LACE MANUFACTURE 



29 



rises to 150 Fa.hr., a handful of bran, and half a pint of the solution of tin (No. 2) 

 are to be introduced. The froth, which rises as it approaches ebullition, must be 

 skimmed off; and when the liquor boils, 10 pounds of lac-dye, previously mixed with 

 7 pints of the solvent No. 1, and 3i pounds of sohition of tin No. 2, must be poured 

 in. An instant afterwards, 10J pounds of tartar, and 4 pounds of ground sumach, 

 both tied up in a linen bag, are to be suspended in the boiling-bath for five minutes. 

 The fire being now withdrawn, 20 gallons of cold water, with ] pints of solution of 

 tin being poured into the bath, the cloth is to be immersed in it, moved about rapidly 

 during ten minutes ; the fire is to be then re-kindled, and the cloth winced more 

 slowly through the bath, which must be made to boil as quickly as possible, and 

 maintained at that pitch for an hour. The cloth is to be next washed in the river ; 

 and lastly with water only, in the fulling-mill. The above proportions of the ingre- 

 dients produce a brilliant scarlet tint, with a slightly purple cast. If a more orange 

 hue be wanted, white Florence argal may be used, instead of tartar, and some more 

 sumach. Lac-dye may be substituted for cochineal in the orange-scarlets. 



To determine the tinctorial power of lac-dye by comparison with proved samples, a 

 dye-bath is prepared as follows : 5 grains of argal, 20 grains of flannel or white cloth, 

 5 grains of lac-dye, 5 grains of chloride of tin, 1 quart of water. Heat the water to 

 the boiling point in a tin or china vessel ; add thereto the argal, and then the piece of 

 cloth or flannel. Weigh off 5 grains of the lac-dye and pulverise it in a Wedgwood 

 mortar, with the 5 grains by measure of chloride of tin, and pour the whole into the 

 hot liquor containing the cloth, taking care to rinse the mortar with a little of the 

 hot liquor ; keep the whole boiling for about half an hour, stirring the cloth or 

 flannel about with a glass rod ; then withdraw the cloth, wash and dry it for com- 

 parison. 



IiACCIC ACID crystallises, has a wine-yellow colour, a sour taste, is soluble in 

 water, alcohol, and ether. It was extracted from stick-lac by Dr. John. 



IiACCINE is the portion of shell-lac which is insoluble in boiling alcohol. It is 

 brown, brittle, translucid, consisting of agglomerated pellicles, more like a resin than 

 anything else. It is insoluble in ether and oils. It has not been applied to any use. 



XiACX: BARK. The reticulated bark of the Lagetta lintearia. This splits into 

 fibres, which resemble lace. Lagetta cloth has been imported into this country under 

 the name of guana. The fibres of the lagetta bark possess great strength, and have 

 been used in the West Indies for making ropes, whips, &c. 



XiACE IVXANTTFACTITRZ:. The pillow-made, or bone-lace, which formerly gave 

 occupation to multitudes of women in their own houses, has, in the progress of me- 

 chanical invention, been nearly superseded by the bobbin-net lace, manufactured at 

 first by hand-machines, but recently by the power of water or steam. Bobbin-net 

 may be said to surpass every other branch of human industry in the complex ingenuity 

 of its machinery ; one of Fisher's spotting frames being as much beyond the most 

 curious chronometer in multiplicity of mechanical device, as that is beyond a common 

 ronsting-jack. Ure. 



The threads in bobbin-net lace form, by their intertwisting and decussation, regular 

 hexagonal holes or meshes, of which the two opposite sides, the upper and under, are 



1303 



1304 



directed along the breadth of the piece, or at right angles to the salvage or_ border. 

 Fig. 1303 shows how, by the crossing and twisting of the threads, the regular six-sided 



