ULTRAMARINE. 618 ULTRA VIRES. pigment originally obtained from the mineral lazulitc, or lapis lazuli (q.v. ). The tinest specimens of lazulite come from various locali- ties in Persia, Siberia, and Chile, and when ground form tlic pigment; but, as only a very small proportion of that mineral is available, the pigment is very expensive. In 1828 Guimet, of Toulouse, was successful in producing it on a commercial scale, and almost simultaneously a synthetical method for its preparation was an- nounced by Gmelin, of Tubingen. For the manu- facture of artificial ultramarine, sodium sul- phate, china clay, and carbon are ground to- gether and heated in crucibles at a red heat for from six to nine hours. The resulting raw ultra- marine, which is of a somewhat dull green color, is then crushed, mixed with powdered sulphur; and placed upon a roasting furnace, where it is heated with excess of air until the sulphur has been entirel.y burned off, when the mass assumes a bright blue color. A so-called direct method, which is said to yield better results, consists in using a mixture of sulphur 110 parts, china clay 100 parts, soda ash 00 parts, charcoal 20 parts, with some infusorial eartli. These ma- terials, after being carefully ground, well mixed, and pressed, are calcined in a mullle-furnace and yield, after heating from 12 to 18 hours, a blue ultramarine, which is then washed, ground, and dried. The pigment finds extensive use in the arts as a coloring material, owing to its bril- liancy as a body color and high coloring power, especialh' in calico printing, in the manufacture of blue printing ink, for the printing of w^ill paper, in the making of blue writing paper, as a paint, and in the manufacture of blue mottled soap. It is also used as a whitening agent, cor- recting the yellow tinge in writing and printing jjapers, in cotton and linen goods, sugar, etc. Cobalt ullraniarivc, or 'Thonard's blue,' is a pigment prepared by mixing freshly precipitated alumina with cobalt arsenate or phosphate, dry- ing the mixture, and then slowly heating it to redness. Yellow ultramarine is a pigment con- sisting of barium ehromate. ULTRAMONTANISTS (from Lat. ultra, beyond -f- inontanus, mountainous, relating to a mountain, from mons, mountain; so called in allusion to the geographical position of Italy relative to the countries north of the Alps, and hence applied to the Italian party in the Roman Catholic Church). The name applied to those who recognize the Papal claim of supremacy over all national churches and sovereigns. Since 1870 it has been used al.so as a designation of all who accept the decrees of the Vatican Council, and in a broader sense it has been applied to the most conservative element in the Roman Catholic Church. In a purely political sense it has come to be used to designate the extreme Catholic party in almost every nation of North- ern Europe. The Ultramontanists as a Church party first appeared in the Papacy of Gregory VII.' (q.v.), who advanced the theory that the Pope had the power to depose and absolve tem- poral rulers. The enforcement of this theory would have had the effect of entirely superseding the freedom of action of the various churches, and its assertion aroused the opposition of powerful parties in the churches of Germany and France. After the Council of Constance (1414-18) (q.v.) the struggle between the Ultra- montanists and the champions of the liberties of the various churches became the principal point of dispute within the ecclesiastical body. The opposition in the Cxalliean Church was par- ticularly active, and has so continued to the present da.v- After the reconstruction of Europe, following the Napoleonic wars, the actual in- fluence of the Ultramontanists was considerably decreased, although their principles were still tenaciously maintained and reasserted at every opportunity. In 1869-70. in connection with the meeting of the Vatican Council and the discus- sion of the doctrine of Papal infallibility, the political aspects of Ultramontanism assumed new importance. In Germanv, Austria, and France the Catholic and Belgian parties in Parliament are designated by the name of Ultramontanes. ULTRA VIRES, ul'tra vl'rez ^Lat., be.ond one's powers). A legal term emp^ved to indi- cate the acts of. or contracts entered into by, corporate bodies beyond the scope of the powers given to them expressly or b.y implication by their charters or the general law under which the}' were created. Ultra- Vires Contracts. Ultra-vires contracts of corporations should be distinguished from those which are illegal either by statute or some rule of the common law. Strictly an ultra-rnres contract of a corporation is without legal valid- ity to bind the corporation because the act is without or beyond the legal powers of the cor- poration, and therefore has no legal existence. Illegal contracts^ on the other hand, are without such validity because of the positive prohibition of such contracts by the statute or common law on grounds of public policy. This distinction is important because of the difference in the conse- quences which flow respectively from ultra-vires contracts and illegal contracts of corporations. (For a fuller discussion of this subject, see Quasi Contracts.) It is held b,v the English courts, by the Federal courts of the United States, and by the courts of some of the States that neither party to an iiltra-rires contract can acqiiire any true contract rights under it. In each of these courts, except the English courts, it is also held that in case either party has given his perform- ance under such a contract, he may recover the property or thing so given in an appropriate action, or the value of the performance so given, on theory of quasi contract. The distinction between rights on the contract and in quasi con- tract in case of ultra-cires contracts is often of the greatest importance. The second view with reference to ultra- vires contracts, and the one which is held in most of the States, is that so long as such contracts remain executor^' neither party to the contract acquires any rights un- der it. it being a complete answer to an ac- tion brought by either party either for damages or specific performance that the contract is in- valid because ultra vires. If. however, either party has performed the contract on his part, the other is held to be estopped to deny its validit,v, and the plaintift' may recover as though the contract were originally valid. The applica- tion of the doctrine of estoppel to such cases is anomalous and in many cases practically does away with the doctrine of ultra vires. In the
