in almost all cases there is a sudden wasting of the flesh. As soon as the distemper is discovered, an opening into the diseased horn should be immediately made; which may be done with a gimlet of a moderate size, in such a part of the horn as is most favourable for the discharge. It is recommended as most prudent to bore at first two or three inches above the head. If it is found hollow, and the gimlet passes through to the opposite side, and no blood discharges from the aperture, it may be best to bore still lower, and as near the head as it shall be judged that the hollowness extends. This opening is affirmed to be a necessary measure, and often gives immediate relief. Care must be taken to keep it clear, as it is apt to be clogged by a thin fluid that gradually oozes out and fills up the passage. Some have practised sawing off the horn; but, according to the best observations, it does not succeed better than boring. From the cases Dr Toits has seen, he is led to conclude that injections are in general unnecessary; that, when the distemper is early discovered, no more is required than a proper opening into the horn, keeping it sufficiently clear for the admission of fresh air, the removal of the compression, and the discharge of floating matter. But when the distemper has communicated its effects to the brain, so as to produce a high degree of inflammation, it is much to be doubted whether any method of cure will succeed.
Horn-Fish, Gar-fish, or Sea-needle. See ESOX, ICHTHYOLOGY Index.
Horn-Work, in fortification, an outwork composed of two demi-bastions joined by a curtain. See FORTIFICATION.