252 LIQUOR tOR RENDERING STUFFS WATER-PROOF. 



Tills worl; is the more interefting, becaufe hitherto no one 

 has confidered chamoying in a chemical view, and becaufe 

 the analyfis to which M. Seguin has fubmitted his refults, 

 renders it fufceptible of acquiring that perfe(5iion which the 

 difcoveries of this chemift have already given to the art of the 

 tanner. 



IX. 



Analyfis and Decompofition of a Liquor employed to render Stuffs 

 impermeable to Water, By M. Vauq.uelin. * 



J.T Is known that, for fome years, difFerent perfons have 

 been fuccefsfully employed in rendering (luffs impermeable to 

 water, an objeft of great importance in the clolhing of foldiers 

 and failors. 



The inventors of this procefs have hitherto kept the means 

 they make ufe of fecret : there was only reafon to fuppofe 

 that fome fat oil was the bafis of their receipts, but experi- 

 ment has not yet developed it. 



A bottle of tliis preparation, of which the efficacy was known, 

 liaving accidentally come into my hands, gave me a defire to 

 inveftigate its compofition ; but before ftating the plan which 

 I followed with this view, I fliall defcribe its phyfical pro- 

 perties. 

 Phyfical charac- It is a white liquor, milky and opake, of a bitter tafte, and 

 ters of a liquor fuelling like foap ; on its (urface there is a fpecies of cream 

 ftuffs impermc- refembling that of milk, and it ftrongly reddens the tindure 

 able to water, ©f turnfole. From thefe properties I thought it was fimply a 

 folution of foap, of which it ftill retained the fmell and tafte, 

 which had been decompofed by an acid ; but fubfequent 

 experiments foon convinced me that there was fomething 

 more in it. 

 Chemical exa- Fi'^'fi Experiment. — To find whether I could feparate the 

 mination. white matter which rendered the liquid turbid, by filtration, 



A turbid part Is I P^^ ^ certain quantity of it on bibulous paper : it pafled tur- 

 feparated by re- bid and milky for a long time, but, by returning it feveral 

 peated filtiation. ^.^^^ ^^ ^j^^ ^^^^ gj^^j.^ j fucceeded in obtaining it as clear 



• From Bulletin des Sciences, Tom. III. p. 210i . 



