BLUE PRINT 



783 



BLUING 



The name blue laws came into use when the 

 colony of Connecticut printed a set of rules 

 and bound them in a blue paper cover. 



Modern Blue Laws. The term is applied at 

 the present time to legal restrictions in matters 

 of conduct that are usually left to the con- 

 science of the individual. Laws regarding the 

 observance of Sunday are very often known 

 as blue laws, and those who oppose the restric- 

 tion or abolition of liquor selling quite gen- 

 erally regard prohibition and local option 

 measures as belonging to the same classifica- 

 tion. B.M.W. 



BLUE PRINT, the photographic print used 

 instead of the original plans by architects and 

 engineers to guide them in the construction of 

 buildings, bridges and other engineering works. 

 A blue print is a photograph obtained by pre- 

 paring a sensitive paper by brushing it over 

 with a solution of oxalic acid and iron and 

 then treating it with a solution of potassium 

 ferrocyanide. The drawing, which is on vellum 

 or some other material that will allow light to 

 pass through it, is placed over the paper and 

 exposed to light. After exposure the paper is 

 washed in pure water. The lines in the draw- 

 ing protect the cyanide from the action of the 

 light, and when the paper is washed it dissolves, 

 leaving white lines where the black lines were 

 on the drawings. The completed print is there- 

 fore composed of white lines only, on a solid 

 background of blue. Blue photographic prints 

 from ordinary negatives can be made in the 

 same way. The prepared paper can be pro- 

 cured of dealers in photographic and architect's 

 supplies. 



BLUE RIDGE, the most easterly range of 

 the Appalachian Mountain system, in North 

 America, extending across New Jersey, Penn- 

 sylvania and Virginia into the northern parts 

 of Georgia and Alabama. In the southern por- 

 tion this range is crossed by the Black, the 

 Nantahala and the South mountains. In the 

 strictest sense the name applies only to that 

 portion of the range which crosses Virginia and 

 separates the Piedmont region from the Great 

 Valley. The highest peaks are about 4,000 feet 

 in altitude. The Hudson, the Potomac and 

 several other rivers have cut their way through 

 these mountains, and thus form narrow, pic- 

 turesque valleys. See APPALACHIAN MOUN- 

 TAINS; BLACK MOUNTAINS; PIEDMONT REGION. 



"BLUE SKY" LAWS, statutes which reg- 

 ulate the issue and sale of stocks and bonds 

 by corporations. The origin of the term is un- 

 certain, but it is generally supposed to have 



been from the remark of a Kansas bank com- 

 missioner, who said that certain companies were 

 capitalizing the blue sky. Some of the stocks 

 and bonds offered continually to the public 

 have little more than "blue sky" as, security, 

 and it is to prevent such frauds on the public 

 that laws have been passed to protect the in- 

 vestor. The importance of such protection may 

 be understood when it is known that each year, 

 in the United States alone, the investing public 

 is defrauded of $100,000,000 to $125,000,000 by 

 dishonest promoters. 



The lead in this form of legislation was 

 taken by Kansas in 1911, as the result of the 

 activity of a large number of companies claim- 

 ing to own oil lands in Oklahoma. About half 

 of the states of the Union now have similar 

 laws. Usually the law requires dealers in 

 stocks and bonds to have a state license and 

 to file with the proper authorities all informa- 

 tion about the securities they offer for sale, 

 the amount of the issue, actual value of the 

 property in hand, etc. The Kansas law is very 

 strict and requires specific information on many 

 points, but in some states the information 

 required is more general. The enforce- 

 ment of the law is sometimes placed in the 

 hands of one of the regular state officers, such 

 as the bank commissioner, but usually a special 

 board is created. 



BLUE VITRIOL, vit'riul, or BLUE STONE, 

 is a compound of copper and sulphuric acid, in 

 the form of dark blue crystals. Its chemical 

 name is copper sulphate. Blue vitriol is the 

 most useful compound of copper. It is used 

 in calico printing and dyeing, in making elec- 

 trotypes and in copperplating, for preserving 

 timber, in electric batteries and in the produc- 

 tion of other compounds of copper. It is 

 poisonous, and is extensively used in spraying 

 mixtures to destroy insects (see INSECTICIDES). 

 When exposed to the air the crystals lose their 

 water, turn white and crumble to a powder. 

 The blue vitriol of commerce is obtained as a 

 by-product in refining gold and silver with 

 sulphuric acid. 



BLU'ING, a blue-colored mixture used in 

 the laundry to whiten clothes. White clothes 

 have a tendency to turn yellowish when laun- 

 dered, and the bluing overcomes this tendency. 

 Bluing can be purchased in liquid form; bluing 

 paddles and bluing balls are also in common 

 use. The balls are placed in a bag which is 

 whirled through the rinsing water in the same 

 manner as the paddle. The liquid preparations 

 are so strong that a teaspoonful is usually all 



