123 Processes for preparing Lake from Madder. 



with cold water, &c. exactly as directed in the first process,- 

 the red colouring matter will quit the root with much greater 

 case than before fermentation. It will also be equal in quan- 

 tity to that afforded by the first process, but of a nmch 

 lichter red. This difference of lint appears to be owing to 

 a destruction of a part of the lake by the fermentation of 

 the root ; for if the colours from the fermented root be ob- 

 tained separate, as in Process 2, the first precipitate will 

 not sensibly differ from that obtained from the imfermcnted 

 madder, but the second, or lake, will be of a very light 

 pinlc. This process, then, is not to be recommended. 



Spanish and Smyrna Madders. 



Spanish madder affords a colour of rather a deeper tone 

 than the Dutch madder, but it does not appear to be of so 

 pure a red as the Zealand crop madder. 



The Smyrna madder is a very valuable root. The colour 

 produced from it by Process 1, is of a deeper and richer lint 

 than any I have obtained from the Dutch madder. The 

 quantity produced from two ounces is only three drachms 

 twentv-fuur grains : but this is not to be wondered at ; for 

 as this madder is im|v>rtcd in the entire root in a dry slate, 

 and the crop madder of Ztcdand consists principally of the 

 bark, in wliich probably the greatest part of the colouring 

 substance resides, there is every reason to think that the 

 Smyrna madder really contains a greater proportion of co- 

 lour than the Zealand in equal weights of the entire root. 



The products of Process 2, prove that the lake of the 

 Smyrna madder is more abundant in quantity and of a 

 richer tone than that of the Dutch root; for, from two ounces 

 of Dutch madder the first precipitate was two drachms, and 

 the lake was two drachm-i and forty-eight grains; where- 

 as, from two ounces of the Smyrna root the first precipitate 

 was one drachm and twenty-four grains, and the lake was 

 two drachms and twenty-four grains. The proportion of 

 the lake to the other colour is therefore much higher in the 

 Smyrna than in the Dutch root. 



Fresh Madder. 



The colour mav be prepared from the recent root ; and 

 it will be of a ((uality equal, if not superior, to any other. 

 The difficulty of procuring the fresh root has prevented me 

 from making as many experiments on it as T could have 

 wished. I procured, however, a small quantity of the best 

 roots packed in moss from Holland, and the following 

 process answered perfectly well. 



Eisht 



