PURPLE DYEING, ANCIENT AND MODERN. 389 



wliole is by a rampart, one might at first fancy himself to be looking upon a 

 fortress. But the smoke from numerous tall chiumeys would speedily correct 

 this error and betray the abode of ingenious and successful industry. It is to 

 be regretted that visitors are rigidly excluded from the interior of this industrial 

 hive ; a useless exclusion, as the manufacture of ultramarine can no longer by 

 any possibility be considered a secret. The visit of the King of Bavaria, in 

 1855, to this efj[ually interesting and important factory, so far lifted the veil 

 ihat we possess something like a reliable description, instead of the strange sur- 

 mises which were previously in circulation Avith respect to it. On a first glance 

 at the exterior we perceive that the vast erection has been built piecemeal, ad- 

 ditions having been made from time to time to meet the necessities of the increas- 

 ing business. It required the long period of seventeen years to render the 

 wl^cde what it now is — a structure heterogeneous, indeed, in appearance, but 

 really possesshig the highest conceivable adaptation to the purposes fin- which 

 it was designed. 



Three rows of the buildings are devoted solely to the preparation of the raw 

 material, the motive power consisting of two steam engines coujoiutly possessing 

 a thirty-eight horse-power. So various and well contrived arc the stampers, 

 crushing and sifting machines, &c., which are set in motion by these various 

 works, that a small amount only of human labor is required to furnish abundant 

 raw material to employ elsewhere a vast number of hands. 



Groups of buildings surrounding those just mentioned contain water-works, 

 and consist of five divisions of vaulted galleries, supported by iron pillars. 

 Near these are the drying stoves. Close by these three principal divisions are 

 the buildings for storing, packing, and weighing, and die clerks' oQices and re- 

 pairing shops. Here is a scene of contiu-ual activity, the human labor being 

 greatly aided by a high-pressure steam engine of twenty-horse power. The 

 communication betwecir these various and extensive buildings is facilitated by 

 a railroad six thousand feet, or considerably above au English mile, in length, 

 crossing from east to west, and from north to south, and similar tram roads of 

 timber connect the buildings in the upper stories. The iron railroad leads ta 

 the depot of the public railroad ; thus placing the fiictory in easy and speedy 

 communication with the principal high roads of G-ermany. The weight annu- 

 ally carried on this little railroad amounts to nearly 2,000 tuns ; about one-tenth 

 of which consists of the manufactured article. 



About 200 laborers are constantly employed in this establishment, and it is 

 greatly to the credit of the proprietors, Zeitoner & Heyne, that they have es- 

 tablished a savings bank, a sick fund, and a fund for the support of widows and 

 orphans. 



We have spoken of the remarkable fall in the price of ultramarine. Compe- 

 tition and improved machinery and modes of operating have effected so much 

 in that respect, that the whole price of the best article at the present time does 

 not exceed that paid fur the mere grinding, only eighteen years ago. This con- 

 tinual fall of price necessarily compels a corresi)onding expansion of the manu- 

 facture and sale to compensate for the deficit in piofit. On this account scarcely 

 a year passes without the addition of new buildings to this vast establishment. 

 Considerably more than 5,000 tons are manufactured here yearly, at the average 

 cost of from 25 to 37 cents per pound. The cheapness and exceeding beauty 

 of the color cause it to be profitably and largely exported to France, in spite 

 of the absurdly heavy import duty levied upon it there. 



What we have said of this single manufactory, vast as it is, gives but a very 

 inadequate idea of the extent and importance of the ultramarine manufacture 

 in Germany. At the Industrial Exhibition at Munich no fewer than seven ex- 

 tensive manufacturers received medals, and two were honorably mentioned. 



At the Parisian exhibition the French manufacturers did not dispute the ex- 

 cellence of the German ultramarine, or the exquisite Ijcauty of its colors. But 



