194 On Improvements in lleaching 



of the lecturer Is it possible to suppose that an individuai, 

 who was busilv and usetiillv emploved during the lectures 

 in attending the experimenter, scouring the Voltaic wires, 

 dipping the plates, charging retort*, blowing the fire, or 

 working the air-punip, can be br.)iight forward with the 

 smallest ttitct against manv oi Sir Humphry's audience, of 

 long standing in the science, and whose attention was not 

 diverted from the immediate object of the lecture bv similar 

 duties? It is rather fortunate for me however, in this con- 

 troversy, that could I even gram that I was in error upoa 

 this point, and relir.quish mv around, my objections to the 

 proposed new process would still remain in full force, and 

 the more so, since the ground has been shifted upon which 

 it originally rested. 



It can now be no longer maintained by anyone, that this 

 proposal should be adopted bv the bleacher, because a strong 

 solution of muriate of lime rati linen cloth (supposing it an 

 established fact), the conclusion drawn from this being 

 now given up, that a iveak solution should do so likewise. 



But let us examine if the chemical law already quoted 

 (" that bodies in their nascent state act with more energy 

 than when they have been formed") can possibly be brought 

 forward in support of this project, or if it has the smallest 

 bearing upon the subject. Oxymuriate of lime is, I pre- 

 sume, according to the Professor's view, a triple com- 

 pound of oxygen, oxymuriatic acid, and calcium; and no 

 sooner is this combination dissolved in water and brought 

 into contact with unbleached linen, than it is instantly 

 disturbed ; the oxygen of the salt, along with a portion of 

 oxygen from the water, (which the oxymuriatic acid is said 

 to decompose,) acts upon the colouring matter of the cloth, 

 and of course bleaches it. Now, supposing for a moment 

 this hypothesis {theory according to Mr. John Davy) were 

 the true one, it has evidently nothing to do with the pro- 

 posal of applying the magnesian salt in place of any other. 

 jBut it is not difficult to foresee, in this case, a " straw which 

 may be caught at by a person drowning." Its adherents 

 may say, " Grant us that a strong solution of muriate of 

 lime destroys the vegetable fibre, and then we will give you 

 muriate of lime in its nascent state in contact with the 

 linen in the steeping process; and though it is surrounded 

 with millions of particles of water to which it has a very 

 powerful affinity, — yet it must destroy all before it, and that 

 too at the very moment that the oxygen is acting upon the 

 vegetable colour upon the surface of the cloth," \ cannot 



conjecture 



