BLEACHING 363 



they used sulphur in -washing, and not merely in preparing for the bleaching pro- 

 cess. 1 They then gave a finish of very fine clay, gypsum being used instead of 

 clay in Greece, as amongst ourselves. If a nap -was wanted, it was raised after 

 sulphuring, by brushing, by carding, by the skin of a hedgehog, or by thistles and 

 teasels. They seem to have got a fine nap on their woollen cloth, as garments of this 

 kind once washed were considered less valuable, as would be the case with our broadcloth 

 for outer dresses. Wool for under dresses could not have been injured by one washing, 

 especially as the fullones seem in old Italy to have been more attentive than our 

 washerwomen, and to have formed a college, or at least a guild. The washing was 

 seldom done at home, except in large establishments, especially in the country. 

 Whiteness was very much esteemed, and great pains taken to obtain it. Coloured cloth 

 seems a later invention. This love of whiteness was so great, that those who were 

 too poor to have their cloths fulled, rubbed them with a white fuller's earth, so as on 

 holidays to appear clean and bright. 



Clothes in ancient times required a good deal of washing, so much oil being used ; 

 alkalis alone could remove this, and people that used soft feather-beds, and pillows 

 that sank under the weight of the head, would not be behind in having them also 

 whitened. In India the mode was different from that used in the western world. 

 The preparation for printing was a series of washings, beatings, and exposure to the 

 sun, as well as wearing next the skin, and steeping in goats' and sheeps' dung. 

 Wearing next the skin was probably instead of the oiling process in Turkey red. 

 Bleaching with boiled rice-water was practised in India. In Jamaica the aloe was 

 used, and in China abean is employed : this is smaller than the Turkey bean ; five 

 parts are used to five of salt, six of flour, and twenty-five of water : this is for raw 

 silk. The exact action of the vegetable method on the colouring-matter is not well 

 known ; but it must not be ignored. The decompositions of fermentation and putre- 

 faction have a great power of propagating themselves ; we can, in fact, readily 

 conceive the decomposition of gums by such means, provided they are not resinous 

 matters, consisting chiefly of carbon and hydrogen. Mucilaginous plants are even 

 now in some places used, and have been recommended also in the most modern times. 2 

 It is, therefore, not easy to see why so much difficulty has been raised amongst 

 chemical historians as to the use of plants in washing and bleaching. Vegetable pro- 

 ducts, such as oatmeal, &c., have powerful detergent qualities, and leave the skin 

 exceedingly soft. In general we may conclude that these vegetable infusions and 

 alkalis were the means of bleaching in ancient times, the influence of the sun being 

 also employed. At present, alkalis are more generally used. Washing with alkalis is 

 really the most important part of the process. The soaps of the ancients were also 

 vegetable, or alkaline, or both ; they were a ffftrfyiM, but not a true soap, in general at 

 least. Paulus JEgineta, Notes by Adams. 



Until modern times no improvements of great importance took place affecting the 

 principles of bleaching ; and even now the only modern changes consist in the intro- 

 duction of chlorine and machinery, to which may be added the greater abundance of 

 soap. In the last century, Holland obtained the best name for bleaching. The process 

 passed then to Ireland and Scotland, and thence into England. It was even customary 

 to send goods from this country to be bleached in Holland. The first attempt to vie 

 with Holland was made in Scotland in 1749. 



We find in the patent lists many crude efforts made to improve the art. Alkalis 

 and acids are recommended in various forms, and such a variety of substances as 

 tartar, saltpetre, sal-ammoniac, marl, loam, clay, mud, chalk, fuller's earth, oyster- 

 shells, soot, turf, and ashes, with a great variety of washing machines. 



The value of the plan in Holland was ascribed to the ashes of Muscovy (Eussian 

 potash) and the sea-water ; but it is evident from the description, that it was not sea-, 

 but very pure fresh water which was used. The Dutch process is thus described : 

 ' When a piece of linen is to be bleached, it is in the first place steeped in a lixivium, 

 or lye, where other cloth has been trod ; afterwards it is trod in a new lye of ashes 

 poured upon it boiling hot. This is boiled in large copper cauldrons, and is never 

 poured upon the cloth till it is as clear as wine. The linen is left eight days in this 

 lye, after which it is washed and pressed in this manner : They empty some buckets 

 of butter-milk into wooden vessels fixed in the ground ; then they throw in a piece 

 of linen, which three men tread with their feet as much as possible. Afterwards 

 they pour in more butter-milk, and then another piece of cloth, proceeding thus 

 alternately till the vessels are nearly filled, when they lay planks over the linen, upon 

 which they raise a large round piece of wood, or great stake, touching the lower side 

 of a beam, between which and the stake they drive wedges to press the cloth. Six 

 or seven days after they take the cloth out of these vessels, and if it be not white 

 enough, they steep it as we have described above. Afterwards it is washed and spread 



1 Nat. Hist. xxxv. 67, &c. * Sec Giobert's process. 



