Images Dated 20th April 2005

The Witches Frolic

A page of verses from The Witches Frolic by English cleric and humorous writer Richard Harris Barham (1788-1845), a.k.a. Thomas Ingoldsby, published 1888. The illustration shows the three witches from the story, two ugly, one beautiful. Below is a depiction of the devil playing the bagpipes. Wood engraving by Edward Gascoine after Ernest M. Jessop. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

© 2005 Getty Images

Mexico, Oaxaca, Detail of hand-woven rug using Zapotec Indian design displayed at

Mexico, Oaxaca, Detail of hand-woven rug using Zapotec Indian design displayed at art gallery along the Alameda near the Iglesia de Santo Domingo and the city's historic Zocalo

© Paul Souders / Danita Delimont

Art, Art Gallery, Blue, Central America, Color, Colorful, Courtyard, Culture, Danita Delimont, Design, Detail, Gallery, Handicraft, Handwoven, Heritage, Hispanic, Iglesia De Santo Domingo, Indian, Latin America, Latino, Macro, Mexican, Mexico, Native American, Nobody, Oaxaca, Oaxaca State, Pattern, Paul Souders, Red, Rug, Spanish, Store, Textile, Tourism, Traditional, Travel, Weaving, Woven, Yellow, Zapotec, Zocalo

Water softening pellets

Water softening pellets. Thin section through water pellets that have been used to soften water. Water softening is the process of removing dissolved calcium ions and other mineral ions. This avoids problems with limescale formation in domestic appliances and pipes, and soap scum in water that is used for washing. The pellets are the nucleus around which calcium carbonate and other minerals form in a pellet reactor. Each of these pellets was originally a small grain of sand (silica, coloured areas) about 3-5 milimetres across. The brown layers around each grain are the minerals that have deposited on the grains

© DIRK WIERSMA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY