KELLY

kelly, michael (1762-1826), british actor, singer and composer, was the son of a dublin wine-merchant and dancing-master. he had a musical education at home and in italy, and for four years from 1783 was engaged to sing at the court theatre at vienna, where he became a friend of mozart. in 1786 he sang in the first performance of the _nozze di figaro_. appearing in london, at drury lane in 1787, he had a great success, and thenceforth was the principal english tenor at that theatre. in 1793 he became acting-manager of the king's theatre, and he was in great request at concerts. he wrote a number of songs (including "the woodpecker"), and the music for many dramatic pieces, now fallen into oblivion. in 1826 he published his entertaining _reminiscences_, in writing which he was helped by theodore hook. he combined his professional work with conducting a music-shop and a wine-shop, but with disastrous financial results. he died at margate on the 9th of october 1826. kelp (in m.e. _culp_ or _culpe_, of unknown origin; the fr. equivalent is _varech_), the ash produced by the incineration of various kinds of sea-weed (_algae_) obtainable in great abundance on the west coasts of ireland and scotland, and the coast of brittany. it is prepared from the deep-sea tangle (_laminaria digitata_), sugar wrack (_l. saccharina_), knobbed wrack (_fucus nodosus_), black wrack (_f. serratus_), and bladder wrack (_f. vesiculosus_). the laminarias yield what is termed "drift-weed kelp," obtainable only when cast up on the coasts by storms or other causes. the species of _fucus_ growing within the tidal range are cut from the rocks at low water, and are therefore known as "cut-weeds." the weeds are first dried in the sun and are then collected into shallow pits and burned till they form a fused mass, which while still hot is sprinkled with water to break it up into convenient pieces. a ton of kelp is obtained from 20 to 22 tons of wet sea-weed. the average composition may vary as follows: potassium sulphate, 10 to 12%; potassium chloride, 20 to 25%; sodium carbonate, 5%; other sodium and magnesium salts, 15 to 20%; and insoluble ash from 40 to 50%. the relative richness in iodine of different samples varies largely, good drift kelp yielding as much as 10 to 15 lb. per ton of 221⁄2 cwts., whilst cut-weed kelp will not give more than 3 to 4 lb. the use of kelp in soap and glass manufacture has been rendered obsolete by the modern process of obtaining carbonate of soda cheaply from common salt (see iodine).