FOR SCOURING WOOL. 11 



And even further than this, the yellow tas have been 

 scoured by Mr. Toppan, and put into condition to take light- 

 colored dyes. 



The white color of scoured wools is not permanent. When 

 kept in stock, the scoured wool gradually assumes a yellow 

 cast. The reason for this lies in the fact that in the scour, 

 the animal oil is not all scoured out, and sufficient remains 

 in the wool to come out after a time and show its color. 

 It is a whitewashing, and, after a while, the natural color 

 comes to the surface. The same is true of cotton. Cotton 

 yellows, and there seems to be no way to prevent it, except- 

 ing at the expense of the fibre. Mr. Toppan's cottons, and 

 his wools as well, retain their color. Specimens here have 

 been scoured a sufficiently long time ago to prove this fact. 



Wool scoured by this process is already mordanted for 

 many colors. A mordant is a bond of union between mate- 

 rial and the dye, and where there is dyeing of fabric or fibre, 

 there is, I think, almost without exception, the preparatory 

 process of mordanting. There are a dozen possibly two 

 dozen shades which can now be dyed without mordant in 

 some shape. In the case of wool, mordanting consists in 

 boiling the wool for some hours in the mordant. It is pitched 

 into vats, stirred, to secure an even distribution of the liquor 

 throughout the mass, is forked out, and is then ready for the 

 dyer. 



This process, with the loss of time and with the injury to 

 the wool that results from two handlings and a stirring, is 

 completely eliminated in the Toppan wool. The compound 

 is in itself a mordant for many colors commonly used, and 

 enough of it remains in the fibre to prepare it for the dye. 

 This is equally true of cotton, and, if you remember, at the 

 other lecture, I had pieces of print which had been printed 

 without mordant. The dyes take equally well on goods in the 

 piece, without mordant. The saving in expense, by leaving 

 out the mordant, is more than enough to pay for the scour. 



The colors which need no mordant, when applied after Mr. 

 Toppan's scour, comprise a very larg. variety of light shades, 

 both in anilines and in wood colors. 



Mr. Frank Sherry, who is here this evening, knows more 

 about the dyeing of wool scoured by this process than any 

 other man. living, and has been experimenting for a year 

 nearly, with these scoured wools. He can tell you all about 

 it in the practical work, in the dye-room, and in the labora- 

 tory, and dyers can learn more from him, in this special fea- 

 ture, than from me. 



