FRANKLIN INSTITUTE LIBRARY PHILADELPHIA, PA. Class ^^^'^ Rnnl c /^^c^ ^ Accessioa REFERENCE Given hy /{g^/r-r ^T* ^ ^-g>kgX«C,^^ Digitized by tine Internet Arcliive in 2015 littps://arcliive.org/details/diersassistantinOOIiaig_0 IN THE ART OF DYING WOOL AND WOOLLEN GOODS. e5:tracted from the philosophical and CKYMICAL WORKS OF THOSE MOST EMINENT AUTHORS FERGUSON, DUFAY, HELLOT, GEOFFERY, COLBERT i IaND THAT REPUVaBLE rREKiCH DitR MONS. DE JULIENNE. - TRANSLATED PROM THE FRENCH. WITP ADDITIONS AND PRACTICAL EXPERIMENTS. BY JAMES HAIGH. LATE SILK AND MUSLIN DiEH, LEKDe. ^ PHILADELPHIA. NTED AND SOLD BY JAMES HUMPHREYS, ^ Corner of Second and Walnut-streetJ, 1810. PREFACE. THERE are very few arts so expensive as that of dicing ; and although those principal commodities, clothing and furni- ture, receive their chief improvement and^ value therefrom, it is nevertheless very far from being brought to perfection. A long practice, sound judgment, and great atten- tion, will form a good and expert dier. Ma- ny diers can work with success in a number of colours only which depend on each other, and afe entirely ignorant of the rest, or have but a Very imperfect idea of them. ' ■^"A philosopher, who studies the art of dicing, is in some measure astonished at the multiplicity of new objects which it affords ^ every step presents new difficulties and ob- scurities, without hopes of any instruction from the common , workmen, who seldom knov/ more than facts and custom." Their manner of explaining; themselves, and their common terms, only ^afford more darkness^. PREFACE, which the uncommon and otten useless cir- cumstances of their proceedings render more obscure. Before we enter into the particulars of die- mg woo], it is necessary to give an idea of the primary colours, ol* rather of those which bear this name by the ai'tist > for it w^ill appear by reading the celebrated works of Sir Isaac New^ton on Light and Colours, that they bear no affinity with those which the Philosophers call by that name. They are thus named by the workmen, because by the nature of the in- ingredients of which they are composed, they are the basis from w^hence all others are de- rived. This division of colours, and the idea which I intend to give of them, are also com- mon to the different kinds of dicing. The five primary colours are blue, red, yel- low, brown and black. Each of these c«n furnibb a great number of shades, from the lightest to the darkest ; and from tlie combina- tion of two or more of these different shades, arise all the colours in nature. Colours are often darkened, or made light, or considerably changed, by ingredients that have no colour in themselves ^ such are the acid, the alkalis, and the neutral salts, lime, urine, arsenic, alum, and some others ^ and in the greatest part of dies, the wool and woollen good.s axe PREFACE. V prepared with some of these ingredients which of themselves give little or no colour. It may easily be conceived what an infinite variety must arise from the mixture of these different matters, or even from the manner of using them ; and what attention must be given to the minutest circumstances, so as perfectly to succeed in an art so complicated, and in which there are many difficulties. It is not needful to be very particular ia describing the utensils of a die-house, as they are commonly known ; this work being de- signed for the experienced dier. A die-house should, however, be erected on a spacious plan, roofed over, but admitting a good light, and as nigh as possible to a running water, which is very necessary, either to prepare the wool before it is died, or to wash it afterwards. The coppers should be set at the distance of eight or ten feet, and two or more vats for the blue^ according to the quantity of work that is to be carried on. The most important point in dicing the primitive blue is to set the vat properly at work, and conduct her till she is in a state to yield her blue. The size of the woad vat is not fixed, as it depends upon necessity or plea- sure. A vat containing a hogshead, or half that quantity, has often been used with sue- A -9 VI PREFACE. cess , but then they must be prevented bj some means from cooling too suddenly, other- wise these small vats will fail. Another kind of vat it prepared for blue : this is called the indigo vat, because it is the indigo alone that gives it the colour. Those that use the woad vat do not commonly use the indigo one. There are two methods of dicing wool of any colour ; the one is caHed dicing in the great, the other in the lesser die. The first is done by means of drugs or ingredients that procure a lasting die, resist the action of the air and sun, and are not easily stained by sharp or corrosive liquors. The contrary happens to colours of the lesser die. The air fades them in a short time, more parti- cularly if exposed to the smi ; most liquors' stain them, so as to make them lose their first colour. It is extraordinary that, as there is a methed of making all kinds of colo.urs by the great die, the use of the lesser should be tolerated ; but three reasons make it difficult, if not impossible, to prevent this practice. 1st, The work is much easier. Most co- lours and shades which give the greatest trouble in the greats are easily carried on in the lesser die, PREFACE. VII 2d, Most colours in the lesser are more bright and lively than those of the great. 3d, For this reason, which carries more^ weight, the lesser die is carried on much cheaper than the great. ThJs is sufficient ta determine some men to do all in their power to carry it on in preference to the other. Hence it is that the true knowledge of chymistry, to w^hich the art of dicing owes its origin, is of so much use. In may be observed, that all lasting colours are called colours of the great, and the others of the lesser die. Sometimes the first are called fine, and the latter false colours ; but these expressions are equivocal, for the fine are sometimes confounded with the high colours, which are those in whose composi- tion cochineal enters ; therefore, to avoid all obscurity, I shall call the first colours of the great, and the latter colours of the lesser die. Experiments, (which are the best guides in natural philosophy as well as arts) plainly shew, that the difference of colours, accord- ing to the foregoing distinction, partly de^ pends on the preparation of the subject that is to be died, and partly on the choice of the ingredients which are afterwards used to give it the colour, 1 therefore think it may be ."1 1 1 PREFACE; laid down as a general principle, that all the in- visible process of dicing consists in dilating the pores of the body that is to be died, and depo- siting therein particles of a foreign matter, which are to be detained by a kind of cement which prevents the sun or raiti from changing them. To make choice of the colouring. par- ticles of such a durability that they may be retained, and sufficiently set in the pores of the subject opened by the heat of boiling w^a- ter, then contracted by the cold, and after- wards plaistered over with a kind of cement- left behind with the salt used for their prepa- ration, that the pores of the wool or w^oollen stuff ought to be cleansed, enlarged, cemented and then contraGted, that the colouring atom may be contained in a lasting manner. Experiments also shew that there is no colouring' ingredient belonging to the great die w^hich has not more or less an astringent and precipitant quality; That this is suffi- cient to separate the earth of the alum ; this earth, joined to the colouring atoms, forms a kind of lacque, similar , to that used by the painters, but infinitely finer. That in bright colours, such as scarlet, where alum cannot , be used, another body must be substituted to supply the colouring atoms (block-tin gives P R E r A C E . Hlis basis to the scarlet die.) When all these small atoms of earthy coloured lacque have in- sinuated themselves into the pores of the subject that is dilated, the cement which the tartar leaves behind serves to masticate these atoms 3 and lastly, the contracting of the pores, caused by the cold, serves to retain them. It is certain that the colours of the false die have that defect only because the sub- ject is not sufficiently prepared ; so that the colouring particles being only deposited on its plain surface, it is impossible but the action of the air or sun must dfeprive them of part, if not of the whole. If a method was discovered to give to the colouring parts of dicing woods, the necessary astriction w^hich ^ they require, and if the wool at the same time was prepared to receive them, (as it is the red of madder) I am convinced, by thirty experi- ments, that tb^se woods might be made as useful in the great, as they have hitherto been in the lesser die. What I have said shall be applied in the sequel of this treatise, where I shall shew^ what engaged me to use them as general principles. I should have been glad to have seen a work of this sort^ (knowing the great need PREEACiT. there is of a chymical understanding of this art) signed by the name of some person of distinction, to have given it abetter face ;yet, in defect of that, I w^as prevailed upon to un- dertake the tedious task. I dare not flatter myself to have brought it to its last perfec- tion, as arts daily improve, and this in particu- lar ; but I hope some acknow^ledgment will be due to me for bringing this matter a little further out of that obscurity in which it has laid, and for assisting the diers in making dis- coveries to help to perfect this most useful art. I shall now proceed to examine the five primary colours above mentioned, and give the different methods of preparing them after the most solid and permanent manner. JAMES HAIGH.,j ... ...... hi rNTRODUCTIOR THE materials of which cloths are made^ for the most part are naturally of dull and gloomy colours. Garments would conse- quently have had a disagreeable uniformity^ if this art had not been found out to remedy it^ and vary their shades. The accidental bruis- ing of fruits or herbs, the effect of rain upon certain earths and minerals might suggest the first hint of the art of dicing, and of the mate- rials proper for it. Every climate furnishes man with ferruginous earths, with boles of all colours, with saline and vegetable materials for this art. The difficulty must have been to find the art of applying them. But how many trials and essays must have been made, before they found out the most proper me- thods of applying them to stuffs, so as to stain them with beautiful and lasting colours ? In this consists the principal excellence of the dier's art, one of the most ingenious and dif« £cult which we know. XI I I N T R O D U C T I C K. Dicing is performed by means of limes^ salts, waters, leys, fermentations, macera- tions, 8cC. It is certain that dicing is very ancient. The Chinese pretend that they owe the discovery of it to Hoan-ti, one of their first sovereigns. One of the most agreeable effects of the art of dicing, is the diversifying the colours of stuffs. There are two ways by which this agreeable variety Is produced, either by nee- dle-work with threads of different colours, on an uniform ground, or by making use of yarn of different colours in the weaving. The first of these inventions is attributed to the Phrygians, a very ancient nation ; the last to the Babylonians. Many things in- cline us to think that these arts were known even in the times of which we are now treat- ing. The great progress these arts had made in the days of Moses, supposes .that ihey had been discovered long before. It appears to me certain, then, that the arts of embroidery er weaving stuffs of various colours were in- vented in the ages v^e are now upon. But I shall not insist on the manner in which they were then practised, as I can say nothing sa- tisfactory upon that subject. Another art nearly related to that of dicing, is that of cleaning and whitening garments. INTRODUCTION. XIII gafments when they have been stained and sullied. Water alone is not sufficient for this. We must communicate to it by means of pow- ders, ashes, &c. that detersive quality which Is necessary to extract the stains which they have contracted. The ancients knew nothing of soap, but supplied the want of it by various means. Job speaks of washing his garments in a pit with the herb borith. This passage shows that the method of clean- ing garments in these ages, was by throwing them into a pit full of water, impregnated with some kind of ashes ; a method which seems to have been very universal in these first times. Homer describes Nausicaa and her companions washing their garments, by treading them with their feet in a pit. With repect to the herb which Job calls borith, I imagine it is sal worth. This plant is very common in Syria, Judea, Egpyt, and x4rabia. They burn it, and pour water upon 4he ashes. This water becomes impregna- ted with a very strong lixivial salt proper for taking stains or impurities out of wool or cloth. The Greeks and Romans used several kinds of earths and plants instead of soap. The savages of America makeakindof soap- water of certain fruits, with which thev wasii C XIV INTRODirCTION* their cotton-beds and other stuffs. In Ice- land the women make a ley of ashes and urine. The Persians employ boles and marls. In many countries they find earths, which, dis- solved in water, have the property of cleaning and whitening cloth and linen. All these methods might perhaps be practiced in the primitive ages. The necessities of all man- kind are much the same, and all climates pre-- sent them with nearly the same resources. It is the art of applying them, which distin- guishes polite and civilized nations from sava- ges, and barbarians. CONTENTS. PART L OF THE ART OF blElNG WOOL AND WOOLLEN STUFFS. CHAPTER I. Of Blue . 25 CHAPTER II. Of the Garden-Woad or Pastel-Vat , . . 29 The vat set to work 30 Marks how to conduct a Vat regularly . . • 33 The opening of the Vat ...».., 37 CHAPTER III. Of the Field Woad- Vat ....... 48 CHAPTER IV. The Indigo. Vat ......... 52 Process of making the Indigo in America . . 52 Mfeihod of working the Indigo- Vat , • . . 54 CHAPTER V. The cold Vat with Urine 59 XVI CONTENTS. The hot Vat with Urine . . . . . , . 61 Rc-heating of the Vat with Urine , . , . 6-4 CHAPTER VI. or the cold Indigo-Vat without Urine * . . 67 Water of Old Iron 68 CHAPTER VII. Of the Method of dying Blue ..... 70 The manufacturing of Pastel, or Garden Woad in France . • . . 98 Po wder of Woad ......... 101 CHAPTER VIII. Of Red » . 104 CHAPTER IX. Of scarlet of Grain 10^ Preparation of the wool for scarlet of Grain . 107 Liquor for the Kermes ib, CHAPTER X, Of Flame-coloured Scarlet . . . , . . 119 Composition for Scarlet ........ 121 Water for the Preparation of Scarlet . • . 124 31eddening . 126 Experiments on Cochineal Liquor .... 143 Violet without Blue 144 CHAPTER xt. Of Crimson 145 Languedoc Crimson . . 149 Natural Crimson in Grain 151 CONTB^NTS; XYIX CHAPTER XII. Scarlet of Gum Lacque ...... . 152 CHAPTER XIII. Of the Coccus Polonicus, ax^olouring Insect . 15^ CHAPTER XIV. Of the Red of Madder . . , . • , , J 58 Purple with Madder without Blue , . , , 168 CHAPTER ^Vi Of Yellow 170 CHAPTER XVI. Of Brown* « . . 175 CHAPTER XVII. Of Black . . . . , 184 Remarks on Black Die . , . • ... CHAPTER XVIII. Of the Mixture of Blue and Red • , . . 187 CHAPTER XIX, Of the Mixture of Blue and Yellow > 191 CHAPTER XX. Of the Mixture of Blue and Brown . , . 1 9-^ CHAPTER XXI. Of the Mixture of Blue and Black . A-2 197 XVIII CONTENTti CHAPTER XXII. Of the Mixture of Red and Yellow . * . 19S CHAPTER XXm. Of the Mixture of Red and Brown . • ^ . 201 CHAPTER XXIV. Of the Mixture of Yellow and Brown . . 202 CHAPTER XXV. Of the Mixture of Brown and Black . . . 203 CHAPTER XXVI. Of the Mixture of the prfmitive Colours taken three by three . • . 205 Variety of Carnation Colours 207 CHAPTER XXVII. Of the Manner of mixing Wool of diiFerent . Colours, for cloth, or mixed Colours, (Co- lours mixed in the Loom.) . . • . . 210 CHAPTER XXVIII. Of the method of preparing the Pattern Felts, or Mixture for an Essay 212 CHAPTER XXIX. Of Polish Red .... , . * , . 21$ CONTENTS, XIX PART IL OF THE LESSER DIe\ CHAPTER I. Of the dicing of W ool by the Lesser Die . . 2i7 CHAPTER II. Of the dicing of Flock or Goat's Hail* . , . 220 Sulphuring of Wool ........ 227 The Theory of the Dissolution of Flock , 22S CHAPTER III. Of tlie Manner of using Archil . . ^ - . 231 Bastard scarlet by Archil. ...... 234 CHAPTER IV. Of Logwood or Campeachy ...... 237 The Raven Grey v • • • 24i CHAPTER V. Of Saxon Blue and Green ..... . 242 Blue on Cloth, Stuff, or Yarn ib, Chymic for Green * . * 243 CHAPTER VI. Of Brazil Wood , . . 245 CHAPTER VH. Of Fustic , i . . ; i . • * . • 24a XX CONTENTS, CHAPTER VIII. Of Roucou . . . . . . . 25 i CHAPTER IXV Of the Grains of Avignon . . . 252 CHAPTER X. Of Turmeric- . . , . 253 CHAPTER XI. Of Silver Grey .......... 255 Aaotlier excellent Silver Die , » . . . 25G Instructions on the proof of dyed Wool and Woollen StufFs . . . . , . . . . 256 PART III. ADDITIONAL ARTICLES, CHAPTER I, Of Flowers 267 Of Blue Flowers - - - - - - 268 Of Red and Yellow Flowers - - - - . 270 Of White Flowers - 2T3 CHAPTER II. Of Fruits - - - - 273 CHAPTi:R III, Of Leaves 27;^ CONTENTS. XXi CHAPTER IV. Mr. Lewis's History of Madder, and Manner of treating it .^--.«-.-28i CHAPTER Of Fustic - 285 CHAPTER VI, Of Nephritic Wood ...-.. -286 CHAPTER VII. Mr. Ferguson's History of Logwood as a. Colouring Drug - - 287 CHAPTER VIII. The Process of Prussian Blue 289 CHAPTER IX, Of Alkanet Root ^ ^ . 232 CHAPTER X. Of Alum . - . - 294 CHAPTER XL Chymical History of Saunders, and its Dif- ference from other Red- Woods . - - - 295 CHAPTER XII. Of Verdigrise - 297 THE Wtt's Assistant IN THE ART OF DYING, THE DIER'S ASSISTANT. PART 1. CHAPTER I, OF BLUE. OOL and woollen stuffs of all kinds, are W died blue without any other prepanicioa than wetting them well in luke-warm water, squeezing them well afterwards, or letting them drain : this precaution is necessary, thac the co- lour may the more easily insinuate itself into the body of the wool, that it may be equally dis- persed throughout ; nor is this to be omitted in any kind of colours, whether the subject be v/ool or cloth. As to wool in the fleece, which is used in ma- nufacturing cloth, as well the mixt as other ?^orts, and which they are obliged to dye before C 26 they are spun, they are prepared in another manner, viz. they are scoured, and thereby di- vested of the natural fat they had when on the body of the animaP. As this operation is pro- perly the Dier's, and is indispensable in wool which is to be died before it is spun, let the colour be what it will, I shall give the proper process. This operation is not every where alike, but this is the method followed in the manufactory of Audly in Normandy, where cloths are most beautifully manufactured. A copper containing twenty pails is used for this purpose ; they put twelve pai-s of water, and four of urine, (which is generally ferment- ed), the copper is heated, and when the liquor is so hot as to bear the hand without scalding, ten or twelve pourjds of wool, that still con- tains its natural fat, are put in and left in the copper about a quarter of an hour, stirring from time to time with sticks; it is then taken out and put to drain on a scray^ from thence it is carried in a large square basket, and placed in running water, two men stirring it to and fro for a considerable time with long poles, till it is entirely cleansed of its fat; then it is taken out and placed in a basket to drain : while this wool is thus preparing, a like quantity may be put into the copper, and thus proceed till the whole is scoured, if the liquor is too much wast- ed, fresh is to be added, made up of one part * The natural fat adhering to the wool preserves it in the warehouse, and also from moths. 27 urine and three parts waten They generally scour a bale of wool at once; if it weighed 2501b. in the fat, it generally loses 6olb. in scouring ; but this diminution of weight varies in proportion to the wool being more or less scoured, and in proportion to the more or less fat contained therein. Too much attention cannot be paid to the scouring, as it is thereby better disposed for the reception of the dye. The fat, which is an oily transudation, and slightly partaking of the quality of urine retain- ed by the fleece, which is too thick to let it out, is soluble in water, consequently, as water alone could not separate it, a fourth part of urine is put into the copper, which must have been kept some days, in order to separate its volatile salts by fermentation ; (I mean that it is necessary this urine should begin to acquire a strong smell) ; this volatile salt, being an alkali, forms with the fat a kind of soap, vvhich is always the result of all oils and alkalis whatsoever mixed together. As soon as soap is formed by the combination of these two principles, it becomes soluble in water, and is consequently easily car- ried off, A proof that a true soap has been formed in this operation, is^ that the water which carries it away, v/hitens as long as any fat is separated from the wool : if there was a suffi- cient quantity of fermented urine in the copper, the wool v/ill be well scoured ; if it was not, all the fat would not be changed into soap, and consequently the wool will remain greasy. The same operation might be performed with fixed 2a alkalis, as with the lee of pot-ash or pearl-ashes: but as this lee would not only come dearer than urine, it might also damage the wool, if the exact proportion was not applied. I am con- vinced by several experiments, that these caus- tic salts do easily destroy all animal substances^ as wool, silk, &c. I beg the reader may take notice, that though in the sequel I do not mention this operation of scouring, it is nevertheless necessary for all wool that is to be died before it is spun, as also that it is necessary to wet those that are spun, and scuffs of all kinds, that the colour may be the more equally diffused throughout. Of the five primary colours m,entioned in the preface, two of them require a preparation given by noncolouring ingredients, which, by the acidity and fineness of their earth, dispose the pores of the wool to receive the colour. This is called the preparation ; it varies according to the nature of shades and colours : the red, the yellow, and the colours derived from them must be so treated black must have a prepa- ration peculiar to itself; blue aiid brown re- quire none; it is sufiicient that the wool be thoroughly scoured and wetted ; and even for blue, it suffices to dip it into the vat, stirring it vvell, and letting it remain, more or less, ac- cording as the ground of the colour is v/anted. For this reason, and also that many colours previously require a blue shade to be given to the wool, I shall begin with it, and give there- on the most exact rules in my power. It is an 29 easy matter to dye wool blue, when the vat is once prepared, but it is not so easy to prepare the vat, which is the most difficult part of the Dier's art. In all the other processes, it is suf- ficient CO follow the simple operations transmit- ted from masters to apprentices. Three ingre- dients are used in the blue die, viz. garden- woad or pastel, the woad, and the indigo. I shall give the preparation of each, beginning with the garden-woad. CHAPTER in OF THE GARDEN-WOAD, OR PASTEL-WOAD. THE garden-woad is a plant cultivated in many parts of Holland and France, and might be in England or Ireland, to the great advantage of the husbandman j it is made up in bales, generally weighing from one hundred and fifty pounds to two hundred ; ic resembles little clods of dryed earth, interwoven with the fibres of plants; it is gathered at a proper sea-^ son, and laid up to rot, and then vnade into small i^alls to dry. Several circumstances are to be observed in this preparation j on this you may see the regulations of Mons. Colbert on Dies; the best prepared comes from the dio- cese of Alby in France. C a so The Vat set to work. A copper as near as possible to the vat Is fil- led with water that has stood for some time, or, if such water is not at hand, a handful of Dier's woad or hay is added to the water, with eight pounds of crust of fat madder. If the old liquor from a vat that has been used in dicing from madder can be procured, it will save the madder, and produce a better effect. The copper being filled, and the fire lighted about three in the morning, it must boil an hour and a quarter, (some diers boil it from two hours and a half to three) \ it is then con- veyed by a spout into the woad vat, in which has been previously put a peck of wheaten bran. Whilst the boiling liquor is emptying into the vat, the balls of woad must be put one after another into the vat, that they may be the easier broken, raked and stirred ; this is to be continued till all the liot liquor from the copper is run into the vat, which, when lit-- tie more than half full, must be covered with cloths somewhat larger than its circumference, so that it may be covered as close as possible, and left in this state for four hours. I hen it must be aired, that is, uncovered to be raked, and fresh air let in \i\ and to each bale of woad, a good measure of ware flung in ; this is a con- cealed name for lime that has been slacked. This measure is a kind of wooden shovel, which serves to measure the lime grossly \ it is five inches broad and three inches and a half 3^ iong, containing near a good handfui ; the lime being scattered in, and the vac well raked, it must be again covered, leaving a lit- tle spxct of about four fingers open, to let in air. Four hours after, she nnust be raked, without serving her with lime i the cover is then put on, leaving, as before, an opening for the air ; in this manner she must be let to stand for two or three hours. Then she may be raked well again, if she is not yet come to work ; that is, if she does not cast blue at her surface, and that she works or ferments still, which may be known by raking and plunging with the flat of the rake in the vat ; being well raked, she is to remain still for one hour and a half more, carefully observing whether she casts blue. She is then to be served with water, and the quantity of indigo judged necessary is to be put in : it is commonly used in a liquid state^ the full of a dye-house kettle for each bale of woad ; the vat being filled within six finger- breadths of her brim, is to be raked and co- vered as before ; an hour after filling her with water, she m.ust be served with lime, viz. two measures of lime for each bale of woad, giving more or less according to the quality of the woad, and what may be judged it will spend or take of lime. I hope the reader will excuse my plainness this treatise being wrote for the dier, 1 must speak the language he is used to ; the philoso- pher will easily substitute proper terms, which perhaps the workman would not understand. 3^ There are kinds of woad readier prepared than others, o that general and precise l ulcs can- not be given on diis head, it muse also be re- marked, that the Tune is not to be put into the vat till she has been well raked. The vat beino ao;ain covered, three hours after a p.utern must be put in, and kept en- tiiely covered for an hour ; it is then taken out to judge if she be fit to work. If she is, the pattern must come out green, and on being ex- posed a minute to the air, acquire a blue co- lour. If the vat gives a good green to thf pat- tern, she must be raked, served with one or two aieasures oflime, and covered. Three hours aUer, she must be raked, and served with what lime may be judged neces- sary ; she is then to be covered, and one hour and a half after> the vat being pitched or set- tled, a pattern is put in, vvhich must ren^ain an hour to see the effects of the woad. If the pattern is of a fine green, and that it turns to a deep blue in the air, another must be dipt in to be certain of the effect of the vat. If this pat- tern is deep enough in colour, let the vat be filled up with hot water, or if at hand, with old liquor of madder, and rake her well. Should the vat still want lime, serve her with such a quantity as you may judge sufficient by the smell and handling. This done, she must be again covered, and one hour after put in your stuffs, and make your overture. This i.s the term used for the first working of wool or stufis in a new vat. 33 Marks hy which you raay know how to conduct a Vat regularly. A vat is fit to work when the grounds are of a green brown, when it changes, on its being taken out of the vat, when the flurry is of a fine Turkish or deep blue, and when the pat- tern, which has been dipt in it for an hour, comes out of a fine deep grass green. When she is fit to work, the bever ha? a good appear- ance, clear and reddish, and the drops and edges that are formed under the rake in lifting up the bever are brown. Examining the ap- pearance of the bever, is lifting up the liquor with the hand or rake, to see what colour the liquor of the vat lias under its surface. The sediment or grounds must change colour (as has been already observed) at being taken out of the bever, and must grow brown by being exposed to the external air. The bever or li- quor must feel neither too rough nor too greasy, and must not smell either of lime or lee. These are the distinguishing marks of a vat that is fit to work. How to know when a Vat is cracked hy too great or too small a quantity of Lime ; extremes which must he avoided. When more lime has been put in than was sufficient for the woad, it is easily perceived by dipping in a pattern, which, instead of turning to a beautiful grass green, is only daubed with 34 a sfeely green. The grounds do not change, the vat gives scarcely any flurry, and the bever has a strong odour of quick lime, or its lees. This error is rectified by thinning the vat, in which the diers differ; some use tartar, others bran, of which they throw a bushel into the vat, more or less in proportion to the quan- tity of lime used, others a pail of urine. In some places a large iron chafing dish is made use of, long enough to reach from the ground to the top of the vat, this chafing-dish or fur- nace has a grace at a foot distance from its bot- tom, and a funnel coming from under this grate, and ascending to the top of the chafing- dish, which is to give air to, and kindle the coals which are placed on the grate. This fur- nace is sunk in the vat, near to the surface of the grounds, so as not to touch them, and is fastened with iron bars to prevent its rising. By this method the lime is raised to the surface of the liquor, which gives an opportunity to take off with a sieve what is thought superflu- ous ; but when this is taken out, the necessary quantity of ware must be carefully restored to the vat. Others again thin the vat with pearl ashes, or tartar boiled in stale urine ; but the best cure, when she is too hard, is, to put in bran and madder at discretion ; and if she be but a little too hard, it will suffice to let her re- main quiet four, five, or six hours, or more, putting in only two hats full of bran and three or four pounds of madder, which are to be lightly strewed on the vat, after which it is to 35 be covered. Four or five hours after, she is to be raked and plunged, and according to the colour, that the flurry which arises from this motion, assumes and imprints on the whole li- quor, a fresh proof is made by putting in a pattern. If she is cracked, and casts blue only when she is cold, she must be left undisturbed, some- times whole days without raking; when she begins to strike a tolerable pattern, her liquor must be reheated or warmed ; then commonly the lime, which seemed to have lost all power to excite a fermentation, acquires nc^ strength, and prevents the vat from yielding its die so soon. If she is to be hastened, some bran and madder are to be thrown on, as also one or two baskets of new woad, which helps the liquor that has been reheated to spend its lime. Care must be taken to put patterns in each hour, in order to judge, by the green colour which they acquire, how the lime is worked on. By these -crials she may be conducted with more exactness, for when once a vat is cracked, by too great or too small a quantity of lime, she is brought to bear with much more diffi- culty. If while you are endeavouring to bring her to work, the bever grows a little too cold, it must be heated by taking off some of the clear, and instead thereof, adding some warm wa- ter ; for when the bever is cold, the woad spends little or no lime ; when it is too hot, it retards the action of the woad, and prevents it from spending the lime ; therefore it is better 36 to wait a little, than to hasten the vats to connc to work when they are cracked, A var is known not ro have been sufficiently served with linne, and that she is cracked, when the bever gives no flurry, but instead thereof gives only a scum, and when she is plunged or raked, she only works, ferments and liisses, (this noise is made by a great number of air bubbles that burse as soon as they form), the liquor has also the smell of a c iv non sewer or sink, or rotten eggs; it is harsh and dry to the touch: the grounds when taken out do not change, which generally happens when a vat is cracked for want of lime. This accident is chiefly to be apprehended when a vat is opened and a dip made in her ; for if her state has not been look- ed into, both in regard to the smell as well as raking and plunging, and that the stufi^s be im- prudently put in when the woad has spent its lime, It is ro be feared the vat may be lost ; for the stuff^s being put in, the small quantity of lime that still remains in a stale to act, sticks to them, the bever is divested of it, and the stuffs only blotted ; these must be immediately taken out, and a quick remedy applied to the vat, to preserve the remaining part of the die, which is done by putting in three or four mea- sures of lime, more or less, according as the vat is cracked, and that without raking her bot- tom. It is also to be observed, that if in raking and plunging the fermentation ceases, and the bad smell change, it is then to be supposed 37 that the bever or liquor alone has suffered, and that the grounds are not yet in wanr. When the fernnentation is in part or totally abated, and the bever has a smell of lime, and feels soft to the couch, the vat is to be covered and left at rest; and if the flurry still remains on the vat an hour and a half, a pattern is to be put in, which must be taken out one hour after, and you are to be guided according to the green ground it will take. But generally vats that are thus cracked, are not so soon brought to a state fit for dieing. The Opening of the Vat. The vat being come to work, the cross must be let down, and about thirty ells of cloth, or the equivalent of its weight of wool well scour- ed, { which is first intended to be died of a Per- sian blue to make a black afterwards), having returned this stirring several times, which muse have always been covered with liquor, the cloth must be twisted on the rings fastened to the jack at the top of the vat; if it be wool, it is to be dipt with a net, which will starve to wring it: the cloth must be opened by its lists to air it, and to cool the green, that is, to make it lose the green colour it had coming out of the vat, and take the blue. If this cloth or wool w^as not deep enough for a mazarine blue by the first dipping, it must get another, by re- turning into the vat the end of the picct- of doth which first came out ; and according to 38 the strength of the woad, you must give to this striking two or three returns, as may be thought necessary for the intensity of the blue required. If the woad be good, such as the true L'Auragais is commonly, after taking out the first stirring, a second may be put in at this first opening of the vat. Afcer making this opening, which is also called the first raking, the vat is to be again raked, and served with lime at discretion, observing that it has the smell and touch conformable to what has been laid down before, and taking notice, that in pro- portion as the die diminishes, so does the strength of the woad. If the vat be in good order at the first open- ing, three or four stirrings may be made, and the next day, two or three more, only obser- ving not to hurry her, or to work her as strong as at first. That the vat may turn to as much profit as possible for the shades of blue; first, all stufis intended to be black, are died ; then the king's blue j after these the green brown : the violets and Turkish blues are com- monly done in the last rakings of the second day of the opening. The third day, if the vat appears much diminished, she miust be fil- led with hot water within four inches of the brim. This is called filling the vat. The latter end of the wetk, the light blues are made, and on Saturday night, having raked the vat, she is to be served a little more than the preceding day, that she may keep till Mon- day. 39 Monday morning the bever is put on the fire, by passing it from the vat into the copper by a trough, which rests on both; this clear bever is emptied to the grounds, and when it is ready to boil it must be returned into the vat, raking the grounds, as the hot liquor falls from the trough ; at the same time may be ad- ded a kettleful of prepared indigo. When the vat is filled within four inches of the brim, and well raked, she must be cover- ed, and two hours after a pattern put in, which must remain not more than an hour ; lime must be added according to the shade of the green, which this proof pattern shall have taken, and at the expiration of an hour or two, if the vac has not suffered, the stuff is to be put in; ha- ving conducted it between two waters for about half an hour it is wrung, and a dip is again given to it, as was done in the new vat. This vat heated again, is conducted in the same manner, that is, three rakings are made the first day, observing at each raking, whether she wanti lime; for in this case, the quantity judged necessary must be given. Blue made of woad alone, according to the opinion of some persons prejudiced in favour of old custom.s, is much better than that which the woad gives with the addition of indigo. But then this blue would be much dearer, be- cause woad gives much less die than indigo, and it has been found by repeated experience, that four pounds of fine indigo from Guati- mala, produced as much as a bale of Albi- 40 geois woad or pastel ; and five pounds as much as a bale from L'Auragais, which generally weighs two hundred and ten pounds. So the using of the indigo with the woad is a great saving, as one vat with indigo shall die as much as three without it. Indigo is generally put into new vats after the woad yields its blue, and a quarter or half after she is to be served with lime^ as this so- lution of indigo is already impregnated v^ith some of its dissolution, the lime must be given with a more sparing hand than where the woad is used alone. At the re-heating, the indigQ is put in on Saturday night, that it may incor- porate with the bever, and that it may serve as garnish by its lime. The indigo that is brought from Guatimala in America is the best ; it is brought over in the shape of sm.all stones, and of a deep blue ; it must be of a deep violet colour within and when rubbed on the nail, have a copper hue ; the lightest is the best. It is necessary to observe, that for the better con- ducting of a woad vat, and to prevent acci- dents, a manufacturer ought to have a good woadm,an, this is the name given to the jour- neyman dier, whose principal business is to conduct the woad j practice has taught him more than this treatise can furnish. I shall make some reflections necessary to attain a more perfect knowledge of this process. The woa.; vat must never be re- heated but when fit for working; that is, she must have neither too much nor too little lime, but be in 4^ such a state as only to want heating to confie to v;ork. It is known she has too much lime (as has been before observed) by the quick smell ; on the contrary, a want is known by the svv^j-ecish smtrll, and by the scum which rises on the surface by raking, being of a pale blue. Care must be taken when a vat is intended to be re- heated, not to serve her with lime in the evening, (unless in great want of it) for if she was too much served with it, she might next day be too hard, as the diers term it; for by heating her again, a greater action is given to the lime, and makes her spend it the quicker. Fresh indigo is commonly put into the vat, each time she is re heated, in proportion to the quantity to be died. It would be needless to put in any, if there was but little work to do, or only light colours wanted. It was not permitted by the ancient regulations of France^ to put more than six pounds of indigo to each bale of woad, because the colour of the indigo was thought not lasting, and that it was only the great quantity of woad which could secure and render it good ; but it is now ascertained, borh by the experiments of Monsieur Dufay, and those which I have since made, that the colour of indigo, even used alone, is full as good, and resists as much the action of the air^ sun, and rain, as that of pastel or woad. When a vat has been heated two or three times, and a good part has been worked oifF, the same liquor is often preserved, but part D 2. 42 the grounds are taken out, which is replaced by newwoad; (this is called vamping) ; the quantity cannot be prescribed on this occasion, for it depends upon the work the dier has to do. Practice will teach all that can be wished for on this head. There are diers who pre- serve liquor in their vats several years, renew- ing them with woad and indigo in proportion as they work them ; others empty the vat en- tirely, and change the liquor when the vat has been heated six or seven times, and that she .gives no more die. A series of practice alone will show which of these is preferable. It is however more reasonable to think, that by re- newing it now and then, more lively and beau- tiful colours may be obtained, and the best diers follow this method. In Holl ind they have vats which do not re- quire to be so often heated. Mr. Van Robbais had some of these made some years since for their royal manufactory at Abbeville. The upper parrs of these vats, to the height of three feet, are of copper, and the rest lead. They are also surrounded with a small brick wall, at seven or eight inches from the copper, in this interval embers are put, which keep up the heat of the vat a long rime, so that she remains several days together in a condition to be work- ed, without the trouble of heating her over again. These vats are much more costly than the others, but they are very convenient, espe- cially for the dipping of very light colours ; because the vat is always fit to work, though 45 she be very weak; this is not the case of the others, which generally make the colour a great deal deeper than required, unless they are scrt to cool considerably, and then ic happens that the colour is not so good, nor has it the same brightness. To make these light colours in common vats, it is better to work some pur- posely that are strong with woad and weak of indigo; such give their colours slower, and light colours are m ide with greater ease. As to the vats made a^'ter the Dutch fashion, and which have already been mentioned, the four which Mr. Van Robbais has in his manu- factory, are six feet in depth, of which three feet and a half in the upper part are copper, and the two feet and a half of the bottom are lead. The diameter at the bottom is four feet and a half, and that at the top five feet four inches. To return to the observations on heating the cominon vats. If the vat was heated when cracked, that is, when she has not quite lime enough, she would turn in the heating without being perceived, and perchance be entirely lost, as the heat would soon finish the spend- ing of the rnr*e, which was in too small a quan- tity. If this is perceived in time, it must be helped by pouring it back into che vat without more heating; then feed her with lime, and not heat her till she is come to work. On the re-heating, some ot the grounds must be put into the copper with the liquor or bever ; and great care must be taken not m 44 boil it, because the volatile necessary ui this operation would evaporate. There are some diers, who, in heating their vats, do not put in the indigo immediately after the liquor is poured from the copper into the vat, but wait some hours till they see her come to work : this they do as a precaution, lest the vat should fail, and the indigo be lost j but by this m:ethod, the indigo does not so freely yield its colour, as they are obliged to work her as soon as she is fit, that she may not cool, so that the indi- go, not being entirely dissolved, nor altoge- ther incorporated, has no effect. It is there- fore better to put it into the vat at the san^e time the liquor is cast in, and rake her well af- ter. If the vat is heated over again without her coming to work, she o>ust not be scummed as in the common heatings, as the indigo would be carried off thereby, whereas, when she has worked, this scum is formed of the earthy part of the indigo and woad, united with a portion of lime. When too much lime is put into a vat, you must wait for her till such tiiDt as she has spent it, or it may be accelerated by heating ir> or by putting in ingredients which destroy in part the aciion of the lime, such as tartar, vinegar, honey, bran, some mineral acid, or any mat- ter duit will become sour; but all these cor- re^'tors wear out the die of the indigo and woad, so that the best method is, to let it spend of Its own accord. A vat is not commonly fed with lime,, but on the first, second^ and sqme- 45 rimes the third day, and it is also remarked, HOC to dip the violets, purples, or any other wool or stuffs which have previously a colour that may be easily damaged ; the succeeding day after its being fed with lime, as it is then too active, it dulls the first colour ; the fifth or sixth day the crimson may be dipt to give them a violet, and the yellows for green ; following this rule, tht colours will always be br^giu. When a vat has been re-heated, she must come to work before she is served with lime; if this v;as done a little too soon, she must be cracked ; the same thing would happen if some of the grounds were put into the copper. The most effectual method in this case is to let her rest before she is worked, until she comes to, which often happens in two, three, or four hours, and sometimes a day. By using light or weak lime, she grows too hard; because this light lime remains in the liquor, and does not incorporate with the grounds. This is known by the strong smell of the liquor, and on the contrarv the <>rounds have a sweetish smell, whereas the smicll ought to be equal in both-. The best way then is, to let it spend itself, by raking her often, in order to mix the lime with the grounds, until the smell of the vat is restored, and the flurry becomes blue. A woad vat may be set without the addition of indigo, but then she yields but little co- lour, and only dies a small quantity of wool or stuffs j for one pound of indigo, as has already been observed, affords as much die as fifteen 46 or sixteen pounds of woad. I set one of^this kind to try the qualities of woad by itself, and I could not find that indigo was any way in- ferior to ir, either for the beauty or solidity of the colour. As lime is always used, and some- times sour liquors, in the setting of a vat, this is the proper place to speak of their prepara- tion. Preparation of Lime. That the lime may be properly slacked for the dier's use several pieces are immersed in water, one after another, and when each has remained till it begins to crackle, they are taken out to put in others, and after this man- ner they are cast into an empty vessel, where the lime finishes slacking, and reduces itself to powder, considerably augmenting its bulk; it is afterwards sifted through a canvas, and kept in a dry hogshead. Sour liquors are not only necessary in some circumstances of setting a woad vat, but also in some of the preparations given to wool and stuff's previous to their being died ; they are prepared after the following manner : Preparation of sour Liquors. A copper of the size required is filled wich river water, and when it boils, it is flung into a hogshead, where a sufficient quantity of bran has been pur, and birred with a stick three or 47 four times a day. The proportion of bran and water is not very mate'ial 5 1 have made a good liquor by putting three bushels of bran into a vessel containing two hundred and fourscore quarts. Four or five days after, this water be- comes sour, and consequently fit for use in all cases, where it will not be detrimental to the preparations of wool that are independent of dieing. For it may happen, that wool in the fleece which has been died in a liquor where too great a quantity of sour water has been put, will be harder to spin, as the sediment of the bran forms a sort of starch that glues the fibres of the wool, and prevents them, from forming an even thread. I must here take notice of the bad custom of letting sour liquors remain in copper-vessels, as I have seen in some eminent die-houses J for this liquor being an acid, cor- rodes the copper, and if it remains long enough to take in a portion of this metal, it will cause a defect both in the die and in the quality of the stuff: in the die, because the d ssolved copper gives a greenish case 5 in the quality of the stufi^, because the copper dissolved preys on all animal substances. The diers are often ignorant of the cause of these defects. I flatter myself to have omitted no essential point on the woad vat : if any difficulties or ac- cidents, which I have mentioned, are not found in the practice they are noc considerable, and an easy remedy will be found by those who make themselves familiar with the working parr. The readers who have no idea of this work, may think me too prolix, and find repetitions; but those who intend to make use of what I have taught in this chapter, will perhaps re- proach me for not having said enough on the subject. Those that read this chapter with attention, will not be surprised that the master-piece for apprentices to diers of the great die, is, to set the woad vat and Vv'ork her. CHAPTER IIL OF THE FIELD WOAD VAT. I HAVE but little to say on this woad vat, diiFcrent from that which has been related of the pastel or garden woad. The woad is a plant cultivated in Normandy, and prepared after the same manner the garden woad is in Languedoc. The method of cultivating it may be seen in the French" General Instruc- tions on Dies,'' of the 28th of March, 1671, from the article 259 to 288, where it treats of the culture and preparation of the pastel and woad. The woad vat is set at work after the same manner as that of pastel ; all the difference is 49 that it has less strength and yields less die. There follows a description of the woad vat, which I carried on in small, and in a bath hear, similar to that of the pastel in the foregoing chapter. I placed in a copper a small vessel containing fifty quarts, and filled two-thirds with a liquor made of river water, one ounce of madder, and a little weld, putting in at the same time a good handful of wheaten bran and five pounds of woad. The vat was well raked and covered; it was then five in the evening; it was again raked at seven, nine, twelve, two, arid four o'clock ; the woad was then work- ing, that is, the vat was slowly coming to work, as 1 have already related of that of the pastel. Pretty large air bubbles formed themselves, but in a small quantity, and had scarcely any colour. She was then se; ved with two ounces of lime and raked. At five o'clock a pattern v/as put in ; which was taken out at six, raking her ; this pattern began to have some colour; another was put in at seven, at eight she was raked, and the pattern came out pretty bright ^ an ounce of indigo was then put in; at nine another pattern, at ten she was raked, and one ounce of lime w^as added, because she began to have a sweetish smell ; at eleven a pattern, at twelve she was raked ; it was thus continued till five, then three ounces of indigo were put in, at six a pattern, at seven she was raked. It would then have been proper to have served hier with water, as she was at that time per- E 50 fectly come to work, the pattern that was taken out being very green, and turning of a bright blue. But besides that* I was fatigued, hav- ing sat up the whole night, I chose rather to put her back to the next day, to see her ef- fect by day- light; and for that purpose, I put one ounce of lime, which kept her up till nine in the morning : from time to time patterns were put in, the last that was taken out was very beautiful ; she was served with a liquor composed of water, and a small handful of bran. She was raked, and patterns put in from hour to hour ; at five she was come to work ; she was afterwards served with lime, and raked to preserve her till she was to be re- heated. Some time after I set another with the woad alone without indigo, that I might be able to judge of the lasting of the die of the woad, which, upon trial, 1 found to be as good as the pastel or garden woad. Thus all the su- periority the pastel has on the woad, is, that the latter yields less die than the former. The little varieties that may be observed in setting these different vats at work, prove, that there are many circumstances in these pro- cesses that are not absolutely necessary. It ap- pears to me, that the only important point, and that to which the greatest attention is to be given, is, in the conducting the fermentation with care, and not to serve her with lime, but when judged necessary by the indications I have laid down. As to the indigo being put 51 in at twice, or altogether, a little sooner or later, it appears very indifferent. The same may be said of the weld, which I made use of twice, and suppressed the two other times, and of pearl-ashes, which I added in a small quan- tity in the small pastel vat, and suppressed in the woad vat. In short, I believe, and it ap- pears to me to a demonstration, that the greatest regard is to be had to the proper dis- tribution of the lime, throughout the whole course of the working of the vats, either to set them at work, or to re-heat them. I muse also add, that when a woad vat is set to work, she cannot be too often inspected into to know her state ; for if there are some that are back- ward (which is attributed to the weakness of the woad) there are also others that very quick- ly come to work. I have seen a middling one of seventy pounds of woad, poisoned ; because the woad man neglected to inspect her as often as she required, and she had been two hours fit to work before he discovered it ; the grounds were entirely come up to the surface of the li- quor, and the whole had a very sour smelly it was not possible to bring her back, and they were obliged to fling her aw^ay, as she would in a short time have contracted a foetid smell. The retarding of the action of the vat may also proceed from the temperature of the air ; for the vat cools a great deal sooner in v^inter than in summer ^ therefore it becomes necessary to watch it attentively, though commonly they 52 are fourteen or fifteen hours before they coaie to work. I shall endeavour to explain, in the sequel, how the colouring part of this ingredient, so necessary in dieing, displays itself ; but I must first of all speak of vats which are prepared from indigo. CHAPTER IV- THE INDIGO VAT. Process of making the indigo America. INDIGO is the fecula of a plant named nill or anil; to make it, three vats are placed the one over the other, in form of a cascade ^ in the first, called the steeper, the plant is pui in with its leaves, bark and flowers*, and filled with water; some time after, the whole fer- ments, the water grows intensely hot, thickens, and becomes of a blue colour bordering on the violet ; the plant, according to the opinion of some, deposing all its salts, and, according to others, all its substance. In this state, the cocks of the steeper are turned, and ail the wa- * In the village of Sargussa, near the toA^n of Am dabat, the Indians only use the leaves of the anil j they fliiig away the rest of the plant. The best indigo ccmcs from thence. ^3 ter Itt out stained with the colouring parts of the [)lant into the second, called the bearer; be- caus^his water is beat by a null or a machine that ms long sticks, to condense the substance of the indigo, and precipitate it to the bottom. By this means the water becomes clear and co- lourless, like common water; then the cocks are turned, that the water may run off from the surface of the blue sediment; after which, other cocks are turned that are at the bottom, that all the fecula may fall into the third vat, called the reposer , for it is there the indigo re- mains to dry ; it is then taken out to be made into cakcofe quarts, about sixty quarts of river water are set to boil in a copper for the space of half an hour, wirh two pounds of pearl ashes, two ounces of madder, and a handful of bran ; during this, the indigo is prepared after the following manner : Two pounds of it are weighed out, njid cast into a pail of cold water to separate the earrhy parts. The water is afterwards poured off by inclination, and the indigo well ground ; a little warm water is put into it, shaking it from side to side 3 it is poured by inclination into a another vessel ; what remains is still ground, and fresh water put in to cany off the finest parts, and thus continued till all the indigo is reduced into a powder, fine enough to be raised by the water. This is all the preparation it un- d' i;goes. Then the liquor which has boiled in the copper with the grounds are poured into the high and narrow vat, as likewise the indi- go ; the whole is then raked with a small rake, the vat is covered, and embers placed round her. If this work was begun in the afternoon, a few embers are added at night ; the same is repeated the next day morning and night. The vat is also lightly raked twice the second day ; the third day, the embers are continued to be put round, to keep up the heat of the vat ; she is raked twice in the day : about this time, a shining copper- coloured skin begins to ap- 5^ pear on the surface of the liquor, and appears as if it was broken or cracked in severaltplaces. The fourth day, by continuing the fire, this skin or pelicle is nnore formed and closer; the flurry, which rises in raking the vat, appears, and the liquor becomes of a deep green. When the liquor is in this state, it is a sign that it is time to fiil the vat. For this purpose a fresh liquor is made, by putting into a cop- per about twenty quarts of water, with one pound of pearl ashes, a handful of bran, and half an ounce of madder. This is boiled a quarter of an hour, and the vat is served with it i she is then raked, and causes a great quan- tity of flurry to rise, and the vat comes to work the next day; this is known by the quan- tity of flurry with which she is covered by the skin or copper-scaly crust which swims on the liquor, which, although it appeais of a biue- brown, is nevertheless green underneath. This vat was much longer coming to its co- lour then the others, because the fire was too strong the second day, otherwise she would have been fit to work two days sooner. This did no other damage but rerarded her, and the day she came to work, we dipt in serges weigh- ing thirteen or fourteen pounds. As this cau- sed her to loFe her strength, and the liquor be- ing diminished by the pieces of stuffs that had been died in her, she was served in the after- noon with fresh liquor, made with one pound of pearl-ashes, half an ounce of madder, and a haadful of bran; the whole was boiled toge- 57 thcr in a copper for a quarter of an hour ; the vac being served with it she was raked, covered, and a few embers put round. She may be pre- served after this manner several days^ and when she is wanted to work, she must btr raked over night, and a little fire placed about her. When there is occasion tore-heat, and add indigo to this kind of var, two- thirds of the liquor (which then is no more green, but of a blue-brown and almost black) is put into a copper; when ic is ready to boil, ail the scum that is formed at the top is taken off with a swvc i it is afterwards made to boil, and two handfuls of bran, a quarter of a pound of madder, and two pounds of pearl-ashes are ad- ded. The fire is then removed from the cop- per, and a litrle cold water cast into it to stop the boil ; after which the whole is put into the vat, with one pound of powdered indigo, di- luted in a portion of the liquor as before rela- ted ; after this the vat is raked, covered, and some fire put round the next day slie is fit to work. When the indigo vat has been re-heated seve- ral times, it is necessary to empty her entirely^ and to sec a fresh one^ or she will not give a lively die ; when she is too old and stale, the liquor is not of so fine a green as at first. I put several other vats to work after the same method, with different quantities of in- digo, from one pound to six; always observing to augment or diminish the other ingredients iin proportion, but always one pound of pearl- 58 ashes to each pound of indigo. I have since made other experiments, which proved to mc that this proportion was not absohirely neces- sary ; and I make no doubt but that several other means might be found to make the indi- go come to as perfect a colour. I shall, ne- vertheless, proceed to some other observations on this vat. Of all those I set to work, after the manner described, one only failed me, and that by neg- lecting to put fire round her the second day. She never came to a proper colour; powdered arsenic was put in to no effect; red-hot bricks were also plunged in at different times ; the liquor turned of a greenish hue, but never came to the proper colour ; and having attempt- ed several other means without success, or without being able to find out the cause of her not succeeding, I caused the liquor to be emp- tied and cast away. All the other accidents that have happened me m conducting the indigo vat, have only lengthened the operation; so that this process may be looked upon as very easy when com- pared to that of the woad vat. I have also made several experiments on both, in which my chief view v/as to shorten the time of the common preparation ; but not meeting with the desired success, I shall not relate them. The liquor of the indigo vat is not exactly like that of the woad ; its surface is of a blue- brown, covered with coppery scales, and the under part of a beautiful green. The stuff or 59 wool died in this is green when taken out, and becoincs blue a moment after. We have al- ready setn that the same happens to the stuff died in the woad vat ; but it is remarkable, tha: the liquor of the last is not green, and yet produces on the woad the same effect as the other. It must also be observed, that if the liquor of the indigo vat be removed out of the vessel in which it was contained, and if too long exposed to the air, it loses its green and all its quality, so that, although it gives a blue colour, that colour is not lasting. I shall examine this more particularly in the sequd, and endeavour to give the chymical theory of this change,. CHAPTER V. THE COLD VAT WITH URINE. A VAT is also prepared with urine, which yields its colour cold, and is worked cold : for this purpose four pounds of indigo are powdered, which is to be digested on warm ashes twenty-four hours, in four quarts of vine- gar; if it is not then well dissolved, it must be ground again with the liquor, and urine is to be added little by little, with half a pound of madder, which must be well diluted by stir- 6o ring the liquor with a stick ; when this prepa- ration is made, it is poured into a vessel filled with 250 quarts of urine; it matters not whether it be fresh or stale; the whole is well stirred and raked together night and morn- ing for eight days, or till the vat appears green at the surface when raked, or that she makes flurry as the common vat; she is then fit to work, without more trouble than previ- ously raking her two or three hours before. This kind of vat is extremely convenient, for when once se: to work, she remains good till she be entirely drawn, that is, till the indigo has given all its colour; thus she may be v/orked at all times, whereas the common vat must be prepared the day before. This vat miay at pleasure be made miOre or less considerable by augmenting or diminish- ing the ingredients in proportion to the indigo intended to be made use of; so that to each pound of indigo add a quart of vinegar, two ounces of madder, and sixty or seventy quarts of urine. This vat comes sooner to work in summer than in winter, and may be brought ^oner to work by warming some of the liquor without boiling, and returning if into the vat; this process is so simple that it is almost impos- sible to fail. When the indigo is quite spent, and gives no more die, the vat may be charged again without setting a new one. For this purpose, indigo must be dissolved in vinegar, adding madder in proportion to the indigo, pouring 6i the whole into the vat, and raking h^f ^^g^^^ and anorning, and evening as at first, she v/ill be as good as before; however she must not be charged this way above four or five times, for the ground of the madder and indigo would dull the liquor, and in consequence ren- der the colour less bright. I did not try this method, and therefore do not answer for the success; but here follows another with urine which gives a very lasting blue, and wliich I prepared. Hot Vat with Urine. A pound of indigo was steeped twenty-four hours in four quarts of clear urine, and when the urine became very blue, it was run through a fine sieve into a pail, and the indigo which could not pass, and which remiined in the sieve, was put with four quarts of fresh urine; this was so continued till all the indigo had passed through the sieve with the urine ; this lasted about two hours. At four in the after- noon three hogsheads of urine were pur into the co[)per, and it v;as made as hot as could be without boding. The urine cast up a thick scum, which was taken up with a broom and cast out of the copper. Ir was thus [cummed at different times, till there only remained a white and light scum ; the urine, by this means sufficiently purified and ready to boi!, was poured into the wooden vat, and t!ie indi- go prepared as above, put in ; the vat v/as r 62 then raked, the better to mix the indigo with the urine : soon after, a liquor was put into the var, made of two quarxs of urine, a pound of roach- alum,, and a pound of red tartar. To make this liquor, the alum and tartar were iirst put into the mortar, and reduced to a fine powder, upon which the two quarts of urine were poured, and the whole rubbed together, till this mixture, which rose ail of a sudc.en, ceased to ferment: it was then put into the vat, which was strongly raked ; and being co- vered with its wooden cover, she was left in that state all night; the next morning the 11^ quor was of a very green colour; this was a sign she was come to work, and that she might have been worked if thought proper, but no- thing was died in her ; for all that was done, was only, properly speaking, the first pre pa- ration of the vat, and the indigo which had been put in was only intended to feed the m ine, so that to finish the preparation the vat was let to rest for tw'o days, always covered, that she miight cool the slower ; the n a second pound of indigo was prepared, ground with purified urine as before. About four in the af- ternoon all the liquor of the vat was put into the copper ; it was heated as much as possible without boiling; some thick scum formed on it which was taken off, and the liquor being ready to boil was returned into the vat. At the same time the ground indigo was put in, with a liquor made as above of one pound of alurri, one pound of tartar, and two quarts of 63 urine, a fresh pound of madder was also ad- ded , then the vat was raked, well covered, and left so the whole night. The next nnorn- ing she was come to work, the liquor being very hoc, and of a very tine green, she was worked with wool in the fleece, of which thirty pounds were put into the vat. It was well extended and worked between the hands, that the liquor might the more easily soak into it, then it was left at rest for an hour or twOj according as lighter or deeper blues are re* quired. All this time the vat was well covered, that it might the better retain its heat, for the hot ter she is, the better she dies, and when cold acts no more. When the wool came to the shade of the blue required, it was taken out of the vac in parcels, about the bigness of a man's head, twisted and wrung over the liquor as they were taken out, till from green, as they were coming out of the vat, they became blue. This change from ^rccn to blue is made in three or four nunutes. These thirty pounds being thus died, and the green taken off, the vat was ra- ked, and suffered to rest for two hours, being all that time well covered ; then thirty pounds more were put in, which was well extended with the hands, the vat was covered, and in four or five liours this wool was died at the height or shade of the first thirty pounds; it was then taken out in heaps, and the green ta- ken off as before. This done, the vat had still some little heat, but not sufficient to die 64 fresh wool ; for whci^n she has not a sufficien-t hear, the colour she gives v;ould neither be uniform nor lasting, so that it must be re-heat- ed, and fresh indigo put in as before. This may be done as often as judged proper, for this vat does not spoil by age, provided, that whilst she is kept without working, a little air is let into her. Re-heating of the Vat with Urine. xibout four in the afternoon, the whole li- quor of the vat was put into a copper, and a sufficient quantity of urine added to this li- quor, to mike up the deficiency that had been lost by evaporation during the preceding work. Th s filling commonly takes eight or nine pails of urine \ the liquor was then heated and scummed as before, and when ready to boil, returned into the vat with a pound of indigo, and the liquor above desbnbed, consisting of alum and tartar, of each one pound, madder one pound, and two quarts of urine. After raking the vat well, and covering her, she v/as left at rest the whole night. The next day she came to work, and sixty pounds of wool were died in her at twice as be- fore. It is after this manner all the rc-heatings must be done the evening before the dieing, and these re heatings may extend to infinity, as che vat, once set, serves a long time. I must here observe, that the greater the quantity of indigo put in at once is, the deeper 65 the blue : thus instead of one pound, four, five, or six pounds may be put in together ; nor is It necessary to augment the dose of aluin, tartar, or madder, of which ingredients the liquor is coiiiposed ; but if the vessel hold more than three hogsheads, then the dose of these must be augmented in proportion. Tht vat I have mentioned held three, and was too^ small lo die at one time a sufficient quantity of wool to make a piece of cloth, viz. fifty or sixty pounds ; for this purpose it would be ne- cessary tliat the vat should cofitain at least six hogsiiea:is, and from thii; a double advantage would arise, i. All the wool will be died in thtee or four hours, whereas dieing it at twice, it takes eight or ten hours. 2. At the end of three hours, in which time the wool would be died,, taken out, and the green taken off, the vat Deing yet very hot; after raking and letting her rest a couple of hours, the same wool might be returned into her, which would heighten the colour very much ; for all wool that has been died, aired, and the green taken off, always takes a finer colour than new or ♦white wool, which might remain twenty hours in the vat. Great care must be taken to air and take off^ the green of the died parcels of wool that are taken out of the vat hastily, ^hat the air may strik- them equally, without which the blue colour will not be uniform throughout the wooU F 2. 66 There are manufacturers who say that cloths, whose wool has received this ground of blue with urine, cannot be perfectly scoured at the fulling mill, even at twice ; others vouch the coniiary, and I am of opinion the last speak the truth ; yet, if the first are right, it might be suspected that the aniinal oil of the urine becoming resinous by drying on the wool, or by uniting with ihe oil with which the wool is moist^^neJ ; for ics other prepi^rations more stroneiy resist the fuller's earth and soap, than a simple oil by expression. To remedy this, the woo! ought to be well washed in a running water after it is died, twisted, aired, the green taken off, and cooled. Be it as it may, the v/oad vai will alvv^ays Be preferred in the great die houses to tliose kinds of indigo vats made with urine or otherwise ; and for this rer.son, that with a good woad vat, and an ingenious woadman, much more work is despatched than with all the other blue vats. 1 haviS described the indigo vats in this treatise, not with a design to introduce them in the large manufactories, but to procure easy means to the diers in small, and small manu- factories, to whom 1 Wish this work may be of as much advantage as to the others. I shall therefore here describe a cold vat, which may be used with advantage by those who die small stuffs, in whose composition thread and cotton enter. The colour is lasting, but cannot be made use of for wool. 67 CHAPTER VL OF THE COLD INDIGO VAT WITHOUT URINE. IT is cusro.nary at Rouen, and in some other cities ot Francr, to die in a cold iiidigo vat, dufcrcnc from that described in the foregoing chapter, and more convenien', as she conies to work sooner, and has no bad saic!!. She is prepared afrer the following manner : D-ss dve three pounds of indigo powdered finely, in a glazeci earciien pot, with three pints of strong soap, boiler's lees, which is a strong lee of soda and quick lime. The indigo takes abo It twenty-four hours dissolving, aiid vvhen perfectly so, re nains suspended in the liquor, thickens it, and gi ves it the consistence of an ex- tract. At the saaie tifi-^e, three pounds of sif- ted slacked lime uiust be pur into another vessel with six quarts of water, and boiled together for a quarter of an hour; v^hen settled, the clear is poured off by inclination. Then three pounds of green copperas a'e to be dissolved in this clear lime water, and the whole let to rest till the next day. Three hundred quarts of water are then put in a large deal v* ssel (no otiier wood but deal will do, for it would dull and 68 blacken the die, especially if it was oak.) The two solutions which were made the day before are put in, the vat is well raked, and suffered to rest. 1 have seen her come to colour in two hours after, but this never fails to happen the next day at farthest. She makes a great deal of flurry, and the liquor becomes of a fine green colour, but a little more on the yellow than the green of the common vat. When this vat begins to spend herself, she is to be quickened wnthout putting in fresh in- digo, by making a. small iiqour with twa pounds of green copperas, dissolved in a suf- ficient quantity of lime water; but when the indigo has spent all lis colour, she nuist be re- charged by purting in fresh, dissolved in such a lec as has been described. IVater of Old Iron. Some diers put into this vat a little water of old iron. It is a mixrureof vinegar and water, in which some old iron nails have been put to rust. They say this makes the colour more lasting, but J have experit^nced, that ir is suf- ficiently so without this, and as good as all thr other blues, of which I have before given the preparation. I set several small vats ; those that required to be heated were put in a bath or sand hear, in small glass bodies ; and those that are worked cold were left without doing any tr hig to them. These last are easy, being sufficient to dimi- 69 nish the quantity of liquor, and of all the other ingredients, in proportion to the vessel that is to be ^er, and it is alinosi: iii^possible to fail. As to that which I first described, which is sec hot, as it is soii^ewhat more difficult, and that several might be willing to try the experi- ment, which in itself is curious, and neirher re- quires expensjj nor apparatus to perform in small, I shall give the process of one which succeeded perfectly, and in which I had de- signedly put a greater quantity of indigo than usually is done in the common proportion. I boiled two quarts of water with two scru- ples of madder and four ounces of pearl-ashes ; after boiling a quarter of an hour, 1 put it mto a body, which held about four quarts, and had been previously heated with warm water, and in which I had pur a quarter of a handful of bran. The whole was well stirred with a deal spatula, the glass body |)ut on a very gen- tle sand-heat, which only kept it warm, and pretty near the same degree of heat that is re- quired for the common mdigo vat. The fire was kept ail night, and the next day under the sand-hear, without any sensible change happening ; it was only stirred twice a-day. The next day some flurry began to rise, and a copper-coloured skin formed on the surface, and the liquor was of a green-brov/n ; it was then filled up with a liquor made of a quart of water, tvv'o ounces of pearl-ashes, and a little bran. I mixed the whole together^ 70 then let it rest. It came perfectly well to co- lour, and the next day I died several middling pieces of stuffs and wool. These small vessels mav be re- heated and charged again as easily as a large one. I think I have nothing more to say concern- ing the method of setting to work all these kinds of blue vats ; yet 1 am persuaded that there are several other means practised in dif- ferent places, and that it is even easy to con- trive new ones ; however, I can affirm that all those which I have described are very sure, and th.u thty have all been worked several times with the same success. CHAPTER VIL OF THE METHOD OF DIEING BLUE, W HEN the vat is once prepared and come to work, the dieing of wool or stuffs is easy. Wet them well in clear warm water, wringing and dipping them in the vat, and keeping them in more or less time, according as the colour is required in shade. From time to time the stuffs is aired, that is, taken out of the vat and wrung, so that the liquor may fall back into the vat, and expo ed a little to the air, which takes off' the green in one or two 7^ minutes ; for let what vat soever be used, the st and the red and yellow here predominate ; how- ever th s phasnomenon is not peculiar to indi- go, since the same reflection is perceived in all mixtures that are in actual fermentation, and particularly in those which contain fat particles blended with salts, urine, soot, and several other bodies put into ferm.entation, show oa their surface the same variegated colours. The flurry of the indigo vat appears blue^ because exposed to the external air ; but if a small portion of the liquor which is under It be taken up with a spoon, it appears more or less green in proportion as it is filled with co- louring particles. In the course of this obser- vation, I shall show the reason of this dif- ference, or, at least, a probable explication of this change of blue, which, as I have said be- fore, is absolutely necessary for succeeding in the process described. i When the vat is in this state, it has already been said taat cotton, thread, cloths wove from them, &c» may be died in her^ and the 8o colours which they take are of the good die , th:it is, this rocton and thread will maintain them, even after remaining a suitable time in a solution of white soap, actually boiling. This is the proof given them preferable to any other, because the linen and cotten cloths must be washed with soap when dirty. Though tlie indigo 'iquor which is in this state can make a lasting die without the addition or any other ingredients ; the diers who use this cold vac add, as in the other hot vats, a decoc- tion of madder and bran in common water run through a sieve ; this is what they call bever. They put madder to insure, as they say, the colour of the indigo, because- this root affords a colour so adhesive that it stands all proofs ; they put the bran to soften the water, which they imagine generally to contain some portion of an acid sale, v;hich, according to their opi- nion, must be deadened. This was the opinion of the French diers against indigo in the days of Monsieur Col- bert; and as this minister could not spare time to see the experiments performed in his pre- sence, on the foundation of this report, he for- bade indigo to be used alone. But since the government has been convinced, by new expe- riments miade by the late Mr. Dufay, that the stability of the blue die of this ingredient was such as could be desired ; the new regulation of 1737 licences the diers to use it alone, or mixed with woad ; so that if they continue to use the madder, it is rather because this root 8i giving a pretty deep red, and this red mixing with the blue of the indigo^ gives it a tint which approaches the violet, and also a fine hue. As to the bran, its use is not to deaden the pretended acid salts, but to disperse through - out a quantity of sizey matter; for the small portion of flour which renuins in ir, dividing itself into the liquor, must diminish in some measure its fluidity, and consequently prevent the colouring p:irric!es which are suspended in it, being precipitated too quick, in a liquor which had not acquired a certain degree of thickness. Notwithstanding this distributed through- out the liquor, as well from the bran as the madder, which also affx)rds something gluti- nous, the colouring particles will subside if the liquor remains some days without being stirred ; then the top of the liquor gives but a feeble tint to the body dipped in, and if a strong one is wanted, the mixture m^st be ra- ked, and left to rest an hour or two, that the iron in the c{)pperas, and the gross parts of the lime may fall to the bottom, which other- wise would mix with the true colouring parti- cles, an ! prejudice their die, by depositing on the body to be died a substance that would have but lit le adhesion, which in drying would become friable, and of which each minute part would occupy a space, wliere the true colour- ing particle could neither introduce nor depo« 82 posit itself by an immediate contact on the sub- ject. Not to deviate from the method followed by the Diers, I boiled one part of grape-madder and one of bran, in 174 parts of water: this proportion of water is not necessary, more or less may be put, but I wanted to fill my ves> sel, which contained 512 parts. I passed this bever through a cloth and squeezed it, putting this liquor, still hot, and which was of a blood- red, into the indigo liquor, observing the ne- cessary precautions to prevent the breaking of the glass vessel. The whole was well stirred, and two hours after the liquor was green, and consequently fit for dieing. It died cotton of a lasting blue, somewhat brighter than it was before the addition of the red of ma ider. I shall now endeavour to find out the partic- ular cause of the solidity of this colour; per- haps it may be the general cause of t!ie tenaci- ty of all the rest ; for it appears already, from the experim^ents above related, that tiiis tenaci- ty depends on rhe choice of salts, which are added to the decoctions of the colouring ingredients, v/hen the same ingredients con- tain none in themselves. If from the conse- quences which shall result from the choice of these salts, of their nature, and of their pro- perties, it be admitted (and it cannot be fairly denied) that they afford more or less tenuity in the homogeneous colouring parts of the die- ing ingredients^ the whole theory of this art 83 will be discovered, without having recourse to uncertain or contested causes. One may easily conceive that the salts added to the indigo vats not only open the natural pores of the subject to be died, but also unfold the colouring atoms of the indigo. In the other preparations of dies (to be men- tioned hereafter) the woolen stuffs are boiled in a solution of salts, which the Dyers call preparation. In this preparation tartar and a- lum are generally used. In some hours the suff is taken out, slightly squeezed, and kept damp for some days in a cool place, that the saline liquor which remains in it may still act and piepare it for the reception of the die of these ingredients, in the decoction of which in is plunged to boil again. Without this prepa- ration, experience shows that the colours will not be lasting, at least for the greatest part ; for it must be owned that there are some in- gredierjts which yield lasting colours, though the stuff has not previously undergone this pre- paration, because the ingredient contains in it- self these salts. It is therefore necessary, that the natural pores of the fibres of the wool should be en- larged and cleansed by the help of those salts, which are ahvays somewhat corroding, and perhaps they open new pores for the reception of the colouring atoms contained in the ingre- dients. The boiling of this liquor drivrs in the atoms by repeated strokes. The pores al- ready enlarged by these salts, are further dila^ 84 ted by the heat of the boiling water; they are afterwards contracted by the external cold when the died matter is taken out of the copper, when it is exposed to the external air, or when it is plunged into cold water. Thus the colour- ing acoin is taken in, and detained in the pores or fissures of the died body, by the springi- ness of its fibres, which have contracted and restored themselves ro their first state, and have re assumed their primary stiffness upon being exposed to the cold. If, besidts this spring of the sides of the pore, it be supposed that these sides have been plaistered inwardly with a layer of the saline liquor, it will appear plainly that this is ano- ther means employed by art to detain the co- louring atom 'y for this atom, having entered into the pore, while the saline cement of the sides was yet in a state of solution, and conse- quently fluid ; and this cement being after- wards con<^ealed by the external cold, the atom is thereby detained ; by the spring which has bv^en mentioned, and by this saline cement, which by crystalization is become hard, forms a kind of mastic vv'hich is not easily removed. If the coloured arom, (which is as small as the little eminence that af^pears at the entrance of the pore, and without which the subject would not appear died) be sufficiently protu- berant to be exposed to more powerful shocks than the resistance of the sides of the cement that retains it, then the die resulting from all these atoms sufficiently retained, will be ex- 85 tremely lasting, and in the rank of the good die, provided the saline coat can neither be carried off by cold water, such as rain, nor calcined or reduced to powder by the rays of the sun ; for every lasting colour, or colour be - longing to the good die, must withstand these two proofs. No other can reasonably be ex- pected in stuffs designed for apparel or furni- ture. I know but of two salts in chymistry, which, being once crystalized, can be moistened with cold water without dissolving ; and there are few besides these that can remain several days exposed to the sun, without being reduced to a flour or white powder. These are tartar, either as taken from the wine vessels, or puri- fied, and tartar of vitriol. The tartar of vi- triol may be made by mixing a salt already al-^ kalized, (or that may become such when the acid is drove out with a salt whose acid is vi- triolic, as copperas and alum); this is easily effected if it be v/eaker than the acid of vitriol, and such is the acid of all essential salts ex- tracted from vegetables. In the process of the blue vat, v/hich I tried in small, to discover the cause of its effects, copperas and pot-ash, (which is a prepared al- kali) are mixed together; as soon as these so- lutions are united, the alkali precipitates the iron of the copperas in form of powder almost black ; the vitriolic acid of the copperas, di- vested of its metallic basis by its union with he alkali, forms a neutral salt, called tartar H 8^ of vitriol y as when made with the salt of tar- tar and the vitriolic acid already separated from ks basis; for all alkalis, from whatever vege- tables they are extracted, are perfectly alike, provided they have been equally calcined* More difficulties will occur with regard to the water for the preparation of other colours, such as reds and yellows. It may be denied that a tartar of vitriol can result from the mix- ture of alum and crude tartar boiled together j yet the theory is the samic, and I do not know that it can be otherwise conceived. The alum is a salt, consisting of the vitriolic acid united with an earth ; by adding an alkali, the earth is immediately precipitated, and the tartar soon forms; but instead of this alkaline salt, alum is boiled with the crude tartar, which is the es- sential salt of wine, that is, a salt composed of the vinous acid, (which is more volatile than the vitriolic) and of oil, both concentra- ted in a small portion of earth. This salt, as is known to chymists, becomes alkali by divesting it of its acid. Thus when the alum and crude tartar are boiled together, besides the impression which the fibres of the stuff to be died receive from the first of these salts, which is somewhat corrosive, the tartar is also purified, and by the addition of the earth, which is separated from the alum, (and which has near the same effect upon the tartar, as the earth of Merviels^ which is used at Montpellier in manufacturing cream of tartar) it becomes clear and transparent. It may very 8-7 probably happen, that the vitriolic acid of the alum, driving out a part of the vegetable acid of the tartar,, a tartar of vitriol may be formed as hard and transparent as the crystal of tartar. Admitting one or other of these suppositions, consequently there is in the open pores of the wool a saline cement which crystalizes as soon as the stuff which comes out of the die is ex- posed to the cold air, v/hich cannot be cai- cined by heat, nor is soluble in cold water. I could not avoid making tlus digression* This theory is common to the indigo vac, where urine is used instead of water ; aium and cmde tartar in the place of vitriol and pot- ashes. This urine vac gives a lasting die only when used hoc, and then the wool must re- main rn an hour or two to take the die equally* As soon as the vat is cold, she strikes no more die; the reason of this would be difficult to discover in an opaque metal vat, but in a glass vessel it is easily seen. I let this little glass proof vat cool, and all the green colour, which was suspended in it while hot, precipitated little by little to the bottom; for then the tartar crystaliziiig itself, and reuniting in heavier masses than its mocu- las were during the heat of the liquor, and its solution, it sunk to the bottom of the vessel, and carried with it the colouring particles. When I restored this liquor to its former degree of heat, after shaking it, and letting it setde a while, I dipped a piece of cloth, which I took out one hour after, with as lasting a die .88 as the first ; so that when this vat is used anii fie to work, the tartar is to be kept in a state of solution, which cannot be done but by a pretiy strong heat. The alkali of the urine greens it, the alum prepares the fibres of the wool, and the crystal of tartar secures the die by cementing the colouring atoms deposited in the pores. There still remains a difBcuUy with respect to the indigo var, in which, neither vitriol, alum, or tartar are used, but only pearl-ashes in equal quantity with the indigo, and which is pretty briskly heated to die the wool and stufTs. But before I enter into the cause of the solidity of its die, which is equal to that of the other blue vats where the other salts already mentioned enter, I must examine into the na- ture of pearl-ashes, which are the lees of vvine dried and calcined : it is therefore an alkaline salt, of the nature of salt of tartar, but less pure, as proceeding from the heaviest parts of the dregs of wine, and consequently the most earthy; besides, the alkali of the pearl-ashes is never as homogeneous as the alkaline salt of tartar well calcined, and there are scarcely any pearl-ashes not purified, from which a consi- derable quantity of tartar of vitriol may not be obtained; it is even probable by an experiment which I have related, that it might at length be entirely converted into this neutraj salt; the same may be said of pot-ashes, and of all other alkaline salts, whose basis are not that of the marine salt. 89 The want of this homogeneous quality, is the cause that pearl-ashes never fall entirely in- to deliquium in the air^ therefore since expe- rience shows that there is a tartar of vitriol already formed in the pearl-ashes, it is evident: that this indigo var, which does not give a good die until the liquor has been so briskly heated as not to suffer the hand without scald- ing, v;ill dissolve the small portion of tartar of vitriol that is contained in it, and consequent- ly this sale will introduce itself into the pores of the wool to cleanse and cement them, and will coagulate therein on the wool being takea out of the liquor, and exposed to the air to cool. I must now give the reason why the indigo vat is green under the first surface of the li- quor; why this liquor must be green that the blue die may be lasting, and why the stuff that is taken green out of the liquor becomes blue as soon as it is aired. All" these conditions being of necessity common to all indigo vats either coki or hotj the same explication will serve for them all. !• The flurry v/hich rises on the surface of the indigo liquor when it is fit die is blue, and the under part of this scum is green ; these two circumstances prove the perfect solution of the indigo, and that the alkaline salt is united to itb colouring atoms since it greens them, for without they would remain blue. 2. These circumstances prove that there is also in the indigo a volatile urinous alkali^ H 2 90 which the fixt alkali of the pot-ash, or the alka- line earth of the lime displays, and which evaporates very shortly after the exposition of this scuai to the air. The existence of this urinous volatile appears plainly by the smell of the vat during the fermentation ; when stirred, or when heated, the smell is sharp, and resem- bles that of stinking meat roasted. 3. In the preparation of the anil, inorderto separate the fecula, a fermentation is continued to putrefaction. All rotten plants are urinous f his volatile urinous quality is produced by the intimate union of salts with the vegetable oil, or is owing to a prodigious quantity of insects filling on all sides of fermenting plants, and attracted by the smell exhaling from them, where they live, multiply, and die in them, and consequently deposit a number of dead bo- dies; therefore to this vegetable substance an animal one is united, whose salt is always an urinous volatile. This same urinous quality exists also in the woad, w^hich is prepared after the same manner, viz. by fermentation and putrefaction, and which will be further explain- ed in the abridged narrative of its preparation, 4. And lastly, if indigo or woad be distilled in a retort, either alone, or (which is much better) with some fixed saline or earthy alkali added to it, a Tquor will be obtained, which, by all chymical essays, produces the same ef- fects as volatile spirits of urine. Why does not this volatile urinous quality in the indigo cause it to appear green, since 91 it must be equally distributed through all its parts? And why does indigo, being dissolved in plain boiling water, tinge it blue and not green? It is because this volatile urinous sale is not concreted that it requires another body more active than boiling water to drive it out of the particles surrounding it; and the solution of indigo is never perfected by water alone; whatever degree of heat is given, it is only di- luted, and not dissolved in it. Indeed this de- coction of indigo blues the stuffs that are dip- ped, but the blue is not equally laid on, and boiling water alnnost instantly discharges it. 1 shall endeavour to answer this by an example drawn from another subject. Salt ammoniac, from which chymists extract the most penetrating volatile spirit, has not that quick urinous smell by dissolving and boiling it in water; either lime, or fixed alka- line salt, must be added to disengage the urin- ous volatile parts. In like manner, the indigo requires fixed saline, or earthy alkalis, to be exacdy discomposed, that its volatile urinous salt may be discovered, and that its colouring atoms may be reduced probably to their ele- mentary minuteness. 1 now come to the second quality required. The liquor of the indigo vat must be green, that the die may be lasting; for the indigo would not be exactly dissolved, if the alkali did not act upon it. Its solution not being as perfect as it ought to be, its die would be neither equal nor lasting ; but as soon as the alkaline salts 92 act upon ir, they must green it ; for an alkali, mix: d v;ith the blue juice or tincture of any plant or flower, immediately turns it green, Vvhen equally distributed on all its colouring parts. But if by evaporation these same parts, coloured, or colouring, have re-united them- selves into hard and compact masses, the alkali will not change their colour till it has penetra- ted, divided, and reduced them to their primary fineness. This is the case with indigo, whose fecula is the dry inspissated juice of the anil. With respect to the last circumstance, which is that the stuff must be green on coming out of the liquor, and become blue as soon as it is aired, without which, the blue would not be of a good die, the following reasons may be given : it is taken out green because the liquor is green; if it was not, the alkaline salt put into the vat would not be equally distributed, or the indigo v/ould not be exactly dissolved. If the alkali was not equally distributed, the liquor contained in the vat would not be equally saline : the botrom of this liquor would contain all the salt; the upper would be insi- pid^ In this case, the stuff dipped in would neither be prepared to receive the die, nor to retain it; but vvhen it is taken out green at the end of a quarter of an hour's dipping, it is a proof that the liquor was equally saline, and equally loaded with colouring atoms; it is also a sign, that the alkaline salts have insinu- ated themselves into the pores of the fibres of the stuff and enlarged them, as has been ob- 93 served, and perhaps have formed new ones.. Now there can be no doubt that an alkaline salt may have this effect on a woolen stuff*, when it is evidenc that a very sharp alkaline ley burns and dissolves almost in an instant a flock of wool or a feather. A process in dieing called, by the French, foyite de bourre^ that is, the melting or dissol- ving of flock or hair, is stiil a further example. The hair, which is used an-d boiled in a solu- tion of pearl-ashes in urine, is so perfectly dis- solved as not to leave the least fibre remaining. Therefore if a lixivium, extremely sharp, en- tirely destroys the wool, a ley which shall have but a quantity of alkaline salt sufficient to act on the wool without destroying it, will prepare the pores to receive and preserve the colouring atoiiis of the indigo. The stuff* is aired after being taken green out of the vat, and after wringing it becomes blue. What is done by airing ? it is cooled ^ if it is the urinous volatile detached from the indigo which gave it this green colour, it evaporates^ and the blue appears again ; if it is the fixed alkaline that causes this green, not only the greatest part is carried off^ by the strong ex- pression of the stufl^^, but what remains can have no more action on the colouring part, because the small atom of tartar of vitriol, which con- tains a coloured atom still less than itself, is crystalized the instant of its exposition to the cold air, and contracting this same colouring atom by the help of the spring at the sides of 94 the pore, it entirely presses out the remaindep of the alkali, which does not crystalize as a neutral salt. The blue is roused, that is, it beeomes brighter and finer by soaking the died stuff in warai water, for then the colouring particles, which had only a superficial adherence to the fibres of the wool, are carried off. Soap is used as a proof of the lasting of the blue die, and it must stand it, for the soap, which is only used in a snnall quantity in proportion to the water, and whose action on the died pattern is fixed to five minutes, is an alkali, mitigated by the oil, which cannot act upon a neutral salt. If it discharges the pattern of any part of its colour, it is because its parts were but superfi- cially adhering; besides, the little saline crys- tal which is set in the pore, whose use is to cement the colouring atom, cannot be dissolved" in so short a time, so as to come out of the pore with the atom it retains. This treatise lays down the essay of a method of dieing different from any hitherto offered. I appeal to philosophers, who would think little of a simple narative of processes, if I did not at the same time give their theory. I shall follow this method in the other experiments on reds, the yellows, or other simple colours, as it is absolutely necessary to have a knowledge of them before entering on the compound, as these are generally but colours laid on one af- ter the other, and seldom mixed together in the same liquor or decoction. 95 Thus having once the knowledge of what procures the tenacity of a simple colour, ic will be more easily known, if the second co- lour can take place in the spaces the first have left empty without displacing the first. This is the idea which I have formed to my- self of the arrangement of different colours laid on the same stuff, for it appears to me a matter of great difficulty to conceive that the colouring atoms can place themselves the one on the other, and thus form kinds of pyramids, each still preserving their colour, so that from a mixture of the whole a com.pound colour shall result, and which, notwithstanding, shall appear uniform, and as it were hom>ogeneous. To adopt this system, we must suppose a transparency in these atoms, v>^hich it would be difficult to demonstrate 5 and further, that a yellov/ atom must place itself immediately on a blue one, already set in the pore of the fibre of a stuff, and that it must remain there strongly bound, so that they must touch each other with extreme smooth surfaces, and so with every new colour laid on. It is not easy to conceive all this, and it ap- pears more probable, that the first colour has only taken up the pores that it found open by the first preparation of the fibres of the stuff ; that on the side of these pores there remains more still to be filled, or at least spaces not occupied, where new pores may be opened to lodge the new atoms of a second colour, by the means of a second preparation of water, 96 composed of corroding salts, which being the same as those of the first preparing liquor, will not destroy the first saline crystals introduced into the first pores. What has been already said with regard to the indigo var, may also serve to explain the action of the woad vat on wool and stufl^s ; ic is only supposing in the woad, that salts do naturally exist, pretty near of affinity to those that are added to the indigo vat. It appears by the description given of these vats, that the v/oad vat is by much the most difficult to con- duct. I am convinced that these difficulties might be removed, if an attempt was made to prepare the isatisas the anil is in the West In- dies. I shall therefore compare their different * preparations. 1 have taken the following nara- live from the memoirs of Mr. Astruc's ioire Naturelle du Languedoc, Paris, Cava- Her 1737, in 4.to, p, 330 and 331. According to the opmion of diers, woad only gives feeble and ianguishing colours; whereas those of the indigo are lively and *^ bright. This opinion I grant is conform- able to reason : the indigo is a fine subtle powder ; consequently capable to penetrate the stuffs easily, and give them a shining co- lour. The woad, on the contrary, is only a gross plant, loaded with many earthy parts, which slacken the action and motion of the " finer parts, and prevent them from acting efi^ectually. 97 I know but one way to remove this incon- veniency, that is, to pre[)are the woad after " the same manner the indigo is prepared , by this means, the colours obtained from the woad would acquire the lively and bright qualities of those procured from the indigo, without diminishing in the least the excel- *^ lency of the colours produced by the woad. " I have already made in small* experiments on what I propose, and those experiments have succeeded, not only in the preparation of the powder of woad, but also in the use of this powder for dicing." It is incumbent on those who have the pub- lic good at heart, to cause trials at large to be made, and if they have the success that can reasonably be expected, it will be proper to en- courage those who cultivate woad, to follow this new method of preparing it, and offer pre- miums to enable them to sustain the expenses this new practice will engage them in, until the advantage they will reap from it may be sufficient to determine them to follow it. I shall now propose the means to succee^ in Mr. Astruc's experiments, and these means na- turally result from considering the method used in Languedoc for the preparation of woad, and the ingenious method by which they sepa- rate chefecula of the anil in America. I have * As this ingen oris man has succeeded in sr^irili experi- ments, it is pi oV>3b]e hr ^A jiild aho in tne large ones j and then this plant easily cnhivaied in England, would well rtcom- pence the pains of the husbandman. I 98 already given the preparation of this last ; those who desire a fuller description may consult rHtstotre des Antilles du P. du Tertre ^ du P. Labat. The following preparation of the pas- tel, or garden woad, is thus described by Mr» Astruc. The manufacturing of Pastel^ or Garden Woad in France. Peasants of Abbigevois distinguish two kinds of woad seed : the one Violet colour, the other yellow ; they prefer the for»ncr, because the woad rhat shoots froai it bears leaves that are smooth and polished, whereas thosr that spring from the yellow are hairy ; this fills them with earth and dust, which makts the woad prepared from them of a won>e qua- lity. This woad is called pastelbourgy or bour» daigne. The woad at first shoots five or six leaves out of the ground, which stand upright whilst green ; they are a foot long, and six inches broad ; they begin to ripen in June \ they are known to be rjpe by their falling down and growing yellow ; they are then gathered, and the ground cleared from weeds, which js care- fully repeated each crop. If there has been rain, a second crop is ob- tained in July ; rain or dry weather advances or retards it eight days. The third crop is at the latter end of August; a fourth the latter end of September \ and the fifth and last about 99 the tenth of November- This last crop is the most considerable, the interval being longer. The plant at this crop is cut at the root from whence the leaves spring. This woad is not good, and the last crop is forbid by the regu- lations. The woad is not to be gathered in foggy or rainy weather, but in serene weather, when the sun has been out some time. At each crop the leaves are brought to the mill CO be ground, and reduced to a fine paste; this is to be done speedily, for the leaves when left in a heat ferment, and soon rot with an in- tolerable stench. These mills are like the oil or bark-mills, that is, a mill-stone turns round a perpendicular pivot in a circular grove or trough, pretty deep, in which the woad is ground. The leaves thus mashed and reduced to a paste, are kept up in the galleries of the mill, or in the open air. After pressing the paste well with the hands and feet, it is beat down and made smooth with a shovel. This is cal- led the woad piled. An outward crust form-s, which becomes bhclcish; when it cracks, great care must be taken to close it again. Little worms will generate in these crevices and spoil it. The pile is opened in a fortnight, well worked be- tween the hands, and the crust well mixed with the inside 5 sometimes this crust requires to be beat with a mallet to knead it v/ith the rest. This paste is then made into small loaves or round balls, which according to the regula- 100 tions, must weigh a pound and a quarter. Tiiese bails are vvtU pressed in the making, and are then given to another, who kneads them again in a wooden dish, lengthens them at both ends, making them oval and smooth. Lastly, they are given to a third, who finishes them in a Itsser bowl dish, by pressing and perfectly uniting them. The pastel or woad thus prepared is called Pastel cn Cccatgne \ whence arises the proverb, Pais de Cocaigne \ which signifies a rich coun- try, because this country^ where the woad grows, enriched itself formerly by the com- merce of this drug. These balls -j- are spread on hurdles, and exposed to the sun in fine weather ; in bad weather they are put at the top of the mill. The woad that has been exposed some hours to the sun, becomes black on the outside, whereas that which has been kept within doors is generally yellowish, particularly if the wea- ther has been rainy. The merchants prefer the forager ; this makes little difference as to its use; it is in general always yellowish, as the peasants mosrly Vv'ork it in rainy weather when they cannot attend their rural employments. In summer, these balls are commonly dry in fifteen or twenty days, whereas in autumn those of the last crop are long in drying. * V Ahigeois ^ Lauragois* f There is a plice in India , the name I do not recollect, where the anil is prepared after the manner ot the woad, and the indigo come& from it in lumps, containing all the ll^eless parts of this plant. It is very difficult to prepare a blue vat with it. iOI The good balls when broke are of a violet colour within, and have an agreeable smell ; whereas those that are of an earthy colour and a bad smell, are not good y this proceeds from the gathering of the woad during the rain, when the leaves were filled with earth. Their goodness is also known by their weight, being light when they have taken too much air, or rotten by not having been sufficiently pressed. Pozvder of Woad.^ Of these balls well prepared, the powder of woad is to be made; for this purpose a hun- dred thousand at K^ast are required. A distant barn or a warehouse must be procured, larger or smaller according to the quantity intended to be made. In must be paved with bricks and lined with the same, to the height of four or five feet \ the walls would be better to be of stone to that height, yet often the walls are on- ly coated with earth ; this coat breaking off and mixing with the woad is a great prejudice to it. In this place the balls are reduced to a gross powder with large wooden mallets. This pow- der is heaped up to the height of four feet, re- serving a space to go round, and is moistened with water; that which is slimy* is best provi- • I can see no reason why slimy water, and yet to be ciear,- js preferred. It appears to me that clear river water would be mv>re .^ccure ; with this they would avoid ilie inconveniences tha. ntiust attend a standing water, always filled with filth ; or oF a muddy water, which contains ilseless earth, and which must mal^e the die uneven* I a 102 cicd it be clear; the woad thus moistened, fer- menrs, heats, and ennics a very thick stinking vapour. It is stirred every day for twelve days, fling- ing it by shovels full from one side to the other, and moistening it every day during that time; after which no more water is flung on, but on- ly stirred every second day; th.en every third, fourth, and fifth ; it is then heaped up in the middle of the place, and looked at from time to time to air it in case it should heat. This is the pastel or garden woad powder fit for sale to the Diers. Mr. Astruc, to prove that the sale of woad formerly enriched the higher Languedoc, quotes the following passage from a book en- titled Le. Marc hand. Formerly they transported from Toulouze to Bourdeaux, by the river Garonne, each year a hundred thousand bales of woad, which on the spot are worth at least fifteen livres a bale, which amounts to i, 500, coo livres ; from whence proceeded the abundance of mo- ney and riches of that country." Castel in his Alemoirs de r Eistoire du Languedocy in 1633, p. 49- The comparing of these tvv^o methods of preparing the woad and indigo may be suffi- cient to a person of understanding, who might be appointed to try, by experiments, the pos- sibility of extracting a fecula from the isatis of Languedoc like that of the anil. It is neither the Dier or Manufacturer that ought be appli- ed to for that purpose; both would condemn the project as a novelty, and it would require many experiments, which in general they are not accustomed to. 1 could wish this experiment was tried in great, fo that at least fifry pound of this fecula might be got, that several vats might be set in case the first should fail. Whosoever does try it, should be very careful to describe all the circumstances of the process. Perhaps it might not succeed at the fii St crop of the leaves of the woad, because the heat in June is not sufficient, but probably he might meet with success in August. If this succeeds, there are w^ithout doubt several other plants of the same quality as the isatis, and which yields a like fecula. It is also probable that the dark green of se- veral plants is composed of yellow and blue parts ; if by fermentation the yellow could be destroyed the blue would remain. This is not a chimerical idea, and it is easy to prove tha2 some use might be derived from such m eji- periment. 104 CHAPTER VIIL OF RED. RED, as has been said, is one of the pri- mary or mother colours of the diers. In the great die there are four principal reds, which are the basis of the rest. These are. I. Scarlet of grain. 2. The scarlet, now in use, or flame-colouied scarlet, formerly cal- led Dutch scarlet. 3. The crimson red. And, 4. The madder red. There are also the bastard scarlet and the bastard crimson; but as these are only mix-^ jures of the principal reds, they ought not to be considered as particular colours. The red, or nacaret of hurre^y was for- merly permitted in the great die. All these different reds have their particu- lar shades from the deepest to the lightest, but they form separate classes, as the shades of the one never fall into those of the other. The reds are worked in a different manner from the blues, the woc^ or stuffs not being immediately dipped in the die, but previously • This colour Is given with weld and goat's hair boiled In pot-ashes, and is a bright orange red. colour, but prepartfs them to rc^ceivc that of the colouring ingredient. This is called the water of preparation ; it is coimmonly made with acids, such as sour waters, alum and tartar, aqua fortis, aqua re- gaiis, Sec. These preparuig ingredients are used in different quantities, according to the colour and shade required. Galls arc also of- ten used, and somenmes alkaline salts. This I shall explain in the course of this treatise, when I come to the method of working each or these colours. OF SCARLET OF GRAIN. iHIS colour is called scarlet of grain, be cause it is made with the kermes, which was long thought to be the grain of the tree on which it is found. It was formerly called French scarlet, imagining it to be first found out in France, and is now known by the name of Venetian scarlet, being much in use there, and miore made than in any other phice. The fashion passed from thence into France and other countries. It has indeed less lustre, and is browner than the scarlet now in fashion ; but it has the advantage of keeping its brightness longer, and does not spot by mud or acid li- quors. CHAPTER IX. ic6 The kermes is a gall insect, which is bred, lives, and multiplies upon the ilex accukato cocci glandiscra^ C. B. P. Some comes from Narbonne, but greater quantities from Alicant and Valentia, and the peasants of Languedoc yearly bring it to Montpelier and Narbonne. The merchants who buy them to send abroad, spread them on cloths, and sprinkle them wiuh vinegar, in order to kill the little insects that are within, which yield a red powder, which is separated from the shell after drying, and is then passed through a sieve ^ this is done par- ticularly in Spain. They then make it up in bales, and in the middle of each a quantity of this powder is in- closed in a leather bag, in proportion to the whole bale. Thus each dier has his due pro- portion of this powder. These bales are ge- nerally sent to Marseilles, from whence they are exported to the Levant, Algiers, and 1 u- nis, where it is greatly made use of in dic- ing. The red draperies of the figures in the an- cient tapestry of Brussels, and other manufac- tories of Flanders, are died with this ingre- dient; and some that have been wrought up- wards of two hundred years, have scarcely lost any thing of :he brightness of rhe colour. I shall now proceed to give the method of making this scarlet of grain, which is now seldom used but for wools designed for ta- pestry. 10/ Preparation of the Wool for Scarlet of Grain. Twenty pounds of wool and half a bushel of bran are put into a copper, with a sufficient quantity of water, and suffered to boil hiJf an hour, stirring it every now and then ; it is then taken out to drain. It is necessary to observe, that whenever spun wool is to be died^ a stick is passed through each hank (which commonly weighs one pound) and they remain on the stick du- ring the course of the work to prevent their entangling. This stick also enables the dier to return the hanks with more ease, by plunging each part successively in the liquor, by which they take an equal die ; by raising the hank with a stick, and drawing it half way out of the copper, seizing the other end of the hank with the othrr hand, it is plunged towards the bottOiH. If the vv^ool be too hot, this may be done vyith two sticks, and the ofiencr this is repeated, the more even will be the die j the ends of the sncks are then placed on two poles to drain. Th^-se poles are fixed in the wall above the copper. Liquor for the Kermes^ While this prepared wool is draining, the copper is empeied, and fresh water puc in, co which is added about; a fift:; of n\n watet^ four pounds of Roman alum grossly powder- io8 ed, and two pounds of red tartar. The whole h brought to boil, and that instant the hanks are dipped in (on the sticks) which are to re- main in for two hours, stirring them continu- ally one after the other after the method already laid down. I muse in this place observe, that the liquor in which the alum is put, when on the point of boiling sometimes rises s^ suddenly that it comes over the copper, if not prevented by adding cold water. If, when it is rising, the spun wool is instantly put in, it stops it, and produces the same effects as cold water. The liquor does not rise so suddenly when there is a large quantity of tartar, as in the process ; but when the alum is used alone, someti;nes above half the liquor comes over the copper when it begins to boil, if not pre- vented by the method described. When the wool has boiled two hours in this liquor, it is taken out, left to drain, gently squeezed, and put into a linen bag in a cool place for five or six days, and sometimes longer ^ this is called f:.aving the wool in preparation. This is to make ic penetrate the better, and helps to augment the action of the salts, ^or as apart of the liquor always fiies off, it is evi- dent that the reaiaining, being fuller of saline particles, becomes niore active, provided th^re remained a surTicient qu-incity of humidity ^ for the salts bring crysiaiized and dry, would have no more aciion. 109 ' I have dwelled much longer on this pre- paring liquor, and the method of making it, than I shall in the sequel, as there are a great number of colours for which it is prepared pretty near in the same proportion, so that when this happens, I shall slightly describe it, mentioning only the changes that are to be made in the qL>antity of alum, tartar, sour water, or other ingredients. After the spun wool has been covered five or six days, it is fitted to receive the die. A fresh liquor is then prepared according to the quantity of wool to be died, and when it be- gins to be lukewarm, take 12 ounces of pow- dered kermfs for each pound of wool to be died, if a rull and well-coloured scarlet is wanted. If the kermes was old and flat, a pound of it would be required to each pound of wool. When the liquor begins to boil, the yarn (still moist, which it will be if it has bet-n well wrapped in the bag, and kept in a cool place) is put in. If it had been boiled a long time before, and grown dry, it musi be lightly passed through lukewarm water, and well squeezed before it is died. Previous to its being dipped in the copper with the kennes, a harrdful of wool is cast in, which is let to boil for a minute: this takcb up a kind of black scum, which the kermes cast up, by which the wool that is afterwards dip- ped acquires a finer colour. This handfui of wool being taken out, the prepared is to ba put in. The hanks are passed on sticks as ia K no the preparation, continually stirring, and air- ing them one after the other. It must boil after this manner an hour at least, then taken out and placed on the poles to drain, after- wards wrung and washed. The die still remaining in the liquor, may serve to dip a little fresh parcel of prepared wool ; it will take some colour in proportion to the goodness and quality of the kermes put into the copper^ When different shades are wanted, a less quantity of kermes is used, so that for twenty pounds of prepared wool seven or eight are sufficient. The quantity of wool that is to have the lightest shade is first to be dipped, and to re- main no longer in than the tim.e sufficient to turn it and make it take the die equally. Then the next deepest shade intended is dipped, and left to remain some time longer; after this manner the work is continued to the laso which is left as long as requisite to acquire the neces- sary shade. The reason of working the lightest shades first, is, that if the yarn is left too long in, no damage is done, as that hank may serve for a deeper shade; whereas, if they begin by a deeper, there would be no remedy if a failure happened in some of the lighter shades. M he same caution is to be taken in all colours whose shades are to be different. There are seldom more shades than one from the colour now spoken of ; but as the working Ill part is. the same for all colours, what has been said on this subject will serve for the rest* The yarn thus died, before bringing it to the river, may be passed through lukewarm water, in which a small quantity of soap has been perfectly dissolved ; this gives a bright- ness to the colour, but at the same time sad- dens it a little, that is, gives it a little cast of the crimson. As I shall often make use of the terms rouzing and saddeningy especially in the acids, it is necessary to explain their meaning. "^Saddening, is giving; a crimson or violet cast to red ; soap and alkaline salts, such as ley of ashes, pot»ashes, lime, sadden reds; thus they serve to bring them to the shade required when too bright, and that they are too much rouzed, Rouzingy is doing quite the reverse; it is giving a fire to the red, by making it border on the yellow or orange. This is performed on wool by the means of acids, as red or white tartar, cream of tartar, vinegar, lemon juice, and aqua fortis. These acids are added more or less, according to the depth of the orange colour required. For example, if the scarlet of grain was wanted to be more bright, and approach somewhat nearer to common scarlet, a little of the scarlet composition, which shall be spoken of, must be poured into the liquor after the kermes is put in, and the brown co- lour of that liquor would immediately be bright- ened by the acid, and bedbme of a brighter I 12 r^d; the wool dipped in would be more liable to be spotted by mud and acid liquors : the reason will appear in the next chapter. I have made various experiments on this co- Jour, in order to make it fitter and brighter than what it generally is, but I never could ex- tract a red that was to be compared to that of cochineal. Of all the liquors which I made for the pre- paration of the wool, that which was made with the preparations just mentioned succeed- ed best. By changing the natural die of the kermes, by different kinds of ingredients of metallic solutions, &c. various colours are miade, which I shall immediately speak of. I shall say but liitle about dieing stuffs with this red, as the proportion cannot be prescribed for each yard of stuff, on account of their breadth and thickness, or the quantity of wool entering their composition ; practice alone will reach the necessary quantity for each sort of stuff; however, not to work in the dark, or to try experiments at random, the surest way will be to weif^h the stuffs, and to diminish about one-fourth part of the colouring ingredients laid down for spnn wool, as stuffs take up less colour inwardly, their texture being more com- pact, prevents ics penetration, whereas yarn or wool in the fleece receives it equally within and without- The alum and tartar for the liquor of prepa- ration for the stuffs must be diminished in the same proportion, Und they are not to remain ^^3 in the preparing liquor as long as the wool. It may be died the next day after boiling. If wool in the fleece is died with the red of the kermes, either to incorporate it with cloths of a mixed colour, or to make full cloths, \t will have a much finer effect than if the wool had been died in the red of madder. I shall mention this in describing the compound co- lours in which the kermes is used, or ought at lease to be used in preference to madder, which does not give so fine a red, but, being cheaper, is commonly substituted for it. Half grain scarier, or bastard scarlet, is that which is made. of equal parts of kermes and mad ler. This mixture affords a very holding colour, not bright, but inclining to a blood red. It is prepared and worked in the sa ne manner as that made of kermes alone« This die is much cheaper, and the diers com- monly make it less perfect by diminishing the kermes and augmenting the madder. By the proofs that have been made of scar- kt of grain or kermes, whether by exposing it to the sun, or by different proofs, it is certain there is not a more holding or a better colour; yet the kermes is no where in use but at Venice. The mode of this colour has been entirely out since the making of flame-coloured scarlets. This scarlet of ^rain is now called a colour of bullock's blood : nevertheless, it has great ad- vaniages over the other,. for it neither blackens nor spots, and grease may be taken out with- out prejudice to its colour j but it is out of K a 114 fashion and that is sufficient. This has entire- ly put a stop CO the consumption of kermes in France. Scarce a Dier knows it, and when Monsieur Colbert wanted a certain quantity for the expennaents above related, he was obliged to send for it to Languedoc, the mer- chants of Paris keeping only a sufficiency for medicinal purposes. When a Djer is obliged to die a piece of cloth, known yet under the name of scarlet of grain, as he has neither the knowledge of the kermes, nor the custom of using it, he makes it of a cochineal, as I shall relate in the following chapter; it comes dearer, and is less holding than that made of the kermes. The same is done in regard to spun wool designed for ta- pestries, and as this shade is pretty difficult to hit With cochineal, they commonly mix brazil wood, which hitherto has been a false ingre- dient, permitted only in the lesser die. For this reason all these kind of reds fade in a very sliort time, and though they are much brighter than required, Gom;ing out of the hands of the v/orkman, they lose all their brightness before the expiration of a yeai;: they whiten or become exceeding grey ; it is therefore to be wished that the use of kermes was again established. It is also certain, that if some Dier set about using it, there are several colours that might be extracted from it with more ease and less ex- pence than the common method; for these co- lours would be better and more holding, and he would thereby acquire a greater reputation. I ^'5 have made above fifty experiments with the kermcs, from which some use in practice may arise; I shall only relate such as have produ- ced the most singular colours. By mixing the kermcs v/ith cream of tartar, without alum, and as much of the composition as vvoulci be usfd for the makiiig of scarlet with cochineal, you iiave in one l;quor an ex- ceeding bright cinnamon, for nothing but the acid entering in the mixture, the red parts of the kermes become so minute that tht y almost escape the sight. But if this cinnamon colour be passed through a liquor of Roman alum, part of this red appears again ; whether it be by the addition of the alum that drives out a part of the acid of the composition, or the earth of the alum precipitated by the ascricrion of the kermes, which has the effect of galls, I know not j but this red thus restored is not fine. With cream of tartar (the composition for scarlet) and alum, in greater quantity than tartar, the kermes gives a lilae colour, which varies according as the proportion of ingre- dients are changed. If in the place of alum and tartar, ready prepared tartar of vitriol is substituted, which is a very hard salt, resulting from the mixture of the vitriolic acid and a fixed alkali, such as the oil of tartar, pot ashes, &c. and if, 1 say,^ after boiling the kermes in a solution of a small quantity of this salt, the stuff be dipped in a.id boiled one hour, it acquires a tolerable hand- 1 iO some ngath grey, and in which very lictie red is seen, for the acid of the conf^«posicion ijaving too much divided the red of the kenr.es, and tlie tartar of vitriol, not containing the earth of the alum, it could not re unite these red atoms, dispersed by precipitation. These agath greys are of the good die, for, as I have observed in the cliaptt r treating of indigo, the tartar of vi- triol is a hard salt, which is not calcined by the sun, and is indissoluble in rain water. Glauber sales mixed with the kermes entirely destroy its red, and give an earthy grey that does not stand the proof, for this salt neither resists cold water nor the rays of the sun, which reduce it into powder. Vitriol or green cop- peras, and blue vitriol separated substituted for alum, but joined to the crystal of tartar, equally destroy or veil the red of the kermes, which in these two experiments produce the same effect as if galls or sumach had been made use of ; for it precipitates the iron of the green vitriol, and dies the cloth of a grey brown^ and the copper of the blue vitriol dies it of an olive. Instead of blue vitriol, I used a solution of copper'''^ in aqua fortis, which also produced an olive colour; a convincing proof that the ker- mes has the precipitating quality of the galls, since it precipitates the copper of the vitriol as a decoction of gall-nut would. There is great probability that what renders the red of the kermes as holding as that of * Veid gnse. 117 madder, is from the insects feeding on an as- tringent shrub, which, notwithstanding the changes made by the digestion of the juices of the plant, still retains the astringent quality of the vegetable, and consequently the virtue, and so gives a greater spring to the pores of the wool to contract themselves quicker and with greater strength, when it comes out of the boiling vvater, and is exposed to the cold air; for I have observed that all barks, roots, wood, fruits, and other matters that iiave some astric- tion, yield colours of the good die. Violets without Blue. The white vitriol of goslar, whose 4)asis is the zinck, being joined with the crystal of tar- tar, changes the red of the kermes into violet. Thus with one colouring ingredient, and sim- ple changes, violets are made without a blue ground ; for this compound colour, hitherto only obtained by putrmg a blue on a red, or a red on a blue, is made as well with cochineal, or even with madder, as shall be shown treat- ing of these two ingredients. White vitriol being extracted from a mine, containing lead, arsenic, and several other matters, whose re- crcfTients melted afterwards with sand and alka- line sdl s, vitrifies into a blue mass, caiied safre, I suspected the white vitriol might con- tain a portion of this blue, which, with the red of the kermes, might liave changed to a violet and consequently that the mine of the ii8 bismuth, which really contains this blue mat- ter, and the bismuth itself would produce the same effect as white vitriol ; neither was I mis- taken in my conjecture ^ for having put some of the extract of the mine of bismuth in the li- quor of kermes, and some of the solution of the bismuth itself upon another decoction of the same ingredient, they both died cloth of a violet colour. I shall not here give the pro- cess of extracting the mine of bismuth, for it is a difficult op'Tacion for a dier. However, if the reader is desirous to know what 1 mean by the extraction of the mine of bismuth, he will find the process in the Royal i\cademy of Sciences for the year 1737, where there is a memoir on sympathetic inks. As to the solu- tion of bismuth, which produces almost the same effect, it is made after the following manner : Take four parts of spirits of nitre, and four parts of very clear water, which mix to- gether, and dissolve therein one part of bis- muth, or tin glass, broken in small pieces, put the last littk by little into the liquor, lest they should occasion too violent a fermenta- tion. Acids put in too great abundance in the liquor of the kermes, whether it be spirits of Vitriol, aqua fortis, vinegar, lemon juice, even sour water, so greatly divide the red colouring particles, that trie cioch receives but a cinna- mon colour, bordering on the aurora, if there is too much acid, and a little redder if there is less. 119 Fixed alkaline salts, mixed with sour water and cream of tarc;irj in the place of alum, do not .destroy the red of the kermes as acids do, but saddens and muds it if too much be put in, so that the cloth receives only a faded lilac colour. Other experiments, still more diversified than those here related, presented an infinite variety of colours, but nothing more beautiful than what may be done with cheaper drugs than the kermes ; 1 shall therefore pass them over. CHAPTER X. OF FLAME-COLOURED SCARLET. FLAME-coloured scarlet, that is, bright- coloured scarlet, known foraierly under the name of Dutch sc 'i ler, (the discovery of which Kufikel at-ribuc^-s to Kuster, a German chymrst) is the finest and brightest colour of the die. It is also the most costly, and one of the hardest to bring to perfection. It is not easy to determine the point of perfection, for, in dependent of different tastes concerning the choice of colours, there are also general fancies, which make certain colours more in fashion at one time than another; when this happens, fashionable colours become perfect ones. For- ] 20 merly scarlets were chosen full, deep, and of a degree of brightness which the sight easily bore. At this time they must be on the orange, full of fire, and of a brightness which dazzles the eye. I shall not decide which of these two fashions deserve the preference, but shall give the method of making them both, and all the shades which hold a medium be« tween these extremes. Cochineal, which yields this beautiful co- lour, and is also called mesrick, or tescalle, is an insect that is gathered in great quantities in Mexico. The natives and Spaniards, who have but s mil est iblishments there, cultivate them, that is, carefully gather them from the plant on which they feed before the rainy sea- son. They kill and dry those designed for salr, and preserve the rest to multiply when the bad season is over. This insect feeds and breeds upon a kind of prickly opuntia, which they call topal. It may be preserved in a dry place for ages without spoiling. , The cochineal sylvcnre, or campessiane, is also brought from Vera-Cruz. The Indians of Old and New M^^xico giither this kind in the wo )d^ ; it feeds, grows, and generates there on the wild uncultivated opuntias ; it is there exposed in the rainy season to all the hu- midity of the air, and dies naturally. This cochineal is always smaller than the fine or cul- tivated J the colour is more holding and herrer, but has not the same brightness, nrit^ier is it profitable to use it, since it requires four parts. 121 and sometimes more, to do what may be done with one of fine. Sometimes they have damaged cochineal at- Cadiz ; this is fine cochineal that has been wet- ted with salt water, occasioned by some ship- wr^fck or leakage. These accidents consider ably diminish the price, the sea salt saddening the die. This kind serves only to make pur- ples, and even those are not the best. How- ever, a person in 1735 found the secret to tura this to ahnosr as much advantage for scarlet as the finest cochineal. The discovery of this secret is easy, but let him that possesses it en- joy it, I shall not deprive him of the advantage he might have in it. Every dier has a particular receipt for dieing scarlet, and each is fully persuaded that his owa is preferable to all others; yet the success de- pends on the choice of the cochineal, of the water used in the die, and on the manner of preparing the solution of tin, which the diers call composition of scarlet. As it is this composition which gives the bright flame col'^>ur to the cochineal die, and which without this acid liquor would naturally be of a crimson colour, 1 shall describe the preparation that succeeded best with me. Composition for Scarlet. Take eight ounces of spirit of nitre, (which Is always purer than the common aqua forcis L 122 mostly used by the diers) and* be certain that it contains no vitriolic acid ; weaken this nitrous acid by putting it into eight ounces of filtered river water : dissolve in it, little by litde, half an ounce of very white salt ammoniac, to make it an aqua regia, because spirits of nitre alone will not dissolve block- tin. Lastly, add two drachms of salt-petre; this might be omitted, bur I observed that it was of use in making the die smooth and equal. In this aqua regia thus weakened, dissolve one ounce of the best block-nn, which is first granulated or made small while melted by casting it from a height into a vessel of cold water. These small grains of tin are put into the dissolvent one by one, letting the first dissolve before putting in others ; this prevents the loss of the red va- pours, which would rise in great abundance, and be lost if the dissolution of the metal was made too hastily i it is necessary to preserve these vapours, and, as Kunkel observed, they * Dispclve in a small quantity of spirit of nitre as much sil- ver as It wjil take ; put a few drops of this into some of the spirit ot nitre that is to be proved j if this spirit remains transparent, it is pure; but it a white cloud be perceived, which will afterwards form a sediment, it is a sign th xt there is a commixtuie of vitriol or spirit of salt. In order therefore to render the spirit of nitre absolutely pure, drop the solution of silver gradually into it, so long as it shall pjoduce the least turbidness, time bemg given for the spirit to become clenr be- twixt each addition. The spirit of nitre being then poured off from the sediment, will be perfectly pure ; and if this se- diment, which is the silver precipitated, be evaporated to dry- ness, and then infused in a crucible with a small quancj y of any fixed alkaline salt, it will be reduced to its proper metal- line state. 123 greatly contribute towards the brightness of the colour, eicher because these vapours are acids that evaporate and are lost, or contain a sulphur peculiar to saltpetre, which gives a brightness to the colour. This method is in- deed much longer than that used by the diers, who immediately pour the aquafortis upon the tin reduced to small pieces, and wait till a strong fermentation ensues, and a great quan- tity evaporates before they weaken it with com- mon water* When the tin is thus dissolved, this scarlet composition is made, and the li- quor is of the beautiful colour of dissolved gold, without any dirt or black sediment, as I used very pure tin without allay, and such as runs from the first melting of the furnaces of Cornv/all. This solution of tin is very trans- parent when newly made, and becomes milky and opaque during the great heat of summer; the greatest part of the diers are of opinion, that it is then changed and good for nothing; yet mine, notwithstanding this defect, made as bright scarlet as if it had remained clear; be- sides, in cold v/eather^ what I made recov^^red its first transparency. It must be kept in a glass bottle wirh a stopper, to prevent the evapora- tion of the volatile parts. As the diers do not attend to this, their com- position often becomes useless at the end of twelve or fifteen days. I have laid down the best method, and, if they seek perfection, they will abandon their old practice, which is im- perfect. 124 The diers in France first put into a ston.e vessel, with a large opening, two pounds of 3a!t ammoniac, two ounces of refined saltpetre, and two pounds of tin reduced to grains by water, or, which is srill preferable, the filings of tin ; for when it has been melted and gra- nulated, there is always a small portion con- verted into a calx which does not dissolve. They weigh four pounds of w^acer in a sepa- rate vessel, of v^hich they pour about two ounces upon the mixture in the stone vessel ; they then add to it a pound and a half of com- mon aqua fortis, which produces a violent fer- mentation. When the ebullition ceases, they put in the same quantity of aqua fortis, and an instant after they add one pound more. They then put in the remainder of the four pounds of water they had set aside; the vessel is then close covered, and the composition let to stand nil the next day. Thes^i petre and salt ammoniac are some- timc^s dissolved in the aqua fortis before the tin is put in ; they practise b<>th methods indiscri- minateiys though it is certain that this last me- thod is bt St. Others mix the water and aqua fortis together, and pour this mixture on the tin and sak ammoniac. In short, every dier follows his own method. Water for the Preparation of Scarlet. - * The day after preparing the composition, the v/ater for the preparation of scarlet is made^ 12S which difFer^from that made in the preceding chapter. Clear the water well. For each pound of spun wool, put twenty quarts of very clear ri- ver water (hard spring water will not do) into a small copper* When the water is a little more than lukewarm, two ounces of the cream of tar- tar finely powdered, and one drachm and a half of powdered and sifted cochineal is added. The fire is then made a little stronger, andl when the liquor is ready to boil two ounces of the composition are put in. This acid instantly changes the colour of the liquor, which, from a criuison, becomes of the colour of blood. As soon as this liquor begins to boil, the wool is dipped in, which must have been pre- viously wetted in warm water and wrung. The ^ wool is continually worked in this liquor, and left to boil an hour and a half ; it is then taken out, slightly wrung, and washed in fresh water. The wool coming out of the liquor is of a lively flesh colour, or even some shades deeper, ' according to the goodness of the cochineal^ and the strength of the composition. The co- lour of the liquor is then entirely passed into the wool, remaining almost as clear as common water. This is called the water of preparation for scarlet, and the first preparation it goes through before it is died; a preparation absolutely ne- cessary, without which the die of the cochi- neal would not be so good. L 2 ia6 Reddening. To finish it, a fresh liquor is prepared with clear water, the goodness of the water being of the greatest importance towards the perfection of the scarlet. An ounce and a half of search is put in*, and when the liquor is a little more than lukewarm, six drachms and a half of co- chineal finely powdered and sifted is thrown in. A little before the liquor boils, two ounces of the composition is poured in, and the liquor changes its colour as in the former. It must boil, and then the wool is put into the copper, and continually stirred as in the former* It is likewise boiled an hour and a half ; it is then ta- ken out, wrung, and washed. The scarlet is then in its perfection. One ounce of cochineal is sufficient for a pound of wool, provided it be worked with at- tention, and after the manner laid down, and that no die remains in the liquor. For coarse cloth less would do, or half as much for worsted. However, if it was required to be deeper of cochineal, a drachm or two might be added, but not more, for it would then lose its lustre and brightness. Though I have mentioned the quantity of the composition, both in the water of the pre- paration and the die, yet this proportion is nat to be taken as a fixed rule. ♦ Starch softens it. 127 The aqua fortis, used by the ciiers, is sel- dom of an equal strength ; if, therefore, it be always mixed with an equal quantity of wa- ter, the composition would not produce the same effect ; but there is a method of ascer- taining the degree of acidity of aqua fortis. For exauiple, to use that only, two ounces of which would dissolve one ounce of silver. This would produce a composition that would be al- ways equal, but the quality of the cochineal would then produce new varieties, and the tri- fling difference that this commonly cause s in the shade of scarlet is of no great signification, as more or less may be used to bring it precisely to the colour desired. It the composition be weak, and the aforesaid quantity not put in, the scarlet will be a deeper and fuller in colour. On the contrary, if a little more is added, it will be more on the orange, and have what is called more fire ; to rectify which, add a little of the composition, stirring it well in the copper, having first taken out the wool ; for if it was to touch any part before it was thoroughly mixed, it would blot it. If, on the contrary, the scar- let has too much fire, that is, too rriuch on the orange, or too much rouzed, it must be passed through clear warm water j when finished, this saddens it a little, that is, diminishes its bright orange; if there still remained too much, a little Roman alum must be mixed with the hoc water. ^ For spun wool that is to have all the various shades of scarlet, about half the cochineal; and 12.8 half the composition for full scarlet is sufficient. The cream of tartar must also be diminished proporcionabiy in the water of preparation. The wool must be divided into as many hanks or skains as there are to be shades, and v/hen the liquor is prepared, the skains that are to be lightest are first to be dipped, and to remain in but a very short space of time; then tho&e that are to be a little deeper, which must re- main in somewhat longer, and thus proceeding to the deepest ; the wool is then to be washed, and the liquor prepared to finish them. In this liquor, each of these shades are to be boiled one after the other, beginning always with the lightest, and if they are perceived not to be of the proper shade they must be passed again through the liquor. The eye of a dier, will readily judge of the shades, and a little prac- tice will bring this to perfection. The diers are divided in opinion of what metal the boiler should be made. In Langue- doc they use those made of the finest block tin, and several diers in Paris follow the same method. Yet that great dier, M. de Julienne, whose scarlets are in great repute, uses brass. The same is used in the great manufactory at St. Dennis. M. be Julienne, to keep the stuffs from touching the boiler, makes use of a large rope net with close meshes. At St. Dennis, in- stead of a rope net, they have large baskets, made of willow stripped of the bark, and not too close worked. 129 As so much had been said concerning the metal of the boiler, I tried the experiment. I rook too ells of white ^edan cloth, which I died in two separate boilers of equal size ; one was of brass, fitted with a rope net, the other of block tin. The cochineal, the composition, and other ingredients, were weighed with the utmost accuracy and boiled precisely the same time. In short, I took all possible care that the process should be the same in both, that if any difference arose it might only be attributed to the different metals of the boiler. After the first liquor, the two pieces of cloth were abso- lutely alike only that which had been boiled in the tin vessel appeared a little more streaked and uneven, which, in all likelihood, proceed- ed from these two ells of cloth being less :.cour- ed at the mill than the two others ; the two pie- ces were finished each in the separate boilers, and both turned out very fine ; bui that which had been made in the tin boiler had a little more fire than the other, and the last was a little more saddened. It would have been an easy matter to have brought them both to the same shade, but that was not my intention. From this experim»ent, I conclude, that when a brass boiler is used, it requires a little ir.ore of the composition than the tin one ^ but this addition of the composition makes the cloth feel rough; to avoid this defe£t, the Diers who use brass vessels put in a little turm.eric, a drug of the die, but which gives to scarlet tl'ar ^iiade which is now in fashion ; I mean that flame- 130 colour, which the eye is scarce able to bear. This adulteration is easily discovered by cut- ting a piece of the cloth ; if there is no turme- ric, the web will be of a fine white, but yellow if there is. When the web is dyed the same as the surface, it is said that colour is webbed, and the contrary, when the middle of the wea- ving remains white. The lawful scarlet is ne- ver dyed in the web: the adulterated, where the turmeric or fustic has been made use of, is more liable to change its colour in the air than the other. But as the brightest scarlets are now in fashion, and must have a yellow cast, it is better to tolerate the use of turmeric, than to use too great a quantity of the composition to bring the scarlet to this shade ; for in this last case, the cloth would be damaged by it, would be sooner spotted by dirt from the quality of the acid, and would be more easily torn, be- cause acids stiffen the fibrt-s of the wool, and render them brittle. I must also take notice, that if a copper ves- sel is used it cannot be kept too clean. I hive failed several times with my pauerns of scarlet, by not having the copper scoured. I cannot help condemning the common prac- tice of some diers, even the most eminent, who prepare their liquor over nighc, and keep it hot till next morning, when they dip in their stuffs; this they do, not to lose time, but it is cerrain that che liquor corrodes the copper in that space^ and by introducing particles of copper in the cloth, prejudices the beauty of the scarlet. ^3^ They may say they only put in their composi- tion just at the time when the cloth is ready to be dipt in the copper; but the cream of tartar, or the white tartar, which they put in over night, is an acid salt sufficient to corrode the copper of the vessel, and form a verdigrise, although it dilutes itself as it forms, still has not a less effeft. It would therefore be better to make use of tin boilers, a boiler of this metal must contri- bute to VAC beauty of scarlet ; but these boilers of a sufficient s^ze cost much, and may be melt- ed by the negligence of the workmen, and there is a difficulty in casting them of so great a size without sand-flaws, which must be filled. Now if these sand -holes are filled with solder, there must of necessity be places in the boiler that contain lead ; this lead in time being corroded by the acid of the composition, will tarnish the scarlet. But if such a boiler could be cast without any sand-holes, it is certain such a one would be preferable to all others, as it contrafts no rusr, and if the acid of the liquor detaches some parts, they cannot be hurtful. Having laid down the manner of dieing spun wool in scarlet, and its various shades, which are so necessary for tapestry and other work, it is proper to give an idea of the dieing of seve- ral pieces of scuff at one time. I shall relate this operation as it is practised in Languedoc. I made the trial on some ells of stuff, which succeeded very v^ei , but this scarlet was not so fi.oe as the flame-coloured. 132 There are two reasons why the wool is not died before it is spun (for fine colours) first in the course of the manufadluring, rhat is, either in the spinning, carding, or weaving, it would be almost impossible in a large v;orkshop, where there are many workmen, but that some parti- cles of white wool, or some other colour would mix, which would spoil that of the stuff by blotting it ever so little; for that reason, the reds, the blues, the yellows, the greens, and all other colours that are to be perfedlly uniform, are never died before they are manufaftured. The second reason, which is peculiar to scar- let, or rather to cochineal, is, that it will not stand the milling, and as the greatest part of high stuffs must be milled after they are taken from the loom, the cochineal would lose part of its colour, or at least would be greatly sadden- ed ny the soap, which produces this effedl by the alkaline salt which destroys the brightness given to the red by the acid These are the reasons that the cloths and stuffs are not died in scarlet, light red, crimson, violet, purple, and other light colours, but after being entirely milled and dressed. To die, for example, five pieces of cloth at one time of five quarters breadth, and contain- ing fifteen or sixteen ells each, the following proportions are to be observed. Put into a stone or glazed earthen pot twelve pounds of aqua fortis, and twenty pounds of water, to which add a pound and a hall of tin, made in grains by running it in water, or filed. The 133 dissolution is made quicker or slower, accord- ing to the greater or lesser acidity of the aqua fortis. The whole is left to rest twelve hours at least, during which tinne a kind of black niud settles at the bottom of the vessel; what swiiHs over this sediment is poured off by in*» clination; this liquor is clear and yellow, and is the composition which is to be kept by it- self. This process differs from the first in the quan- tity of water mixr with the aqua fortis, and in the small quantity of tin, little of "which must remain in the liquor, since aqua fortis alone cannot dissolve it, but only corrodes it, and reduces it to a calx, as there is neither salt pe- tre, nor salt ammoniac which would fonvi an aqua regia. However, the effecfl of this com- position differs from the first only to the eyes accustomed to judge of that colour. This composition made without salt ammo- niac, and which has been of long use amongst a great nuaiber of manufadturers ac Carcassone, who certainly imagined that its effed was ow- ing to the sulphur of the tin, can only keep thirty-six hours in winter without spoiling, and twenty-four hours in summer ^ at the expiration of which it grows muddy, and a cloud preci- pitates to the bottom of the vessel, which chan- ges to a white sediment. This is the small quantity of tin, which was suspended in the acid, but an acid not prepared for that metal ^ the composition which ought to be yellow be- comes at that time as clear as water, and if used M ^34 in that state would not succeed ; it would have the same effeft as that which would become milky. The late M. Baron pretended to have been the first discoverer at Carcassone of the neces- sity of adding salt ammoniac to hinder the tin from precipitating. If so, there was no one in that town that knew that tin cannot be real- ly dissolved but by aqua regia. Having prepared the com,position as I have described it after M. de Fondriers, about sixty cubical feet of water are put into a large cop- per for the five pieces of cloth before mention- ed, and when the water grows warm, a bag with bran is put in, sometimes also sour waters are used : the one and the other serve to cor- real the water, that is, to absorb the earthy and alkaline matters which may be in it, and which, as 1 have already said, saddens the dye of the cochineal, for the effeft of the water ought to be well known, and experience will teach whe- ther such expedients should be used, or whether the water, being very pure and denulated of salts and earthy particles, can be used without such helps. Be that as it will, as soon as the water begins to be little more than lukewarm, ten pounds of powdered cream of tartar is flung in, that is, two pounds for each piece of cloth. The li- quor is then raked strongly, and when it grows a little hotter, half a pound of powdered cochi- neal is cast in, which is well mixr with sticks; immediately after, twenty-seven pounds of the 135 composition very clear is poured in, which is also well ftirred, and as soon as the liquor be- gins to boil, the cloths are put in, which are made to boil strongly for two hours, stirring them continually by the help of the wynch ; they are then taken out upon the scray, and well handled three or four times from end to end, by passing the lists between the hands to air and cool them. They are afterwards wash- ed. After the cloth has been washed, the copper is emptied and a fresh liquor prepared, to which if necessary, a bag with bran or some sour wa- ter is added; but if the water is of a good qua- lity, these are to be omitted ; when the lic|uor is rea iy to boil, eight pounds and a quarter of powdered and sifted cochineal is. put in, which is to be mixed as equally as possible through- out the liquor, and having left off stirring, ic is to be observed when the cochineal rises on the surface of the water, and forms a crust of the colour of the lees of the wine; tlie instant this crust opens of itself in several places, eigh- teen or twenty pounds of the composition is to be added. A vessel with cold water must be at hand to cast on the liquor in case it should rise, as it sometimes does, after the composi- tion is put in. As soon as the composition is in the copper^ and equally distributed throughout the whole, the cloth is cast in, and the wynch strongly turned two or three times, that all the pieces may equally take the dye of the cochineaL 136 Afterwards it is turned slowly to let the water boil, which it must do very fast for one hour, always turning the wynch, and sinking the clorh in the liquor with sticks, when by boiling it rises too much on the surface. The cloth is then taken out, and the lists passed between the hunds to air and cool it; it is then washed, after which it is to be died and dressed. In each piece of the Languedoc scarlet clorh there is used, as has been shewn, one pound and three quarters of cochineal in the die and preparation; this quantity is sufficient to give the cloth a very beautiful colour. If more co- chineal was added, and a deeper orange-colour required, the quantity of the composition must be augmented. When a great quantity of stuffs are to be died in scarlet, a considerable profit arises by doing them together^ for the same liquor serves for the second dip which was used for the first. For example : when the five first pieces are fi- nished, there always remains in the liquor a certain quantity of cochineal, which in seven pounds may amount to twelve ounces ; so that if this liquor be u ed to die other stuffs, the cloth- dipped in it will have the same shade of rose colour as if they had been died in a fresh liquor with twelve ounces of cochineal; yet this quantity may vary pretty much, according to the quality or choice of the cochineal, or ac* cording to the fineness it has been reduced to when powdered. 1 shall say no more of this before I finish this chapter ; but whatever co- ^37 lour may ren^ain in theliquorj it deserves some attenrion on account of the high price of this drog. The saine liquor is (hen n^ade use of for other five pieces, and less cochineal and composition are put in proportion to what may be judged to remain j fire and time are also sa- ved by this, and rose-colour and flesh-colour may also be produced from it but if the diers have no leisure to make these difl^erent liquors in twenty-four hours, the colour of the liquor corrupts, grows turbid, and loses the rose co- lour entirely, l o prevent this corruption some put in Rornan alum, but the scarlets which are prepared after that manner are ill saddened. When cloths of different cjualities, or any other stuffs are to be died, the surest method is to weigh them, and for each hundred weight of cloth add about six pounds of crystal or cream of tartar, eighteen pounds of composi- tion in the water of preparation, as much for the reddening, and six pounds and a quarter of cochineal. rhus in proportion for one pound of stuff use one ounce of cream of tartar, six ounces of composition, and one ounce of cochi- neal; some eminent diers at Paris put two-thirds of the composition and a fourth of the cochi- neal in the water of preparation, and the other third of the composition with three fourths of the cochineal in reddening. It is not customai y to put cream of tartar in the reddening, yet I am certain, by experience, that it does not hurt, provided the quantity does not ex'ceed half the weight of the cochi- M z I3B neal, and ic appeared to me to make a more lasting colour. Some diers have made scarlet with three dippings ; namely, a first and second water for preparation, and then the reddening; but still the same quantity of drugs is always used. I observed, in the foregoing chapter, that the little use made of kermes for the brown or Ve- netian scarlets, obliges most diers to make them with cochineal ; for this purpose a water of pre- paration is made as usual ; and for the redden- ing, eight pounds of alum are added for each hundred weight of stuff; this alum is dissolved by itself in a kettle, with a sufficient quantity of water, then poured into the liquor before the cochineal is put in. The remainder is per- formed exa£lly as in the common scarlet; this is the Venetian scarlet, but it has not near the same solidity as if made with the kermes. There are no alkaline salts which do not sad- den scarlet; of this number are the salt of tar- tar, pot-ash^ pearl-ashes calcined, and nitre fi^ed by fire ; therefore alum is more generally used ; and if these alkaline salts be boiled with the stuffs, they would considerably damage them, for they dissolve all animal substances. If the alum be calcined, it is still the more se- cure. The redder the scarlet is, the more it has been saddened ; from thence it appears that these colours lose in the liquor that browns them a part of their ground ; however one can- not brown in the good dye but with salts. The ^39 late M. Baron observc-s, in a memoir he gave some timie ago to the Royal Academy of Scien- ces, that all the salts he had made use of for browning, making the colour smooth, and pre- serving its brightness and deepness, [le had succeeded best with salt of urine, bur, as he observes, it is too troublesome to make this salt in any quantity/ I said, in the beginning of this chapter, that the choice of the water for dying of scarlet w^is very material, as the greatest part. of common water saddens it, for they mostly contain a chalky, calcareous earth, and sometimics a sul- i^hureous or vitriolic acid; these are common- ly called hard waters, that is, they will not dis- solve soap or boil vegetables well. By finding a method of absorbing or precipitating these hurtful matters, all waters m.ay be equally good for this kind of die : thus, if alkaline mjatters are to be removed, a little sour w at' r produces this effect ; for if five or six buckets of these sour waters are m'xed with sixty or seventy of the hard water before it comes to boil, these al- kaline earths rise in a scum, which is easily ta- ken off the liquor. All that I have hitherto said in this chapter is for the instrudtion of diers; I shall nov/ make an attempt to satisfy the philosopher how these different effefts are produced. Cochineal, infused or boiled by itself in pure water, gives a crimson colour bordering on the purple; this is its natural colour; put it into a glass, and drop on it spines of nitre ; this 24c colour will become yellow, and if you still add iHon.% you vyill scarcely perceive that there was originally any red in the liquor; thus the acid destroys the red by disbolving it and dividing irs parts so in nuttly that they escape the sight. If in this experiment a vicnolic, instead of a nitrous acid be used, the first changes of the colour will be purple, then purpled hlac, after that a light lilac, then flesh-colour, and lastly, colourless. Tliis bluish substance, which mix- es with the red to form a purple, may proceed from that small portion of iron, from whicli oil of viiriol is rarely exempt. In the liquor of preparation for scarlet, no other salt but cream of tartar is used, no alum is added as in the common preparing water for other colours, be- cause it would sadden the dye by its virriolic acid ; yet a calx or lime is required, which, v/ith the red parts of the cochineal, may form a kind of lake like that the painters use, which may set in the pores of the wool by the help of the crystal of tartar. This white calx is found in the solution of Very pure tin, and if the experiment of the die is made in any small glazed earthen vessel, im- mediately on the cochineal's communicating its tindure to the water, and then adding the composition drop by drof), each drop may be perceived with a glass or lens, to form a small circle, in which a brisk fermentation is carried on ; the calx of rhe tin will be seen to separate,' aad instantaneously to take the bright die^j 141 which the cloth will receive in the sequel of the operation. A furchcr proof that this white calx of tin is necessary in tiiis operation, is, that if cochineal was used with aqua fortis, or spirits of nitre alone a very ugly crimson would be obtained ; if a solution of any other metal was made use of in spirits of nitre, as of iron or mercury, from the first would be had a deep cinder-grey, and from the second, a chesniit colour with green streaks, without being able to trace in the one or other any remains of the red of the cochineal. There- fore, by what I have laid down, it may be rea- sonable to suppose, that the white calx of the tin, having been died by the colouring parts of the cochineal, rouzed by the acid of the dis- solvent of this metal, has formed this kind of earthy lake, whose atoms have introduced them- selves into the pores of the wool, which were opened by the boiling water, that they are plaistered by the crystal of tartar, and these pores, suddenly contracting by tiie immediate cold the cloth was exposed to by airin^^, that these colouring particles are found sufficiently set in to be of the good die, and that the air will take off the primitive brightness, in pro- portion to the various matters with which it is impregnated. In the country, for example, and particularly if the situation be high, a scarlet cloth preserves its brightness much longer than in great cities, where the urinous anJ alkaline vapours are more abundant. For the same reason, the country mud, which in 142 roads is generally but an earth diluted by rain water, does not stain scarlet as the mud" of towns where there are urinous matters, and often a great deal of dissolved iron, as in the streets of great cities, for it is well known that any alkaline matter destroys the effect which an acid !ias produced on any colour whatso- ever. And for the like reason, if a piece of scarlet is boiled in a ley of pot~ash, this co- lour becomes purple, and by a continuation of boiling it is entirely taken out ; thus from this fixed alkali, and the crystal of tartar, a solu- ble tartar is made, which the water dij-solves and easily detaches from the pores of the wool : all the mastic of the colouring parts is then destroyed, and they enter into the leyb of the salts, I have tried several experiments on the die of cochineal, to discover what might be pro- duced from the un^onof its red with other dif- ferent matters, w^hich generally are not esteem- ed colouring; but I shall only relate here such as had the most singular effects. Experiments cn Cochineal liquor. Zinc dissolved in spirit of nitre changes tK^ red of cochineal to a slatey violet colour. The salt of lead, used instead of cream of tartar, makes a lilac somewhat faded ; a proof that some portion of lead is joined to the co- lour of the cochineal. H3 Vitriolated tartar made with pot-ash and vi- triol destroys its red, and there only remains an agath grey. Bismuth dissolved in spirit of nitre, weak- ened by an equal part of common water, and poured on the liquor of cochineal, gives the cloth a dove-grey, very beautiful and very bright. A solution of copper in spirit of nitre not weakened, gives to the cochineal a dirty crim- son, Cupullated silver, a cinnam.on colour, a little on the brown. Arsenic added to the liquor of cochineal, gives a brighter cinnamon than the preceding. Gold dissolved in aqua regia gave a streak- ed chesnut, which made the cloch appear as if it had been manufactured with wool of dif- ferent colours. Mercury dissolved with spirit of nitre, pro- duces pretty near the same effect. Glauber's salts alone destroys the red, like the vitriolated tartar, and produces like that an agath gr y, but not of the good die; because this salt easily dissolves even in cold water, and besides it calcines in the air. The fixed salt of urine gives a cinder-grey colour, where not the least tincture of red is perceived, and like the foregoing is not of a good die, for it is a salt that cannot form a so- lid cement in the pores of the wool, as it is soluble by the moisture of the air. 144 Violet without Blue,^ Lastly, the extract of bismuth changes the cochineal red to a purple, alaiost violet, as beautiful as if this red had been put on a cloth that had been previously died of a sky-blue. From these exp(-rimenrs it is evident, that the salts and metallic solutions yield particles which unite themselves with the particles of the colouring ingrtdienrs used in dieing, and which salts and particles contribute greatly to the tenacity of colours. Before I finish this chapter on scarlet, I must add some observations which perhaps the rea- der may be glad ro knov.^ Neither the mud of the streets nor several acrid matters can stain scarlet, if the spotted part is im^mcdiately washed with plain clean water and a clean cloth ; but if the mud has had time to dry, then the spot appears of a vi- olet black 'y this cannot be taken off but by a vegetable acid, such as vinegar, lemon-juice, or a warm solution of white tartar slightly load- ed with salts ; but if these acids are not made use of with precaution and skill in taking off the black spot, a yellow one will succeed ; be- cause, as has been said before, the acids rouse and even destroy the red of the cochineal. But there are some for which the colour must be discharged, and the stuff died agam. There are other sales, besides alkalis which will dis- charge the colour of scarlet ; for if a piece of H5 scarlet cloth be put into the water of prepara- tion for that colour, it will lose a great part of its colour, insomuch, that if it was sewed with two or three pieces of white cloth, it would be difficult after one hour's boiling to distinguish which was the scarlet from the others ; but if it was boiled afresh in a liquor, of cochineal or in the reddening, it would regain its first co- lour. Scarlets always lose some part of their brightness in the dressing, for the dressing lays the hair, and forces the fibres to be almost pa- rallel to the web. In this case the cloth has numerically less surface, and consequently less rays of light are reflected from it. Besides the extremity of the hair is always most penetrated with the die which causes the brightness, and v/hen it is laid on the cloth, the greatest part of these points appear no more. CHAPTER XL OF CRIMSON. CRIMSON, as I have already observed, is rhe natural colour of the cochineal, or ra- ther, that which it gives to wool boiled with alum and tartar, which h the usual water of N 146 preparation for all colours. This is the method which is commonly practised for spun wool; it is almost the same for cloths, as will be seen hereafter* For each pound of wool, two ounces and a half of alum, and an ounce and a half of white tartar, are put into the copper. When the whole boils, the wool is put in, well stirred, and left to boil for two hours ; it is afterwards taken out, slightly wrung, put into a bag, and left thus with its water, as for the scarlet in grain, and for all other colours. For the die a fresh liquor is made, in which three-fourths of an ounce of cochineal is added for each pound of wool. When the liquor is little more than luke-warm, the cochineal is put in, and when it begins to boil, the wool is cast in, which is to be well stirred with sticks; it is to remain thus for an hour ; when taken out, wrung and washed. If degrees of shades are required, (whose names are merely arbitrary) proceed, as has been already related for the scarlet, using but half the cochineal at first, and beginning with the lightest. The beauty of crimson consists in its bor- dering as much as possible on the grisdelin, a colour between a grey and a violet. I made several trials to bring crimson to a higher per-- feclion than most diers have hitherto done, and indeed I succeeded so as to make it as fine as the false crimson, which is always brighter than the fine. H7 This is the principle on which I worked. As all alkalis sadden cochineal, I tried soap, ba- rilla, pot-ash, pearK ashes; all these salts brought the crimson to the shade I wanted, but at the same time, they tarnished and diminished its brightness. I then bethought myself to make use of volatile alkalis, and I found that the volatile spirit of salt ammoniac produced a ve- ry good effed j but this spirit instantly evapo- rated, and a pretty considerable quantity was used in the liquor, which greatly augmentecr the price of the die. I then had recourse to another expedient which succeeded better, the expense of which is trifling. This was to make the volatile al- kali of the salt ammoniac enter into the liquor, at the very instant that it comes out of its ba- sis; and to effect this, after my crimson was made after the usual manner, I passed through a fresh liquor, in which I had dissolved a little of the salt ammoniac. As soon as the liquor was a little more than lukewarm, I flung in as much pot-ash as I had before of salt ammo- niac, and my wool immediately took a very brilliant colour. This method even spares the cochineal ; for this new liquor makes it rise, and then less may be used than in the common process; but the greatest part of diers, even the most eminent, sadden their crimsons with archil, a drug of the false die. Very beautiful crimsons are also made by- boiling the wool as for the common scarlet, and 148 then boiling it in a second liquor, with two ounces of alum and one ounce ol' tartar, for each pound of wool, leaving it one hour in the liquor. A fresh liquor is then prepared, in which six drachms of cochineal is put for eve- ly pound of wool. After it has remained an hour in this liquor, n is taken our, and passed immediately through a liquor of barilla and sale ainmoniac. By this method, gradations of very beautiful crimson shades are made by di- minishing the quantity of the cochineal. It is to be obsvrrved, that in this process there are but six drachms of cochineal to die each pound of wool, because in the first liquor a drachm and a half of cochineal is used for each pound. It is also necessary to rtmark, that, to sadilen these crimsons, the liquor of the alkaline sale and salt ammoniac be not made too hot, be- cause the separation of the volatile spirit of th s l iSt salt would be too quick, and the crys- tal of tartar of the first liquor would lose its proprr effefl by being changed, as I have al- ready said into a soluble tartar. The same operation may be done by using one part of the cochineal sylvestre instead of the Hne cochineal, and the colour is not less beautiful, for commonly four parts of sylvestre have not more eiTed in dieing than one part of fine cochineal. The sylvestre may also be used in dying scarlet, but with great precaution; it should only be used in bastard scarlets and half crimsons. I shall speak of this when I treat of these colours in particular. 149 When a scarlet is spotted or spoiled in the- operation by some unforeseen accident, or even when the die has failed, the common remedy is to make it a crimson, and for that purpose, it is dipt in a liquor where about two pounds of alum are added for each hundred weight of wool. It is immediately plunged in this liquor, and left there until it has acquired the shade ot the crimson desired. Langue-doc Crimson. I shall now shew the method they follow in Languedoc to make a very beautiful sort of crimson, or the cloths exported to the Levant, but which is not so much saddened as that which I have just spoken of, and which resem- bles much more the Venetian scarlet. For five pieces of cloth the liquor is prepared as usual, putting bran if necessary. When it is more than lukewarm, ten pounds of sea-sait are pur, instead of crystal of tartar, and when it is rea- dy to boil, twenty-seven pounds of the scarlet coiiiposicion, made after the manner of carcas- sine already debcribed, are poured in, and with- out adding cochineal the cloth is passed through this liquor for two hours, keeping it always turning with the wynch, and continually b6il- ing. It is afterwards taken out, aired and wash- ed ; then a fresh liquor is made, with eight pounds and three quarters of cochineal pow- dered and sifted, and when it is ready ro boil, twentv-one pounds of compositioa are added 5 N 2 i5o the cloth is boiled for three quarters of an hour with the common precautions, after which it is taken out, aired and washed: It is of a very fine crimson, but very little saddened ; if it is req ired to be more sacidened, a greater quan- tity of alum is put into the first liquor of pre- paration, and in the second less of the compo- sition, the sea-sait is also added to this second liquor; a little praftice in this method will GOon teach the dier to make all the shades that can properly be derived from crimson. Whenever cochineal has been used, there is found at the bottom of the reddening liquor a quantity of very brown sediment, which is flung away with the liquor as useless. 1 exa- mined it and round, that the liquor for the red- dening of scarlet contained a precipitated calx of tin : I united this metal with a great deal of trouble; the remaining parts of this sediment are the dross of the white tartar, or of the cream of tartar, united with the gross parts of the bo- dies of the cochineal, which is, as has already been said, a small inseft. I washed these little animal parts in cold water, and, by shaking this water, I colle6ted, with a small sieve, what the agitation caused to rise on the surface. After this manner I separated these light parts from the earthy and metallic ; I dried them separately, then levigated them with e- qual weight of fresh crystal of tartar j I boil- ed a portion with a little alum, and put in a pattern of white cloth, which boiled for three quarters of an hour, at the end of which it was died of a very bqautiful crimson. ^5^ • This experiirenc having convinced wiv, that by powdtrmg and sifting the cochineal as is comnnoniy practised, all the profit that might be extraited from this dear drug is not obtain- ed, I thought proper to conununicate this dis- covery to the diers, thac they might avail them- selves of it by the method following. Take one ounce of cochineal powdered and sifted as usual; mix with it a quarter of its weight of very white cream of rartar very crys- talline and very airy ; put the whole on a hard levigating stone, and levigate this mixture till it is reduced to an impalpable powder; make use of this cochineal thus prepared in the liquor, and in the reddening, subtracting from the cream of rartar, which is to be used in the liquor, the s nail quantity before used with tlie cochineal. What IS put to the reddening, although mixed with a fourth of the same salt, does not preju- dice its colour, it even appeared co w,^ that it was more solid. Those that will follov/ this method will find that there is about a fourth more profit to be obtained by it. The Natural Crimson in Grain. In proportion for every pound of cloth or other things, take two ounces of tartar pure, and two ounces of alum ; boil them with the goods an hour and a half; then rince the goods very well from the boiling. The kettle must be filled again with clear water and a few hand- fuls of bran put in; in order to take out the filth 152 of the vvatc^r, ns well as to soften it. Scum the scurf off* when it begins to boil, and put in an ounce of well powdered grain, with one dram of red arsrnic and one spoonful of burnt wine lees; this gives a pretty lustre^ then wash and rince it well, and you have a most beautiful colour. CHAPTER XII. SCARLET OF GUM LACQUE. THE red part of the gum-lacque may be also used for the dicing of scarlet, and if this scarlet has not all the brightness of that made of fine cochineal alone, it has the advan- tage of being more lasting. The gum-lacque, which is in branches or small sticks and full of animal parts, is the fit- test for dicing. It must be red within, and its external parts of a blackish brown ; it appears by a particular examination made of it by M. Geoffroy some years since, that it is a sort of hive, somewhat like that of bees, wasps, &c. Some diers make use of it powdered and tied in a linen bagj but this is a bad method, for rht^re always passes through the cloth some re- sinous portion of the gum, which melrs in the boilmg water of the copper, and sticks to the 153 cloth, where it becomes so adherent when cold, that it must be scraped off with a knife. Others reduce it to powder, boil it in water, and afrer it has given all its colour, let it cool, and the resinous parts fall to the bottom. The water is poured out, and evaporated by the air, where it often becomes stinking, and when it has acquired the consistence of thick honey, it is put up into vessels for use. Under this form it IS pretty difficult lustiy to determine the quan- tity that is used ; this induced me to seek the means of obtaining this tinfture separated from its resinous gum^ without being obliged to eva- porate so great a quantity of water to have it dry, and to reduce it to powder. I tried it with weak lime water, with a de- co<5lion of the heart of agaric, with a decodion of comfrey root, recomm.ended in an ancirnt book of physic; in all these the water leaves a part of the die, and it still passes too full of co- lour, and it ought to be evaporated to get all the dye ; this evaporation I wanted to avoid, therefore I made use of mucilaginous or slimy roots, which of themselves gave no colour, but whose mucilage might retain the colouring parts, so that they might remain with it on the filter. The great comfrey- root has, as yet, the best answered my intention : I use it dry and in a gross powder, putting half a dram to each quart of v^'ater, which is boiled a quarter of an hour, passing it through a hair sieve. It imm>ediate- ly extrads from it a beautiful crimson tindurej ^54 put the vessel to digest in a moderate heat for twelve hours, shaking it seven or eight times to mix it with the gum that remains at the bottom, then pour off the water that is loaded with co- lour in a vessel sufficiently large, that three- fourths may remain empty, and fill it with eold water: then pour a very small quantity of strong solution of Roman alum on the tinfture ; the mucilaginous or slimy die precipitates itself, and if the water which appears on the top ap- pears still coloured, add some drops of the so- lution of alum to finish the precipitation, and this repeat till the water becomes as clear as common water. When the crimson mucilage or slime is all sunk to the bottom of the vessel, draw off the clear water, and filter the remainder; after which, dry it in the sun. If the first mucilaginous water has not ex- traded all the colour of the gum-lacque, (which is known by the remaining being of a weak straw colour) repeat the operation until you se- parate all the die the gum-lacque can furnish ; and as it is reduced to powder when dry, the quantity to be used in the die is more exaftly ascertained than by evaporating it to the con- sistence of an extraft. Good gum lacque, picked from its sticks, yields, dried and powdered, but little more die than one-fifth of its weight. Thus at the price it bears at present, there is not so great an ad- vantage as many may imagine in using it in the place of cochineal; but to make the scarlet cp- ^55 lour more lasting than it commonly is, it may be used in the first liquor or preparation, and cochineal for reddening. If scarlet is made of gum-lacque, extraded according to the method here taught, and re- duced to powder, a caution is to be taken in dissolving it, which is useless when cochineal is used ; that is, if it was put into the liquor ready to boil, the dier would lose three-quar- ters of an hour, before it would be dissolved entirely ; therefore for despatch, put the dose of this dry tindure into a large earthen vessel, or into one of tin, pour warm water on it, and when it is well moistened, add the necessary dose of the composition lor scarlet, stirring the mixture well with a glass pestle. This powder, which was of a dirty deep purple, as it dis- solves takes fire-coloured red extremely bright; pour the dissolution into the liquor, in which was previously put the crystal of tartar, and as soon as this liquor begins to boil, dip the cloth in, keeping it continually turning. The re- maining part of the operation is the same as that of scarlet with cochineal : the extradl: of gum-lacque, prepared according to my method, yields about one-ninth more of die than cochi- neal, at least than that which I made use of for this comparison. If instead of the crystal of tartar and the comiposition of some fixed alkaline salt or lime water is substituted, the bright red of the gum lacque is changed into the colour of lees of wine, so that this die does not sadden so easily aa that of cochineal. 156 If instead of these alteratives, salt ammoniac is used by iiself, cinnamon or clear chesnut co- lours are obtained, and that according as there is more or less of this salt. I have made twen- ty other experiments on this drug, which I shall not relate here, because they produced none but common colours, and which may be easier had from ingredients of a lower price. My expe- riments were with a view of improving the red of the lacque, and the method I have here laid down to extraft its colouring parts answers ex- tremely well; the more ingredients that are dis- covered for scarlet, the less will be the cost; for, although these experiments made on co- chineal, lacque, and other drugs, may appear useless to some diers, they will not be so to others who study to improve this art»* CHAPTER XIII. OF THE coccus POLONICUS, A COLOURING INSECT. THE coccus polonicus is a little round inseft, somewhat less than a coriander seed ; it is found sticking to the roots of the polygonum • The colouring parts of the giim-Iacque may be extracted by rommon river water, by rnaknig it a little more tlian luke- warm, and inclosing the powdered lacque in a coarse woollen bag. 157 cocciferum incanam flore major e per enni of Ray, and which M. i'ournefort has named t:?/ti>)';;2/7/^* graminco folis majore fiore. According to M. Breyn, it abounds in the palatinate of Kioviat, bordering the Ukrania, towards the towns of Ludnow, Piarka, Stobdyzeze, and other sandy places of Ukrania and Bodolia, of Volhinia, of the grand duchy of Lithuania, and even in Prussia, towards Thorn. Those that gather them say, that immedi- ately after the summer solstice the coccus is ripe, and full of its purple juice. They hold in their hand a small hollow shade, made in the shape of a shepherd's crook, which has a short handle. With. one hand they hold the plant, raising it out of the ground with the ori er, armed with this instrument; they then sh.^ke off these little insefts, and place the plant in the same hole in order to preserve it. Having separated the coccus from the earth, which they do by a riddle made for that pur- pose, their chief care is, that it should not change into a small worm ; for this purpose < t,hey sprinkle it with vinegar, and sometimes With very cold water; they then bring them to a warm place, or else expose them to the sun to dry; without this, these inseds would de- stroy themselves, and if they were dried too precipitately, they would lose their beautiful colour. Sometimes they separate these small inseds from their vesicles or bladders with the ends of their ffngers by a gentle pressure, which they form into small round cakes. The dicrs O iS8 pay dearer for this die when in lump than when it IS in grain. Bernard de Bcrnitz, from whose book I have taken this, adds, that the great marechal Ko- nitspoliki, and some other Polish noblemen, who had lands in the Ukrania, set this gather- ing of the coccus to the Jews at a considerable profit, and caused it to be gathered by their vassals; that the Turks and Arminians, who bought this drug of the Jev;s, used it for the dieing of wool, silk, the manes and tails of their horses ; that the Turkish women made use of it to paint their fingers'- ends of a beau- tiful carnation colour ; and that formerly^ the Dutch used to buy the coccus at a high price, and mixed it with an equal quantity of cochi- neal j that with the die of this inseft and chalk, a lacque for the painters might be made as fine as the Florence lacque; and that a beautiful red was prepared from it for the toilet of the ladies in France and Spain. CHAPTER IV. OF THE RED OF MADDER. THE root of madder is the only part of this plant which is used in dieing. Of all the reds this is the m,ost lasting, when it is ^59 put on a cloth or stuff that is thoroughly scour- ed, then prepared with the salts with which it is to be boiled two or three hours, without which, this red, so tenacious after the prepara- tion of the subjcft, would scarcely resist more the proofs of the reds than any other ingredi- ents of the false die. This is a proof that the pores of the fibres of the wool ought not only to be well scoured from the yolk or undluous transpiration of the animal, which may have remained, notwithstanding the scouring of the wool after the common manner with water and urine; but it is also necessary, that these same pores be plaistered inwardly with some of those salts which are called hard, because they do not calcine in the air, and cannot be dissolved by rain water, or by the moisture of the air in rainy weather. Such is, as has been said be- fore, the white crude tartar, the red and the crystal of tartar, of which, according to com- mon custom, about a fourth is put into the pre- paring liquor, with two-thirds or three-fourths of alum. The best madder roots come generally from Zealand, where this plant is cultivated in the islands of Tfrgoes, Zerzee, Sommerdyke, and Thoolen. That from the first of these islands is esteemed the best ; the soil is clay, fat, and somewhat salt. The lands that are deemed the best for the cultivation of this plant are new lands, that only served for pasture, which are always fresher and moister than others. The Zealanders are beholden to the refugees of i6o Flanders for the cultivation and great commerce of this root. It is known in trade and dicing under the names of grape-madder, bunch madder, &c. It is however the same root ; all the differc nee in regard to its quality is, that the one kind contains pith and root, and the other has the small fibres from its principal root adhering to it. Both are prepared by the same v/ork, which I shall not relate the particulars of here, as it would only serve to lengthen this treatise to no purpose. They choose the finest roots for the first sort, drying them with care, grinding them and se- parating the rind at the mill, and preserving the middle of the root ground in hogsheads, where it remains for tv/o or three years; for after this time, it is better for dicing than it would have been coining from the mill ; for if madder was not kept close after this manner, the air v/ould sp )ii u, and the colour would be less bright. It is at first yellow, but it reddens and grows brown by age ; the best is of a saffron colour, in hard lumps, of a srrong smell, and yet not disagreeable. It is also cultivated about Lisle in Flanders, and several other places of the k n[>dom, where it was found to grow sponta- neously. The madders which are made use of in the Levant and in India, for the dicing of cottons, are somewhat different from the kinds used in Europe, it is named chat on the coast of Coro- i6i mande). This plant thus called, grows abun- dantly in the woods on the coast of MaJabaf;, and this chai is the wild sorr. The cultivated coines from Vasur and Tuccorin, and the most esteemed of all is the chat of Persia, nanned dumas They also gather on the coast of Goromandel the root of another plant called ray de chaye^ or root of colour, and which was thought to be a kind of rubia tirMorumy but is the root of a kind of gallium flore albo^ as it appeared by observations sent from India in 1748. It has a long slender root, which dies cotton of a to* lerabie han isome red, when it has received all the preparations previous to the die. At Kurder, in the neighbourhood of Smyrna, and in the countries of Akissar and of Yordas, they cultivate another kind of madder, which is called in the country chioc-hoya ekme hazala. This of all the madders is the best for the red die, by the proofs that have been made of it, and far more esteemed in the Levant than the finest Zealand madder the Dutch bring there. This madder so much valued is called by the modern Greeks iizariy and by the Arabs There is another kind of madder in Canada called tyssa-voyana. It is a very small root, which produces pretty near the same effect as our European madder. * These kinds of madders give brighter reds than the best grape madder of Zealand, for they are died in the air and no£ in a stove. The madder of Languedoc, even that ot Poitou, succeeds as well as that of hzari, when it is dried without iire, o 2 l62 The water of preparation for madder red is pretty near the same as for kermes, that is com- posed of alum and tartar. The dieis do not agree as to the proportions ; but the best ap- pears to be four ounces of alum and one of red tartar to each pound of spun wool, and about one-twelfth part of sour water, and let the wool boil in it for two hours. If it is spun woo), leave it for seven or tight days, that ic may be well moistened by the dissolution of these salts 5 and if it is cloth, finish it the fourth day. To die wool with madder, prepare a fresh liquor, and when the water is come to a heat CO bear the hand, put in half a pound of the finest grape madde^r for each pound of wool; let it be well raked and mixed in the copper before the wool goes in, keep the wool in an hour, during which time it must not boil.* Shades froai madder are obtained after the manner laid down for other colours, but these shades are little used, except in a mixture of several colours. When several pieces of cloth are to be died at once in madder red, the operation is the same, only augmenting the ingredients in proportion; and let it be remarked that in small operations the quantity of ingredients m^ust be somewhat greater than in great, not only in madder red, but in all other colours. These reds are never so beautiful as those of the kermes, and much lebs so than those of the * If madder is boiled, its red becomes obscure, and of a brick colour. 162 lacque or cochineal, bur they cost iess^ and arc made use of for common htuffs whose low pri- ces would not allow a dearer die. Most of the reds for the army are of madder, saddened with archil or brazil, (though these drugs be of the safe die) to make them finer, and more on the velvet, which perfedlion could not be procured to them even with cochineal, without conside- rably augmenting the price. I have already said that madder put on fluffs not being prepared to receive it by the alum and tartar-wacer, did in fadl: give its red colour, but that which it died was blotted and not last- ing, it is therefore the salts that secure the die; this is common to all other colours red or yel- low, which cannot be made without a prepa- ring liquor. Now the question is, whether these act by taking otF the remains of the oily and fat transpiration of the sheep^ or whether that of the two salts, particularly that which even cannot be carried by luke-warm water, remains to catch, seize and cement the colouring atom, opened or dilated by the heat of water to re- ceive It, and contracted by the cold to retain it. To determine which, use any alkaline salts^ such as pot ash, the clarified lays of oak-ashes, or any other pure lixivial salt in tead of alum and tartar, put in a due proportion so as nor to dissolve the wool, and afterwards dip the stuff in madder liquor. This stuff will come out coloured, but will not last, even boiling water will carry off three-fourths of the colour. Now it cannot be said that a fixed alkaline salt is un- 164 fit to extraft from the pores of the wool the yolk or fat of the sheep, since lixiviai sait^> are used with success in several cases, to take the grease out of sturFs of whac kind soever they be, which water alone could not take off It is also well known, that with fars foreign to the stuff, and an alkaline salr, a kind of soap is formed v^hich water easily carries off. Again, take a piece of scuff died in madder red^ according to the usual method, boil it some time in a solution of fixed alkaline salts, a small quantity will also ^destroy the colour, for the fixed alkali, attacking the small atoms of the crystal of tartar, or crude tartar, which lines the pores of the wool, forms a soluble tartar, which water dissolves very easily, and conse- quently the pores being opened in the hot wa- ter of the experiment, the colouring atom came out with the saline atom that sheathed it. This stuff being washed in water, the remain- ing red colour is diluted, and a colour half brown and half dirty remains. If, instead of an alkaline sale, soap is substituted, (which is an alkaline salr, mitigated by oil) and another piece of cloth died also in madder, be boiled for a few minutes, the red will become finer, because the alkali which is in the soap being sheathed with oil, it could not attack the vege- table acid, and the boiling only carried off the colouring parts ill stuck together, and their numbers diminishing, what remains must ap- pear deeper or clearer* i65 I must also add, for further proof of the actual existence of salts in the pores of a stuff prepared with alum and tartar, before dieing it with madder, that more or less tarrar gives an infinite variety of shades with this root only; for if the quantity of alum be diminished, and that of the tartar augmented, a cinnamon will be had, and even if nothing but tartar alone be put into the liquor, the red is lost, and a deep cinnamon or brown root colour is obtain- ed, though of a very good die y for the crude tartar, which is an acid salr, has so much dis- solved tht part which should have produced the red colour, that there only remained a very small quantity, with the ligneous fibres of rhe root, which, like all other common roots, does then yield but a brown colour, more or less deep according to the quantity used. I have already proved that the acid which brightens the red, dissolves them if too m.uch is^ used, and divides them into particles so extremely minute, that they are not perceptible. If in the place of tartar, any salt which is easily dissolved be put with the alum in the li- quor, to prepare the stufl^ for the madder die, such as saltpetre, the greater part of the mad- der red becomes useless, it disappears, or does not stick on, and nothing is got but a very bright cinnamon, whicli will not sufficiently stand the proof, because cne two SvUc!> used in the preparing liquor are not of the hardi:e:':s of the tartar. i66 Volatile urinous alkalis which are obtained from certain plants, such as the periUa, the ar- chil of the Canaries, and other mosses or li- chens, destroy also the madder red, but at the same time communicate another to it, for on experiment, madder prepared after the manner of archil with fermented urine and quick lime, produced only nut colours, but which neverthe- less are lasting; because there entered into the liquor only the little portion of urinous vola- tile that moistened the madder which the boil- ing was sufficient to evaporate, and besides,, the cloth was sufficiently furnished with the salts of the liquor made as usual, to retain the colouring parts of the die. When a pure red, that for cochineal an ex- ample, is laid upon a cloth first died in blue, and afterwards prepared with the liquor of tar- tar, and alum to receive and retain this red, a purple or violet is produced according to the quantity of blue or red. The red of madder has not this effeft, for it is not a pure red like' that of the cochineal, and as I said above, it is altered by the brown ligneous fibres of its root, and makes on the blue a chesnut colour, more or less deep according to the preceding intensi- ty of the blue first laid on. If this chesnut co- lour is wanted to have purple cast, a little co- chineal must be added. In order to avoid this brown of the root, the diers who make the best rt ds of madder take great heed to use the liquor of madder a little more than luke-warm 3 the madder tarnishes 167 considerably by the heat of the water, extract- ing the particles which die brown^ and unite themselves with the red. This inconveniency might be remedied, if at the time that the madder root is fresh a means could be found to separate from the rest of this root the red circle which is underneath its brown pelicle, and which surrounds the mid- dle pith ; but this work would augment its price, and even then it would not afford so good a red as cochineal. However, it might be attempted to die cottons red, whose price might bear the expenses of this preparation. Madder being of all ingredients the cheapest of any that die red and of « the good die, it is mixt with others to diminish the price. It is with madder and kermes that the bastard scar- lets of grain are died, otherwise called half- grain scarlets, and with madder and cochineal the half-common scarlets, and the half-crimsons are made. To make the half-grain scarlet, the water of preparation, and all the rest of the operation is to be performed after the same manner as scarlet made of the grain of kermes, or the common Venetian, only the second liquor is composed of half kermes and half grape mad- der. For the half-scarlet and flamie- colour, the composition and preparation is as usual, no- thing but pure cochineal being put in, but iit the reddening, half cochineal and half madder is used ; here also the sylvestre may be made use i68 of, for after having made the preparation with cochineal, for reddening, use half a pound of cochineal, a pound and a half of sylvestre, and one pound of madder instead of cochineal alone. That the wool and stuffs may be died as equally as possible, it is necessary that the two kinds of cochineal be well rubbed or sifted, as also the madder, with which they must be well incorporated before they are put into the liquor. This must be observed in all colours where several ingredients are mixt together. This half scarlet is finished like the common scarlet, and it may be saddened after the same manner, either with boiling water or alum. The half'Cnmson is made like the common crimson, only using half madder, and half co- chineal, the cochineal sylvestre may be used here also, observing only to retrench half of the common cochineal, and to replace it with three times as much of the sylvestre. If a greater quantity of the sylvestre was used, and more of the other taken off, the colour would not be so fine. Various shades may be pro- duced by augmenting or lessening the madder or cochineal. Purple with Madder without Blue. I shall finish this chapter with an experiment which afforded a pretty fine purple without co- chineal, or without the cloth being first died blue. I boiled a piece of cloth weighing half 169 ^an ounce, with ten grains of Roman alum, and six grains of crystal of tartar; half an hour af- ter I took it out, wrung it, and let it cool ; then added to the same liquor twenty-four grains of grape madder j after it had furnished its die to this liquor, still impregnated with salts I dropt in twenty-four drops of a solution of bismuth, made with equal oarts of water and spirit of nitre, and then dipt my cloth again» Half an hour after, I took it our, wrung and washed it; it was almost as fine a crim.son as if it had been done with cochineal, it had even a sufficient ground to have remained in that state. I dipt it again in the same liquor, and boil- ed it for a quarter of an hour ; it came out a pretty bright purple ; this purple, tried by the proof of alum, rouses and emnellishes itself, and by the proof of soap it remained of a much finer red than the common reds of madder. If the cloth be kept for several days mois- tened in its liquor of tartar and alum, and af- terwards died in fresh madder liquor, plain and without salts, according to the common me- thod till it has taken a bright cinnamon colour, >and to this liquor be added the same solution of bismuth, a chesnut colour, and no purple will be obtained. Th s shows what exactness is required in describing the processes of dic- ing, for want of which, all books hitherto published on this art have been useless, as they neglected to point out the necessary cir- P 170 cumstances for the success of the desired co- lour. In this second experiment, the cloth did at first take too much salts, they remained too long in it, and there was none in the liquor of the die; for want of alum the purple did not appear, because the white earth of this sale could not precipitate itself with the dissolved parts of the bismuth, which, as has been said in the chapter of the kermes, carry with them the blue parts of the smalt, which is always found in the mine of bismuth, and a por- tion of which very probably unites itself to this half metal during the melting. This mutual precipitation is performed in operation of die- , ing, by the help of the astringent parts of the ligneous fibres of the madder root. CHAPTER XV. OF YELLOW. HITHERTO ten sorts of drugs have been named for dieing yellow, but by the proofs that have been made it is certain there are but five that are sufficiently lasting to be used in the good die. Several more might be added to these five, as yellows are easily ob- tained. I shall therefore first speak of these five, which are the weld or wold, savory, green vv(?od, the yellow wood, and the fenugreek, be- cause these only are of the good die. The three first are very common plants in Europe, the yellow wood comes from the Indies, and fenugreek is found every where. Weld is most commonly used, as it gives the brightest die. The savory and the green wood are best for wools that are to be made greens, because their natural colour borders a little on the green j the two others give shades of yellow somewhat different. The yellows most known in the art of dic- ing are the straw yellow, the pale yellow, and the lemon yellow. The orange yellows com- monly made are not simple colours, therefore 1 shall not speak of them here. For dicing yellow, the common preparing water with tartar and alum is used for wool or stuffs, in the proportion of four ounces of alum for rach pound of wool, or twenty-five pounds for the hundred, and one ounce of tartar, and the method of boiling is the same as before. For welding, after the wool or stuff is boiL^d, put five or six pounds of v^eld in a fresh liquor for each pound of stuff ; let the weld be in- closed in a linen bag, that it may not mix with the stuff, and that the bag may not rise to the top of the copper, it must be kept down with a heavy cross of wood. Others boil the weld till it has furnished all it3 die, and sinks itself to the bottom of the copper, at v;hich time they place on it a cross or iron circle fitted v/ith 173 a net of cords. Others take it out with a raRe when it is sufficiently boiled: sometimes ytllow wood and other ingredients are mixed with the weld, according to the shade required, by al- tering the quantities and the proportions of the salts in the preparation, and the time of boiling, I know by experience, that these shades may be obtained ad infinitum. This proof I have had in the (^ssays I made with the flower of the virga, a very great acquisition in the art of die- ing, if this plant v^a:s improved, which may be easily done, since it shoots a great many stems, and whose small ones may be easily transplant- ed, and produce quantities in the course of one year. Light shades of yellow are obtained in the same manner as all others spoken of, only the preparing liquor for these light yellows must be weaker. I recommend twelve pounds and a half of alum for each hundred pounds of wool, and the tartar in proportion ; but these light shades do not resisr the proofs as deeper shades* do, made wich the full proportion of tartar. Some diers endeavouring to help this, leave the wool and stuffs for a longer time in the die, because they take it slower in proportion to the weakness of the liquor; but if they put at the same time in the colouring liquor, wools whose preparation shall have been different, they shall take at the same time different shades. These liquors more or less strong are called half-pre- paring liquors, or quarter-preparing liquors, and they make great use of them in light shades 173 of wool died in the fleece, that is, before being, spun, and which are intended for the manufac- turing of cloths and other mixed stuffs ^ be- cause the more alum there is in the liquor of the wool, the more it is harsh and difficult to spin, and it must spin thicker, and consequent- ly the stuff is coarser. This observation is not of great consequence for spun wool which is intended for tapestry or for stofi^s. I only men- tion it to shew that the quantity of ingredients may be sometimes varied without danger. The yellow wood is used in chips, or in coarse shavings; by this means it is more divi- ded, and yields its die the better, and a less quantity will do; which way soever it is used,, it is put into a bag, that it may not mix with the wool or stufi^s. The same precaution is ne- cessary for the savory and green wood, Vv^hea they are iPjixed with the weld to change its shade. I refer to the lesser die the five other ingre- dients hitherto known which die yellov/,*' and shall only observe here in regard to the good, die, that the root of the dock, the bark of the ash- tree, particularly that which is raised after the first sap, the leaves of almond, peach and pear-trees ; in short, all leaves, barks, and roots, which by chewing shew some little astriftion, give yellows of the good die more or less fine, according to the time they are boiled, and in proportion to the tartar and alum used in the liquor : a proper quantity of alum brings these yellows to the beautiful yellow of the weld. If P 2 174 the tartar is in greater quantity, these yellows will border on the orange; and lastly, if these ingredients are too much boiled, let them be roots, barks, or leaves, the yellow obscures it- self, and takes brown shades. Although some diers use turmeric in the good die^ v.'hich gives an orange yellow, this prac- tice is to be condemned^ for it is a colour that soon passes in the air, unless it be secured by sea-salt, which some diers do, who take care to keep this imposition to themselves. Those who make use of it in common scarlets, to spare cochineal, and to give to their stuff a red bordering on the orange, are blameable, for the scarlets that have been died after this manner lose in a short time that bright orange, as I have already said, they brown considerably in the air. Yet these falsifications are obliged to be in some measure tolerated ; for at this time that bright orange being in fashion, it would be impossible to give it to scarlet, without putting a larger dose of composition, whose acids would greatly hurt the cloth. The fustic wood is now preferred in scarlet. '7S CHAPTER XVL OF BROWN. BROWN is the fourth of the primary co- lours. Ic is placed in this rank, because it enters in the composition of a great number of colours. The working It is different from others, for commonly no preparation is given to wool to be died brown, and, like the blue, ic is only dipped in hot water. The rinds and roots of walnut, the rind of the alder, santal, sumach, roudoul or sovic, soor, &c. are used in this die. The rind of the walnut is the green part that covei s the nut ; they are gathered when the nuts are entirely ripe, then filled into great casks and moistened with water; they are thus pre- served until the ensuing year, and longer if re- quired. The santal or saunders is a hard wood brought from the Indies; it is commonly used ground to a very fine powder, it is preserved for some time in this state in bags, to excite (as is ima- gined) a slight fermentation, which they pretend makes it the better for use, but I could find no difference. This wood !s most conimonly ground wltli a thirci part of cariarour wood, which softens it according to those who sell it. It is greatly in- ferior to walnut nnds, for it hurts the wool by hardening it considerably if used in large quan- tities, therefore it is better not to use it for fine wools and stuffs, or at least to draw but the lightest shades, for then its efFe£l will be of less consequence. It is generally mixed with galls, alder, bark, and sumach ; it is only by this means that it gives its colour when used alone, and unmixed with the cariatour wood. It yields but very little with the liquor of alum and tar- tar unless it be rasped. Notwithstanding this defedl, it is tolerated in the good die, on ac- count of the solidity of its colour, which natu- rally is a yellow-red-brown: it browns and grows deep in the air, it lightens with soap, but looses less by the proof of alum, and still less by that of tartar. Of all the ingredients used for the brown die, the walnut rind is the best; its shades are finer, its colour is lasting, it softens the wool, renders it of a better quality, and easier to v;ork. To make use of this rind, a copper is half filled, and when it begins to grow luke-warm, the rind is added in proportion to the quantities of stuflfs to be died and the colour intended. The copper is then made to boil, and when it has boiled a quarter of an hour, the stuffs, which were before dipped in warm water, are put in. They are to be stirred and turned until they 'acquire the desired colour. If it is spun wool, 177 and that the shades required are to be matched with great exactness, a small quantity of rind is to be put in first, and the lightest are first made; more rind is then put in, and then the deepest are made : but to work with stuffs, the deepest are generally made first, and as the co- lour of the liquor diminishes, the lightest are dipped; they are aired as usual to cool them, dried, and dressed. Next to the walnut rind is the root; it gives a great number of shades and pretty near the same; thus they may be substituted the one fof the other, according to the facility of obtaining them, but there is a difference in the manner of using the root. A copper is filled three-quar- ters full of river water; the quantity of root that is thought convenient is cut into small pie- ces, and added in proportion to the quantity of wool to be died and the shade required. When the liquor is hot, so as not to bear the hand, the stuffs are put in and turned, until they have the desired shade, carefiilly observing to air them from time to lirne, and to pass them between the hands by the lists, to make the small pieces of roots that stick fall off to pre- vent their blotting ; but this miay be remedied by inclosing the cut root in a bag, as has been said of the yellow root. The stuffs that are to be of lighter shades are then to be dipped, and to be thus continued until the root gives no more die. If it is spun v/ool c hrest are to be made first to match li : )> :rer, as I have already said in speaking oi otr.er co» 178 lours; but above all, care must be taken not to boil the liquor at first, for then this root would give ail its colour to the first piece of stuff, and there v^ould not remain sufficient for the rest. The nnethod of dicing wool with roots is not very easy, for if great care is not taken to bring the die to a proper degree of heat, and to stir the wool and stufi^s so that they may be equally soaked in the copper, they run the ha- zard of being made too deep or of being blot- ted, which cannot be remedied but by giving them a chesnur, prune, or coffee colour, as I shali show when I treat of the colours and shades arising from the mixture of black and •brown. To avoid this inconvenience, the stuffs must be continually turned round the wynch, and dipped piece after piece, and great care muse be taken not to boil the roots too much, but always to leave some dicing substance in them. When the wool or stuffs are died after this method, they are aired, washed, and dried* The method of treating the alder bark dif- fers not from that of the walnut-root before de- scribed, except that there is less danger in boiling it at the beginning, as it gives less ground of colour to the stuff. It is commonly used for thread, and for colours that are to be saddened with green copperas ; it has however a good effect on wool for colours that are not very deep, and it perfectly resists the action of the air and sun. 179 The sumach is pretty near the same; it is used after the same manner as the green shells or inward coats of walnuts ; it still gives less ground of colour, and borders somewhat on the green ^ it is often substituted for galls in colours that are to be saddened, and it an- swers perfectly well, but must be used in larger quantities. These different matters are often mixed to- gether, and as they are equally good, and pro- duce nearly the sam.e effect, they readily af- ford a variety of shades; and yet there is no- thing but practice can teach this variety of brown shades, for they entirely depend on the eye of the dier. To use these ingredients mixt, and ground Saunders together, put four pounds of this lasc into a copper, half a pound of powdered galls, twelve pounds of elder bark, and ten pounds of sumach; this quantity will die twenty-five or twenty-seven ells of cloth; the whole is boil- ed, and having slackened the boil by means of a little cold water, the cloth is put in, turned, and well stirred for two hours ; after which it is taken out, aired and washed ; other stuffs that are to be of a lighter shade are then put in, and thus continued as long as the liquoi af- fords any colour. The quantity of these ingredients is aug- mented or diminished in proportion to the height of the shade, and the stuffs or wool are boiled more or less accordingly. I have al- i8o ready observed that by this means only the co- lour can be extracted froin the saunders. I have here treated of the saunders and the manner of using it, although it should have been classed with the lesser dies, as this woad ought only to be used for stuffs of low prices, because of the defects before spoken of^ yet as it is worked almost after the same manner as the other ingredients for dieing brown, and in several places is even tolerated in the good die, as it resists the sun and air as weli as the others, I thought it would not be improper here to give the method of workir^g it; for the same reason I shall now describe the method of dieing with soor, though permitted only in the lesser die, having less solidity than the rest, besides hardening the wool, and giving a disagreeable smell to the stuffs. The soot (wood soot) is commonly put into the copper the same time as the water, and the whole is well boiled together ; the stuff is then dipt in, which is to boil more or less, accord- ing to the shade required; after which it is taken out and aired, and those put in which are to be lighter ; they are then to be well washed and dried, but it is better to boil the soot in the water for two hours, then let it set- tle, and empty the liquor into another copper, without mixing the soot; the wool and stuffs are put into this liquor, and are less hardened and dried than when they have been mixt with the soot itself, but the colour is not solid, and it is better not to make use of it for dieing i8i stuffs that bear a price, and more so as all its shades may be had by the foregoing ingredients, which are better, more lasting, and also soften the wool. The diers of the lesser die usually employ the rinds of the nut and the root of the wal- nut-tree for their brown colours ; the working of these two ingredients being common to diers of the greater and lesser die; but there are places where it is difficult to obtain them, and then the saunders and even soot are obliged to be used in their stead. What I have hitherto said to account for the solidity of the colours of the good die, may seem not to agree with brown colours spoken of in this chapter, since these are firmly applied on the wool without any preparation to receive them by the liquor of alum and tartar, and consequently without first introducing into the pores of the fibres a salt capable of hardening itself in the cold, and to cement the atoms that colour the brov^n ; but if on a chymi- cal analysis the green shell of walnuts, the root of the walnut-tree, the rind of alder, should be proved to contain, besides cheir as- tringent properties, a vitriolated tartar, which is a salt that does not calcine in the sun, and that is only dissolved by boiling water; this I say will convince that these ingredients are sufficient of themselves to produce on the stuffs, without any foreign help, the same ef- fect as the other drugs, whose colours are not i Q .set in with solidity, but by the help of a sale capable of cementing the colouring atonns. The soot does not give so lasting a brown, because it only contains a volatile and an earthy salt easily dissolved, and in fact the soot being only composed of the lightest and most vola- tile parts of combustible bodies; which have . served as food for the fire, it could not raise tartar of vitriol along with ir, which is a sale that does not rise by heat, and which is also seldom found in the wood which we com- monly burn in our chimnies. As I am not willing to omit any thing with- in the limits of my knowledge, on the article of woollen dicing, I shall give two or three hints on the acid of vitriol. Jf you would have a beautiful claret on wool^ stuffs, or cloth, boil in a copper of a good size^ redwood or saunders in proportion to the shade you want, and two pounds of logwood, for forty pounds of wool previously scoured. When the ingredients have boiled half an hour, put a pint of oil of vitriol into a pail of cold water, and add it to the liquor, when the wool must be put in, and gently boiled for two or three hours. It is then to be taken up on a scray, that is, set across the copper to drain, and five or six pails of water poured over it. The copper must be then run down and filled as before with fair water, and when it is hot, ten pounds of copperas and four ounces of pearl-ashes must be added, and the wool re* 1^3^ tOrned and well worked with a long pole to make it even. The ashes (which are a fixed alkali) act upon the logwood, and give it a fine lustre at the same time. It weakens' the acid of the vitriol, a^id makes way for the copperas to do its parr,, which would otherwise be kept at a distance; the vitriol does not obstruct the cloth in the fulling-mill, for the vitriol, which some sup- pose to be a great enemy in the mill, is divested of its acid by the strong alkali contained in the chamber ley in scouring, and the colour remains- p'-rfcctly vivid. If for forty pounds of W00I3 &c, ten pounds of nut-galls were bruised and boiled with the above ingredients, the acid therein contained would produce as brilliant a col )ur, and, if possible, more holding than the fortner; but if galls are used^ the same liquor will do the same business when the copperas is ad vied without ashes as a fresh water would wnen vitriol is used* If forty pounds of cloth, stuff, or v/orsted were boiled in a sufficient quantity of redwood or Saunders, and one pint of prepared aquafortis be added to the liquor after the goods have boiled an hour and a half, and then turned well for half an hour, the co- lour v/ill be vivid and fine; the copper muse be well cooled when the spirits are put in. When cloth or stufl^s are died claret with oil of vitriol, great care must be taken to turn them continually over the wynch, and particu- larly in taking out, observe the instant the last end comes up to take off into a large tub^ 184 pf cold water, that all parts may cool alike, or the colour will be very uneven, as the vitriol when hot will not bear the air. Oil of vitriol is so useful a thing in dieing, that any colour, save woaded blue or green, may, by the help of its acid, be brought to a fine claret, black not excepted. CHAPTER XVIL OF BLACK. BLACK is the fifth of the primary colours. To die the best and the most lively shade, a vessel sufficiently large must be filled with soft water, and for every hundred weight of cloth, thirty pounds of logwood in chips must be put in, with half a pail of elder bark and six pounds of suinach j boil these ingredients together half an hour, when the cloth may be entered (the copper being first cookd by the addition of cold water) and boiled an hour and a half, being instantly turned on the wynch to prevent an unevenness of die. This operation being ended, which is called a preparation or stuffing the blacks, I shall proceed to the finish- ing. A small tub is to be placed at the side of the copper, out of which it must be filled with hot i85 liquor, in which put ten or fourteen pounds of copperas to dissolve s the cloth is then kept turning, whilst a man with a piggin is lading the copperas water into the copper 3 the cloth is turned here at a boiling heat one hour, then taken out and cooled well in all parts alike; when thoroughly cold, return it into the cop- per, with two handfuls of copperas, and boil it gently as before for two hours, then cool it a- gain. Whilst the second cooling is carrying on^ six pounds of logwood, ten pounds of bark, and two pounds of argil, with ten pounds of soda or common ashes, and three pounds of copperas, must be added to the liquor; these ingredients must be made to boil one hourj when the goods must be turned and worked one hour. Keep the wynch continually turn- ing, always observing that the small portion of air which the goods receive by turning on the wynch, contributes much to the beauty of the colour. Some diers instead of ashes use cham« ber ley, but this is a bad custom. If they would become good black diers^ they must abandon their old praflice, and by mixing their natural genius with reason and good sense, they will soon find by experience, that the acid of the argil a61:s only on the vitriolic acid of the cop* peras, and prevents a brown or rusty hue that will unavoidably proceed from the logwood 5 the alkaline power of the ashes at the same time forces it to assume its natural violet colour^ that if too great a quantity of logwood is not i86 used, (which would certainly prejudice the co- lour) and this rule carefully observed, the black would resemble a raven's feather; they must be well washed at the fulling-mill. I shil! not enrertain the reader with a tedious recital of the manner of treating those goods whose superior quality renders it needful that they should previously be died blue. It is suf- ficient to know, that they must have a less pro- portion of ingredients, though the operation is the same as that of the common black. When fine cloth is to be died black, great care must be taken not to let it hang on the wynch one minute ; it must be thrown off^ that instant the last comes up; otherwise its own weight when wet and hot vyould fill it with wrinkles that would never rem.ove. The same caution must be taken when the cloth is on the floor, to draw it between two men over a long stick by the lists, each taking hold of one end with their left hand, to be continued till cold before it be returned. Remarks on the Black Die. The most essential thing to be remarked is, that it prejudices and weakens the goods ; for this reason those that are died black are soonest worn out; they are however in all other respefts equal to those that are died other colours. This de- fe6l is chiefly to be attributed to the vitriolic acid of the copperas, which is only imperfectly saturated by the iron; as iron united to any o- ther acid, and even to vegetable acids, is capa- ble of producing black with astringent vcgi ra- bies. There is great cause to think that by substituting other coiTibinarions of this metal for the copperas, this inconvenience might be remedied. These are certainly good and useful essays to attempt. Itis not without cause that the blacks are diredted to be aired between the dippings, as It infinitely contributes to the beauty of the die; for it is certain that this die is different from most others which lose of their colour in drying ; this, on the contrary, acquires a great deal; it is universally known, that good wri- ting ink does not appear any thing near so black when fresh and recently used, as when dry, and that even it grows more black during a certain space of time. The same happens to the black die. The cloth is in some measure of a grey blackish colour immediately after the first dip; it only acquires the beautiful black on being exposed to the air; this is not the only example of the influence of the air on colours^ the blue vat exhibits something like it* CHAPTER XVTII. OF THE MIXTURE OF BLUE AND RED» IN speaking of the red I observed that there were four different kinds in the good die. V/e shall now explain the effect of these differ- ent reds placed on a stuff that has beea previ- ously died bluf. If a blue stuff is boiled in alum and tartar, after the manner and propor- tion cauglu in the article of red, and which is af:erv/ards to be died with kermes, the follow- ing colours will result, viz. The king's colour, the prince's colour, the pansy, the violet, the purple, and several other like colours; but the kermes is seldom, used for these colours, on ac- count of its high price, and the quantity which would be required, but more so, because co- chineal yields a finer colour for this purpose, and Vi^ith greater ease. I have already obser- ed that kermes is seldom used, though there are several compound colours in which it pro- duces a very good effect, as will be more par- ticularly described. When the kermes is used to lay a red on blue, ic is indifferent what ground of blue is first given, or whether it be given before or af- ter the stuff is died red, because the colour of the kermes is too solid to be changed by the lime of the woad vat, (unless the vat be over- loaded) or by the pearl-ashes in the indigo. Thus if the woad vat is not too old, it may be begun by either of these two colours at plea- sure, or by that which is most convenient to match the shade. Although I named but a Si nail number of colours, a great many may- be drawn from these two principal ones, ac- cording as the one or the other may be more predominant. 189 The mixture of blue with fire- colour scarlet is never used in any of their shades. To con- vince myself by experience, I took a piece of cloch died in scarier, and dipt it in the blue vat, and died a second piece according to the method of dicing scarlet, having previously died it blue. The one and the other succeeded very badly, and made a kind of dull spotted violet, so it appeared that the two colours did not unite, but that they were laid each on dif- ferent parts of the wool. This no doubt is caused by the acids which enter the composi- tion of the scarlet. But without entering here upon the physical reason of this operation, which mi^>ht occasion too long- a disstrrtation, and tedious repetition of what I have already said, the fact appears sufficient here : it proves that no beautiful colour can be had from the mixture of blue and scarlet ; it must be crim- son. From the mixture of blue and crimson, the columbine, the purple, the amaranth, the pansy, and the violet are formed ; these co-. lours have also a great number of shades which depend upon the shades of the other colour, from whence they are derived. I have said so much on the primary colours, that no difficulty can remain in the execution of the compound colours. Scuffs or spun wool are first made of one co* Jour, and then died of the other, precisely as if it was white; but it must be observed in •this case, that" the stuff' be first died blue be- I90' /ore it is made into crimson, for the reason be- fore given, that the alkali of the one or the other vat greatly obscures the brightness of the red of the cochineal. To make violets, purples, and other like shades, what I have already said on crimson is to be followed, because these colours will have neither brightness nor lustre, but by fol- lowing, the precautions necessary for fine crim- sons. From blue, and the red of madder, proceeds also the king's colour, the prince's colour, (but infinitely less beautiful than when the kermes is made use of ; for the red of the madder is- always obscured by the brown of its ligneous parts) the minime, the tan-colour, the ama- ranth, the dry rose, always less bright than v/hen the kermes is made use of. Neverthe- less it is sometimes mixed with madder, as I have already said, to make half-grained scar- lets, and the colours which proceed from it are always finer than when madder alone is used on a stuff died blue; madder is also mixec] with cochineal, as in the half crimsoms, and a great num/oer of very fine shades are drawn from them, which cannot have particular names, but which border on those I have just mentioned. Some of these may be made as fine as if dearer ingredients were made use of. It is the business and profit of the dier not to use the dearest, when the same effects may be produced by the chrapest ingrec'ients. It is impossible for me to give any insciuctions on this article, since ■ 1:9 ^ use alone can teach it. The old liquor of madder and cochineal is often used, whose co- lours have not been entirely extracted, which makes a considerable saving, and the colour is not less good. I can say nothing positive on this, since the effect which will result from it depends on what colour may remain in the Ji- quor, and on the shade intended. CHAPTER XIX\ OF THE MIXTURE OF BLUE AND YELLOW^ FROM the mixture of blue and yellow but one colour is produced, which is green ; but there are a variety of shades; the principal ones are, the yellow gree:i, the light green, the gay green, the grass green, the laurel green, the molequin green, the deep green, the sea green, the celadon green, the parrot green, the cabbage green, and I shall add, the duck wing green, and the celadon green without blue. AH these shades, and the intermediate ones, are made after the same manner and with the same ease. The stuff or wool died blue, light or dark, is boiled in alum and tartar, as is usually done to make a white stuff yellow, and then wth weld, savory, or greening wool. 192 All these ingredients are equally good as to so- lidity, but as their yellows di{Ter a little, so do the greens that arise from their mixture. The weld and the savory are the two plants that af- ford the finest greens. To make the green shades which border on the yellow, the stuff must be of a very light blue, and boiled with the common quantity of tartar and alum to receive the yellow ; for with- out these salts it would not be lasting, (but for a parrot or cabbage green the blue must be very deep) and as it is only to have a light yellow, the stuffs must have but a half preparation; I have already mentioned this ; sometimes even a quane^r of the water for the common prepa- ration is sufficient. When the workmen make these colours, they often use the salts without weighing them, and guess at the quantity which they think ne- cessary for the shade intended ; a long practice may in some measure m.ake them pretty exact, but it would be still better if they did not trust to it. I know by repeated experiments that these green-blue shades are as well made by giving the stuff the com.mon preparation. The yellow which is afterwards applied to it is the more lasting, but on this occasion less weld is to be put into the liquor of the die, or any other co- louring matter, and the stuff must remain less time in the liquor, notwithstanding two reasons -induced to the contrary ; the first and most in- teresting to the dier is, that they would consume ^93 a greater quantity of drugs than is necessary ; and the second, that the less alum used in the preparation, the more the softness and the qua- lity of the wool is preserved, and the less the first die of blue is damaged ; for the alum al- ways greys the blues a little. Thus it is better to leave the dier to his custom of regulating the strength of his preparation to the necessary pitch to give these colours. I have said that to die green it was necessary that the wool should be previously blue; be- cause I think that the two colours laid on in this order hold better, and that the colour would not be so good if otherwise done. Of this I assure myself by making the greens, of which I have spoken, with the five colouring matters already known, which make a yellow of the good die; I have tried a yellow of the same materials, the contrary, having dipped five yel- low pieces in the woad vat, and have had as fine greens as the first. I exposed both to the summer's sun, and they have resisted sufficient- ly to be esteemed of the good die; but those which bad received the blue before the yellow lost the least, so that in particular circumstan- ces the dier must be allowed to begin first with yellow. But greens which have the blue co- lour last, will sully the linen more than the o- thers ; for if the blue has been first died, all that could be taken off was done by the alunrx liquor, which happens on the contrary when the blue was put on last; the only remedv for this R 194 is, to scour the green well afcer it comes out of the copper. Cloth died king's blue, and greened with the flower of the virga aurea Canadiensis^ make a very fine green, provided it has been boiled in a liquor with three times the weight of alum to one of white tartar 3 the green is not inferior to that made of weld. I have also greened blues with ash-bark pow- dered \ they are of a very good die, but not of a fine colour, and only fit for liveries. The leaves of almond, peach and pear trees, &c. give yellows, which serve to make green shades, that are rather difficult to hit on at first. A stuff died in the king's blue, well scoured, then boiled with four parts of alum, and one of tartar, takes a fine deep green of the shade of a duck's wing ; but it must be boiled for two hours in a liquor, with a sufficient quantity of the root of sharp pointed dock grossly bruised. This root, which grows in every hedge and field, is a good acquisition to the art of dieingj for with it, and without any other addition but the preparing liquor for the stuffs, it produ- ces an infinity of shades, from the straw co- lour to a pretty fine olive ; only putting more or less to the liquor, and boiling it from half an hour to three hours. These shades stand all manner of proof I strongly recommend the cultivation of this dock in damp places, for its use in dieing. The celadon green (a particular coloui ) is much admired by the inhabitants of the Medi- 195 terranean, and may in strift business be made in the good die, by giving a blue ground to the scuff. But this shade of blue must be so weak, that it is only a milk and water colour, which is very difficult to give smooth and equah When this shade has been happily hit, it is ea- sier to give the yellow die that suits it, with the virga aiirea than with the weld. The virga aurea is not known to the diers of ILanguedoc, who make most of these kind of colours, and as the necessary blue shades are difficult to die, they are sometimes permitted to die celadons with verdigrise, although this colour be in the rank of the lesser die. The Dutch make this colour perfeflly, and render it more lasting than it commonly is with the verdigrise. Here follows their method. Two coppers are set a little distance the one from the other. In the first is put for two pie- ces of cloth of forty-five or fifty ells long, eight or ten pounds of white soap cut small and per- fedlly melted. When the liquor is ready to boil, the cloths are dipped in, and boil for half an hour. Another liquor is prepared in the next copper, and when it is scalding hot a cloth bag is put in containing eight or ten pounds of Cyprus or blue vitriol, and ten or twelve pounds 'of lime, both powdered and well mixts this mixture must be as equal as possible. The bag is moved about in the hot water, but not boiling, till all the blue vitriol is dissolved in the liquor i then a wynch is put up, surround- ed by a clean linen cloth, and well fastened on^ oae end of the two cloths is put on the wynch, which is turned swiftly that the cloths may quickly pass through the soap liquor to that of the vitriol ^ then the wynch is worked more gently, that the cloth may have time to charge itself with the parts of copper, which the lime has scattered in the liquor, by separating and precipitating them from the vitriol v^^hich con- tained them. The cloths are left in this liquor, which must not boil until they have taken the shade of the celadon that was wanted 5 then they are taken out and well aired : they must be en- tirely cold before they are washed, and must touch no wood before they are, for the wood spots them; for this reason the wynch and the horse are surrounded with cloth. CHAPTER XX. OF THE MIXTURE OF BLUE AND BROWN. LITTLE use is made of the shade which arises from the mixture of blue and brown : these are greenish greys, or a kind of olives, which are only fit to match shades for tapes- tries; these colours are easily made when want- ed, and it is equal to begin by the blue or the brown colour to the spun wool ^ but care must be taken that it be well scoured, as is done for 197 the blue and the compound colours which are finished by dipping them in the vat. Any sub- stance that dies brown may be equally made use of for these colours, and some give the shade required better than others. OF THE MIXTURE OF BLUE AND BLACK.. TO particular shade arises from this mix« X\j ture, except by the mixture of blue and grey, (which are shades of the black). In this ^ case the blue must not be very deep, and is af- terwards worked the same as the black, except- ing^ that the colour not being so dark less cop- peras enters in ; but I repeat again that this co- lour ought only to be esteeined a shade of the black. Thus it may be said that no shades are made from blue and black used by themselves^ and very few from blue and brown. CHAPTER XXI. R 2 X98 CHAPTER XXIL OF THE MIXTURE OF RED AND YELLOW. ^ROM scarlet of grain or kcrmcs and the J/ yellow are formed the aurora, the mari- gold, and the orange. The wool is first boil- ed in alum and tartar, and died in one of these colours, and then dipped in the second, or by mixing in the same liquor the kermes, the weld, the savory, &c. and so dicing it at once. Yet it is easier to attain the exact shades by dicing it at twice ; for this reason, the wool or the stuff may be alternately passed in the one or other liquor, till it be precisely of the desired colour. The lobscer and pomegranate colours are done exaftly as scarlet is, that is, boiled with cream of tartar, cochineal, and the composi- tion, after which they are taken out, aired, and washed. For the finishing, a fresh liquor is prepared as for the scarlet, but without cochi- neal ; in its stead, a little yellow wood ground is substituted ; this depends on the colour the stuff is intended to be of. The more it bor- ders on the orange, the more yellow wood is added, diminishing the quantity of the cochi- neal. h;9 I endeavoured to make this colour after three different methods, and succeeded in all ; the first is that which 1 have described ; the second is by putting fustic instead of yellow wood, and this saves a great deal of cochineal, and the shade of the fustic is a oreat deal more on the orange than the yellow wood, but these ingre- dients are not lasting, and ought not to be used but in the lesser die. The method is with co- chineal alone, by augmenting the quantity of the composition, which rouses the cochineal, and turns it to orange as much as is desired ; but this is attended with very great inconveni- ence, 1st, The colour b-.comes very expen- sive, because it requires more cochineal than common scarlet, as the great quantity of the composition, which is an acid, makes it lose part of its ground. 2d, For the same reason the colour always looks starved, it appears as if the cochineal had been spared, the composition having dissolved part of it. 3d, This large quantity of composition hardens the wool, and makes it more liable to be spotted by dirt and sharp liquor, and consequently this method is the worst. I mentioned that the inconveniency of the second was using the fustic, which is a wood forbid in the good die^ consequently the first ought to have the preference, if it give the lobster colour as bright as the second. But this colour made by the yellow wood has not all the solidity that might be desired, as I have tried by exposing it to the sun ; this at first ap- pears extraordinary, since the ingredients used 200 have all the solidity possible. But the reason why they are not so good in the present case is, that the cochineal used in the scarlet composi- tion and the cream of tartar are too solid ^ thus the lobster colour loses nothing in the air. But the case is otherwise with the yellow wood, though it be very lasting on the wool boiled in alum and tartar, especially when a little alum is added to the liquor of its die; it is not the same as when the wool or stuff has received the water for the scarlet preparation in which no alum can enter, and consequently when these sort of colours are exposed to the air, they sad- den in a short time, that is, they lose part of their orange colour, produced by the mixture of the yellow with the red, and the efFed of the air upon this colour is the same, though it appears different from that on all others, &c. that it commonly turns them pale; yet this one darkens and browns them by taking away part of its bright orange. For it is demonstrated by several chymical experiments, that there is a vitriolic acid in the air like unto that which may be extrafted from alum. Now if a stuff died lobster colour was to be passed through a light solution of alum, the acid of the salt would immediately sadden it, and the red of ^he cochineal would eclipse the orange die;. the same thing must then happen when such a co- lour is exposed to the air, which is impregna- ted with the same acid. Very few shades are made from the crimson and yellow, because of the price of the firsr^j and that pretty near the same shades are made with madder and kermes, yellow and half scar- let of grain, as well as from the yellow and half crimson. It is with these different mixtures, that iriarigoW, orange, gold yellow, and other like shades are made, which are simply pro- duced by the mixture of the yellow and red, and sometimes by yellow alone. CHAPTER XXIIL OF THE MIXTURE OF RED AND BROWN. THE reds of the kermes and cochineal are not used in this mixture, for madder has as good an effect on those which cannot be- come bright because of the dark obscure co- lour of the brown, but after they are*maddered, they are dipt in the old liquors of cochineal or kermes ; yet a liquor in those ingredients is seldom purposely prepared, being too dear for such common colours which are as easily made with madder. The stuff is to be boiled with a quantity of alum and tartar, proportioned to the red shade of madder intended ; it is then passed through a liquor of this root, and af- terwards dipped and worked in a liquor of walnut roots or walnut rinds s the following 202 colours will be produced, viz. cinnamon, to- bacco, chesnur, inusk, bear's hair, and num- berless others, by varying the ground of the madder from the brownest to the lightest, and keeping them longer or shorter in the liquor of the root. The process may begin within any one of these colours, but the red is commonly died first, as the liquor proper for the madder might hurt the brown, therefore they are not to be mixt as the red and yellow are some- times. CHAPTER XXIV. OF THE MIXTURE OF YELLOW AND BROWN. ROM this mixture are produced the shades of feiTlemort and bear's hair. Soot is commonly used in these colours in- stead of the rinds of walnuts, or the root of the walnut tree, as it makes them finer, but care must be taken that the wool or stuff be well scoured after it is died, to take off the bad smell of the liquor j for only the clear liquor of the soot is to be used, as has already been said. The walnut rinds are preferable to the soot, unless obliged to match a pattern of feulemort with the greatest exactness, and 203 which may sometiines be done with the wal- nut. These are the only two browns resulting from these shades, the sumach and the alder bark not giving sufficient ground. Wool must be boiled in alum and tartar to die it yellow before it is made brown ; but if it should not have a sufficient ground of yellow, it might be passed afresh through the yellow die, notwithstanding it has been browned, though in fact this method of seeking exaftly the shade does not make so lasting a colour as when the yellow was at first sufficiently died ; for when the yellow is died first, the brown is a great deal brighter. OF THE "mixture OF BROW\N AND BLACK. ^ROM this mixture a great number of co- lours may be extiadled, as coffee, chesnut, prune, m,usk, thorn, and several like shades, whose numbers are ahr.ost infinite, and of great use. The method of w^orking them is this: After the wool or stuiFs have been made brown, as already described, and that several shades have previously been given ; as for ex- ample, a stronger brown for the coffee, ches- CH AFTER XXV. 204 nut, &c. galls, sumach, and eider bark are put into a copper in proportion to the quantities of stuff to be died ; the whole is boiled for one hour, after which green copperas is to be add- ed. The stuffs that are to be lightest, as the thorn, are first dipped in this liquor, then taken out, and others that are to be browner are put in, observing to add copperas to the liquor each time, and as occasion may require, which is known by its not browning the stuff quickly, thus continuing until all the stuffs are browned : the liquor must not boil, nor be of a greater degree of heat than the hand can bear. When the galls and other ingredients are boiled, cold water is added to refresh the liquor before the stuff is put in : this is a precaution that is absolutely necessary, as I have often said. The stuffs are first to be dipped in luke-warm water before they are put into the copper, lest since they we^e browned they should have dried ; and they must be aired when they have remained some time in the browning, by pass- ing them between the hands by the lists, with- out which they would perhaps spoil, blot, and be unequally died, and the brown, for wanr of airing, would not be lasting, as there would not be a successive congelation of the saline parts of the vitriol. I have now shown all the necessary colours or shades which may be produced by the mix- ture of the primitive colours taken two by two, and have given a minute description both of their effects and the method of producing them. 205 There being but few colours which may not be greatly varied, it depends on tht judgment of the dier to choose the easiest, provided the co- lour be equally fine. CHAPTER XXVL OF THE MIXTURE OF THE PRIMITIVE COLOURS, TAKEN THREE BY THREE. FROM blue, red, and yellow, tht red olives and greenish greys are made, and some o- ther like shades of little use only for spun wool designed for tapestry. It would be a repetition to give the method of using these colours, ha- ving sufficiently explained it in the preceding pages. In the mixture, where blue is a shade, it is usual to begin with it ; the stuff is afterwards boiled to give it the other colours, in which it is dipped alternately one after the other; not- withstanding they are sometimes mixed toge- ther, and are as good, provided they are co- lours which require the same preparation ; for example, the madder-red and the yellow. As to the cochineal and kermes, they are seldom used in these common colours, but only light colours which have a bloom or vinous hue, and which must be bright and brilliant, and then S 206 they are not used in the last liquor, that is, the stuff is only dipped in when it has received the other colours, unless they are to be greyed a little, which is lastly done by passing them through the browning. It is impossible to give any precise rules for this work, and the lease praflice of these rules will teach more than I could say in many volumes. Olives are made from blue, red, and brown, from the deepest to the lightest, and by giving a little shade of red, the slated greys, the la- vender greys, and such like. From the blue, the red, and the blacky an - infinite number of greys of all shades are made, as the sage grey, the pigeon grey, the slate grey, the lead grey, the king's and prince's co- lour, browner than usual, and a variety of ther colours almost innumerable. From yellow, blue, and brown, are made the greens, goose dung, and olives of all kinds. From brown, blue, and black, are produced the brown olives and the green greys. From the red, yellow, and brown, proceed the orange, gold colour, marigold, feulemort, old carnations, burnt cinnamon, and tobacco of all kinds. From the red, yellow, and black pretty near the same as the last^ and the deep feulemort 5 as also the ox hair and broWn nut, and others of the like kind. I give this list of colours only as a table to show in general what ingredients are made use of to make these sorts of colours, which also partake of several others. 2o7 Four or five of these colours may be mixed together; however this is rarely done : a mi- nute detail on this subject would be useless, because all that may be done is oftentimes su- perfluous. 1 shall now only relate the manner in which I have seeji about forty different shades of carnations made in spun wool ; this example will show what may be done in all other cases. There were none of those brisfht shades of scar- let in these which are made as in the chapter on that colour. Variety of Carnatim Colours. All these fiesh or carnations were old carna- tions, or shades of it, so that they were aii obliged to be taken from the mixture of the red of kermes^ yellow, brown, and black. An U' ^equal preparation was fii st given to the wool, reserving for the lighter shades those whose preparing liquors had been weakest. When they had remained as usual four or five days in the liquor the lighter shades were died: these colours were disposed in four different vessel:;, which were always kept sufficiently hot without boiling, A skain of wool was imme- diately dipped in the liquor of the kermes for a m/mute, it was taken out, wrung, and passed through a liquor of weld, and an instant after through a brown one, and it became of the co- lour required by the dier; he immediately dip- ped another, which remained a little longer in each liquor: he went on after this manner, and 203 when, after being strongly wrung, and seemed to want a little red or any other colour, he dip- ped it in the liquor which it appeared to w^ant. By this method he brought all his colours to the desired shade, and passed through the brown those that were required to be deeper. I was fully persuaded by this method of working, that only patience and pradice were wanting to make all the colours which can be conceived. Too much caution cannot be given in this kind of work, to begin always with the lightesc shades; for it often happens that they are kept too long in some of these liquors, and then that skain must be made into a darker shade. But when once the lighter shades are matched, and in a right degradation, the rest are easily made. What I have been speaking of, relates only to wool intended for tapestry, when it is neces- sary that the shades be carried on with the greatest degree of precision, without which it would be impossible to imitate the flesh colours of the painter. With regard to stufts, it seldom or never happens that they are made in these gradations of shades, or that so many colours are mixed together ; tv/o or three are generally sufficient, since it has been shown what a variety of co- lours arose from their combination, that even names cannot be found for them. I think I have omitted nothing regarding the dieing of wool, or woolen stuffs in the great and good die, and I make no doubt but that by exacdy following what I hare laid down. 209 each colour and all the shades may be executed CO the greatest perfection, as well in fleece wool, spun wool, as on stuffs manufactured in white. I think it yet necessary to add something in regard to mixed stuffs, that is, whose wool isi mixed before the manufacturing of the stuff, and to teach the method by which this mixture of died wool is performed, to be afterwards carded and spun to form a colour resulting from those different wools. It may be objected, that this article rather relates to the manufacturing of stuffs than their dies ; but to this I answer, that sometimes co- lours are made by mixing wool of different shades, whose colours would not easily be imi- tated by dying the stuff of a compound colour; some of these different shades composed of in- gredients which would require a different pre- paration ; whereas by dicing every part of the wool separately, the mixture is made without any difficulty; it cannot therefore be improper here to give the manner of mixing together wool of different colours, and I shall also give the manner of making mixtures for an essay or proof in S'nall, (which is always necessary) to choose that which produces the most agreeable effect. S 2. ZIO CHAPTER XXVII. OF THE MANNER OF MIXING WOOL OF DIFFER- ENT COLOURS FOR CLOTHS OR MIXED COLOURS. NE example of the method of mixing wool of diflcrenc colours, will be sufficient, and it vvill be easily applied in ali other cases requi- red. Suppose a mixed cloth of a coffee colour to be made, the following is the method of the manufacturers of Languedoc, and pretty near the same is practised in all other manufactories. Three liundred and fifty pounds of wool are first died coffee colour, which is called the ground wool, that is, that which prevails in the stuffs ; after which are taken five pounds of wool died in madder-red or kermes, and two pounds died in king's blue ; these last are call- ed the wool of mixture. This wool is distri- buted to diff^erent persons placed in a ring in a large room. The factor, or he that has the care of the mixture, stands with a stick in his hand in the centre of this circle, the men being at six feet distance from him i eight or ten are Colours mixed in the Loom. most exact manner possible) 21 I generally employed at this work, and ail the wool is given to them. In the present ca::e, for example, six will be employed in bearing the prevailing wool or coffee colour, one the blue, and another the red ; but they must be so situa- ted that there may be three together v;ho have the coffee coloured wool, then he that has the red, then three with the coftte colour, and last- ly he that has the blue. When there is a great- er number of colours, they are thus equally distributed, observing to divide them as much as possible, the one from the other. The mien thus disposed walk slowly round the factor, keeping an equal distance, and each step they take they cast at the feet of the factor a small lock of the wool they carry, with this difference, that those that have the red or the blue, having but a small quantity to distribute, fling but little each time, whereas the others must fling much more. The factor stirs the wool with his stick whilst the men are flinging it, and that the mixture should be perfect, they must all have distributed their v;ool at one and the same time. The factor then mixes it again, and gives it to the carders. The carding makes a perfect mixture, so that no particular colour is to be distinguished, and it appears of one uniform colour ^ it is after- wards spun, the cloth manufactured and brought to the mill. The importance of this mixture being exactly made is easily conceived, for if these colours were unequally distributed; the cloth would appear full of blots. 212 As in the composition of these mixtures ir is not possible to judge exactly of the effeci which may be produced by the combination of all these colours in different proportions, I shall give a method of making a proof in small, that a colour formed after this manner by a known proportional mixture, it may be executed in great, and be certain that the colour of the stufF will be equal to that of the pattern. CHAPTER. XX VIII. OF THE METHOD OF PREPARING THE PATTERN FELTS, OR MIXTURE FOR AN ESSAY. THIS little work is very simple and very useful, as it will show in an hour what a mixt cloth will be after it is m.anufactured, and even when it is entirely dressed. For this pur- pose, wool of different colours are taken, and after having weighed each exactly, the mixture is made with the fingers in the proportion which is judged sufficient, but the whole in a very small quantity ; so that the mixture being made, it may not exceed the bigness of the fist. This wool is then moistened with a little oil, and carded several times with small cards, till all these colours are well incorporated together and perfectly well mixed. This wool> which is ex- 213 tremcly open and of the square form of the card, is folded four times, and gendy pressed between the hands. It is then plunged into a strong soap water, and putting it again between the hands, it is strongly pressed at different times, striking sometimes one hand on the o- ther. It is then gently rubbed betwixt the two hands, which hardens the wool by contracting it all manner of ways, and making it occupy less space. Ic is then dipped again in the soap water, and continued to be felted, until it has acquired some consistence, and that it becomes like felt, and pretty near the same consistence as the common cloth. This felt is then a true copy of what the cloth will be after its manu- facturing; for when it has been well felted, that is, that the wool has been equally and care- fully extended under the hand coming from the card, it is as equal and as smooth as the cloth itself can be. To finish it also as perfectly as the cloth, aft. CAMPEACHV. THE campeachy wood, known under the name of logwood, is of great use in the lesser die, and it were to be wished that it vvas not used in the good die, for tn.e colour which that wood produces loses it^: bnghtnfss in a shore time, and even di:-.app!^-«rs in some places on being expo-ed to the air; the low price of thiS drug in some meas^ire tolerdtes its use^ but the principle reason of us?ng it is, that by the means of different preparacionb and salts it af- fords a great nusnber of colo^irs .md shades, which are not easily u;aJe by the ingredients of the good die alone. Yet :t is possible, a^ I have said before, lo rriake all these colours wirhout the help of logwood ; ther fore it was proper to forbid theuseofihis ingi-edienc in the^good die. J_,og\vood is necessary to sofcen and velvet the blacks \ it is th;s velvet hue that gives that excellency to the Sedan bhicks. I shall nov/ add soiv-e little matter concerning the other co- lours m which this v/ood is used, and I shall 238 observe, that when any wood whatsoever is used in dicing, it must be cut into s«nall sha- vings or chips, and put into a bag, that it may not stick to the wool or stuffs ; for the rough chip^ v/ill not only tear the goods, but blot them in those places to which thty stick. Logwood is UJied with galls and copperas for all the shades of grey which border on the slate or lavender, the pigeon grey, the lead grey, and such like. To make these, a copper is filled with clear water, and a proper quantity of galls is added ; this must be [)ropornoned to the quantity of scuffs co be died, and to the depth of the ->hade required. A bag of log- wood is put into this liquor, and when the whole has boiled and cooled, the stuff is dip- ped in it, adding by little and little some cop- peras previously dissolved in water. 1 cannot fix any exact proportion of ingredirnrs, as the diers of the lesser die are not accustor-.^ed to weigh them ; they work by the eye, and their business being to match low priced stuffs for linings of cloths tor which they have the pat- terns, they first make them lighter than is wanted, and sadden them by ~adding copperas till they are come to the shade required. If they find there is not logwood sufFicient, they add more; they do the same when they have several stuffs to pass through the sanne liquor, when they find the wood they have given has yirided all its die. This work is not difficult, and only requires practice to judge pretty nearly the quantity of ingredients to be used^ ^39 and to judge by the stuff, while wet, whether, when dry, it would have the intended colour, which is done by strongly wringing the end, and blowing on it strongly : by this means, the greatest part of the humidity, which has by twisting been brought to the surface of the stuff, is driven off ; then for an instant the co- lour is seen pretty nearly such as it will be when dry i but this must be done by a quick eye, for in a moment after the adjacent moisture is communicated to this dry place, and then you may be received. A pretty fine violet is also made with log- wood, by fiisc boiling the wool as usual with alum and tartar, and afterwards passing it through a liquoi of logwood in which a little alua) is dissolved. But it is iviade much finer by bluing and aluming the stuff first, then dipping it in a liquor of Brazil mixt with a little log- W(jod ; this violet, though ol the lesser die, is much better than the former, because the blue ground always sustains the colour, and makes it more holding. The logwood also affords a blue colour, but it lasts so ill that this wood is seldom used for dicing blue. Yet if from curiosity you wish to make a trial, you need only prepare a liquor with logwood, and mix a little Cypius or blue vitriol in it, and dip the stuffs in this without any other preparation, and you have a fine blue. By the same means, green may be m*ade in the same liquor. For this purpose, logwood. 240 French berries or q-rains of Avia;non and ver- digrise are pur inco a copper; this mixture gives the liquor a beautiful green colour, the wool may be then dipt to the height desired, and may be of any desired shade, by putting 'in more or less of the logwood and Avignon grains. Bur this colour is not better than the blue, and both ought to be excluded the art of dieing : I have given the process, merely that I might omit nothing which came to my know- ledge concerning the art. The use to which logwood is most com- monly applicii in the lesser die is for plumb, prune colours, purples and their shades. This wood joined wici-i galls, readily gives all its colours to wool that has a ground of blue; it is saddened with a little green coppe- ras, which browns thcrn, and by this means some snades nvdy be easily obtained which are much more difRcult to hit in the great die, as the different de2;rees of saddenino; are much more difficult to match in a blue vat, than by the help of the iron of the copperas. But these colours fade away very soon in the air, and in a few days a great difference is seen betwren the parts that were exposed to the air and those that were covered. Having experienced, as I said in the pre- ceding chapter that the scarlet composition changed the colour of the archil, and made it more lasting, I tried what effect it might pro- duce on the logwood; but vvhat appeared sin- gular to me was, that whatsoever quantity o 241 coriposirion I put into this liquor, it never lost its violent colour. Being desirous to put this to a Further trial, I citd a piece of cloth with log- wood, and put into the liquor a quantity of com- position, pretty near equal to that which I would have put for an equal dose of archil: the cloth took a pretty good violet colour. This cloth was put in the weather for twelve sumnner days, and the colour proved no better than if no com- position had been used. By adding a small quantity of crystals of tartar to another liquor composed as the former, I had a more lasting colour, but considerably different. The Raven Grey. The raven grey on worsted or stuffs is per- formed in the following manner. In a copper sufficiently large for sixty pound weight, dissolve eight ounces of alum, and work the worsted on sticks very quick for the space of half an hour at a boiling heat ^ then take it up, and add to the same liquor three or four pounds of copperas, and work it at a boil- ing heat for half an hour longer; while this is performing, the worsted must be washed, and one pail full of logwood chips must be boiled in another copper about twenty n\inutes; the worsted must then be turned very quick in the logwood decoction about half an hour, when it must be taken out, and returned about ten or fifteen mjnutes in the decoction of alum and copperas, as at first. This last operation is ab- X 242 solutely necessary, as it contributes much to x\ve beauty and lustre of the colour, by discharging the gross particles of the logwood, and leaves a beautiful raven grey. This process will hiAd good for thin goods and coarse clo:h, but a Jess proportion of logwood will do. CHAPTER V. OF SAXON BLUE AND GREEN. I PLACE here among the lesser dies that call- ed Saxon blue and green, wiuch has been for some time greatly in fashion, being finer and brighter than any blue or green hitherto known either in the greater or lesser die, but it bears no proof, and in twelve days exposition to the sun, it loses a great part of its colour. Blue on Clothe Stuffs or Tarn. Put into a glazed earthen- pot four pounds of good oil of vitriol, with twelve ounces of choice indigo, very finely ground and sifted; stir this chymical mixture very hastily and frequently in order to excite a fermentation, and break the lumps with a stick whose bark has been strip- ped off. It is customary with some diers to put into this composition a little antimony ur salt- 243 petre, tartar, chalk, alum, or other things; but I find it sufficient to mix the oil and indigo a- lone, and the colours will be finer, for those neutral salts destroy the acid of the vitriol and sully rl]e colour. In twenty-four hours it is fit fji use; then a copper of a good size is to be filled with fair water, (into which one peck of bran is put in a bag) and made pretty warm ; the bran, after yielding its flour, must be taken our, and the chymic mixed well with water, in a piggin, is put in according to the shade re- quired, having first put in a handful of pow- dered tartar ; the cloth, &c. is to b ' well wet^ and worked very qui* k over the wynch for h.df an hour. The liquor must not be made hotter th n that for madcier red. Observe, the hoc acid of the vitriol would cause the blue to in- cline to green if too much heat was given. The cloth, stuff, or yarn must be turned in this li- quor ve^y q iick for half an hour, and having been previously very well scoured, the colour will be bniliant and fine; it is best after wash- ing to dry this colour in the shade. Chymic for Green. Eight ounces of indigo is sufficient for four pounds of oil for green, because this mixture works green (and would even die a pea-green if used very hot) and therefore would not do for blue. The indigo is better suspended in this mixture than in the former, and is suppo- sed to go further in green. The goods being . 244 well srourtxl are to be alumedi for every twen- ty pound weight, two pounds of alum is to be put into a copper with fair water, and the goods boiled gently an hour and a half ; whilst this is performing, another copper is got ready, in wh.ch fustic chips are put to boll if there are " any to die pea- green it is be^t to die theni first, not as practised in some die- houses, for this great reason, that when several parcels of cioods have betn throu;2,h the same liquor, there re • mains a scurf which the acid extracts, and that is surr to :tick to the ntxr parcel that goes in; and if pea-green was the last, the colour would btr dulled thereby. The grtens (pea-green ex- cepted) are to be turned about ten minutes in tht alum liquor after they are died, in order to cle.ir them of the stuff, and render the colour brighter. The alum liquor is not to be hotter than that the hand may be borne in. Observe, if the alum was put in (as is custom»ary in some die-houses) WM*th the fustic, it w^ould retard its working so well; for alum, being an acid, would discharge if used with, as v/ell as prepare for fustic. The reader will perhaps think me too tedious in this process, and say (because he is not used to this method) it is a suprr fluoub work ; but be assured that the time lost in the process will be saved in the fustic, if attention is paid. 'H5 CHAPTER VI. OF BRAZIL WOOD. UNDER the general name of Brazil wood ;S comprehended that of Fv-rr.ambouc, St. Martha, Japan, and some others which I shall not hert- distinguish, since they are all iiscjd a- tcr the same manner for dieing. Some give greater variety of colours than others, or fint^r i bur this often proceeds from the parts of thc^ wood being more or less exposed to the air, or that soine parts of it may be rotted. The soundest or highest in colour are to be chosen for dieing. All those woods give a tolerable good colour,, either used alone, mixt with logwood, or with other colouring ingredients. It has been shewn, that, in the false or bastard violet, a little Bra- zil was added to the logwood; but in the vinous greys, or those which have a case of the red, a grt*at deal more is used. S-jmetiiru s only, a small quantity of galls is put with the Br azil, ani It is saddened with copperas; often also with lo::;wood, archil, or s me other ingredient, it iS added according o the shade, from, whe-nce. it IS not possible to give ariv fixed rule for this kind of woik, on account of the infinite varie- X 2 246 ry of shades which are obtained from these dif- ferenr mixtures. The natural colour of the Brazil, and for which it is most used, is the false scarlet, which appears fine and bright, but far inferior to the brightness of the cochineal or gum lacque. To extract the colour from this wood, the hardc-sc water, ^uch as will not dissolve soap, must be made use of, for river water has, not nearly so good an effect ; it must be cut into chips and boiled for three hours; the water is then taken out and put into a large vessel, an-d fresh well-water put on the wood and boiled a- gain for three hours this water is added to the first. This liquor, which is called juice of Brazil, must be old and fermented, and rope like an oily wine, before it is fit for use. To extract a bright red from it, the stufT must be filled with the salts of the common liquor of prrpa- ration, but the alum must predominate, for the tartar alone, and also sour water, greatly spoils the beauty of this colour : in short, acids are hurtful to it, and dissolve its red colouring part. Four ounces of alum for each pound 01 stuff is to be added to the liquor, and only two ounces of tartar, or even less. The wool is to be boiled in it for three hours s it is then taken out and gently wrung, and thus kept moist for eicrht days at least, that by the salts being re« tained it may be sufficiently prepared to receive the die. To die with this, one or two pails full of the old juice of Brazil is put into a conve« 247 nient copper, and well scummed. Dip the stuff which has remained eight or ten days moistened in the preparing liquor, and it rnust be well worked in it without making the liquor boil too strongly, until it be smoothly and e- qually died. Care must be taken to wring a corner of this stuff now and then, as I have al- ready said, to judge of its colour, for, whilst wet, it appears at least three shades deeper than when dry. By this method, which is somewhat tedious, very bright reds are made, perfectly imitating certain colours the English sell under the name of Campeachy scarlets, which, by the proof of dies, are not found to be better than this, only that they seem to have been lightly maddered. This red, of which I have* given the process, anJ which is no where else described, withstands the weather three or four months in the winter, without losing any of its shade; on the contra- ry, it saddens, and seems to acquire a ground, but it does not stand the proof of tartar. Some diers of the great die use Brazil to heighten the red of madder, either to save this root, or make irs red more bright than usual. This is done by dipping in a Brazil liquor a stuff, begun with the madder, but this kind of fraudulent die is expressly forbid by the French regulations, as well as any mixture of the great die with the lesser, because it can only serve to cheat, and to pass for a fine madder red, a co- lour which in a few days loses all its brightness along with the shade, which has been drawn 248 froai the Brazil, prepared in the comnaon man- ner. The first colour extracted from this wood is nor of a good die, probably because it is an in- digested sap, and whose colouring particles have not been sufficiently attenuated to be retained and sufficiently fixed in the pores of the wool died in ir. When these first gross parts of the colour have been carried off^, those that remain in small quantity are finer, and mixing them- selves to the yellow parts, which are furnished by the pure woody parts, the red resulting from it is more lasting. By the means of acids^ of what kind soever, all the red colour of this wood is carried off'or disappears ; then the stuff that is died by it takes a hind coloifr, more or less deep in pro- portion to the time ic is kept in the liquor, and this colour is of a very good die. It is said that the dicrrs of Amboise have a method of binding the Brazil colour in this manner; after their stufi^s lighdy maddcred have been parsed through a liquor of weld, and con- sequently boiled twice in alum and tartar, they put arsenic and pearl-ashes in the juice of Bra- zil, and it is asserted that this colour then re- sists the proofs; I (ried this process, but it did not succeed. Whrn a very bright red is required from the Brazil, I know by experience that it is possible to insure the colour drawn from ir after ^uch a manner that, having exposed it thirty days to the rays of the sumnjer's sun, it will not change^ 249 bur these kind of colours are coffee and chesnuc purples. To make these, I kv^'ep the stuff moistened in its liquor in a cellar for fifteen days; this li- quor is prepared as for the reds, of which I have heretofore spoken; I fill a copper to two- thirds with well water, and the remaining third up with Brazil juice, to which I add about one oz. of Aleppo galls in very fine powder to every pound of stuff, and then boil it one or two hours, as I want the shade to be in deepness: the stuff is aired from time to tim.e, and when it has taken the colour desired, it is well cooled before it rs washed. This stuff being brushed, the nap layed, and cold pressed^ comes out ve- ry fine and very smooth. CHAPTER VIL OF FUSTIC. THE fustic gives sn orange colour that is not lasting; it is coir»mon]y used in the lesser die, like the roots or husks of walnuts, without boiling the stuff, so that it is easily ma- naged. It is often mixed with walnut husks and weld: to make tobacco and cinnamiOn co- lours, and other like sha'U\^. B^it this wood is a very bad ingredient, for ics colour being ex- 250 posed to the air for a very short time loses all its brightness and the greatest part of its yellow shade. If a stuff died with fustic is dipped in the woad vat, a disa^^reeable olive ensues* which does not h^sist the air, but soon loses its colour. I have already said that lustic vvas made use of in Languedoc for making of lobsrer colours for foreign markets, as it greatly saves cochi- neal. For this purpose they mix v/eld, fustic, and cochineal, with a little cream of tartar, in the sa?iie liquor, and the srufF boded in this li- quor comis out of a lohsa-r coiour, and accord- ingly, to the quantitv of these different ingre- dients, it becomes more or less red, tending to the orange. Although the method of mixtog together ingredients of the good with those of the le sser die ought to be condemned, yet in this ca>e, and for this colour onlv, which is in con- siderable demand in the Mediterranean, it ap- pears that the fustic may be tolerated ; for ha- ving attempted to make^the sam.e colour, with only the ingredients of the good die, I did not get a more lasting colour. The chan,e,e which the air produces in the lobster colour made with fustic is very sensi >Ie, but it is not so disagreeable as the changes in- cident to several other colours; for all the sl^ade goe^s off and wrakens at once, so that it is ra- ther diminution tiian a change or colour; where- as the lobster colour made with the yellow wood becomes of a chcri-y colour. CHAPTER VIL OF ROUCOU. THE roucou or racoiirt is a kind of dry pasre brought from America; this ingre- dient gives an orange colour pretty near the same as the fu^tlc, and the die is not more last- ing. However it is not by the proof alum that the quality of the oucou is to be judged, for this does not in the least alter its colour; on the contrary, /t her o nes finer and brighter, but the air carries it off, and efTac-s it in i short tin^c; soap has the same effect, and it is by this it must be tried according to the instructions on these kind of proofs. The place of this ingre- dient is easily siip[>lied in the good die by v/c\d and madder mixt i together, but roucou is marie use of in the lesser die after the following man- ner. Pearl-ashes are dissolved in a copper with a sufficit^nt quantity of water; it is well boiled for one hour, that the ashes may be totally dis- solved ; then as irjany pounds of roucou as there are of ashes, ire added; the liquor is well ra- ked and suffered to boil for a quarter of an hour; thi wool or stuffs that are to be died are then dipped without any preparation, except dipping 252 thfm in luke-vvarm water, that the colour may spread itself equally. They are left in this liquor, working them continually until they are come to the desired shade, after which they are washed and dried. The roucou is often mixed with other ingre- dients of the lesser die, but 1 cannot give any instructions on these mixtures, as they depend on the shades you wish to make, and are in themselves artrnded with no difficulty. I have boiled the stulF in alum and tartar be- fore I died it with roucou, but though the co- lour was more lasting it was not sufficiently so to be deemed of the good die. On the whole, the roucou is a very bad ingredient for dicing of woo!, and is not made much use of, for it. is dear, and other ingredients, that are cheaper and hold better, are used in its stead. Wool died with roucou, and afterwards dipt in the indigo or woa-l vat, takes a reddish o- Jivt, which in a very short time becomes almost blue in the air, the colour given by the roucou disappearing. CHAPTER IX. OF THE GRAINS OF AVIGNON. THE grains of Avignon are but little used in dic^ing, they give a pretty good yellow, but not lasting, no more than the green, pro- 253 duced by dipping in the same liquor, a stuff chat has a ground of blue. To work it, the stuff must be boiled in alum and tartar as for weld. Then a fresh liquor is made with these grains, and the stuff is dipt, and must lie in it longer or shorter, according to the shade that is wanted. There is no difficulty in working of it, so I need only observe that it ought ne- ver to be used but when all other ingredients for dieing yellow are wanting; this must seldom happen, as they are neither scarce nor dear. CHAPTER X. OF TURMERIC. THE turmeric is a root that is brought from the East Indies ; that which comes frOiH Patna is most valued. The Indian diers call ic haleli\ it is also called concome in the re- gulations of M. Colbert. Ic is reduced to a very fine powder, and used pretty near the same way as the grain of Avignon, but in much less quantity, on account of its yielding a great deal of die. It is somewhat better than the other yellow ingredients spoken of in the pre- ceding chapter, but, as it is dear, it is a suffi- cient reason for seldom or never using it in the lesser die. Y ^54 It is sometimes used in the great die to gild the yellows made with weld, and to brighten and orange the scarlets i but this practice is to be condemned ; for the air carries off all the co- lour of the turmeric in a short time, so that the gilded yellows return to their first state, and the scarlets brown considerably ; when this hap- pens to these sort of colours, it may be looked on as certain that they have been falsified with this ingredient, which is not lasting. I omit speaking of safi'ron, which may also be made use of to die yellow, but which 1 be- lieve is not usedi first, on account of its being dear; and secondly, because its yellow is still worse than those of the two preceding ingre- dients. This is all that remains for me to say on the ingredients of the lesser die, they arc only to be used for common and low-priced stuffs. It is not that I think it impossible to extract lasting colours from them, but then those colours will not scricrly be the same which these ingredients yield naturally, or by the ordinary methods, as that gum and ascriction which is wanting in them must be added, and then they are no more of the same quality ; consequently the rays of light will be diff'crenily reflected, and the colour will be different. 255 CHAPTER XL OF SILVER GREY. FOR pearl colour or silver grey, to die forty pounds of woollen cloth or worsted, boil in a sinall copper four pounds of logwood chips for half an hour, add to it six ounces of pearl- ashes, and oiix them well together; while this is performing, (having the worsted well scour- ed and parcelled in hanks on the die-sticks) heat a great copper with clean water, and put one peck of wheat bran in a bag into the cop- per; let it remain with often stirring about an hour; when the water begins to boil, put in three ounces of alum, which will throw the filth of the water to the top, when it must be taken off with the bowl ; wash the worsted in this liquor about forty minutes, when it must be taken up, and three or four pails of the log-- wood liquor added to the alum water. The goods must then be worked very quick for forty minutes, when you may add more logwood li- quor if you see occasion. Great care must be taken after washing to dry this colour in the shade, or it will perhaps change. Some die this colour in one liquor and boil the logwood in a bag. This process is less te- dious, but I prefer the former. It will be well 256 for the dier to take notice, that if too great quantity of alum or ashtfs are used herein, the colour will be imperfect; for the alum, if used - in a right proportion, gives that biooiii to the good Vr-hich ib necessary for a pearl ; if too much, the contrary would happen. The ashes also, if used in too great quantity, would make the colour too red ; this may seem a con- tradiction, because the ashes are in alkali, bur practice will teach the truth. Another excellent Silver Die. For twenty pounds weight of cloth or wor- sted, eight ounces of alum and twelve pounds of fenugreek must boil with the goods half an hour; then t.dce it up, and add one pound of pearl-ashrs and eight ounces of Brazil wood ; boil them gently with the goods half an hours rince it and you have a beautiful colour. INSTRUCTIONS ON THE PROOF OF DIED WOOL AND WOOLLEN STUFFS. AS It has been found that the methods pre-- scribed for the proof of dies, by the thirty- seventh article of the French regulations for ^57 the diers in the good die, of cloth, serges, and ocher woollen stufis made in 1669, and by ar- ticle 220 of the general inscriictions for the dieing of woo! of all colours, and for the cul- ture of drugs and ingredients therein used made in 1671, were insufficient for an exact judg- ment of the goodness or falsity of several co- lours, that they might sometimes lead into er- ror, and leave room for disputes, different ex- periments have been made by the French king's order on wool designed for the m.anufactare of tapestry to ascertain the degree of goodness of each colour, and the most convincing proofs of each. For this purpose. Pine wool was died in dif- ferent colours both in the great and lesser die, and exposed to the air and sun during a proper time; the good colours kept themselves per- fectly, and the false ones were carried off more or less according to their bad quality; and as a coloui IS only to be accounted good inasmuch as It resists the action of the air and sun, this proof served as a rule to decide the goodness of different colours. Afcer tiiis, several proofs were made on the same wool whose patterns had been exposed to the air and sun, and it was immediately found that the same trials could not be indifferently used in proving of all colours ; for it often happened that one colour, known to be good by exposition to the air, was considerably changed by the essay proof, and that a false colour stood the same proof. Y 2 — 258 These experiments exploded lemon juice, vinegar, sour waters, and strong waters, as ic was impossible to ascertain the degree of aci- dity of these liquors 3 and ic appeared chat the surest mechod is co use ingredients with com- mon water, whose effects are always equal. In following this plan, it has been judged necessary to divide into three classes all the co- lours in which wool is died, either in the great or lesser die, and to fix the ingredients chat are to be made use of in the essay proofs of the colours, comprehended in each of these three classes. The colours comprehended in the first class are to undergo the proof of Roman alum, those of the second with white soap, and those of the third with red tartar. But it is nor sufficient to be assured of the goodness of a colour by using in the proof, in- gredients whose effect may always be equal ; it is also necessary, that not only the duration of this trial be exactly determined, but even the quantity of water fixed ; for the proportion of water considerably augments or diminishes the activity of the ingredients which are put into it. The method of proceeding in these different proofs shall beset forth in the follow- ing articles : 259 Article I. The proof of Roman Alum must be made as follows : One pound of water and half an ounce of alum are co be put in an earthen vessel or pan. The vessel is to be placed on the fire, and when the water boils strongly, the wool is put in and left to boil for five minutes, after which it is to be taken out and washed in cold water ; the weight of the pattern of wool must be a drachm or thereabouts. IL — When several patterns are to undergo the proof together, the quantity of water and alum is to be doubled, or even trippled, which will no ways change the strength or effect of the proof, if you observe the same proportion of water and alum, so that for each pound of water there may be one ounce of alum. III.— To render the effect of the proof more certain, care must be taken not to try together wool of different colours. IV. The Proof with White Soap is to be made after the following Manner : To one pound of water add two drachms of white soap, and place the vessel on the fire ^ stir it with a stick that the soap may be tho« 26 Q jroughly dissolved; whcrn it js so, and the Vv^a- ter boils strongly, the woollen pattern is put in, which is to boil for fiv^e minutes. V. — When several patterns are to undergo this proo^ the same method is to be ob'bcrved as in the second article, that is, to put to each pound of water two drachms of soap. VI. — The proof with red tartar must be ex- actly the same, with the same proportions as the proof with alum, taking care that the tar- tar is finely powdered and well dissolved in the water before the pattern is put in. VIL — The following colours are to be pro- ved v*^ith Roman alum, viz. crimson of ail shades, Venetian scarlet, fiame colour or com- mon scarlet, cherry colour and other shades of scarlet, violets and gris-de-Hn of all shades^ purples, lobster, pomegranate, slate greys, la- vender greys, violet greys, vinous greys, and all other like shades. VIII.— If, contrary to the orders of the re» gulations on dieing> any ingredients of the false die have been made use of for fine wool died in cricnson, the cheat will be easily found out by the proof of alum, for it changes the fine crimson a little on the violet, that is, makrs it border a little on the gris de-liny but it de- stroys the highest shades of the bastard crim- son y thus this proof is a sure method to dis- tinguish false crimson from fine. IX. . — Scarlet of keraies or grain, commonly called Vcnedan scarier, is no wise preju iiced by this proof; it raises tiie fire-coiour scarlet to a purple, and gives a violet colour to the lighter shades, so that they border on the gris- dc-hny but it carries ofF the greatest part of the false Brazil scarlet, and brings it to an onion-peel colour ; it has yet a more sensible effect on the lighrer shades of this false co- lour. The same proof carries off almost entirely the scarlet of flock and its shade. X. — Though the violet is not a simple co- lour, but formed of blue and red shades, it is nevertheless of so much consequence as to m.e- rit a particular inquiry. The same proof with Roman alum has scarcely any effect on the fine violet, v^'hereas it considerably alters the false ; but it must be observed, that it does not always equally carry off a great part of the shade of the false violet, because this colour has sometimes a ground of woad or indigo : now this ground being of the good die, is not carried off by the proof, but the redness goes off, and the brown shades become alm.ost blue, and t,he pale ones of the colour of Jees of wine. XL — With regard to half fine violets, for- bidden by the present regulations, they must be ranked in the class of false Vioiets, and do not stand the proo''. 262 XII. — The fine grts-de-lin inay be knowrf from che false by the same method, the dif- ference is but trifling; the gris^de lin of the good die loses a little less than that of the false. XIII. — Fine purples entirely resist the proof with alum, whereas the false entirely lose the greatest part of their colour. XIV. — Lobster colours and pomegranate strike on the purple after the proof, if they have been made with cochineal^ whereas they will pale greatly if fustic has been used i the use of which is prohibited, XV. — Blues of the good die will lose no- thing in the proof, whether of woad or indigo ; but those of the lesser die will lobe the greatest part of their colour. XVL— The slate greys, lavender greys, vi- olet greys, and vinous greys, lose almost all their colour if they are of the false die; where- as they perfectly maintain it, if of the good. XVII. — The proofs of the following colours are to be made with white soap : yellow, jon- quill or lemon colour, orange, and all the shades of yellow; all green shades from the yellovv green or light green, to the cabbage or parrot green, the reds of madder, cinnamon^ ^ ^ tobacco, and such like. XVIII. — This proof perfectly shows if the yellows and other shades derived from it are of 263 a good or false die ; for it carries off the greatest part of their colour if they have been made with grains of Avignon, roucou, turmeric, fustic, or saffron, whose use is prohibited for fine dies, but it no ways impairs the yel- lows made with savory, dicr's wood, yellow wood, weld, or fenugreek. XIX. — The same proof will also show the goodness of greens, as those of the false die lose most of their colour, or become blue if they have a ground of woad or indigo; whereas those of the good die lose almost nothing of their shade, but remain green. XX. — The reds of pure madder lose no- thing by the soap proof, on the contrary be- come finer, but if Brazil wood has been used, they lose their colour in proportion to the quan- tity of it in the composition of the die. XXI. — Cinnamon, snuff colours, and others of this cast, are scarcely altered by this proof, if of the good die, but they lose considerably if roucou, fustic, or dissolved flock has been made use of. XXII. — The proof of alum would be of no use, and might even lead us into errors with regard to several colours belonging to this se- cond class, for it no ways alters the fustic nor the roucou, which nevertheless do not with- stand the action of the air ; on the other hand, it carries off a great part of the savory and of 264 the dier's wood, which are very good yellows and greens. XXIII. — All the brown or root colours should undergo the proof with red tartar. The diers call by this name all colours that are not derived from the five primary colours ; they are made with rinds and roots of walnut, alder- bark, sumach or roudoul, santal and soot ; each of these ingredients gives a great variety of shades, which are all comprehended under the general name of brown or root colour. XXIV. — The above-named ingredients in the preceding article are good, except the san- tal and soot, which are not quite so good, and make the wool stiff when too great a quantity is used, so that all this proof can show on these kind of colours, is, whether too much santal or soot has been put into them ; in this case they lose considerably by the proof with tar- tar ; but if made with other ingredients, with only a moderate quantity of santal or soot, they stand a great deal better. XXV. — Black is the only colour which can- not be comprehended in any of the three clas- ses above-mentioned, and a much more active proof must be made use of. To know if the wool has had a deep ground of blue, conform- able to the regulations, the proof is to be made in the following manner: take a pint or pound of water, one ounce of tartar, and the same 265 quantity of Roman alum well powdered ; boil it, and then put in the pattern ; let it boil strongly for a quarter of an hour, and after- wards wash it in cold water; you will then easily know if it has had the proper blue ground, for if so, the wool will remain of a dark blue almost black; if not, it will turn very grey. XXVI. — It is common to brown certain co- lours with galls and copperas this operation is called browning, which is to be permitted in the good die ; but as this may cause a par- ticular effect in proving of these colours, it is to be observed that although the proof liquor appears loaded with die as the browning is car- ried oft, the wool must be reputed of a good die if it still preserves its ground ; if on the contrary it loses it, it is then deemed to be of the false die. XXVII. — Although the browning, which is made of galls and copperas, if of the good die, yet, as it hardens the wool, it is better to make use of the indigo or woad vat in prefe- rence. XXVIII. — Common greys made with galls and copperas are not to undergo any of these proofs, because these colours are of the good die, and are not otherways made; but it is to be observed, that they are first to be passed Z 266 through the liquor of galls, and afterwards through a second liquor, containing the cop- peras, which must be much cooler than the firsts for by this method they are made finer and more lasting. 267 THE DIER'S ASSISTANT. PART III. ADDITIONAL ARTICLES. CHAPTER I. OF FLOWERS.. AMONG the infinite variety of colours which glow in the flowers of plants, there are very few which have any durability, or whose fugitive beauty can be arrested by art, so as to be applied to any valuable purposes. The only permanent ones are the yellow. The red, the blue, and all the internnediate shades of purples, crimsons, violets, &c. are extremely perishable. Many of these flowers lose their colour on being barely dried ; especially if they arc dried slowly, as has been usually directed, in a shady and not warm place* The colours of all of them perish on keeping, even in the 268 closest vessels. The more hastily they are dried, and the more perfeflly they are^ secured from the air, the longer they retain their beau- ty. The colouring matter, extradted and ap- plied on certain bodies, is still more perishable : often times it is changed or destroyed in the hand of the operator. Of Blue Flowers. The colour of many blue flowers is extrafted by infusion in water, but there are some from which water gains only a reddish or a purplish hue. Of those that have been tried, there is not one which gives any blue tincture to spiritous liquot s : some give no colour at all, and some a reddish one. The juice prest out from the fresh flowers is for the most part blue. The bluejuices and infusions are changed red by all acids ^ the. marine acid seems to stril^e the most florid red. The flowers themselves, ma- cerated in acid liquors, impart also a deep red tinfture. Alkalis, both fixed and volatile, and lime water, change them to a green. Those in- fusions or juices, which have nothing of the na- tive colour of the flower, sufi^er the same chan- ges from the addition of acid and alkaline li- quors ; even when the flowers have been kept till their colour is lost, infusions made from them acquire still a red colour from the one, and a green from the other, though in a less de- gree than when the flowers were fresh. The red colour produced by acids is scarcely more durable than the original blue ^ applied 269 upon other bodies, and exposed to the air, it gradually degenerates into a faint purplish, and at length disappears, leaving hardly any stain behind. The green produced by alkalis changes to a yellow, which does not fade so soon. The green by lime water is more permanent and more beautiful. Green lakes, prepared from these flowers by lime water, have been used as pigments by the painter. The flowers of cyanus have been greatly re- commended, as affording elegant and durable blue pigments ; but I have never been able to extraA from them any blue colour at all. They retain their colour indeed, when hastily dried, longer than some other blue flowers, but they communicate nothing of it to any kind of menstruum. Infusions of them in watery, spiritous, and oily liquors, are all more or less of a reddish cast, without any tendency to blue. Alum, which is said to heighten and preserve their blue colour, changes it like that of other blue flowers, to a purplish red ; acids to a deep red; alkalis and lime water to a green. Solution of tin, added to the watery infusion, turns it to a fine crimson; on standing, a beau- tiful red fecula subsides, bur it loses all its co- lour by the time it is dry. The watery infusion, inspissated to the consistence of an extradl made with redified spirit, is of a purplish co- lour. The colour of both extrads, spread thin and exposed to the air, quickly fades. The flowers employed in these experiments were those of the common blue bottle of the Z 2 270 corn-field ; cyanis ssgetum C\ B. centanrea ca^ lycibus serratis \ foliolis Ii7iearibu5 tntegerri^ mis i insimis dcntatis linn. spec. Red Flowers, Red flowers readily communicate their own red colour to w iter menstrua j among those that have been tried there is not one exception. Those of a full red colour, give to redtified spirit also a deep red tin6ture, brighter, though somewhat paler than the watery infusion ; but the lighter red flowers, and those that have a tendency to purplish, impart very little co- lour to spirit, and seem to partake more of the nature of the blue flowers than of the pure red. Infusions of red flowers are supposed to be heightened by acids, and turned green by alka- lis, like those of the blue; but this is far from being universal. Among those I have exami- ned, the rose colours and purplish reds were all changed nearly in the s ime manner as the blues, but the f ill deep reds were not. The deep in- fusion of red popies is turned by alkalis, not to 3 green but to a dusky purple. Yellow Flowers* The colours of yellow flowers, whether pale or deep, are in general durable. Many of them are as much so perhaps as any of the native co- lours of vegetables. The colour is extrafted both by water and by spirit; the watery infu- sions are the deepest. Neither acids nor alka- lis alter the species of colour, though both of 2/1 chem vary its j^hades ; acids rendering it paler, and alkalis deeper : alum likewise consider ibly heightens it though not so much as alkalis. Wool or silk impregnated with a solution of alum and tartar, receives, on being boiled with the watery infusion, or decoction, a durable yel- low die, more or less deep according as the li- quor is more or less saturated v/ith the colouring matter. An infusion of the flowers made in alkaline iey, precipitated by alum, gives a durable yel- low lake. Some of these flowers, particularly those of the chrysanthemum, or corn-marigold, appear (from the Ars Tin^ora Fundamentalist published by Stah!) to be made use of by the German Diers. In some of the deep reddish yellow, or orange- coloured flowers, the yellow matter seems to be of the same kind with that of the pure yellow flowers, but the red to be of adifi^erent kind from the pure red ones : watery menstrua take up only the yellow and leave rhe red, which may afterwards be extrafled by rectified spirit of wine, or by water actuated with fixed alkaline salt. Such particularly are the safron-coloured flowers of carthamus. These, after the yellow matter has been extracted by water, are said ta give a red tincture to ley ; from which, on standing at rest for some time, a deep bright red fecula subsides, called, from one of the names of the plant which produces it, saf flower, and from the countries whence it is commonly brought to us, Spanish red, und China lake^ 272 this pigment impregnates spirits of wine with a beautiful red tincture, but communicates no colour to water. I have endeavoured to separate by the same treatment, the red matter of some of the other reddish yellow flowers, as those of the garden marigold, but without success. Plain water extracted a yellow colour, and alkaline ley ex- tracted afterwards only a paler yellow ; though the digestions wrre continued till the flowers had lost their colour, the tinctures were no other than yellov/, and not so deep as those ob- tained from the pure yellow flowers. The little yellow floscuH, which in some kinds of flowers are collected into a compact round disc, as in the daisy and corn-marigold, agree so far as they have been examined with the expanded yellow petala. Their colour is aff'dcted in the same manner by acids, by alka- lis, and by alum, and equally extracted by wa- ter and by spirit. But the yellow farina or fine dust lodged on the tips of the stamina of flowers, appears to be ofadifi^erent kind. It gives a fine bright yel- low to spirit, and a duller yellow to water j the undissolved part proving, in both cases, of a pale yellowish white. Both the watery and spi- ritous tinctures were brightened by alkaline li- quors, turned red by acids, and again a deep yellow on adding more of the alkali. I know no other vegetable yellow that is changed red by acids* 273 White Flowers. White flowers are by no means destitute of colouring matter. Alkaline lixivia extract fiom some of them a green tincture, and change their colourless expressed juices to the same colour. But I have not observed that they are turned red by acids. The flowers of the common wild convolvulus or bind weed, which in all their parrs are white, give a deep yellow or orange tincture to plain water, whxh like the tincture of flowers which are naturally of that colour, is rendered paler by acids, heightened a little by alum, and more considerably by alkaline salts. The vapours of the volatile vitriolic acid, or of burning sulphur, which whiten or destroy the colour of the coloured flowers^ makes no change in the white. CHAPTER IL OF FRUITS. THE red juices of fruits, as red currants, mulberries, elder berries, and morcUo and black cherries, &c. gently inspissated to dry- ness dissolve again almost totally in water, and appear nearly of the same red colour as at first. Rectified spirit extracts the tinging particles, leaving a considerable portion of mucilaginous 274 matter undissolved: and hence the spirituous tincture proves of a brighter colour than the watery. The red solutions and the juices themselves are sometimes made dull, and some- tidiesmore florid, by acids, and generally turn- ed purplish by alkalis. The colours of these juices are for the most part perishable. They resist indeed the power of fermentation, and continue almost unchan- ged after the liquor has been converted into wine. But when the juice is spread thinly on other bodies, exsiccated, and exposed to the air the colour quickly alters and decays : the bright lively reds change the soonest. The dark, dull red strain from the juice of the bldck-cherry, is of considerable durability. The fruit of the Amercan opuntia, or prickly pear, the plant upon which the cochineal insect is produced, is perhaps an exception : this bright red fruit, according to Labaty gives a beautiful red die. Some experiments, however, made upon the juice of that fruit, as brought in- to England, did not seem to promise any great advantage from it ^ but the particulars I cannot now recollect. The ripe berries of buckthorn stain paper of a green colour. From these is prepared the substancecalled sap-green, apigment sufficiently durable, readily soluble in water, but not mis- eible with oil. The berries dried whilst green, and macerated in alum- water, are said to yield a yellow pigment ; and when they have grown over-ripe, so as to fall off spontaneously, a pur- ple one. Woolen cloth, prepared with alum and 275 tartar, receives, on being boiled with the berries, a perishable yellow die. The French berries, or grained Avignon of the Fn nch Dicrs, one of the most false, that is, the most perishable of the yellow dies, is the berry of a species of buck- thorn smaller than that which grows wild among us. It is said that the berry of the Helioiropium tricoccumy which grows v;ild about Montpelier^ stains paper of a green colour, and that this green turns presently to a blue : that the com- mon blue paper receives its colour from this juice : and that the red rags, called turnsole employed for colouring wines and other liquors, are tinctured by the same juice, turned red by acids. According to Af. Nissolle of the French academy of sciences (as quoted by Savary in his Dtctionaire de Commerce) the colouring juice is obtained, not from the berries, but from the tops of the plant, gathered in August, ground in mills, and then committed to the press. The juice is exposed to the sun about an hour, the rags dipped in it, dried in the sun, moisctneci by the vapour which arises during the slacking of quick-lime with urine, theii dried ag.dn in the sun, and dipped again in the juice. The Dutch and others aie said to prepare turn* sol rags, and turnsol in the mass, from different ingredients, among which archil is a principal one. In some plants, peony for instance, the seeds at a certain poinr (it maturity are covered wuh a fine shining red membrane ; the pellicles of the 276 seeds of a certain American tree afford the red masses brought into Europe under the names of / annotto, orlean, and roucou. The red seeds, cleared from the pods, are steeped in water for seven or eight days or longer, till the liquor be- gins to ferment ; then strongly stirred, and stamped with wooden paddles and beaters, to promote the separation of the red skins 5 this process is repeated several times till the seeds are left white. The liquor passed through close cane sieves is pretty thick, of a deep red colour and a very ill smell. In boiling it throws up its colouring matter to the surface in form of scum, which is afterwards boiled down by itself to a due consistence, and made up, while soft into balls. The annotto commonly met with among us, is moderately hard and dry, of a brown colour on the outside, and a dull red within. It is wirh difficulty acted on by water, and tinges the liquor only of a pale brownish yellow co- lour. In rectified spirit of wine it readily dis- solves, and cominunicares a high orange or yel- lowish red. Hence it is used as an ingredient in varnishes, for giving more or less of an orange cast to ihe simple yellows. Alkaline salts ren- der it perfectly soluble in boiling water, without altering its colour. Wool or bilk boiled in the solution, acquire a deep but noc a very duranle orange die. Irs colour is not changed by alum or by acids any more than by alkalis; but wfien imbibed in clotn, it discharged by soap and destroyed by exposure to the air. 277 Mr. Pott, in the Berlin memoirs for the year 175 2, mentions a very extraordinary property of this concrete. " With the vitriolic acid, ic " produces a blue colour, of extreme beauty, " but with this capital defect, that all salts and liquors, even common water, destroy it/* The specimen of annotto which I examined, was not sensibly acted on by spirit of vitriol. It received no change in its own colour, and communicated none to the liquor. Nor did any visible change ensue upon dropping the acid into tinctures of annotto made in water or in spirit. Labat informs us, that the Indians prepare an annotto greatly superior to that which is brought to us, of a bright shining red colour, almost: equal to carmine ; that for this purpose, in- stead of steeping and fermenting the seeds in water, they rub them with the hands previously dipt in oil, till the pellicles come off, and are reduced into a clear paste, which is scraped off from the hands with a knife, and laid on a cleaa leaf in the shade to dry. De Lacet^ in his notes on M ircgrave's Natural H'story of Brazil, men- tions also two kinds of annotto, one of a perma- nent criaison colour, (coccineus) used as a fu- cus \ and another which gives a colour incli- ning more to that of saffron. This last, which is our annotto, he supposes to be a mixture of the first sort with certain resinous Qiatters, and with the juice of the root of the tree. Ximenes relates, that annotto with urine stains linen of such a permanent colour that it Aa 278 can never be washed out. Perhaps the first sort is meant. Our annotto boiled in urine, im- parted to linen a deep yellowish red : the stained linen, hung out in the air in summer, in seven or eight days lost all its colour and be- came white again. CHAPTER IIL OF LEAVES. THE green colour of the leaves of plants is extracted by rectified spirit of wine gnd by oils. The spirituous tinctures are generally of a fine deep green, even when the leaves themselves are dull coloured, or yellowish, or lioary. The colour however seldom abides long even in the liquor ; much less when the tinging matter is separated in a solid form, and exposed with a large surface to the air. The editor of the PFirtemberg Pharmacopeia ob- serves, that the leaves of acanthus, brankursine or bears- breech, give a more durable green tincture to spirit than those of any other herb. Alkalis heighten the colour bCth of the tinc- tures and green juices. Acids weaken, destroy, or change it to a brownish. Lime water im- proves both the colour and the durability. By means of lime, not inelegant green lakes are procurable from the leaves of acanthus, lilly of the valley, and several other plants. 279 There are very few herbs which communi- cate any share of their green colour to water; perhaps none that give a green of any conside- rable deepness. It is said, however, that the leaves of some plants give a green die ro wo )1"- kn, without the avldition of any other colouring matter ; particularly those of the wild chervil or cow- weed ( Myrrhis sylvestris seminibus Ixvi-- luSy C. B.) the common ragwort, and deviTs bit. The process with this last, as described by Ltnna^us (in the Svensca Acad. Handle, drsy 1742) is pretty remarkable. The peasants, he informs us in some of the Swedish provinces^ stratify the fresh leaves with woollen yarn, and boil them about as long as it is customary ip boil fish. . The whole is suffered to stand iri the vessel for a night. The wool, taken out in the mor- ning, does not appear to have received any co- lour. The pot is again made hot, and the yarn hung over it upon a stick, covered with an in- verted dish to confine the steam, for this steam is supposed to be essential to the colour. The yarn is afterwards wrung, the leaves taken out of the boiling liquor, a little fresh water added ro the decoction, and the wool frequently dipt therein, till it appears sufficiently coloured. The leaves of many kinds of herbs and trees give a yellow die to wool or woollen cloth that has been previously boiled with a solution, of alum and tartar : weld in particular affords a fine yellow, and is commonly made use of for this purpose by the diers, and cultivated in large 28o quantities in some parts of England. There is no colour for which we havtr such plenty of n^,areri- ais as Tor yellow. Mr. Hellot observes in his ^r/ cieTeindre^iWiM all leaves^ barks, and roots which on being chewed discover a slight astringency, as the leavrs of the aluiond, peach, and prar- trees, asiv-barkj (especially that taken off after the first rising of the sap in spring) the roots of wild patience, &c. yield durable yellows, more or less beautiful according to the length ot time chat the boding is continued, and the propor- tions of alum and tartar in the preparatory li- cjuor : that a large quantity of alum makes these yellows approach to the elegant yellow of weld : that if the tartar is made to prevail, it inclires them to an orange : that if the roots, barks, or leaves be too long boiled, the yellow proves tarnished, and acquires shades of brown : that for dying with weld, the best proportions of the saltb are, four parts of alum and one of tartar to sixteen of the wool : and that the wool prepared with these is to be boiled again with five or six times its quantity of wrld : that for light shades it is customary to diminish the alum and omit the tartar ; and that in this case the colour is more slowly imbibed, and proves less durable. Of all the colours of the dier, we have the fewest materials for blue ; the mineral and ani- mal kingdoms afford none, excepting perhaps Prussian blue, which Mr. Macquer has lately attempted to introduce in this art. The vege- table yields but two, which are both produced from the leaves of planis, indigo and woad. 28 1- 0 I CHAPTER IV. MR. lewis's history OF MADDER, AND MAN- NER OF TREATING IT. MADDE.R( Ridia linctorum saliva, C.B.) is one of the* asperifolious stellated plants, or of those which have rough narrow leaves, set in form of a star at the joints of the stalks. I'he root, which is the only part made use of, is long and slender, of a red colour both on the outside and Vv'ichin, excepting a whitish pith which runs along the middle. This plant was formerly cultivated among us in great quantity for the use of the diers, who for some time past have been supplied from Holland and Zealand. Its culture is now again set on foot in this kingdom, under the laudable encouragement of a public society. Madder is not like alkanet, and other exotic plants, the colour of which degenerates in our climates, for English madder is equal to the best that is brought from abroad. Madder root gives out its colour both to wa- ter and to rectified spirit^ the watery tincture is of a dark dull red, the spirituous of a deep bright one. Taken internally (for it has some- times been used medicinally as an aperient and diuretic) it tinges the urine red. In the Philo- sophical Transactions, and in the Memoirs of the French Academy, there are accounts of it^s A a 2 282 producing a like effect upon the bones of ani- mals, to whom it had been given with their food. All the bones, particularly the more solid ones, were changed both externally and internally to a deep red, but neither the cartilaginous nor fleshy parts suffered any alteration. Some of those bones, macerated in water for many weeks together, and afterwards steeped and boiled in spirit of wine, lost nothing of their colour^, nor comiiHunicated any tinge to the liquors. The dealers in this commodity make three sorts of it ; madder in the branch, miadduT in the bunch or in the bundle, and madder un- bundled. Madder in the branch is the entire root dried. This ground in millb to a gross powder is the unbundled madder. The bundled or bunch madder is a powder of the finer roots, freed from the outer bark and from the pith. It is said that by keeping for cwo or three years in close casks the colour is improved ; in open vessels it decays. Madder iiiiparts to woollen cloth, prepared with alum and tartar, a very durable, though not a very beautiful red dye. As it is the cheapest of all the red drugs that give a durable colour, it is the principle one commonly made use of for ordinary stuffs. Som^^times its die is heightened by the addition of Brazil wood ; and sometimes it is employed in conjunction with the dearer reds, as cochineal, for dv mi-scarlets and demi- crimsons, Mr. Hellot informs us_, that those who die the best madder reds are 25 particularly careful to keep the liquor of a heat considerably below boiling, increasing the fire only towards the end, so as to make it boil for a minute or two just before the cloth is taken oat to confirm the die; a boiling heat enables water to extract not only the red, but a tawny or brownish matter, which debases the red to a dull brick colour. The proportion of madder is about half the weight of the cloth. The best proportion of salts for preparing the cloth to receive the die, seems to be five parts of alum and one of red tartar for sixteen of the stuff; which is to be boiled with these for two hours or longer, then kept moist for some days, and afterwards di- gested with the madder. A variation in the proportion of the salts, va- ries the colour communicated by the madder, and not only the shade, but the species of colour. If the alum be dimiinished, and the tartar in- creased, the die proves a red cinnamon ; if the alum be entrrely omitted, the red is destroyed, and a very durable tav.ny cinnamon is pro- duced. On boiling the died cloth in weak alkaline ley, great parr of the colour is destroyed, and the remainder appears of a dirty or a kind of sallow hue. Solution of soap, on the other hand, discharges a part, and leaves the remain- ing red more lively than before. Volatile alkalis heighten the red colour of madder, but at the same time render it fugitive 284 like themselves. Madder prepared with lime and urine, after the manner practised for archil^ lost its red colour on attempting to die with it, and communicated to the cloth only permanent nut-colours. If a pure red, as that of cochineal, he applied on cloth vvhicii has been previously died blue, and afterwards prepared for receiving this red' by boiling with alum and tartar, a purple or violet will be produced, according as the blue or the red prevail. The madder red has not this effect, for as its colour is not a pure red^ but is tarnished by the tawny matter which its woody fibres have in common with other roots, it gives upon blue only a cht-'snur die, more or less deep according to the deepness of the blue, applied first. There are, however, means of obtaining from madder a fine purple, without the addition of any other colouring drug. A piece of white woollen cloth, weighing half an ounce, was boiled for half an hour with ten grains- of roman alum and six grains of crys- tals of tartar, and then taken out, squeezed, and suffered to cool Twtnty-four grains of bunch madder were added to'the same liquor; and after the madder had given out its colour, twenty drops of a solution of bismuth (made in spirit of nitre, diluted with equal its weight of water) were drop[3€d in. The cloth was now dipped again, and in half an hour taken our, squeezed and washed. It appeared of a crim- son colour, nearly as beautiful as if it had been died with cochineal. To try the effect of load- 285 ing it further with the colouring matter, it was returned into the liquor and boiled for a quar- ter of an hour, longer: it had now acquired a ^purple colour sufficiently vivid. On varying this experiment by keeping the cloth moist for som.e days after the preparation with alum and tartar, then dipping it in a plain decoction of m.adder made as usual without salts, and adding, when it had gained a bright cinnamon colour, the same solution of bismuth, the die instead of purple proved only a chesnut. CHAPTER V. OF FUSTIC. FUSTIC is the wood or species of mulberry- tree, growing in Jamaica and Brazil, called by Sir Hans Sloane^ Morus Fructu Viridi Lig- no Sulphureo Tineiorio. It is of a deep sulphur yellow colour, which it readily gives out both to water and spirit. The watery decoction ciies prepared woollen of a very durable orange yel- low : the colour is in^ibibed by the cloth in a moderate warmth without boiling. The fustet or fustel of the French is a yellow wood or root very different from our fustic. It gives a fine orange die to woollen, but the co- lour is extremely perishable in the air. The plant grows wild in Italy and Provence^ and is 286 cultivated with us in gardens on account of the beauty of its flowers. Ic is called Venice fnachy cotinus cotiaria^ coccigria ^ cGtinus thioliy C. B. CHAPTER VI. NEPHRITIC WOOD. THIS wood is brought from the eastern countries in large pieces, covered with a dark blackish bark. The wood is hard, heavy, compact, of a fine grain, of a whitish or pale yellow colour on the outride, and a dusky red- dish brown in the heart. Of the tree we have no very certain account. This wood, particularly the outer pale part, gives out both to water and to rectified spirit a deep tincture appe^arir^g, when placed between the eye and the light, of a golden colour; in other situations, blue. Hence it is named by Caspar BauhinOy lignum peregriniimy aquam cce- ruleam redden. By this mark it is easily distinguished from pieces of a different kind of wood, which are sometimes mixt with it, and which give only a yellow tincture to water. It is remarkable, that the blue colour of the infusion of nephritic wood is destroyed by acids, the liquor after the admixture of these appear- ing in all situations yellov/ s and that the ad- 4 287 dition of alkalis, either of the fixt or volatile kind, in quantity sufficient to neutralize the acid, restores the blueness. No other A\oody matter is known that gives any degree of blue tincture, and no other vegetable blue is known that is thus destructible by acids. This wood is at present rarely met with in the shops ; nor is it applied to any use, except that some have employed it medicinally, and expected from it diuretic virtues^ whence its name nephritic wood. GHAPTER VII. MR. Ferguson's nrsroRv of logw^ood as a COLOURING DRUG. LOGWOOD or Campeachy wood {Lignum Brazilo'simile, cceruleo tingenSy y. B is the wood of a low prickly tree, which grows plentifully about Campeachy or the Bay of Honduras, and has of late been introduced into some of the warmer of the British plantations, particularly Jamaica. Ir is a native of the low marshy places. The wood comes over in pret- ty large logs, cleared from the bark. It is very hard, compact, heavy, and of a red colour. Logwood gives out its colour boih to watery anci spiiituous menstrua, but not readily to either. It requires 10 be rasped and grciund into fine powder, and boded in several fresh parcels of the liquors. Rectified spirit extracts the co- lour more easily, and from a larger proportion of the wood than water does. The tinctures both in water and in spirit are of a fine red, with an admixture, particularly in the watery one, of a violet or purple. Volatile alkaline salts or spirits incline the colour nnore to purple. The vegetable and nitrous acids render it pale, the vitriolic and nnarine acids deepen it. The watery decoction, wrote with on paper, loses its redness in a few days and becomes wholly violet. This colour it communicates also to woollen cloth previously prepared by boiling with a solution of alum and tartar. The die is beautiful, but very perishable. It is of- ten used by the diers as an ingredient in com- pound colours, for procuring certain shades which are not easily hit by other materials. With chalybeate solutions it strikes a black. Hence it is employed in conjunction with those liquors for staining wood black for picture frames, &c. and with the addition of galls for dying cloth and hats black. The black dies in which this v/ood is an ingredient, have a parti- cular lustre and softness, far beyond those made with vitriol and galls alone. The beauty how- ever which it here imparts is not permanent, any more than its own natural violet die. On the same principle it improves also the lustre and blackness of writing ink. Ink m.ade with vitriol and galls does not attain to its full blackness, till after it has lain som.e time upon 289 the paper. A due addition of Logwood ren- ders it of a deep black as it flows from the pen, especially when vinegar or white wine is used for the menstruum. Decoctions and extracts made from logwood have an agreeable sweetish taste, followed by a slight asrringency. They have lately been in- troduced into medicine, and given with success in cases where mild restringents are required. They often tinge the stools, and sometimes the wine of a red colour. CHAPTER VIII. THE PROCESS OF PRUSSIAN BLUE. PRUSSIAN blue is prepared by precipita- ting a solution of green vitriol and alum with a lixivium drawn from fixed alkaline sale that has been calcined with animal coals. Com- monly about three parts of alkali and two of dried ox-blood are calcined so long as any flame appears, then thrown into boiling water, and the strained decoction poured into a hot mixture of solutions of four parts of alum and one or less of vitriol. The liquor becomes instant- ly thick or curdly, and looks at first of a grey- ish colour, which changes to a brown and in a little time to a bluish green. The matter, be- ing well stirred together, and mixed with a quantity of hard spring water, a green preci- 290 pitate subsides : spirit of salt poured upon the edulcorated powder dissolves a part, and leaves the rest blue. Mr. Geoffrey is the first who has given any plausible theory of this process, or any rational means for improving it. He observes that the Prussian blue is no other than the iron of the vitriol, revived by the inflammable matter of the alkaline lixivium, and perhaps brightened by an admixture of the white earth of alum 5 that the green colour proceeds from a part of the yellow ferrugineous calx or ochre unrevived, mixing with the blue, and that the spirit of salt dissolves this ochre more readily than the blue part, though it will dissolve that also by long standing, or if used in too large quantity. From these principles he was led to increase the quantity of inflammable matter, that there might be enough to receive the whole of the ferrugineous ochre, and produce a blue colour at once without the use of the acid spirit. In this he perfectly succeeded, and found at the same time that the colour might be rendered of any degree of deepness or lightness at pleasure. If the akali is calcined with twice its weight of dried blood, and the lixivium obtained from it, poured into a solution of one part of vitriol, to six of alum, the liquor acquires a very pale blue colour, and deposits as pale a precipitate. On adding more and more of a fresh solution of vitriol, the colour becomes deeper and deeper, almost to blackness. He imagines with great probability, that the blue pigments thus pre- igi pared will prove more durable in the air, min- gle more perfectly with other colours, and be les^ apt to injure the lustre of such as are mixed with or applied to its neighbourhood, than that made in the common manner; the tarnish and other inconveniences to which the common Prussian blue is subject, seeming to proceed from the acid and spirit, which cannot be total-- ly separated by any ablution. He takes notice also of an amusing phenome- non which happens upon mixture. When the li« quors are well stirred together, and the circular motion as soon as possible stopc ; some drops of solution of vitriol (depurated by long set- ling) let fall on different parts of the surface, divide, spread, and form curious representations of flowers, trees, shrubs, flying insects. Sec. in great regularity and perfection. These con- tinue ten or twelve minutes, and on stirring the liquor again, and dropping in some more of the solution of vitriol, are succeeded by a new picture, Mr. Macquer has ingeniously applied the preparation of this pigment to the dicing of wool and silk, and found means of fixing the blue fecula in their pores. By dipping cloth first in a diluted solution of vitriol and alum, then in the ley diluted, and afterwards in water acidulated with spirit of vitriol, it acquires a light blue colour, which becomes deeper and deeper on repeating the dippings alternately in the sam.e order as before ; adding to the liquors each time a little more of the respective saline 292 matters. The blue die, he says, in beauty and iustre exceeds that of indigo and vvoad, as far as scarlet does the madder red, and penetrates the whole substance of fulled cloth without weak- ening it. The colour is durable in the air, and stands boiling with alum water, but is dischar- ged by soap, and, without certain precautions^ liable to be specky or unequal. See Memoirs of the French Academy for the year 1749. CHAPTER IX. ALKANET-ROOT. THE roots of alkanet in many respects very much resemble saunders wood, but differ from it refnarkably in others. They impart an elegant deep red to pure spirit of wine, to oils, to wax, and to unctuous substances : 1 do not know of any red drug that tinges oil of so fine a colour. To water they give only a dull brownish red. The spirituousliquor, on being inspissated to the consistence of an extract, in- stead of preserving its fine red like that of saunders, changes to an unsightly brown. Volatile spirits have been said to gain from this root a beautiful violet or amethyst colour; but I have not found that they extract any co- lour but a dull reddish brown. The alkanet plant is a species of bugloss, named by Tournefort, buglossum radice rubra^ ^93 sive anchiisa vulgatior florihus c^eruleis. Ic is a native of the warmer parts of Europe, and cultivated in some of our gardens. The great- est quantities are raised in Germany and France, particularly about Montpelier, from whence we are chiefly supplied with the roots^ The alkanet root produced in England is much inferior in colour to that brought from abroad; the former being only lightly reddish^ the latter of a deep purplish red. This has in- duced some to suspect that the foreign roots owe part of their colour to art, but a chymical ex- amination teaches otherwise. The colourins; matter is found upon experiment, to be of the same kind in both, and to differ in several of its properties from that of all the other known ' red drugs ; so that no artifice appears to be prac- ticai)le without discovery, unless it was concen- rrating the colour of two roots into one, or su* persaturating one root with the colour extracted from another* The principal use of alkanet-root is for co-= louring oils, unguents, iip-salves, plaisters, &c. Wax tinged with it, applied on warm marble, stains it of a flesh colour, which sinks deep into the stone. The spirituous tincture gives a deep red srain. The colour of this root is confined to the cor- tical parr, the pith being whitish \ hence as the small roots have m.orc bark in proportion to their bulk than the larger ones, those also con- tain most colour, B b ^ 294 CHAPTER X. OF ALUM. NATURE produces no perfect alum, but affords the materials for ic in sundry ores\, pyrites, stones, slate, earth, waters, and bitu- mens, as pit coal. Some late experiments by Mr. Geoffrey and Mr. Pot have shewn that the earth of alum is contained in clay, and that a true alum may be prepared by digesting clay in the vitriolic acid. Both of these gentlemen imagine that only a particular part of the clay is here extracted. Whether it existed originally in the clay, possessed of the samie properties v;hich it is found to have when extracted, or whether it has suffered a change in the operation, they have not determined. From the experiments I have made, the latter seemjs to be the case. Powder- ed-tobacco-pipf-clay, being boiled in a consi- derable quantity of oil of vitriol, and the fire continued to dryness, the matter, examined when grown cold, discovers scarcely any taste, or only a slight acidulous one. On exposure to the air for a fev/ days, the greatest part of it is found changed into lanuginous efflorescences in taste exactly like alum : the remainder treated with fresh oil of vitriol in the same manner, ex- 295 hibits the same phenomena, and this repeatedly^ till nearly the whole of the clay is converted in- to an astringent salt. If the earth be separated again from the acid, (by dissolving the salt in water, and precipita- ting with any alkaline salt) it is now found to dissolve with ease in every acid ; to form with the vitriolic alum again ; with the nitrous, a compound resembling alum in taste with the vegetable acids, a substance less astringent and less ungrateful. CHAPTER XI. eHYMICAL HISTORY OF SAUNDERS, AND IT3 DIFFERENCE FROM OTHER RED-WOODS. RED Saunders is a hard, compact, ponder- ous wood, of a dark blackish red on the outside, and a light red colour within ; of no particular smell or taste. It is brought from the Coromandel coast and from Golconda. Of the tree we have no certain account. Its prin- cipal use is as a colouring drug. Those whose business it is to rasp and grind it into powder, probably employ certain saline or other additions to improve the colour; whence the remarkable differences in the colour of powder- ed Saunders prepared in different pla* es. That of Strasburgh is of the deepest and liveliest red. 296 Some sorts are of a dead dark red, and some of a pale brick red ; some incline to purple or vi- olet^ and sojne to brown. The colour of this wood resides wholly in its resin, and hence is extracted by rectified spirit, whilst water, though it takes up a portion of mucilaginous matter, gains no tinge, or only a slight yellowish one. From two ounces of the wood were obtained by spirit of wine three drachms and a half of resinous extract, and af- terwards by water, a scruple of mucilage. By applying water at first, I obtained from two ounces two drachms and six grains of a tough- mucilaginous extract, which could not easily be reduced to dryness. The remainder still yield- ed, with spirit, two drachms of resin. The in- dissoluble matter v/eighed, in the first case, an ounce and a half and fifteen grains ; in the lat- ter, nineteen grains less. Neither the distilled water nor spirit had any remarkable taste or smell. The red colour of saunders appears to be no other than a concentrated yellow, for by bare dilution it becoires yellow. A grain of the re- sinous extract, dissolved in an ounce of rectifi- ed spirit, tinges it red, but this solution, mixt with a quart of fresh spirit, gives only a yellow hue. Hoffman reports that this resin does not give a tincture to any kind of oil. I have tried five oils, those of amber, turpentine, almonds> anniseeds, and lavender. It gave no colour to the two first, but a deep red to the last, and a paler red to the other two* 297 CHAPTER XIL OF VERDIGRISE. IT may not be amiss to give the reader a chymical hint of verdigrise. Vegetable acids dissolve copper slowly, but in considerable quantity; the solution shoots into bluish green chrysials, similar to the verdi- grise, ^erugo or viride deris^ of the shops. This preparation is made in large quantities in France, particularly about Montpelier, by stra- tifying copperplates with the husks of grapes remaining after the juice has been prest out. These soon become acid, and corrode the copper. Verdigrise should be chosen in cakes, not moist or unctuous, but dry, compact, and of an uniform texture, of a lively green colour throughout, as free as possible from white and black specks, and seeds or stalks of the grape. It is purified by solution in distilled vinegar, and crystallization, and then called, improperly, distilled verdigrise or flowers of copper. The Dutch who prepare these crystals in large quan- tities, after duly evaporating the solution, set it to shoot, not, as is customary, in a cold but in a warm place, as practised in m.aking sugar- candy. 2^8 If rectified spirit of wine be added to the so- lution, or if volatile alkalis be added to a solu- tion of copper and spirit of wine to this mixture^ small blue crystals will be immediately formed. These are called by some antepileptic crystals of copper. Highly rectified spirit of wine, digested on half an ounce, or twelve scruples of powdered verdigrise, dissolved three scruples and a half ; ordinary rectified spirit, four scruples ; common malt spirits four and a half, and French brandy seven and a half. Water dissolved, out of the same quantity, five scruples. Common wine vinegar dissolved all but fifteen grains, and distilled vinegar all but ten grains. The whole quantity of verdigrise dissolved in either kind of vinegar, could not be recovered again in a crystalline form. From the common vinegar only two scruples and five grains crystallized, and from the distil- kd vinegar three scruples. The residuum in the first case continued softish, in the latter dry. With French brandy there was no crystallization at all ; the whole that the spirit had taken up remaining uniformly mixt into the consistence of an extract. A, HINT TO THE Diers and Cloth-Makers^ AND WELL WORTH THE NOTICE OF THE MERCHANT. BY JAMES HAIGH, ^ATE SILK AND MUSLIN-PIER, LEEPS- PREFACE, 7 HE Author of the Dier^s Assistant thinks it his duty, lu graxitude to the professors in that nolle art, to subscribe his hearty thanks for their approbation of and encouragement gi'ven to that njuork^ in this and e^very part of England, It is tuell known by that body of people y and felt to by some, that the price for dieing nxjoollen^goods hath been much reduced of late. Many circumstances halving determined me, long since » to acquire all possible knon,tjlexige in the practice of dieing, I am therefore constrained once more to recommend a strict inqui^ ry into the original quality of all the drugs they use, that thereby, if possible, they may disco^uer some of the many hid- den ad'v ant ages that may justly be expected therefrom . / am astonished that no artist has e'ver attempted to itnpro'vc this most i?7genious art on chymical principles, I begun the fivork in hopes that my master-piece ^'jould undertake to im- prove it, but in he used to die such a colour, shewing him a pat- tern, he answered, When I have a pattern given me by a merchant, I go to the saker, shew him^ the order, and he serves me with what is want-- ed. I conversed with him some time, and would have instructed him, but alas ! he had left his capacity at home, and I might as well have read the newspaper to him. What a pity it is that so many hundreds of that noble branch of business work, as it were, blindfolded, and poverty bitten tgo, for want of instructions, Cc 2 3o6 which they have no spirit to seek ; who, when they bring a cloth tothe nnai ket> are glad to sell it for one and sixpence, or two shillings in the pound profit, when they might as easily gain five or six shillings, if they knew how to use their drugs. Bur I despair of doing that for them, which nature has left undone; for, with- out I could teach them to see with a dier's eye, I might talk and write for ever in vain. But there is another class of cloth-makers, to whom I will give a useful hint, and have done. The article sky blue deserves our notice. This colour is often substituted, (even on fine cloth) by the Saxon blue, on account of its bril^ liancy and fine lustre but, like a fugitive, it only stays for a season. A little experience has taught me, that if a parcel of fine wool b^ well scoured^ then sulphured or stoved, than which nothing can make it whiter, and then died in a weak vat, it will have ail the beauty of the Saxon blue, withoi^t its imperfections. The vat used for this purpose should be set with a small quantity of indigo, on purpose for light shades, when the shades will be always brighter than when died in an old vat that has been weak- ened by dying dark colours. But the diers tell you that blues bear so low a price^ and indigo is so dear, that they cannot afford to set fresh vats for light shades. Here is a sufficient cause, and one very great reason of retarding the perfection of many colours. If the wool beforementioned should be obstructed in the milling, by means of the sulphur, (of which I 3^7 have not had experience) I would commend the dicing of the wool after scouring only, and stove it after it is milled, which 1 think will answer the same purpose; and the beauty of the colour will amply pay for every superhu- ous work. I would recommend to thediers, after wash- ing the dark blues well at the river, to turn the cloth very quick through a warm vessel of wa- ter, in which has been dissolved a little alum, and they will see a surprising change in the lustre from that simple process. I am not willing to omit any thing worth no- tice in the course of my experiments. 1 will tlierefore, lightly touch the properties of com- mon water. By a great number of experiments^ I am thoroughly convinced^ that different waters with the same ingredients strike different co- lours. I find that the purest and lightest wa- ter strike the best light colours. All the die-houses at a distance from the ri- ver in Lon(ion are furnished with wood cisterns which hold perhaps from one to two hundred hogsheads of water, which is supplied from the water woiks, and is always impure, and fre- quently muddy ; when on standing a conside- rable time, as is the case at some seasons of the year, it becomes putrid and emits a fetid smell ; if suffered to stand longer, it purifies it- self, and becomes sweet and clear, as well as considerably lighter^ I have sometimes filled a vessel when the water has been all of a fer- ment^ and stunk almost beyond bearing, which at a boiling heat was no more felr; by adding a handful of comnnon search and a small bit of aiuin, all the filch is made to rise, and is taken oil with a ladle for that purpose. The superior goodness of the water obliges us to ascribe an advantage to the London diers of light colours ; add to this their remarkable cleanliness. When a vessel is boiling they watch it carefully; and with a mop, kept for that purpose, they rub off the scum all round at the water's edge, so that the liquor is perfectly clear. A short Remark cn the Die of Brazil zvood. It is impossible to v;ear a red, a dove colour^^ a crimson, purple, light or deep violet, or any other colour, the produce of Brazil wood used recently m.any weeks, without fading, spotting,, or soiling. If these colours were died in grain tbxy would indeed cost something. more,, but you have then a colour which will continue beauti- ful as long as the stuff or cloth will last ; and if spotted with dirt or grease, can easily be scour-^ cd and cleaned without danger of losing or inju-- ring the colour. 1 boiled fifty pounds of Brazil chips one hour, in a copper of the hardest spring water I could find, and carefully took, off the scum, turned this liquor over into a large tub, and re-heated the copper to boil the chips a second time, when^ tlie colour was all extracted. I then put both liquors together, and let it stand six months, when it was ropy and thick like oil. Now having prepared a small piece of fine cloth in alum and sour bran -water, and kept it moist five days unwashed out of the alum, I boiled one nut-gall and one quart of Brazil liquor ten minutes, then rinsed my piece of cloth, and died it a very beautiful marone. But the chief remark I intend to make here, is, that I hung this piece of cloth in the open air night and day during four severe winter months, and it had rather gained in beauty of colour, and was grown rather deeper. This is a sufficient proof that chymisrry hath a power of securing the fine particles of those vegetables which are now called bastard drugs. Experim.ents (which are the best guides in natural philosophy, as well as in arts) plainly shew that a great advan- tage might arise in favour of the studious prac- dtioner, who is not wearied if he miss his design after twenty or thirty trials, but still pursues his plan till he has hit it; for nothing of the kind seems to be impossible. A few Experimental. Observations on the Die of Cochineal. After all the common processes of dicing with cochineal, there is fcvund at the bottom of the vessel a deep brown sediment. This sedi- ment appears to consist of the impurities of the tarrar, and the grosser parts of the powdered ccch:neai, b^^ng lighi-iy washf;d vyith clear cold water, dried and ground on i^. marr ble, with one fourth its weight of fine tartar, into an inipalpable;^wd^:r,;an:d th^*p pu into water with a little alum^ a piece of white cloth 310 bailed in this liquor three quarters of an hour acquired a very beautiful crimson die. This experiment evinces, that, by reducing cochineal into a powder of moderate fineness as commonly practised, we donor gain all the ad- vantage which this valuable commodity is ca- pable of yielding. If the cochineal, when taken from the vessel^ (after the scarlets are died) is treated as above, the saving in the cochineal, whether for scarlet or crimson, will be about one-third. Though less tartar is usually employed in the die liquor, yet this quantity here directed does no harm ; it appeared on trial that the colour was rather the more solid for it. All urinous and alkaline liquors or substances stain scarlet of a crimson, by destroying the effect of the acid. Hence, in pure country air, scarlet retains its lustre much longer than in cities and towns, where alkaline and urinous vapours are more abundant. The dirt of roads and sundry substances of the acrid kind, leave no stain on scarlet, if the part be washed immediately in pure water, and wrung in a clean linen cloth. If the dirt is suffered to dry, a blackish violet spot will remain, v;hich can only be discharged by mild vegetable acids, as vinegar, citron juice, a warm dilute solution of cream of tartar^ or SQur bran-water j if theae ac'd's, kdweyef, t>e ooc applied ;wiJi a good deal of address, whilst they tals:e out the blackish stain theyjeave a yqUpw pne, by. dissolving the colouring;p2injfles Qf (hexochiutai .itself. After at least a thousand experiments, i am obliged to conclude, that the dicing of wool is the most extensive branch of this art, it may be considered as its basis ; but the dicing of silk^ thread, and cotton, deserves also our attention. The great ditFerence between those substan- ces, and that of wool, is well known to the ca- lico printers, whose grand care it is to find means of making linen receive the same dies as wool docs. The physical cause of the differ- ence seems yet unknown ; and indeed, as be- fore observed of dies in general, we know as yet very little. Are animal filaments tubular, and the colouring atoms received within them? are vegetable filaments solid, and the colour depo- sited on the surface ? or, does not their different susceptibility of colour depend rather on the different intrinsic properties of the two? An an- swer to this would doubtless prove of great utility. I should be happy to find some artist under- take to improve what I have in a poor way be- gun. I long to see the art in perfection, one half of which is yet in oblivion. The reader may be assured, that what is here recited is purely the result of the author's own experience, (nor theory) and part of the effects of many years' study. THE END. THEGEiryCEfiTE^