ARNOTT, Neil, M.D., F.R.S., a distinguished physician and physicist, was born at Arbroath, 15th May 1788. His parents, who were Roman Catholics, removed to Blairs, near Aberdeen, when Arnott was eight years old, and three years afterwards took up their abode in Aberdeen, which enabled him to attend the grammar school there. In 1801 he entered Marischal college, where he took special interest in the natural philosophy subjects, taught at that time by Professor Copland, a skilful experimenter. There his natural bent to physical science was greatly strengthened. He studied medicine first at Aberdeen, and subsequently under Sir Everard Home, through whom he obtained, while yet in his nineteenth year, the appointment of full surgeon to an East Indiaman. After making two voyages to China he settled in 1811 to practise in London, and speedily acquired high reputation in his profession. Within a few years he was made physician to the French and Spanish embassies. In 1836 he was appointed a member of the Senate of the new university of London, and became a fellow of the Royal and Geological Societies. In 1837 he was made a physician extraordinary to the Queen. From his earliest youth Arnott had an intense love of natural philosophy, constantly using illustrations and applications of its principles. To this liking was added an inventiveness which served him in good stead in his profession, and to which we owe the “Arnott water-bed,” the “Arnott ventilator,” the “Arnott stove,” &c., all of which, with characteristic philanthropy, he refrained from patenting. He was the author of several works bearing on physical science or its applications. The most important of these is his Elements of Physics, published in 1827, the most successful attempt that had ever been made to ...

ARNOTTO, or Annatto, is a dyeing material produced from the seeds of Bixa Orellana (Nat. Ord. Flacovrtiaceaι), a small tree which grows in Central and South America. The seeds are surrounded with a thin coating of a waxy pulp, which is separated from them by washing in water, passing the liquid through a sieve, and allowing the suspended pulp to deposit. The water is then drained away and the paste dried, till it is a thick, stiff, unctuous mass. In this state it has a dark orange-red colour, and is known as “roll” or “flag” arnotto, according to the form in which it is put up, but when further dried it is called “cake” arnotto. Arnotto is much used by South American Indians for painting their bodies; among civilised communities its principal use is for colouring butter, cheese, and varnishes. It yields a fugitive bright orange colour, and is to some extent used alone, or in conjunction with other dyes, in the dyeing of silks and in calico printing.