392

DYEING AND CALICO PRINTING.

Dr. Anderson’s analysis, which should percentically contain—carbon, 65-81 ;hydrogen, 4-18 : these figures agree very nearly with those which Dr. Schiit-zenberger found for purpurin, viz., carbon, 65-6; hydrogen, 3-2.

According to Dr. Anderson, the colouring matter of sooranjee does not dyefabrics mordanted as usual, but cotton prepared for Turkey-red assumes, whenplaced in a bath of the ground-up sooranjee, a deep brownish-red colour, veryfast, but not at all bright.

The Hindoos have used sooranjee for centuries. They prepare an emulsionof sesam oil and carbonate of soda, steep the tissue therein, dry it in the air,and next steep it in a mixture of sesam oil and pulverised sooranjee root.The fabrics thus take a solid red. We ought to observe that Mr. Bancroft andothers, who have examined, in the beginning of this century, a substance alsobrought from India, and bearing the same name, found no difficulty in dyeingcommon mordanted cloth with it. The sooranjee is also known to, and usedby, the Javanese, and Dr. Rost van Tonningen states that it dyes as well asmadder, but the shades are neither so fast nor so brilliant.

Since there is in the India Museum (Whitehall, India Office) a very largenumber of samples of this substance, which apparently differ, at sight atleast, while the Indian names vary, which may arise from the diversity ofdialedts and languages of Hindostan, there is a field of research open in thisdirection.

CEnolin, or Red-colouring Matters of Wine.

A few words on the substance just named may find a place here. Thesubject has been studied by Dr. Glenard,* who obtained the colour fromgenuine red wine, by precipitation with basic acetate of lead. The blue pre-cipitate is well washed, dried at 100°, put in a displacement apparatus, and whiletherein treated with anhydrous ether previously impregnated with dry hydro-chloric acid gas. The ether which passes through takes up a brown matter,and the precipitate is washed with ether until all acid reaction ceases. Theresidue of the precipitate, which has a deep red colour, is treated with alcohol(sp. gr. 0-849), which assumes a bright red. This tindture is concentrated byevaporation in a water-bath, and when reduced to a small bulk water is added,which causes the precipitation of a red flocculent substance, insoluble inether, difficultly soluble in water, soluble in alcohol, insoluble in benzol.When boiled with water for some time this substance turns brown, its compo-sition is changed, and it loses its solubility in alcohol. Hence it is that whenwine is evaporated to dryness it gives, when taken up with alcohol, a dirtybrownish colour to that fluid.

The weak alcoholic solutions of the pure red colouring matter exhibits thefollowing readlions :—Chlorine destroys the colouring matter, converting itinto a yellow substance; potassa solution turns the colour first blue, nextbrown; lime-water yields a precipitate of dead leaves colour (feuille morte );bicarbonate of soda, a blue colouration ; chloride of calcium, a blue colouration ;alum turns the colour to light red ; with hydrochloric acid, no change; nitricacid converts the substance into a yellow flocculent matter; acetate of lead,

* “Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie,” vol. xxxv., p. 113. “ Comptes Rendus de l’Acadcm.des Sciences,” vol. xlvii., p. 268; vol. lviii., p. 268. “ Annales de Chimie et de Physique,” [ 3livol. liv., p. 366. “ Repertoire de Chimie Appliquee,” vol. iv., p. 328; vol.i.,p. 32. “Repertoirede Chimie Pure,” vol. ii., p. 306.