COTTON FIBRES AND FABRICS. 165 



fires which so frequently break out in cotton-factories, always originat- 

 ing in the rooms where the raw material is set to dry. The minute 

 quantity of oil contained in raw cotton is also the reason of its turn- 

 ing yellow in store, though it was white when gathered in. The fabric 

 has, therefore, to be lixiviated and bleached before being printed. 

 The process of bleaching begins by washing the cotton in lime-water, 

 after which the fabric is passed through a weak acid solution, in order 

 to remove the lime, which else would burn the tissue. It is then thor- 

 oughly washed, treated anew with soda, then with a soap of colo- 

 phony, and finally passed through water. 



The cloth is then free from oily matter, but not yet bleached, and 

 it must yet pass through a solution of chloride of lime, and then 

 through another solution of hydrochloric acid. These last two opera- 

 tions take but a moment, and they constitute the very crisis of the 

 process ; for, if the solutions be too strong, the tissues are burnt, and 

 considerably weakened, a thing of very frequent occurrence. For- 

 merly, the cloth used to be bleached in the sun ; but this tedious and 

 costly process, where the present one requires only a few days, took 

 up weeks, and yet did not bleach the fabric so thoroughly. 



Next the white cloth is sent to the printer, who gives it the fig- 

 ures desired. At first plates of wood with the figures in relief were 

 employed in the printing ; this was the infancy of the art. Later, 

 plates of copper were used, having the figures cut into their surface; 

 this was a step in advance. Finally the English, whose industrial ge- 

 nius is most fruitful of useful applications, originated the idea of print- 

 ing with copper cylinders, beneath which the cloth would pass, receiv- 

 ing impressions ad infinitum. 



Dupasquier introduced from England into the Continent this beau- 

 tiful invention, which is even yet in process of improvement. From 

 that moment printed cottons grew ever cheaper, although the printing 

 was executed far better than formerly ; and the fall in prices became 

 simply enormous when machinery took the place of human hands. 

 Then calico came into universal use, without, however, superseding tex- 

 tures of hemp and flax, which were still employed for table and body 

 linen ; it was only at a later day, and when prices were still further 

 reduced, that the less opulent classes began to wear muslin instead of 

 linen. This example was soon followed by the wealthy classes, who 

 little suspected the snare that they were walking into, nor understood 

 that, in substituting cotton for flax and hemp, they were selling out to 

 America one of our most abundant sources of wealth, and of agricul- 

 tural and industrial prosperity. 



Such was the state of the textile market in Europe, when the Uni- 

 ted States war broke out ; a war brought about by Palmerston, who 

 wished England to receive the 1,200,000,000 francs annually paid 

 by Europe for cotton. "We know too well how far he was successful 

 in his hateful design; for, ever since that time the East Indies share 



