On Improvements in lleachlng Linen and Cotton Cloth. I9I 



were levelled at the proposal of Sir H. Davy, and the ani- 

 madversions upon them have issued ttoni the laboratory of 

 the Royal Institution, a department over uhieh he has the 

 entire control, 1 should be justified, under such cirrum- 

 stances, in considering him as the author, and ihe person 

 who signs his name as no more than a mere in-trumt-nt, 

 and that I should consequently leave the latter altogether 

 unnoticed in the controversy. It would, however, be un- 

 fair to hold Sir Humphry accountable for the indiscreet 

 2eal of his admirers. It is perfectly obvious that the arti- 

 cle inserted in your nuiTiber for Jane could not have beea 

 written by that gentleman, And it is possible that the ani* 

 madversions alluded to were published even without his 

 knowledge : but as they must since have met his eye, as 

 they were intended to serve him, and as they may be con* 

 sidered as flowing from his own proposition, it is impossi- 

 ble I should ketp him out of view in the observations I 

 have now to offer. It would however perhaps be expect- 

 ing too much to look for an answer from himself, consi- 

 dering how many important objects must occupy his at- 

 tention. 



I shall now proceed to put your readers in possession of 

 ts clear and succinct an account of the facts and circum- 

 stances connected with Sir Hurnphry's proposal, as full 

 *nd accurate notes of his lectures, and considerable atten- 

 tion to the subject enable me to do; and shall add, as I go 

 along, the substance of my former remarks, as well as some 

 observations in reply to the article in your publication for 

 June, already adverted to. 



In the years 1810 and 1811, Professor Davy, at the re- 

 quest of the Dublin Society, delivered two very short courses 

 of lectures, which he termed Electro-chemical, in the la^ 

 boratory attached to that Institution. In the course of 

 those lectures, when treating of oxymuriatic acid and its 

 alkaline and earthy combinations, he necessarily alluded to 

 the subject of bleaching, and stated how hajipy he felt 

 himself, that upon a subject of such national importance 

 he had it in his power, in return for the great politeness and 

 attention with wh.ich he had been received and heard in 

 Ireland, to offer a proposal which he conceived would ma- 

 terially benefit th It art. He then observed, in speaking of 

 the oxvmuriatc of lime, now generally used in the process, 

 that this salt he conceived could not, with safety to the 

 doth, be used in Ijleaching ; for he observed, he said, that 

 bus of hnen cloth steeped in a strong solution of muriate 

 of lime were much injured iu their texture, or actually 



rotted. 



