Transcriber's Note.
Apparent typographical errors have been corrected. The use of hyphens has
been rationalised.
Italics are indicated by _underscores_. Small capitals have been
replaced by full capitals.
THE DYER'S GUIDE.
EPITOME OF COLOURS.
_Colours obtained by_ SIR ISAAC NEWTON'S _method of decomposing the rays
of light, the least refrangible being placed first, the most refrangible
last._ See p. 18.
[Illustration:
RED. ORANGE. YELLOW. GREEN.
BLUE. INDIGO. VIOLET.]
THE DYER'S COLOURS AND THEIR CHIEF COMPOUNDS.
SIMPLE COLOURS.
BLUE, YELLOW, RED, BLACK[1].
RED _includes_ CRIMSON, SCARLET, MAROON, PINK, &c.
COMPOUND COLOURS.
GREEN is made with BLUE and YELLOW.
ORANGE with RED and YELLOW.
PURPLE ⎫
VIOLET ⎬ with BLUE and RED.
LILAC ⎭
GREYS with BLACK, BLUE, and RED.
⎧ BLUE, YELLOW, and BLACK;
OLIVES with ⎨ or
⎩ BLUE, YELLOW and RED.
[1] BLACK according to the theory of Newton, denotes the _absence_, and
WHITE the _presence_ of all colours.
THE
DYER'S GUIDE;
BEING A
_COMPENDIUM OF THE ART OF DYEING_
LINEN, COTTON, SILK, WOOL, MUSLIN, DRESSES,
FURNITURE, &c. &c.
WITH THE METHOD OF
SCOURING WOOL, BLEACHING COTTON, &c.
AND
DIRECTIONS FOR UNGUMMING SILK, AND FOR WHITENING
AND SULPHURING SILK AND WOOL.
AND ALSO
_AN INTRODUCTORY EPITOME OF THE LEADING FACTS IN CHEMISTRY,
AS CONNECTED WITH THE ART OF DYEING._
BY THOMAS PACKER,
DYER AND PRACTICAL CHEMIST.
"Cet arte est un des plus utiles et des plus merveilleux qu'on
connoisse."
CHAPTAL.
"There is no art which depends so much on chemistry as dyeing."
GARNETT.
_SECOND EDITION_,
CORRECTED AND MATERIALLY IMPROVED.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR SHERWOOD, GILBERT, AND PIPER,
PATERNOSTER-ROW.
1830.
PREFACE.
To insist on the utility of the present Manual is, assuredly,
superfluous. The favourable reception of the first edition, sometime
since out of print, has stimulated the author to revise the work
throughout, and to render it more deserving the public approbation. The
_Appendix_ to the first edition now forms a part of the _Introductory
Chapter_, to which it naturally belongs; to the whole have been added
such improvements as the present advanced state of knowledge, and
particularly chemical knowledge, has rendered absolutely necessary; and
which the _practical dyer_ will find of considerable importance and much
utility.
The following _letter_ from the late SIR HUMPHRY DAVY, the first chemist
of the age, appeared in the Preface to the first edition; it is here
again reprinted as some proof of the sufficiency of that learned man's
judgment, at least concerning the chemical theory of the art of dyeing.
_No. 16, Berkeley Square_,
_June 18, 1823_.
SIR,
I am very much obliged to you for your liberal communication on a subject
of my Lectures: I will attend to the information you are so good as to
give me in the next Edition.
I am Sir,
Your obliged and obedient servant,
H. DAVY.
MR. T. PACKER,
_Stamford Street, Black-Friars Road_.
The author has only to add, that an Index is now appended to the work, by
which every article may be most readily and conveniently found.
_London, Nov. 1829._
ERRATUM.
Page 22, line 3, for _proximate_ read _ultimate_.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
PAGE
On the different branches of dyeing—On the drugs used in
dyeing—On vegetable and animal substances—On substantive and
adjective colours, and mordants—And on the leading facts of
chemical science as connected with the art of dyeing—On the
calico printer's mordant for yellow and red, and on compound
colours—On bleaching—On the theory of fast and fugitive
colours—On dye-houses and water—Miscellaneous observations 1
CHAPTER II.
ON DYEING COTTON.
To dye cotton a Saxon or chemic blue—Sulphate of Indigo—Saxon or
chemic green—To set a cold indigo vat—Another Indigo vat—To dye
cotton a fast green with the cold indigo vat and weld—Another
cold blue vat for linen and cotton—solution of indigo for
penciling printed muslin, &c.—To dye cotton a fast buff—To dye
cotton pink 47
CHAPTER III.
ON DYEING SILK.
To alum silk—The blue vat of indigo for silk—Another blue vat
for silk—To dye silk violet, royal purple, &c.—To dye silk
lilac—Another process for lilac—Another process for dyeing
muslin, &c. lilac—To dye silk a violet or purple with logwood—To
dye silk violet with Brazil wood and logwood—To dye silk violet
or purple with Brazil wood and archil 63
CHAPTER IV.
ON SCOURING AND DYEING WOOL.
On the action of alum and tartar upon wool—A pastil or woad vat
for blue—To prepare the indigo mentioned in the preceding
directions—Rules to judge of the state of the vat—Indications
when a vat has had too much or too little lime—To work a vat
which is in proper order—On the putrefaction of the woad
vat—Methods of dyeing blues—To dye wool with lac-dye, scarlet,
or crimson—To dye worsted yarn a crimson—A preparation of archil
to finish the crimson—on dyeing wool scarlet—To dye wool
maroon—To dye wool yellow—To dye wool brown or of a fawn
colour—To dye wool purple, &c.—To dye wool green—A chemic vat
for green woollen—A chemic vat for blue woollen—To dye wool
orange, gold colour, &c.—To dye wool black—Another process for
black without a blue ground—To dye wool a grey—Mixture of black
or grey with red and blue—On browns, fawns, greys, &c.—On the
yellow of Quercitron bark—On a full bright yellow from the same
bark—Bancroft's murio-sulphate of tin—To dye wool buff—To dye
wool peach—To set an indigo vat for worsted, serge, &c. 70
CHAPTER V.
ON DYEING SILK AND COTTON BLACK.
To dye silk black for velvets—To dye silk black _London
process_—On dyeing cotton black at _Rouen_—To dye cotton black,
_London process_—For dyeing black, particularly cotton velvets,
at _Manchester_—On dyeing silk and cotton black with a blue
ground—Another iron liquor—To dye cotton black by using the
preceding solution—to dye cotton violet—To dye cotton red—To
dye cotton an Adrianople or Turkey red—Miscellaneous observations
relative to Adrianople red 105
CHAPTER VI.
ON DYEING COTTON AND SILK.
To dye skein cotton yellow—On dyeing and re-dyeing cotton
furniture yellow—to dye cotton skein a duck's wing green and
olive—Of browns, maroons, coffee colours, &c.—Observations on
silk—On ungumming and boiling silk—Whitening—Sulphuring—On
aluming silk—Skein silk for yellow—Preparation of annatto for
aurora or orange, moidore, gold colour, and chamois—To dye silk
aurora or orange—To dye moidore—Process for orange—To dye silk
poppy or coquelicot—A cheaper poppy with annatto and Brazil
wood—On dyeing, silk a fine crimson—Composition for dyeing silks
scarlet or crimson with cochineal—Another process for
crimson—Another process for crimson by Brazil wood—Of fine
violet—Observations on crimson and scarlet upon silk—On dyeing
silk green—On olives—On dyeing silk grey—Nut grey—Black
greys—Iron greys—On dyeing silk of a Prussian blue
colour—Chromate of lead for yellow on silk or cotton—Conclusion 123
Index 153
THE DYER'S GUIDE.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
_On the different branches of dyeing—On the drugs used in dyeing—On
vegetable and animal substances—On substantive and adjective colours and
mordants, and on the leading facts of chemical science, as connected with
the art of dyeing—On the Calico-Printers' mordant for yellow and red,
and on compound colours—On bleaching—On the theory of fast and fugitive
colours—On dye-houses and water—Miscellaneous observations._
The trade of a Dyer is, in this country, subdivided into several distinct
branches. Thus we have _woollen dyers_, who are occupied solely in the
colours obtained from _cochineal_, such as _scarlet_, _crimson_,
_orange_, _buff_, _&c._; likewise _purple_, or _royal purple_, obtained
from _cochineal_ and _indigo_. They are called, also, _grain dyers_, from
the circumstance of the colouring material, cochineal, being in small
grains[2]. Yet it ought to be observed, that the term _dyed in grain_ is
applied by the public generally in a very different sense, namely, to
those cloths the raw material of which is dyed previously to being spun
into thread, or at least before woven into cloth; and hence such dyes are
usually more permanent than those which are dyed after the materials are
woven into cloth. This class of dyers generally dye cloth in the piece,
or a number of pieces of cloth tacked together, and worked over a winch
in a suitable copper.
There are dyers who likewise dye worsted and woollen yarn of those grain
colours, but they are generally a distinct branch. The yarn is dyed in
hanks, upon sticks; and, when in the copper, the hanks are changed end
for end, so that they may be kept even; such changing being performed
five or six times to each turning in.
There are also silk dyers who are grain dyers. These dye in the skein,
chiefly for new goods. Some silk, and some mixed silk and worsted goods,
are dyed in the piece.
In _dyeing cotton_, the _Adrianople_ or _Turkey Red_ is, in many cases, a
branch of itself, and comes the nearest to what may be called grain or
scarlet dyeing upon cotton, because cochineal cannot be applied to cotton
to any advantage; yet cotton is occasionally dyed with this material.
In woollen another branch consists of the _woad dyers_. These often
superintend the black dye on woollen cloth, as well as the blue from woad
and indigo. There is the same distinction among _worsted yarn dyers_,
they having likewise to do slates, greys, &c. Nearly the same may be said
of the _silk skein dyers_.
In many places, particularly in the country, browns, drabs,
stone-colours, &c. constitute a branch in woollen. The same colours form
also a branch in calico and muslin; but _black_, in calico and muslin, is
a distinct branch.
The dyers (whether in London or provincial towns) who keep shops, and
take in garments, furniture, &c. to be dyed, are termed by the trade
_Rag-dyers_.
There are a few dyers in the metropolis who dye _black_ on woollen, silk,
cotton, &c. for the dye-shops, many of these putting all their black out
to be dyed.
There are one or two dyers famous for dyeing silk stockings _black_;
these constitute a particular branch. Dyeing bombasins black is also
another branch.
The following constitute also particular branches: _black hats,—hats of
fancy colours,—fur,—chip and straw,—feathers,—leather, Morocco and
Spanish, and kid leather for shoes and gloves_. Many other branches of
the dye-trade might be enumerated, but more detail does not appear
necessary.
Concerning all these different branches, one general observation will
suffice; namely, that those who are concerned in them have, for the most
part, obtained, their knowledge of the art of dyeing, not from theories
adapted to explain the different processes, but from practice in that
branch in which they are occupied. They usually, therefore, perform those
processes which they have been shewn and told, without any inquiry into
the causes which produce the results. There are, it is admitted,
exceptions to this, men of general information and knowledge being
occasionally found in the various branches of dyeing, but they are so
few, that it may be questioned, when compared with the great body
employed in the art, whether they amount to one in a thousand. This is
not, however, to be attributed to any indifference in such persons to
acquire a correct knowledge of the art, but is chiefly owing to a
deficiency of the ready means of acquiring such information; which
information it is the design of the present Treatise to supply; there not
being, as far as the present writer knows, any such work, at a moderate
price, to be obtained in the English language.
It is true many of the _Cyclopædias_ furnish us with much useful
information on the subject of dyeing: one of these, JENNINGS'S _Family
Cyclopædia_, may be particularly mentioned as containing such; but it is
scattered about in these dictionaries in various ways, at once
troublesome and unpleasant to obtain. Dr. BANCROFT'S work on the
philosophy of _Permanent Colours_, in two octavo volumes, will also
supply much valuable information; so also will the edition, some time
since published, of BERTHOLLET'S _Elements of the art of Dyeing_, with
the addition of valuable _Notes_ by Dr. URE. Dr. URE'S _Chemical
Dictionary_ is also very useful to the dyer, us well as many detached
papers in several of our English publications. A _Treatise on Printing
and Dyeing Silks, &c._ lately published by H. M'KERNAN, is also valuable,
and should be consulted by the curious in this art. But all these works
are expensive, and such as few dyers will be disposed to obtain; hence
the necessity of the present Manual, the author of which has not
servilely followed the directions or recommendations of any previous
writer; but from his own practice, a practice of more than thirty years,
has laid down such rules as he knows to be at once practical and
efficient. At the same time he thinks it right to state, that he has not
only consulted all the works mentioned above, but also _Hellot, Macquer,
&c._ adopting all that appeared essential in these, and giving such
additions as accord with the present improved state of chemistry and
dyeing; and, as far as was possible, in the limits prescribed for this
work, so that it may be within the reach of every dyer in the kingdom, as
well as every journeyman and apprentice in all the various branches of
this truly extensive and mysterious art, as carried on in London,
Norwich, Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, and various other parts of the
British dominions.
The author has, in treating of the various matters to be dyed, adopted
nearly the same arrangement as that which appears in the _Title_, taking
_Cotton_ first, in consequence of its having the least affinity for
dyeing bodies. He has taken _Silk_ next, which has a greater affinity for
many dyes, and, when dyed, yields colours more permanent than cotton.
_Wool_ he has not placed entirely last, although many of the colours
which it receives from the dyer are complex. The _black dyeing_ of
_cotton_ and _silk_ is placed after the processes of black for wool, as
likewise the _Turkey red_, _&c._ these being naturally difficult to
perform.
_White_ and _black_ have been considered colours by dyers, and with
propriety, black forming a part of slate, grey, &c. White is seldom pure;
in proportion to its clearness and purity will the colours be with which
it is dyed.
In regard to _black dye_, and particularly _cotton black dye_, the author
does not know any simple and concise theory, consistent with chemical
principles. He flatters himself, however, that from his extensive
experience, his observations are founded on interesting facts. Cotton,
for instance, will take fast blues from the cold indigo vat; this vat,
with the combination of iron, and in a heat no greater than the hand can
bear, will easily produce all shades of grey, slate, &c. Many of these
colours may be done by logwood instead of the blue vat, and in the same
heat of the dye bath; so cotton likewise, whether in pieces or skeins,
may be dyed brown, fawn, drab, &c. in consequence of the great affinity
which cotton has for acetate and sulphate of iron.
With respect to _black_, it should be also observed, that few substances
are known which yield _by themselves_ a good black. The juice of the
_cashew nut_ communicates, however, a black colour, which resists not
only washing, but even boiling with soap and alkaline leys. It is used
for marking linen. The _Toxicodendron_ yields a juice which produces
nearly the same effect. Some other vegetables also produce black dyes,
but all of them in such small quantities as not to be available for the
purposes of art; nor do they, besides, produce blacks equal to those
formed in the dye-house.
_Blue_, _red_, and _yellow_ are admitted to be three distinct colours. In
many of the _browns_, red and yellow are combined naturally in the drugs
from which they are produced, and so they are in logwood. Blue, red, and
yellow, are developed by _iron_, whether in the state of an acetate or
sulphate.
It may be useful, before we proceed any farther in noticing the theories
of dyeing, to give a brief description of the
_Drugs Applicable to Dyeing._
ALUM, or _potash-sulphate of alumina_, is a concrete salt, composed of
alumina or clay, potash, and sulphuric acid. It is found native in some
places; but the greatest part of the alum of commerce is prepared by a
peculiar management of schistose pyritic clays, usually denominated _alum
ores_. Alum is made at Civita Vecchia, in Italy, and also at many other
places on the continent; at Hurlett near Glasgow, at Whitby in Yorkshire,
&c. Its form and appearance are both too well known to need being
described. Its chemical composition is as follows: sulphate of alumina,
36.70; sulphate of potash, 18.88; and water, 44.42—together 100. The
alum called in commerce _Roch alum_, said to be obtained from Roccha, in
Syria, is in smaller crystals than common alum, and has a reddish hue,
but does not appear to be essentially different from the common alum.
Common alum requires sixteen parts of water, at a temperature of 60°. to
dissolve one of it; but there is another kind not generally made or
known, containing _soda_ instead of potash, and hence with propriety
named _soda-sulphate of alumina_, which is soluble in less than its own
weight of water, and which, on this account, may become valuable in some
processes of dyeing.—URE.
ACETATE OF ALUMINA is prepared in large quantities for the calico
printers, by decomposing alum with acetate of lead, or more economically
with aqueous acetate of lime, having a specific gravity of about 1.050, a
gallon of which, equivalent to nearly half a pound avoirdupoise of dry
acetic acid, is employed for every 2½ lbs. of alum. A sulphate of lime
is formed by complex affinity which precipitates, and an acetate of
alumina floats.—URE.
ARCHIL, ARCHILLA, ROCELLA, ORSEILLE, or LITMUS, is said to be a whitish
lichen growing upon rocks in the Canary and Cape Verd islands, which
yields a rich purple tincture, fugitive, but extremely beautiful. It is
brought to this country as it is gathered; it is prepared here for the
dyer, by grinding it between stones, so as thoroughly to bruise but not
to reduce it into powder; it is moistened occasionally with a strong
spirit of urine, or urine itself, mixed with quicklime; in a few days it
acquires a purplish red, and at length a blue colour; in the first state
it is called _archil_, in the latter _lacmus_ or _litmus_. The dyers
rarely employ this drug by itself, on account of its dearness and the
perishableness of its beauty. Its chief use is to give a bloom to other
colours, as pinks, &c.
CUDBEAR is also manufactured in this country from archil, and is in
repute for dyeing various shades, from pink and crimson to a mazarine
blue; it is said these colours are very permanent.
ARGOL, or TARTAR, is a crystalline substance deposited in wine casks
during the fermentation of the wine, from the juice of the grape, in
which it exists in considerable abundance. It is an impure _supertartate
of potash_; that is, potash combined with a superabundant quantity of
_tartaric acid_. Algol is found in commerce of two colours, _white_ and
_red_. _Cream of tartar_ is the same substance freed from colouring and
other extraneous matter.
BLOOD. See ADRIANOPLE RED.
BRAN acts in some peculiar way on colouring matter, but scarcely on the
mordants. It seems to loosen and remove the colouring matter; as also to
alter its hue in some cases, an effect obvious in the bran pinks.—URE.
CHLORINE. See OXYMURIATIC ACID.
COCHINEAL is the female insect of the _coccus cacti_ found on the _cactus
coccinellifer_ and _cactus opuntia_, _Prickly pear_ or _Indian fig_,
natives of South America, the West Indies, and other tropical regions.
The female of the insect is the true cochineal; in her full sized,
pregnant, and torpid state, she bears so small a proportion to her former
or creeping state, that her antennæ, legs and proboscis are scarcely
discernible; her whole appearance is that of a whitish berry, and so it
was formerly regarded. This insect is found in a wild state in Mexico,
Georgia, South Carolina, and some of the West India Islands, feeding on
several species of the _cactus_; but in some of the Spanish settlements,
as well as in Mexico, the insect is domesticated, and fed on the cactus
coccinellifer, which is cultivated for the purpose, on which it attains a
much larger size than in its wild state. Cochineal is also obtained from
the East Indies; but East Indian cochineal has not yet attained the
quality of that produced in the West Indies and America. Its use, as a
colour for dyeing many shades of red, &c. is great and important.
COPPER is also used in dyeing, in the state of a _sulphate_ or _blue
copperas_, a _nitrate_, and also as an _acetate_. See VERDIGRIS.
The GALL or BILE of ANIMALS consists of a saponaceous bitter, yellowish
fluid, secreted by the liver, and found in the sac usually called the
gall-bladder. It is sometimes preferred to soap for cleansing cloths by
the dyer and the scourer.
GALLS are excrescences produced on the _quercus infectoria_, a species of
oak growing throughout Asia Minor. The gall grows on the shoots of the
young boughs, and is produced by an insect, the _cynips quercusfolii_;
this insect punctures the tender shoot with its sting and deposits its
egg in the puncture; the egg is soon hatched, and the irritation of the
maggot feeding on the plant produces the wen or gall-nut. When the nuts
are gathered before the worm within changes to a fly, and not yet having
eaten its way out, they are of a dusky green colour, and are called in
commerce _blue_ galls, and are by far the best. Those collected after the
fly has eaten its way out have a hole in each, are of a whitish yellow
colour, considerably lighter than the blue-galls, and of an inferior
quality: they are brought to this country chiefly from Aleppo. They are
used in large quantities in the arts, principally for dyeing, and making
ink. They contain a large quantity of _Tannin_ and _Gallic acid_.
INDIGO is a well known deep blue substance, obtained from the _Indigofera
tinctoria_ or Indigo bearing plant, a native of the East Indies, which is
propagated by seed and will thrive in most tropical climates; hence we
have good indigo from South America, the East Indies, Carolina, &c. The
chief criterion of the goodness of indigo is, if, when cut with a knife,
it exhibits a reddish copper-like appearance; where this shade is not, or
only very slight, the indigo is of inferior value. It is prepared by
macerating the leaves in water, whence is obtained the blue feculence or
indigo. Indigo is insoluble in water, but soluble in sulphuric acid,
hence a solution of it in this acid, forming a _sulphate of indigo_, is
well known in the art of dyeing.
The best indigo is that called _Flora_, which floats in water, all the
other kinds sink in that fluid.
The constituent parts of indigo are Carbon, 73.22, Nitrogen 11.26, Oxygen
12.60, and Hydrogen, 2.92, = 100.
When indigo is digested in concentrated sulphuric acid, it is converted
into a peculiar blue substance, commonly called _sulphate of indigo_;
this colouring matter has been, however, lately named CERULIN, by MR. W.
CRUM, who has made many experiments on it; (see notes to _Bertholet_,
vol. ii. p. 357. et seq.) he observes that _cerulin_ dissolves more
abundantly in sulphuric acid than water; but this does not prove the
formation of a compound entitled to be called sulphate of indigo; that,
such a solution differs in no respect from that of resins in acids or in
alcohol. Another substance has been also obtained from indigo by MR.
CRUM, of a purple colour, which he calls _Phenicin_; it dissolves both in
water and alcohol.
IRON rarely in its metallic state enters into the manipulations of
dyeing, but its _sulphate_, _muriate_, _acetate_, &c. as well as its
_oxides_ contribute largely to the dyer's art.
SULPHATE OF IRON, or _green copperas_, as it is commonly called, is too
well known to need description; it is in green crystals of different
sizes, and is used for various purposes in dyeing, &c.
PERACETATE OF IRON, or ACETATE OF IRON, forms a reddish-brown
uncrystallizable solution, much used by the calico printers, and is
prepared by keeping iron turnings or pieces of old iron for six months
immersed in redistilled pyrolignous acid. It may be also prepared in a
more expeditious way by boiling filings of iron with the acid.
LAC DYE and LAC LAKE are two articles now regularly imported from the
East Indies, and employed for dyeing scarlet. They both appear to be the
colouring matter of seed-lac, obtained from it in India by a process not
generally known. Both these articles are in lumps or cakes of a
dark-reddish or blackish colour.
MURIATIC ACID, or _spirit of salt_, as it was formerly called, is
obtained from common salt or muriate of soda, by distillation with
sulphuric acid. When this acid is pure it is perfectly colourless, but it
generally has a yellow hue arising from a little iron. It gives out, at
all temperatures, a large quantity of a fuming suffocating gas of a
peculiar smell. Its usual specific gravity is about 1.160. For the basis
of this acid see OXYMURIATIC ACID.
NITRIC ACID is composed of oxygen and nitrogen: it is usually obtained
from _nitre_, (the chemical name of which is _nitrate of potash_,) by
distilling three parts of it with two of sulphuric acid. When pure,
nitric acid is a colourless, extremely sour, and corrosive liquor. Its
specific gravity is 1.42; it always contains more or less water, which
modifies its specific gravity. It is usually coloured with nitrous acid
gas. It forms a variety of compounds with numerous other bodies. _Aqua
fortis_ is this acid diluted more or less with water; when strong it is
called _double_, when weak _single aqua fortis_. For NITROGEN, _see
forwards_.
NITRO-MURIATIC ACID, or AQUA REGIA, is a mixture of nitric and muriatic
acids. It is usually made by dissolving sal ammoniac or common salt in
nitric acid. When the former is employed the usual proportion is one of
the salt to four of the acid; but equal parts will be necessary to
dissolve _platinum_. _Aqua regia_ is the only menstruum which will
dissolve gold.
ORPIMENT, REALGAR, or SULPHURET of ARSENIC has been lately applied to the
purposes of dyeing a yellow colour. Sulphur may be combined with arsenic
in different proportions. Realgar is red, and occurs native in Germany
and Switzerland; it is also produced by art. Orpiment is commonly
produced by art and is of a yellowish colour; native orpiment is also
occasionally found; it is of a bright lemon colour.
OXYMURIATIC ACID, or as it is now more correctly termed CHLORINE, from
its yellowish green colour, is an elastic gaseous fluid of a pungent
disagreeable smell, and highly injurious to animal life, even when
largely diluted with atmospheric air. Mixed with hydrogen, and exposed to
light, they combine and produce a sour compound called _muriatic acid_
gas; this gas is greedily absorbed by water, which takes up 480 times its
bulk, and has its specific gravity increased from 1 to 1.210. Thus
dissolved in water it forms the _liquid muriatic acid_ mentioned in a
preceding article.
Chlorine forms combination, besides, with several other bodies; many of
its combinations are termed _oxymuriates_, or more properly, _chlorides_:
some of these are extremely useful in bleaching, dyeing, &c. The
_muriatic acid_ appears to be the only acid of any consequence into which
oxygen does not enter.
OXIDE is the combination of oxygen with some base, without being in the
state of acid; it is most commonly applied to the combination of oxygen
with metals; most of the different rusts of metals are oxides. As oxygen
combines with the metals and other bodies in different proportions, its
combinations are distinguished by different prefixes, thus: _protoxide_
denotes an oxide containing the least quantity of oxygen: _deutoxide_ the
next larger quantity; _tritoxide_ the next; and _peroxide_ the largest
possible quantity of oxygen in the compound when it is not acid. For
OXYGEN _see forwards_.
POT-ASHES and PEARL-ASHES (one of the fixed alkalies) are both impure
_carbonates of potash_ obtained from the ashes of innumerable vegetables,
over which water is poured which dissolves the salts, and by evaporating
the water leaving the salt, a dry powdery white mass is obtained. The
chief difference between pot-ashes and pearl-ashes consists in the
superior whiteness of the latter, and in the former being of a more dirty
colour, and more caustic than the latter; hence it is not so highly
saturated with carbonic acid. For many purposes in the arts such caustic
potash is to be preferred.
QUERCITRON, or AMERICAN-BARK is obtained from the _quercus nigra_ or
black oak, a native of North America. It is used for dyeing yellow, and
was brought into notice by DR. BANCROFT, who obtained the exclusive
privilege of using it as a dye by an Act of Parliament, passed in the
25th year of the reign of George III.
SAFFLOWER, _bastard-saffron_ or _carthamus_, is obtained from one or two
plants, species of the _carthamus_ genus, natives of the South of Europe
and the Mediterranean coasts. This dyeing material consists of two
colouring substances, a yellow and a red. The former is of little value,
the latter which is soluble in alkalies forms, by precipitation with
acids, a beautiful red pigment sometimes used for silk dyeing, but more
commonly in the preparation of _rouge_.
SODA, called sometimes mineral alkali, is another of the fixed alkalies;
it forms the basis of common salt, that being a muriate of soda; soda,
under the name of _barilla_, is used in making soaps, and also in dyeing.
SULPHUR, or BRIMSTONE, is scarcely used for dyeing in its crude state,
but when combined with oxygen forming _sulphuric acid_, as well as when
that acid is combined with various bases, as _iron_, _alumina_, &c. it
becomes of great importance in this art; see SULPHURIC ACID.
SULPHATE OF IRON, see IRON above.
SULPHURIC ACID was for many years, and still is called by the vulgar,
_oil of vitriol_, because it was formerly obtained from green vitriol or
sulphate of iron, but the more simple and ingenious processes of modern
chemistry have superseded the old methods; sulphuric acid is now obtained
by burning sulphur with a certain portion of saltpetre in large leaden
cisterns. The acid fumes sink into the water placed at the bottom of the
cistern, the water being afterwards boiled away: the acid is afterwards
purified by retorts, placed in a sand heat. The specific gravity of good
sulphuric acid should be 1.85.
SUMACH is the production of the _rhus coriaria_, a shrub which grows
naturally in Syria, Palestine, Spain, and Portugal. It is cultivated in
the two last countries with great care. Its shoots are cut down every
year quite to the root, and after being dried are reduced to powder, and
thus prepared for the purposes of dyeing, &c. Sumach bears a great
resemblance, as an astringent, to galls. Sumach alone gives a brown and a
fawn colour, but cotton stuffs impregnated with acetate of alumina take a
durable yellow from it.
TARTAR, see ARGOL.
TIN, dissolved in nitric or muriatic acid, forms solutions of great
importance in many processes of dyeing, particularly scarlet. These
solutions are called respectively _nitrate_ and _muriate of tin_.
TURMERIC is a root obtained from a plant growing both in the East and
West Indies. The root is used chiefly for dyeing yellow; but it is a
fugacious colour.
VERDIGRIS is a crude _acetate of copper_, obtained by exposing copper
plates to the husks, &c. of grapes, which containing considerable acetic
acid, the acid combines with the surface of the copper plates, forming a
blueish green rust, which is scraped off, and forms the verdigris of
commerce. A still more complete acetate of copper is obtained in
_distilled verdigris_, which is in elegant green crystals. The best
verdigris is made in France; some is now also made in this country.
WELD, sometimes called improperly WOULDS, _dyer's-weed_, or _Reseda
luteola_, is a plant found wild, in this country, but cultivated for the
purposes of the dyer; it is much used for yellows.
WOAD, or PASTEL, is obtained from a plant growing in various parts of
Europe and also in this country; it is the _Isatis tinctoria_, and is
cultivated with care for the dyeing matter which it affords, and which is
obtained from the leaves of the plant, collected and prepared in a
particular manner. Woad gives a full-bodied and fast blue to wool, yet
not very bright, so that it is usually mixed with indigo[3].
Besides the preceding substances we may mention that _annatto_ is used
for dyeing several colours; _kermes_, _madder_, and _Brazil wood_ for
_reds_; _logwood_ for _purple_ and _black_; _peach-wood_ for _maroon_,
&c.; _fustic_, _dyer's-broom_, _saw-wort_, _French-berries_, &c. for
_yellow_; _walnut-root_, and the outside _green shell of the nuts_ for
_browns_. We may also mention _prussiate of potash_, _acetate of lead_,
commonly called _sugar of lead_, and _oxide of manganese_, as occasional
articles used for various purposes by the dyer. Several other substances
are also used in dyeing, which we cannot enumerate; some are mentioned in
the subsequent pages. We may, however, name _cam-wood_, _bar-wood_,
_redsanders_, and _myrobolans_. We ought also to observe that how
desirable soever it may be to have all _woods_ for dyeing, in powder, in
order to obtain the greatest quantity of colouring matter from them by
decoction or otherwise, yet, as in a _powdered_ state they are much more
likely to be adulterated than in _chips_, it is most advisable to
purchase them in this last state; _logwood_ in particular ought never to
be purchased in powder.
_On the Component Parts of Vegetable and Animal substances._
In order more correctly to understand the theory and practice of dyeing,
it is essential that the pupil should become acquainted with the nature
of the substances upon which and with which he must necessarily operate.
We shall not enter into the theories of _light_ and of _colours_, as
propounded by Sir Isaac Newton, as well as many illustrious chemists, who
have already done so much for the art of dyeing, but shall simply refer
to such writers as URE, BANCROFT, BERTHOLLET, BRANDE, &c. from whom may
be learnt what is of most importance to be known concerning this curious
subject.
We may just add, however, in regard to _light_, that Sir Isaac Newton
proved it consists of rays differing from each other in their relative
refrangibilities. By causing light to pass through a hole in a
window-shutter into a darkened room, and receiving that light on a glass
prism, the rays, in passing through the prism, not only became
_refracted_, that is, thrown out, of the rectilinear direction, but also
_separated_ into seven distinct colours, namely, _red_, _orange_,
_yellow_, _green_, _blue_, _indigo_, and _violet_. The red being the
least refracted and violet the most. If these prismatic, or _primary_
colours, as they are usually called, be divided into 360 equal parts, the
red rays will occupy 45 of these parts, the orange 27, the yellow 48, the
green 60, the blue 60, the indigo 40, and the violet 80, and, what is
very remarkable, these colours, when mixed in the proportions here set
down, produce _white_. This may be readily proved by mixing seven powders
of the colours and quantity mentioned, or by painting a wheel with the
same proportions of the different colours and making it revolve rapidly.
But it should be noted, that, in either case, the _white_ will not be so
pure and delicate, as that produced by the mixture of the rays of light.
Upon these phenomena is founded the Newtonian theory of colours. Thus
green bodies reflect the green rays and absorb the others. All the rays
are reflected by white bodies, and absorbed by those which are black.
It is, notwithstanding, highly necessary that the learner should know
that portion of _modern chemistry_ which will lead him to the best
secrets of his art, and hence assure him of that which was only before
conjecture. And it cannot be sufficiently impressed upon him, that if our
theory be not true, we work from wrong _data_; we may, it is true,
approach the truth; be right in some things and wrong in others, and our
uncertainty and mistakes will be accordingly; yet the most complete dyer
must be he, who with extensive practice combines a knowledge of the true
principles of his art, to which modern chemistry is, doubtless, the key.
It is scarcely necessary to insist further on the importance of a
knowledge of the constituent parts of vegetable and animal bodies, as
well as those inorganic substances with which chemistry has so largely to
deal; but it will be seen, in the course of our subsequent observations,
what difficulty there is in _dyeing cotton_ of a red colour, similar to
that produced by cochineal on _wool_; how, in dyeing _cotton yarn_ an
_Adrianople red_, the intestinal liquor of the sheep, and the dung and
the blood of the same animal are used, and have been found so important
by the dyers of Asia; hence the colour is called the _Adrianople_ or
_Turkey red_.
It is found by experience, and particularly in hot climates, that
substances containing _ammonia_ (volatile alkali) quite developed, have
the property of raising and rendering more intense the red colours. It
has been found, too, that the bones of animals retain the colour of
_madder_ very strongly, when they have been given that colouring
material; and the vivacity of the colour has been attributed in such
cases, it is presumed with truth, to the ammonia which the bones contain.
There are, therefore, in regard to _vegetables_ in particular, some
things, the nature and properties of which it is absolutely necessary
that the dyer should understand: for want of a knowledge of one of them,
it is a fact that losses are very often sustained to a serious amount. It
may seem surprising, but the author has not seen in any writer on dyeing
or chemistry, a proper method of working the pastil or _woad vat_; nor
how to renew and work it down, again and again, with an assurance that it
will be neither decomposed nor spoiled; and which, for want of a proper
knowledge, it has often been. We shall therefore endeavour to give some
directions by which those fatal and expensive disasters may be avoided.
Although, at first sight, it seems easy to distinguish the three kingdoms
of nature from each other, yet there is such an imperceptible transition
from one to the other, that it will be difficult to give such a
definition as shall embrace all the individuals of each, and, at the same
time, exclude those of the other kingdoms. On examination, indeed, we do
find that there is in fact no natural distinction of this kind; and that
there is scarcely a function common to vegetables and minerals which some
of the animal tribe do not enjoy, and _vice versâ_. Yet it must, however,
be noted, that most animals have the power of voluntary loco-motion, and
are thus rendered peculiarly different from all other bodies which we
find upon or in the earth.
The substances constituting _vegetable_ differ from those constituting
_mineral_ bodies, in their being of a more complex kind; and though
vegetables are extremely susceptible of decomposition in various ways,
not one can be, by any art, synthetically produced. Yet, although what
are called by chemists the _proximate constituents of vegetables_ are
numerous, such are _water_, _starch_, _sugar_, _gum_, _gluten_, _wax_,
_oil_, _camphor_, _resins_, _colouring matter_, _extractive matter_,
_several acids_, &c. &c. all of which are capable of being decomposed,
the _ultimate constituents of vegetables_ are very few; the chief are
_carbon_, _hydrogen_, and _oxygen_; some afford _nitrogen_; in some are
traces of _sulphur_, _potassa_, _lime_, _soda_, _magnesia_, _silica_,
&c.; in nearly all vegetables are traces of _iron_; in many _manganese_.
As the _proximate principles_ of vegetables are chiefly carbon, hydrogen,
and oxygen, it will be useful to inquire how vegetables obtain these
materials. Water, which is composed of hydrogen and oxygen, is a ready
source whence both its constituents may be obtained; and it is concluded
that it is decomposed in the glands of vegetables, assisted by solar
light, and becomes fixed in them in the state of _oil_, _extract_,
_mucilage_, &c. The greatest part, however, of vegetables consists of
_carbon_, or, to make ourselves more intelligible, _pure charcoal_; the
carbon, notwithstanding its solidity in the shape of charcoal, most
readily combines with oxygen, and hence it forms, as carbonic acid, a
small portion of atmospheric air, from which source the carbon of plants
is in part at least derived. Another source from which plants derive
their carbon is the earth, and decaying vegetable matters; the dung of
animals supplies also some of the constituents of vegetables. Indeed, in
the application of dung and other matters, so as to promote the healthy
and vigorous growth of vegetables, does the science of agriculture
chiefly consist. It appears, however, that nourishment is received
principally, if not entirely, by plants in a liquid or gaseous form. It
should be noticed too, that few, if any, healthy vegetables will grow any
where except in _light_, a powerful stimulant at all times, not only to
plants but to animals; such are its effects, that many _dyes_ in cloth
are materially altered, nay, sometimes destroyed by it.
_Animal substances_ thus differ from vegetables: they afford a
considerable quantity of _ammonia_, (which is, it is now known, a
compound body consisting of _hydrogen_ and _nitrogen_), and very fetid
products, either by the action of fire, or by the putrid fermentation.
They also putrify more readily and speedily than vegetables, and give out
a very disagreeable smell. They also contain a considerable quantity of
_nitrogen_, the presence of which constitutes the most striking
peculiarity of animal compared with vegetable bodies; but as some
vegetables contain nitrogen, so there are certain animal principles into
the composition of which nitrogen does not enter. The chief _ultimate
principles_ then of animal matter are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and
nitrogen; but _phosphorus_ and _sulphur_ are also often contained in it.
_Lime_ also exists in animal bones and shells in considerable quantity,
usually, however, in combination with the _phosphoric_ and the _carbonic
acid_. The chief _proximate principles_ of animal matter are _blood_,
_albumen_, _gelatine_, _colouring matter_, _milk_, _bile_, _lymph_,
_urine_, _skin_, _muscle_, _horn_, _hair_, _fat_, _cerebral substance_,
_shell_, and _bone_, &c.
The differences between vegetable and animal bodies appear to depend upon
animal matter containing _nitrogen_ in much greater abundance than it is
found in vegetables; and hence the decomposition of animal matter by
destructive distillation is characterized by the presence of _ammonia_,
which is formed by the union of the hydrogen with the nitrogen; and it is
sometimes so abundantly generated as to be the leading product: thus when
_horns_, _hoofs_, or _bones_ are distilled by themselves, a quantity of
solid carbonate of ammonia and of the same substance combined with a
fœtid oil, and dissolved in water, are obtained. Hence the preparations
called _salt_ and _spirit of hartshorn_ and _animal oil_.
The principal animal fluids are _blood_, _milk_, and _bile_. The blood,
soon after it is taken from the living animal, separates into two parts,
one called the _crassamentum_, which is _red_, and the other _serum_,
which is a fluid, and of a pale straw-colour; the crassamentum is a more
firm and consistent mass than the serum, by which it is usually, when
cool, surrounded. _Milk_ consists of _serum_ or _whey_, _butter_, which
while floating on the milk is called _cream_, and _curd_ or _cheese_,
which has the leading properties of coagulated albumen. The _bile_, as
has been before stated, is a saponaceous fluid consisting chiefly of
_albumen_, _soda_, a _bitter resin_, _water_, and some other saline
matter. _Fat_, in the dead animal, is merely animal oil in a concrete or
hardened state.
The principal animal solids besides _bone_, are _albumen_, _gelatine_,
and _fibrin_. These substances, in certain states of concretion and
combination, form all the solids of animals, and are separable from each
other by easy analysis.
By whatever means we deprive animal substances of their nitrogen, we
reduce them to a state similar to that of vegetables. The muscular fibre,
or _flesh_ as it is usually called, when excluded from the air, but
particularly if in contact with water, parts with its nitrogen, and is
converted into a substance resembling spermaceti, which in its analysis
agrees with vegetable expressed oil.
When vegetables and animals are deprived of life, their various parts,
and especially their fluids, sooner or later, spontaneously assume
processes which terminate in their total decomposition. The earlier
stages which lead to their decomposition are termed _fermentation_. Of
this there are three kinds; the first, or _vinous fermentation_, takes
place in vegetable juices which contain a considerable quantity of sugar,
such are the juices of the _grape_ forming _wine_, of the _apple_ forming
_cyder_, &c. In this fermentation a considerable quantity of carbonic
acid gas is disengaged; this gas is very destructive to animal life, no
one can live for a minute in it. If, after the vinous fermentation is
completed, the liquor be exposed for some time to atmospheric air,
another fermentation takes place, oxygen is absorbed, and the liquor
becomes _vinegar_, hence called the _acetous fermentation_. The _putrid
fermentation_ generally takes place in animal bodies very soon after
death, so that neither of the other processes, certainly not the vinous,
the acetous rarely, becomes a condition of animal matter.
The chief product of the vinous fermentation is an intoxicating,
colourless, volatile, and highly inflammable liquor called _alcohol_; in
common language _rectified spirits of wine_. It may be obtained by
distillation from wine, cyder, perry, brandy, &c. &c.; and from whatever
liquor it be obtained, when freed from extraneous matter, it is in every
case the same. Alcohol consists of hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. Its
usual specific gravity is 825, water being 1000.
After vegetables have passed through these fermenting processes, the
decomposition continuing, unless checked by extraneous means, the
remainder of their constituents become separated, many of them being
volatilized in the form of gas, and nothing remains but a black or brown
residuum called mould, consisting of carbon, some salts, a little oil,
and extractive matter.
In the decomposition of animal substances, we perceive the union of
hydrogen and nitrogen forming _ammonia_; the combination of carbon with
oxygen produces carbonic acid; and nitric acid arises from the union
oxygen and nitrogen. A quantity of hydrogen is also extricated in the
form of gas, carrying off with it sulphur and phosphorus, which produce
together the disagreeable smell arising from animal putrefaction. Nothing
now remains but a portion of carbon mixed with phosphate of soda and
phosphate of lime.
Hence we see that, by the processes of fermentation, complex bodies are
converted into more simple substances, and that nature restores, in the
new combinations, the principles which she had borrowed from the
atmosphere for the formation of both animals and vegetables; and that she
accomplishes a perpetual circle of ever-changing being, at once
demonstrating the fecundity of her resources, and the grandeur and
simplicity of her operations.
_On substantive and adjective colours, and the mordants, &c. used in
dyeing; and on the leading facts of chemical science as connected with
this art._
The substances commonly dyed are either _animal_, as _wool_, _silk_,
_hair_, _leather_, and skins of all kinds; or _vegetable_, as _cotton_,
_flax_, _hemp_, _&c._ Great differences exist between the affinities for
colouring matter possessed by these substances, so that a process which
perfectly succeeds in dyeing wool may fail when applied to cotton. Wool
has generally the strongest affinity for colour; silk and other animal
substances come next; cotton next, and hemp and flax last.
Of the numerous known dyes, few can be applied to either animal or
vegetable fibre without some preparation beyond that of cleansing the
stuff, and immersing it in the dyeing liquor. When colours can be fixed
on cloth without any previous preparation, they are called _substantive_
colours, such is _indigo_; when they cannot be so fixed, but require to
be saturated with some preparation, such as acetate of alumina, or a
metallic oxide, &c. they are called _adjective_ colours; of this kind are
madder, cochineal, &c. The substances with which cloths are impregnated,
previously to being dyed, are called _mordants_, because they are
supposed to bite or lay hold of the colour which is applied.
The chief difference between vegetable and animal substances is, that
animal (as for instance wool) contains a small portion of carbon, and a
large quantity of hydrogen and nitrogen; while vegetables contain a very
large proportion of carbon, less hydrogen, and, in general, no nitrogen.
It is the interest of every dyer to acquire as much information as
possible concerning the nature of alum, iron, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen,
the alkalies, acids, &c. in order to prevent or obviate the consequences
of an incorrect application of these agents in the various departments of
his art, and also to apply them with the greatest success. We shall,
therefore, enter a little into the nature and combinations of some of
these bodies, and state some of the leading facts with which the modern
discoveries in chemistry have made us acquainted.
_Carbon_, or charcoal, is considered an elementary body, because, as yet,
no means have been found adequate to decompose it; it forms the skeleton
of vegetables or their woody fibre.
We must now direct the attention of the reader to _oxygen gas_, the
discovery of which was made by Dr. Priestley in the year 1774, and by him
called _dephlogisticated air_; the most important discovery that was,
perhaps, ever made in chemistry. When a metal is exposed to atmospheric
air, at almost every temperature, it loses its metallic lustre, and
acquires the form and appearance of an earthy substance. If this change
be produced in a given quantity of air, the _oxidation_ can only be
carried on to a certain degree; and on examining the air which remains,
we shall find that it has lost the whole of its oxygen, and that nothing
remains but nitrogen gas. What was formerly called the _calcination_ of
metals is nothing but the process of their union with oxygen, which is
now therefore properly called their _oxidation_.
If charcoal be mixed with the metallic oxide, and a suitable heat be
applied to the mixture, it will unite with the oxygen and form carbonic
acid, which will fly off in the form of gas, while the metal will assume
its metallic form. From this we learn that _oxygen_ is a part of
atmospheric air, and that _nitrogen_ constitutes another portion of the
same air. _Ammonia_ is a combination of nitrogen and hydrogen.
_Combustion_, or the burning of any combustible body, cannot take place,
at least under ordinary circumstances, without the presence of oxygen.
_Nitrogen gas_, (called by its discoverers _azotic gas_), constitutes
about three fourths of atmospheric air; the other fourth consists of
oxygen, besides a small fraction of carbonic acid gas. Oxygen decomposes
and destroys all fugitive colours. Oxygen is, besides, the basis of
almost all the acids, and hence is one of the most universal agents in
nature.
_Hydrogen_, formerly called _inflammable air_, was discovered by Mr.
Cavendish in 1767; it is called hydrogen, because it is one of the
component parts of water; or, more properly, it is the base of water. It
is obtained in the most pure state from the decomposition of water by
means of metals, thus: pass one hundred parts of water through a red hot
iron tube, a gun barrel for instance, fifteen parts of hydrogen gas will
be produced, while the inside of the tube will be found converted into an
oxide, and to have gained eighty five parts in weight.
Again, when eighty five parts of oxygen gas are burned with fifteen of
hydrogen gas, both gases vanish, and one hundred parts of water are the
result. Hydrogen gas, when in a pure state, is about fifteen times
lighter than atmospheric air; hence its use for inflating balloons.
Hydrogen, if inhaled, destroys animal life; combined with _nitrogen_, it
forms ammonia, or the _volatile alkali_, as we have before stated.
We have mentioned the _fixed alkalies_ in a preceding section. We may add
here, that by the discoveries of Sir Humphry Davy, in the year 1807, the
base of caustic, or pure _potash_, is now known to consist of a light,
white metallic substance, to which the name of _potassium_ has been
given; it is of the consistence of soft wax; at a freezing temperature it
is hard, brittle, and solid; when thrown upon water it instantly takes
fire, hydrogen gas escapes, and an _oxide of potassium_, or caustic
pot-ash, is produced. The potash and pearl-ash of the shops we must not
forget, are combinations of _carbonic acid_ and pot-ash, hence they
effervesce with all the acids; but caustic pot-ash, containing no
carbonic acid, combines with any of the acids without effervescence.
The SODA, as obtained from barilla, is a carbonate of soda; pure soda, or
caustic soda, was, till the discoveries of Sir Humphry Davy, supposed to
be, as well as potash, a simple substance. It is now, however, known to
consist of a metallic substance of the colour of lead, but, nevertheless,
lighter than water; upon which, when thrown, it produces, like potassium,
violent action, yet does not, in general, like potassium, inflame. It is
called _sodium_; pure soda consists therefore of sodium and oxygen, hence
it is an _oxide of sodium_. These discoveries of the composition of the
fixed alkalies are of infinite importance in the arts. The alkalies
contain some very striking properties:
_Their taste is acrid, burning and urinous. They generally change the
blue colours of vegetable infusions green. When mixed with silex or
flint, by exposure to great heat they form glass, and they render oils
miscible with water, and hence combine with them forming soaps. They
effervesce_ (_when combined with carbonic acid_,) with many other acids,
and form neutral salts with all the acids. The _volatile alkali_ or
_ammonia_, on exposure to air, flies entirely away. Pot-ash, either in
its caustic state, or in that of a carbonate, absorbs moisture from the
air, and liquifies. While soda, on the contrary, and many of its
combinations, effloresce in the air; they, nevertheless, effervesce, and
combine with the acids in a similar way to pot-ash.
We have mentioned how pot-ash is obtained in a preceding section. Soda is
commonly procured from the ashes of marine plants; the _barilla_ of
commerce is obtained, it is said, in Spain, chiefly from many species of
the _salsola_, or salt-wort. Barilla is an impure subcarbonate of soda,
it is used largely in the manufacture of soap.
We now proceed to notice the nature of _acids_.
_They excite a particular sensation on the palate, which we call sour.
They change the blue colour of vegetables red._ All of them, except the
carbonic acid, effervesce with the _volatile_ as well as the _fixed
alkalies when in the state of carbonates, as they are most commonly found
in commerce_. Oxygen is the principle of almost all acids; their
difference depends upon the base combined with the oxygen: thus oxygen
combined with carbon or pure charcoal, forms _carbonic acid_; with
nitrogen the _nitric acid_; with sulphur the _sulphuric acid_, _&c._ _&c._
_Gas_ is a term implying the same as _air_; but as the term air, when
used, is liable to be misunderstood for the air of the atmosphere, which
is, as we have seen, a compound body, the term gas is more appropriately
applied to all elastic fluids of a specific kind. Thus we say _carbonic
acid gas_, _oxygenous gas_. The difference between carbonic acid and
carbonic acid gas, and oxygen and oxygenous gas, consists in the latter
being combined with _heat_ only, and in the state of air, while in the
former they are fixed in some body, as in carbonate of pot-ash and oxide
of lead, in both which cases the carbonic acid exists in a fixed state,
or combined with the pot-ash, and the oxygen is in a fixed state, or
combined with the lead.
We may now treat of _carbonic acid gas_, which is thus produced, as well
as in many other ways: when charcoal is burned in oxygen gas, exactly
sufficient for its combustion, both the charcoal and oxygen disappear,
and an elastic fluid is found in the vessel, which is equal in weight to
both. This air or gas is carbonic acid gas; it combines with lime, the
alkalies, and pure or burnt magnesia: it constitutes a considerable
portion of the weight of chalk, limestone and marble, as is readily seen
by comparing these bodies before and after their conversion into
quicklime. It is frequently combined with hydrogen. The gas with which
the streets are now lighted is chiefly carburetted hydrogen.
Carbonic acid gas has the following properties. It extinguishes flame,
and, like nitrogen and hydrogen, kills animals immersed in it. It is
heavier than common air, and may therefore be poured out of one vessel
into another like water. Cider, wine, beer and other fermented liquors
owe their briskness to the carbonic acid which they contain; soda-water
also owes its briskness entirely to the quantity of carbonic acid gas
which it contains, a small quantity of heat being sufficient to give the
acid the gaseous state.
_Sulphur_ has been mentioned before; it is well known to be a very
combustible substance; it is found in great quantities throughout nature;
the sulphur of commerce comes either from Italy or Sicily; or from the
isle of Anglesea, where it is obtained from the smelting of sulphuret of
copper; the best, however, comes from Sicily. It is, sometimes, found
pure; but often combined with some of the metals, forming _sulphurets_.
It is also frequently obtained by the decomposition of animal and
vegetable substances; it is sometimes found combined with hydrogen (hence
called sulphuretted hydrogen), in the human stomach, more frequently in
the intestines. Sulphur combined with a small dose of oxygen, forms a
volatile suffocating acid, called the _sulphureous acid_; with a large
dose it forms _sulphuric acid_, or oil of vitriol.
For the _nitric_ and _muriatic acids_, see a preceding section. We may,
however, mention here, that nitric acid has the peculiar property of
staining the _scarf skin_ of the human body a dull yellow, of such
permanence, that it can scarcely, by any means, be destroyed, it usually
remaining till the skin wears or peels off.
The principal vegetable acids are the _tartaric_ and the _acetic_. The
tartaric acid exists in superabundance in tartar, and particularly in
cream of tartar, which is nothing more than a purified tartar. See
_argol_ in a preceding section.
The _acetic acid_ constitutes the vinegar both common and distilled; it
is found in a very concentrated state in the shops, under the name of
_aromatic vinegar_. It is also now obtained in large quantities, and of
great strength from _wood_ by distillation, or burning, in vessels,
adapted for the purpose, hence called the _pyrolignous_ acid, but
essentially the acetic acid. This last is now used by Calico-Printers to
make acetate of iron. See a preceding section.
_Alumina_, or earth of alumina, sometimes called _argil_, is soft to the
touch, adheres to the tongue, and hardens in the fire, contracting its
dimensions: it constitutes the greatest part of clays. With sulphuric
acid and pot-ash, it forms the common alum of the shops. Alum dissolves
in about sixteen times its weight of cold water. For _acetate of alum_
see _alum_ in a preceding section.
Agriculturists and agricultural chemists know that _alumina_ constitutes
three eighths or more of a fruitful soil; some vegetables, likewise,
contain this earth in their composition. _Iron_ is also a component part
of many soils, particularly those in which a _red_ colour is predominant;
hence it is, probably, a component part of all drugs used for browns,
fawns, and blacks. It will be seen what affinity cotton has for _iron_ in
the dye of _buff_[4] upon cotton; and it seems reasonable to conclude
that this metal not only produces the black, grey, and brown hues, but,
with lime, forms a component part of the drugs themselves which give the
brown dyes. It may be here also mentioned, that the _red_ colour of the
blood has been by many chemists supposed to arise from the iron which it
contains; MR. BRANDE, however, does not, from his own experiments,
conclude this to be the fact. The blood of animals is, nevertheless,
occasionally used for dyeing, as will be seen under _Adrianople red_. See
KIRWAN _on Manures_, _&c._ and DAVY'S _Agricultural Chemistry_.
From the acids or oxygen combined with alkalies, earths, or metals,
almost innumerable mordants, as we have seen, are formed; and upon the
correct and proper application of these to the cloth or other matters to
be dyed, depends the goodness and permanence of the colours. The dyer
cannot, therefore, be too scrupulously attentive to this portion of his
art.
In dyeing the student ought also to remember, that the material to be
dyed combines intimately, in numerous instances, with alumina or other
mordants; in the case of alumina it, in some instances, takes up from one
twelfth to one fourth of its weight of alum, leaving the alum bath nearly
tasteless. So also will rich extract of American bark, or even weld, when
the proportion of weld is in weight more than two to one of the wool,
form a triple compound with the cloth and alum, of permanent duration.
All these preliminaries the author considers of the first importance to
be understood, and he has, therefore, mentioned them again and again. For
so doing he is sure that he shall be excused in the dye-house, although
not perhaps by the critics, whose candour he nevertheless respectfully
solicits.
We now proceed to the _application of mordants_. In regard to muslins and
calicoes, the alum is to be mixed with gum and carried to the piece, as
will be described below in the _Calico-Printers' mordant_, and then
immersed in the dye-bath: it thus receives the base or mordant. If the
base be alum and the dye-bath madder, then, where the block strikes the
pattern with the alumine base, the colour will come out _red_; the other
parts will clean and bleach white. If alum and iron form the base, the
colour will be purple; if iron alone be applied, and galls, sumach,
logwood, &c. are the component parts of the dye-bath, then it will be
_black_.
_The Calico-Printers' mordant or base of alum for yellow and red goods,
either for printing or dyeing; and on compound colours._
Take one gallon of soft and pure water, of a heat of 150°, three pounds
of common alum, one pound and a half of sugar (acetate) of lead; mix
these together, and let them stand for two or three days, so that they
may incorporate, often stirring them during that interval; then add two
ounces of pearl-ash, and the same quantity of clean powdered chalk or
whiting. After a time the clear liquor, now become _an acetate of alum_,
must be drawn off. When used, it is thickened either with paste, flour,
or gum arabic, or senegal; four pounds of either of the gums to each
gallon of liquor[5]. A block or a press similar to a copper-plate press
for paper, but much larger, and having the copper plates in proportion,
is employed to spread the acetate of alum from a utensil called a sieve,
which is, however, not porous, while a boy or girl called a _Teerer_,
works it smooth; when smooth on the sieve, the printer applies his block,
and charges it with the acetate of alum; the block thus charged, is
correctly put on the cotton cloth, which is laid upon a blanket spread
upon a table; it is then struck with a mallet once or twice, by which, or
by the pressure of the rolling-press, if copper-plate, the acetate of
alum is driven into the pores of the cloth. The cloth thus prepared, is
hung up in a hot stove, and dried by a high degree of heat. The goods are
now ready, if for _red_, for the _madder_; and if for _yellow_, for the
_weld_ copper. Sometimes, however, lately, the colour is previously
prepared, and applied at once in more instances than are prudent. To the
above mordant, _M'Kernan_ adds three ounces of _sulphate of copper_,
omitting the potash; and he adds, "When the colour is wanting on the
scarlet cast, omit the sulphate of copper."
Wool readily takes the alum at a boiling heat; _common alum_ is in many
instances proper for wool; and in others, where it might be improper, it
is corrected by the use of argol or cream of tartar.
_Yellow_ and _red_ produce _orange_; _red_ and _blue_, _purple_; but upon
_cotton_, a scarlet, purple, or crimson cannot be produced in any way
equal to those colours in wool or silk. _Yellow_ and _blue_ form the
_green_.
_On Bleaching Linen, Cotton, &c._
We cannot enter with much minuteness into this part of the subject, more
especially as the _art of bleaching_ is usually a separate one from that
of _dyeing_. Yet as in fact the arts of _dyeing_ and of _bleaching_
depend in a great degree on the same principles, some notice of
bleaching, in a treatise on dyeing, seems absolutely necessary.
Linen, cotton, and other cloths, were for ages deprived of their colour,
in other words, bleached, rendered white, by a tedious process. Thus, the
article to be bleached being boiled in a solution of pot-ash, was washed,
and then spread on the grass in a field, watered occasionally, and, thus
exposed to the atmosphere for two or three months, became white. This
method is, however, in part, if not now entirely, dispensed with. M.
Berthollet, an ingenious French chemist, to whose valuable work on dyeing
we have before alluded, employed what was then called _oxygenated
muriatic acid_, now _chlorine_, to perform in a few days what before took
months to accomplish. His method was as follows. To six pints of powdered
oxide of manganese he added sixteen of muriate of soda, (common salt) and
twelve of concentrated sulphuric acid diluted with an equal quantity of
water. These were placed in a leaden retort and distilled: the product
was _oxygenated muriatic acid_, or _chlorine_, which being conducted to a
vessel containing the material to be dyed, produced the same effects as
the former tedious process, and bleached as much, in two or three days,
as was before done in two or three months. This process has been since
much further improved by the use of a combination of chlorine with lime,
called _chloride_, or _oxymuriate of lime_. This article is at present
used in almost all the bleaching grounds in the United Kingdom. It
appears, therefore, that upon the use of the agent, _chlorine_, does the
expedition and whiteness of modern bleaching principally depend. Yet it
ought, nevertheless, to be stated, that although, in the hands of
scientific and judicious persons, chlorine is one of the most powerful
agents in bleaching that ever was discovered, still, in the hands of
bungling and avaricious persons, it may contribute greatly to the
destruction of the cloth; and therefore, even now, a demand is
occasionally heard for the old method of bleaching.
These processes constitute the art of the bleacher; the dyer has seldom
any thing to do with them except in piece-goods or rough cambric, which
he has sometimes to dye black as they come from the bleacher's in a state
which they call _once boucked_; and sometimes he has them just as they
come from the weaver; in which case, if for black, they need not be
bleached white, but should be boiled in pot-ash, to take out the grease,
&c.
_On the theory relative to fast and fugitive colours._
Many attempts have been made by chemical philosophers to account for the
permanence or want of permanence of various colours, when imparted to
cloths and other bodies as a dye. Among these, HELLOT, D'APLIGNY, and
others of the old, and BERTHOLLET, BANCROFT, HENRY, and others of the
modern school, may be mentioned.
The power of resisting vegetable acids, alkalies, and soap, and, above
all, the action of air and light, constitutes the durability of a colour.
But this property has a very unequal standard, according to the nature of
the colour and the species of the stuff.
There is no obscurity in the action of water, alkalies, acids, and soap:
for a solution is effected by means of these agents, or a small portion
of acid or alkali unites to the combination, which forms the colour. But
this is not the case with the action of light and air. Till lately,
however, it was not known in what this action consisted.
Of the two principles which compose atmospheric air, it is only the
_oxygen_ gas which acts on the colouring particles. It combines with
them, and thus impairs their colour or makes them fade. But its action is
soon chiefly exerted on the hydrogen which enters into their composition,
and it thereby forms water. This effect may be compared to a feeble
combustion. Hence the carbon, which enters into the composition of the
colouring particles, becomes predominant, and the colour usually passes
to yellow, dun, or brown, or other appearances.
Light promotes this decomposition of the colouring particles, which
frequently takes place only with its concurrence, and thus it contributes
to the destruction of the colour. Heat also favours the same result, but
less efficaciously so, unless it have a certain intensity.
It is concluded, therefore, that colours are more or less fixed in the
air, according to the greater or less tendency which the colouring
particles have to undergo this change[6]. Hence the utility of _mordants_
in rendering _fugitive_ colours _fast_.
_To prove the colours of Dyed Stuffs, &c._
The natural proofs of a dye's being effectual, are exposure to the air,
to the sun, or to rain. If the colour be not changed by such exposure
after twelve or fourteen days, it may be considered as fixed. These
proofs are not, however, adapted to every colour: for some resist the
action of air, light, and rain, yet are nevertheless injured by certain
acids. There are also colours which do not resist the natural proofs and
yet remain unchanged by acids.
Colours may be arranged in this respect in three classes: the first class
is tried with _alum_, the second with _soap_, the third with _tartar_.
For the proof with _alum_, half an ounce of this salt must be dissolved
in a pint of water in an earthen pipkin, and into this liquor is to be
put half a quarter of an ounce of the dyed thread or stuff, the whole
being boiled about five minutes; it is then to be washed clean with
water. Thus are tried _crimson_, _scarlet_, _flesh-colour_, _violet_,
_ponceau_, _peach-blossom_, different shades of _blue_, and other colours
bordering on these.
The next proof consists in boiling a quarter of an ounce of _soap_ in a
pint of water, with half a quarter of an ounce of the dyed stuff or
thread for five minutes. With this proof all sorts of _yellow_, _green_,
_madder-red_, _cinnamon_, and similar colours are to be tried.
The proof with _tartar_ consists in boiling one ounce of that salt,
previously powdered very fine, with a quarter of an ounce of dyed thread
or stuff, in a pint of water for five minutes. This proof is used for all
colours bordering upon _fallow_, or _hair-brown_.—_Journal of Science_,
vol. xxii. 219.
But notwithstanding these general rules may be given for _dye-tests_, yet
so many are the niceties in this art, that, after all, nothing but long
practice combined with scientific knowledge, will enable the dyer to
become in this respect, a complete and successful artist.
_On dye-houses and the water proper for dyeing._
The _dye-house_ should be as spacious as possible, according to the
quantity of work intended to be done in it; it should be also as near as
possible to a clear running stream. The floor should be a mixture of lime
and cement, and sufficiently inclining, so that water, the old contents
of the vats, &c. &c. may run off freely when thrown down.
A dyer cannot be too particular in regard to the _water_ which he uses.
Some pump, well, and other spring waters, contain _iron_; this is
injurious to many colours, while for black, brown, slates, and grey, it
is very advantageous. It has been supposed that some dyers succeed in
dyeing even the very same colour in a superior manner, in consequence of
the peculiar purity or other properties of the water which they use.
To discover whether water contains iron or not, a little tincture of
galls or prussiate of potash must be dropped into it; if a purple or blue
tinge be produced in the water, we may be assured that it does contain
iron.
For dyeing delicate colours, the water, which ought to be chosen for such
purpose the purest and best, should be heated with bran in a bag, when
much of the contents of the water inimical to dyeing will rise to the top
in the form of a scum, and should be taken off just before the water
boils. Instead of bran, a little alum will answer the same purpose when
it is not inimical to the colour intended to be dyed.
The boiling point of water is at the degree of 212° of _Fahrenheit's
thermometer_; the freezing point is at 32° of the same instrument; blood
heat is at 98°.
_Miscellaneous observations._
The limits and price of this manual preclude the possibility of our
giving plates to explain some of the machinery and utensils which are now
employed in dyeing. To inform a _dyer_ what kind of coppers, casks, and
vats are necessary, would seem to be superfluous; and the pupil may soon
acquire such knowledge in the dye-house. Should a dyer find it his
interest to undertake a branch of his art of which he has not any
previous knowledge, he had better engage a man who understands it; if,
however, he thinks himself competent to manage it, but is unacquainted
with the best modern utensils appropriated to that particular branch, he
had better get a dyer's labourer who has been used to it; a man of
sufficient intelligence may be found with due encouragement to perform
this part. It may just be added, that _Ure's Berthollet_ and Mr.
_M'Kernan's_ work, both contain numerous explanatory _plates_ of the
utensils and machinery which are described and recommended in those works.
All solutions and decoctions of _Brazil wood_, _logwood_, _fustic_, _&c_.
should always be prepared in the same quantity and proportion, and one
measure be invariably set apart for each. This observation is meant more
particularly to apply to drugs in stock, always kept in a state of
preparation ready for any process or work which may occur. The drugs just
named may be kept in a prepared state; but _weld boiled_ will not keep,
nor will some others which are mentioned in the body of the work.
_Weld_, as it will not keep, should be used thus: a copper in proportion
to the size of the work should always be used; and as weld will bear
boiling and re-boiling, it can be boiled by the half bundle or more
according as it may be wanted, whether you work little or much. If you
are exact and near in your estimate, practice will soon render you
perfect in any branch. It should be observed too, that to _dye to
pattern_ cannot be the result of a receipt, without a great latitude be
left for the judgment.
The most difficult part of dyeing is that of _light drabs_, _stone
drabs_, _&c_.
Nothing but _practice_ will qualify you for this and all pattern dyeing:
the way, and the only good way to obtain practice, is to work with all
possible regularity. In the dyeing of fancy cloths in the clothing
districts of Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, and other fine cloth
manufactories, the _manufacturers_ who dye their own cloths, as well as
_dyers_ of the greatest eminence, always number, measure, weigh, and time
all the component parts of their various processes of dyeing. Such in
fact ought to be the universal practice; and then a person of ordinary
abilities may soon be able to perfect his processes and obtain the best
results.
Hence, however, it is very necessary that the dyer should have a
competent knowledge of chemistry and drugs, that he may be able to judge
of the goodness of the articles which he uses, and of the numerous and
extraordinary combinations into which they enter. To _chemistry_, in
particular, every able and scientific dyer must be largely indebted; for
this reason it is that we have endeavoured, in this _introductory
chapter_, to sketch some of the most important facts in this universal
and interesting science.
In possession of these qualifications, and working upon the above plan,
the dyer can never be far from the desired result in all his processes.
His deviations, if any, will be few, as from his knowledge, he will soon
perceive the first approach of any incorrectness, and be able to adjust
it generally without much inconvenience.
The _chemical terms_ now introduced into treatises on dyeing are chiefly
taken from the Greek language, and are used in such a manner as to
convey, by their etymology, an idea of the nature of the substances to
which they are applied. _Oxygen_ implies the producer of acid:
_hydrogen_, the producer of _water_; _nitrogen_, the producer of _nitre_,
&c. The term _gas_ has been explained above. _Caloric_ is a term used by
chemists for heat; but caloric is used in a more extensive signification
than the term heat, thus: although a gas might possess no sensible heat,
yet being in a gaseous state, it is assumed to contain a certain portion
of caloric which keeps it in its gaseous state; the same observation will
apply to liquids whether aqueous, oleous, or metallic.
_All the measures mentioned in this work unless otherwise described, are
those usually called in this country_ WINE MEASURE, _and not those which
have been introduced by a late act of parliament_, _called_ IMPERIAL
MEASURES.
[2] Cochineal was at first supposed to be a _grain_, which name it still
retains by way of eminence among dyers. URE.
[3] For the cultivation of Woad in England, see Parish's paper in vol.
xii. of the Bath Society's Report, or Tilloch's Mag. vol. xxxviii.
[4] What are called _iron moulds_ in cotton, linen, &c. are, it is well
known, nothing but the marks of a _buff_ colour, usually left by ink and
other matters which contain iron: acids, of course, dissolve, and
discharge these buff colours; the _oxalic acid_ does so without
decomposing the cloth.
[5] "_Acetate of Alumina_ is now most frequently made for the
Calico-Printers by dissolving alum in a solution of crude acetate of
lime, (pyrolignite); a gallon of the acetate, of specific gravity, 1.050
or 1.060, being used with two pounds and three-quarters of alum. A
sulphate of lime is formed, which precipitates, while an acetate of
alumina mixed with some alum floats above. The acetate of alumina
employed as a mordant for chintz, is still commonly made by the mutual
decomposition of alum and acetate of lead."—_Ure's Berthollet_, vol. ii.
p. 331.
[6] Berthollet.