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Commercium philosophico-technicum, or, the philosophical commerce of arts : designed as an attempt to improve arts, trades, and manufactures / by W. Lewis
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and indeed it was not expected, that a perfect union ofthis ingredient could be procured without the use of thecaustic ley of the soap-boilers prepared with quicklime.The intention, however, being only to obtain a soapmade with animal fat, aud the common soft soap beingsuch a one; I mixed soft soap and sheeps dung well to-gether, three parts of the former to two of the latter,and diluted the mixture with warm water. Some piecesof linen and cotton cloths* and some ikains of linenthread, were steeped in this liquid every night, and hungout in the day-time* not indeed in a hot fun, but in all thatthe month of december last afforded. The subjects werethen all dyed black, by the second of the processes de-scribed for woollen cloth, page 4115 and some of thesame kind unprepared, were put into the dye along withthem. All the pieces being taken out and waffled, theprepared ones appeared to hold their colour better thanthe unprepared, though not in such a degree as to makethe process interesting to the workman. From this shewof success however, in an unfavourable season, the ex-periment seems worthy of being tried again in more achvantageous circumstances.,

We have seen in the second section, that linen and.cotton are stained of a lasting black colour by certainvegetable juices; and that these juices might probablybe obtained in quantity, if not in our own country, yetin certain parts of the British dominions, some of thetrees which afford them being natives of our Americansettlements. Till this branch of vegetable, curation shallbe established, the British artist can receive little benefitfrom knowing the materials, with which the deep blackstain on the Indian cottons is said to be fixed.

We have seen also, in page 420, that a black colour,r a colour approaching to blackness, may be produced

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