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ment of arts, manufactures, and commerce, and whocontinue vigorously and judiciously to prosecute the im-portant ends of their institution, offered a considerablepremium for the discovery of any cheap composition, thatmight supply the place of those hurtful materials; whosecolour should be strong and lasting, which should bearthe weather a proper time, and not damage the wool.Several proposals for this purpose were laid before the so-ciety, but none of them have as yet been thought deserv-ing of the premium. The enquiry having been warmlyrecommended to me by the late Dr. Hales, as an objectof very great importance to the woollen manufactury, Iwent through a set of experiments with this view in theyear 1759.

It was hoped, that the ill qualities of tar and pitchmight be corrected, by mixing with them some soap orsize, which should prevent their too great adhesiveness,and render them so far dissoluble in water, as to be dif-chargeable from the wool by the means commonly prac-tised for cleansing it; or, in failure of tar and pitch, thatsome composition of resins, oils, or fats might be found,which should be rendred harmless to the wool by thefame correctors, and which should serve as sufficient ce-ments for certain coloured powders, among which blackappeared to be the best, as being the strongest and mostconspicuous colour. On these principles many trials weremade, but with little success: for the unctuous and re-sinous materials, with the advantage which they receivedfrom the soap or size, of being easily washed out fromthe wool, received also the disadvantage of being too soondischarged by the weather.

It was next considered, that as wool has always a natu-ral greasiness, which the workmen waft out with staleurine, soap, or ley, as described in the sequel of this his-tory;