s
PREFACE.
subsequent 22 volumes, of his Conjoined Series , are of still superior interest;and the whole form a vast storehouse of Mechanical and Chemical Invention.
Although I am conscious of having used much diligence for many yearsin collecting information for this work, from every quarter within my reach,the utmost pains in preparing it for publication, and incessant vigilance duringits passage through the press, yet I am fully aware that it must contain sev-eral errors and defects. These I have studied to rectify, in the text of thisedition, and more completely in a compendious Supplement.
Since this book is not a Methodical Treatise, but a Dictionary , one exten-sive subject may be necessarily dispersed through many articles. Thus, forexample, information upon the manufacture of Colors will be found underazure ; black pigment; bone-black ; bronze ; brown dye ; calico-printing ;carmine ; carthamus ; chromium; cochineal; crayons ; dyeing ; enamels ;gold ; gilding ; gamboge ; gray dye ; green dye ; green paints ; indigo ;kermes; lac dye; lakes; madder; massicot; mercury; periodideof; Na-ples yellow ; orange dye ; orpiment; paints ; grinding of; ochres ; paper-hangings ; pastes ; pearl white ; Persian berries ; pottery pigments ; Prus sian blue ; purple of Cassius; red lead; rouge; Scheele ’s green; Schwein-furth green; stained glass ; terra di Sienna; ultramarine ; umber ; verditer ;vermilion.; verifiable colors, weld, white lead ; woad ; yellow, king’s.
A casual consulter of the Dictionary , who did not advert to this distribu-tion, might surmise it to be most deficient, where it is in reality most copious
The elaborate and costly Encyclopedias, and Dictionaries of Arts, whichhave appeared from time to time in this country, and abroad, have, for themost part, treated of the mechanical manufactures more fully and correctlythan of the chemical. The operations of the former are, in fact, tolerablyobvious and accessible to the inspection of the curious ; nor are they diffi-cult to transfer into a book, with the aid of a draughtsman, even by a per-son but moderately versed in their principles. But those of the latter arenot unfrequently involved in complicated manipulations, and depend, fortheir success, upon a delicate play of affinities, not to be understood with-out an operative familiarity with the processes themselves. Having enjoyedthe best opportunities of studying the chemical arts upon the greatest scale inthis kingdom and on the Continent, I may venture, without the imputationof arrogance, to claim for my work, in this respect, more precision and co-piousness than its predecessors possess. I have gone as far in describingseveral curious processes, hitherto veiled in mystery, as I felt warranted,without breach of confidence, to go ; regarding it as a sacred duty never topublish any secret whatever, without the consent of its proprietor. Duringmy numerous tours through the factory districts of Great Britain , France ,&c., many suggestions, however, have been presented to my mind, which Iam quite at liberty to communicate in private, or carry into execution, inother districts too remote to excite injurious competition against the originalinventors. I am also possessed of many plans of constructing manufacto-ries, of which the limits of this volume did not permit me to avail myself,but which I am ready to furnish, upon moderate terms, to proper applicants.I conclude by pointing attention to the very insecure tenure by which pat-ents for chemical or chemico-mechanical inventions are held ; of whichthere is hardly one on record which may not be readily evaded by a personskilled in the resources of practical chemistry, or which could stand theordeal of a court of law, directed by an experienced chemist. The specifi-cations of such patents stand in need of a thorough reform ; being for themost part not only discreditable and delusive to the patentees, but calculatedto involve them in one of the greatest of evils—a chancery suit.
London : 13 Charlotte Street, Bedford Square,
August, 1843.