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INDIGO
923
INDUCTION COIL

ered at the fly-wheel. The brake-power is the indicated power less the losses by friction and similar causes in the engine.

In'digo, an important vegetable dyestuff, yielding a dye of a deep and lasting blue; the basis also for the best black dye in woolen goods. It has been used in India from an early period, and was imported by the Greeks and Romans. It is obtained from a shrubby plant two or three feet high, with rounded leaves and pale-red flowers, belonging to the family of the bean. At the time of harvest the plant must be three months old and in blossom. The plants are cut down, but soon shoot up again, and yield a second and often a third cutting in one year. Bengal is the chief seat of the indigo trade, and large quantities are imported into our own country and Great Britain. Artificial indigo is now made on a large scale, in Germany, from coal-tar products.

Indigo Bird, a bird about the size of a canary, common in the United States and belonging to the finch family. The male is indigo-blue, "the bluest bird that flies in North America," the female a dull brown color and difficult to distinguish from several other small birds. Although naturally shy, they breed near habitations. The nest is often placed in low bramble or brier bushes. They arrive in May and depart for tropical America in September. During the time of their sojourn, the male keeps up a merry and almost continuous singing. In the warmest weather, even in the heat of midday, he is not daunted, but continues his song.

In'do–Chi'na or Further India, is the name given to the French possessions in the Anamese peninsula, which extends, in Chinese waters, from the Gulf of Tonquin southwestward to the Gulf of Siam. The region embraces Tonquin or Tonking, Anam, Cambodia, Cochin-China and Laos (q. v.).

In'do–Europe'an or Ar'yan is the name usually applied to the races and languages of Europe, with a few exceptions, and to the southwestern part of Asia. There are seven principal divisions—the Germanic or Teutonic, the Slavic, Celtic, Italic, Greek, Persian and Sanskrit or Indian. The Germanic branch includes Swedish, Norse, Dutch, Danish, German and English; Irish is a Celtic language; Latin, French, Spanish and Italian are Italic; and Russian is Slavic. The study and comparison of languages prove that all these languages had the same origin and, therefore, that the races originally were the same. The oldest literature in these languages is in the Sanskrit language, and is found in the sacred books of the Hindus. See Science of Language by Max Müller and Language and the Study of Language by Whitney.

In'dra, a word meaning to see or to discover, is the name of a Hindu god worshiped in the early period of the Hindu religion. He was called "the protector of the pious, the lord of the virtuous and the upholder of heaven, earth and firmament." All the wonderful deeds of Indra, related in legends, were performed for the benefit of the good and wise. He is represented in human form with numerous eyes, and often pictured as riding on an elephant.


Induction Coil, an electrical instrument employed to raise (or lower) the voltage of an induced current above (or below) that of the primary current. The essential parts of such an instrument are a primary coil of wire, a secondary coil of wire, an iron core and a source of alternating current or a source of direct current which is automatically interrupted. In the ordinary trans-former, which is an induction coil used in electric lighting, the primary and and secondary coils are wound side by side on an iron core, as shown in Fig. I. The iron core generally has the form shown Fig. 2. Alternating currents are practically always employed in induction coils of this type. But in the laboratory form the secondary coil is generally wound over the primary, as indicated in Fig. 3. The battery at B magnetizes the iron core. The iron core attracts the vibrator I, and this interrupts the current at K, as will be evident from the diagram. The


FIG. I. A TRANSFORMER


FIG. 2.

(Transformer cores are made of a pile of iron plates having this shape.)


FIG. 3. RUHMKORFF COIL.

primary current, therefore, becomes an intermittent. The number of lines of force cutting the secondary at each interruption is