6i Ott Dyeing Cotton with the ' 



When the yarn is dyed, it is digefted for 24 hours with 

 a ftrong folution of foda in an earthen jar placed over a fire. 

 Bv thcle means the colour is more (Irongly faturated, as the 

 alkaline lalt renders mod red colours more obfcu re or yellow; 

 and, if there are any remains of oil, they are entirely ex- 

 trarted by the folution of foda*. 



What has been here faid, is confirmed by the accounts 

 given of the method of dyeing emplovcd in the Eait Indies; 

 for, though it may appear fomewhat different from that fol- 

 lowed at AUracan, yet the dyers there make ufe of animal 

 oil or animal foap, which adheres to the dung of flieep and 

 other animals f. 



Though there is no doubt that the method of dyeing dc- 

 fcribed by profellbr Pallas might be fuccefsfully im'itated by 

 our dyers, it is not my intention tf) make any trial on mad- 

 der, but rather to apply the principles, which I have already 

 explained, to the ufe of the carthamus. For this reafon, I 

 fubjeftcd to experiments a piece of cotton cloth commonly 

 called chintz, which was white, and had never been worn. 

 I walhed carefully the flowers of the carthamus, that nothing 

 of their yellow colouring matter might remain; after which 

 I fleeped them in an alkaline folution, and exprelfed the 

 juice. This exprelied juice, which contained all the red dye 

 of the carthamus, and which I fhall call the alkaline liquor, 

 I tempered with the acid of lemon juice. 



1. Having melted hog's lard, I ftceped the cloth in it for 

 two hours, and then wafhed it in cold water until fcarcely 

 any relidunm of th? fat fubftance was fecn floating on the 

 furface. I then ftceped the cloth, after it was thoroughly 

 dried, in the alkaline liquor, and, when it was well fatu- 

 rated, I threw it into lemon juice, and repeated the fame pro- 

 eefs frequently. I proceeded in the like manner with chintz, 

 which I had premacerated in water alone, and not with ani- 

 mal fat; but the latter imbibed much I'efs of the colouring 

 matter : and this experiment, therefore, proves the advantage 

 of ufing fat fubftances. 



2. In the like manner, I premacerated cotton cloth in a 

 folution of common foap, and, after it had boiled for fome 

 hours, I dried it. This experiment alfo fucceeded ; for the 



•'• Fcr profeffor Pallas's account of the procefs followed at Aftracan for 

 dyeing Tuikey red, fee Philofophical Magazine, vol. i. 



t Compiire Lethes uUfuintes, rec. xxvi". See alfo Memoircs d,j Malhe- 

 mainque et de. Phyfique frepntes h I' Acadcm. dc Pmir^ torn. iv. p. i. The 

 procefs for dveing defcribed by Pallas is fimilar to that inferted in Olfcfva' 

 lions fur le Commerce et fur les Arts, par Flachat, tcin. ii. p. 405. 



cloth 



