P R I 



fome of tlie common poultice. An anodyne poultice may- 

 be prepared in the fame way, by adding a fufficient quan- 

 tity of tinfture of opium. 



POWATAN, 1. I, r. 8073 inhabitants, of whom 5091 

 were flaves in 18 10. 



POYANG, 1. -i, add — According to a ftatement in 

 " Ellis's Journal of an Embafly to China," (vol. ii.), this 

 lake is very inferior in extent to the Tung-ting-hoo, in 

 Ho-quang, the one being 180 lees, and the other 800 

 acrofs ; the lee being rather more than one-third of a mile. 

 POWDER-CiiESTS, X.paiult. for fixed r. fired. 

 PRAIRIE, or Meadow, a term ufed in North-Wcft 

 America, to denote a traft of land diverted of timber. In 

 travelling W. from the AUeghanies, fuch traits occur more 

 frequently, and are of greater extent as we approach the 

 Mifiiflippi. When we proceed to the diftance of 2 or 300 

 miles to the well of that river, the whole country is of this 

 defcription, which continues to the rocky mountains weft- 

 ward, and from the head waters of the Mifliffippi to the 

 gulf of Mexico, an extent of territory which probably 

 equals in area the whole empire of China. 



PREBBLE, in Geography, a county of Ohio, containing 

 7 townihips, and 8304 inhabitants. 



PREHNITE. See Mineralogy, Addenda. 

 PRICE. See Political Economy. 

 PRINCE Edward, 1. 2, after inhabitants, add — of 

 whom 6996 were flaves in 18 10. 



Prince George, 1. 3, infert — of wh.om 4.486 were flaves 

 in 1 8 10. 



Prince George, 1. 5, infert — of whom 9189 were flaves 

 in 1 8 10. 



Prince William, 1. 3, 

 in 1 8 10. 



PRINCESS Anne, 1. 4, 

 flaves in 18 10. 



PRINTING, Calico, is the art of imparting various 

 colours to plain calicoes, in any form, or according to any 

 pattern that may be defired, by means of certain colourlefs 

 mordants previoufly applied to the cloth. This art has 

 fometimes been denominated topical dyeing, and the various 

 branches of it are calculated to aftonifh thofe who may 

 have the opportunity of witnefling the different procefies, 

 ivithout being acquainted with the nature of chemical 

 mordants, and their feveral ufes in the arts. 



The art of calico-printing is of great antiquity. Homer 

 fpeaks of the variegated cloths of Sidon, as having avcry fplen- 

 did appearance ; and Pliny defcribes the Egyptians as accuf- 

 tomed to prepare parti -coloured linens, and oblerves that thefe 

 colours were produced after a manner correfponding with our 

 method of topical dyeing. He fays the Egyptians began by 

 painting or drawing on white cloths, (doubtlefs linen or 

 cotton,) with certain drugs, which in themfelves poffeflcd 

 no colour, but Ind the property of attracting or abforbing 

 colouring matters. After which, thcfe cloths were immerfed 

 in a heated dyeing liquor ; and though they were colourlefs 

 before, and though this dyeing liquor was of one uniform 

 colour, yet when the cloths were taken out of it foon after, 

 they were found to be wonderfully tinged of different colours, 

 according to the different natures of the feveral drugs, 

 which liad been applied to their different parts ; and thefe 

 colours, fo wonderfully produced from a tinfture of only 

 one colour, could not afterwards be difcharged by wafhing ; 

 and he confiders it as admirable, that the dyeing Hquor, 

 which, if cloths of different colours had been put into it, 

 would have confounded them all, ftiould thus produce, and 

 permanently fix feveral colours, being itfelf only of one 

 colour. Pliny, lib. xxxv. cap. 2. 

 Vol. XXXIX. 



add — of whom 5220 were flaves 

 infert — of whom 3926 were 



P R I 



thJi?'' 'T''"l contains fo plain a defcription of one of 

 the branches of cahco-pnntmg, that no one who is conver- 

 an with the prefon pradices can entertain any doubt but 

 that the anc.ent Egyptians were acquainted with many of 

 the principles of this very curious art. Our readers, who are 

 dehrous of further inveftigating this interefting fubjea, wiU 

 hna abundant and fatisfaftory information by confukin-. the 

 tollowmg works : w'^. Pliny's " Natural Hiftory ;'? the 

 26t,i volume of « Recueil des Lettres Edifiantes, S,c " 

 Strabo, hb. xv^; Delaval's "Experimental Inquiry into 

 t^A ,' 1? ^'u'S" °f Colours, in opaque and coloured 

 Bodies ; Berthollet's " Elements of the Art of Dycinsr " 

 vol... p 28; Beckman's « Hiftory of Inventions," in^i vols, 

 8vo. ; Mr. Parkes's " Chemical Effays," vol. ii. p 6c 

 &c. ; and Dr. Bancroft " On Permanent Colours."' In 

 the above works, abundant teftimonies will be found to 

 Ihew that printed calicoes were not unknown to the ancients • 

 and we have good reafon alfo to fuppofe that tlie colours 

 which they imparted to their cloths poffefl-ed a confiderable 

 degree of permanency, as we know that iron and alum were 

 both employed by them as mordants. It is likeu-ife well 

 known that feveral ancient nations were acquainted with 

 foda, madder, tin, the juice of tlie inccinum, cochineal (or 

 anmlea limilar to it), the celebrated Tyrian purple, and 

 other materials, fufficient in the whole to enable them to 

 give a great variety of colours and tints to their feveral 

 proauftions. 



Our objeCl, however, in this communication, is to give 

 a fuccinft account of the art of calico-printing as it is con- 

 ducted at prefent, and we do not know that we can do 

 better than to copy the greater part of the detail which has 

 been given by Mr. Parkes in his " Eflay on Calico-Print- 

 mg," in the fecond volume of his " Chemical Effays," 

 and which he has very politely allowed us to make ufe of 'in 

 any way we think proper. 



From this effay it appears, that calico-printing, as an art, 

 IS but of modern date in this country, though it has been 

 praftifed in India, and other parts of the Eaft, from time 

 immemoriaL From various accounts it appears, that 

 formerly in India the cotton cloths when brought from the 

 weavers, partly bleached, were worn next to the flfin by 

 the dyer and by all his family, during the fpace of eight or 

 ten days, after which they underwent feveral macerations 

 in water, with goat's dung, and were afterwards fubmitted 

 to frequent wafliings, and as frequent dryings in the rays of 

 an intenfe fun-fliine. Afterwards they were foaked for 

 fome time in the mixture of the aftringent fruit of the 

 yellow myrolialans, and of curdled buffalo's milk. AVhen 

 thoroughly impregnated therewith, they were fqueezed, 

 dried by expofure to the fun, and then, by prefliire and 

 friftioi:, tliey were made fmootii enough for being drawn 

 upon by the pencil with the different mordants. 



The firfl of thefe mordants was an iron liquor, made 

 by diflblving iron in a mixture of four palm-wine and of 

 water in which rice had been boiled. This liquor was 

 applied to the figures or fpots intended to become black, 

 and afterwards the aluminous mordant was applied, com- 

 monly by children, with the pencil, to the parts intended 

 to be made red. The pieces were then expofed to the 

 hotteil fun-lhine, that the parts to which the mordants had 

 been applied might be dried as much as poflible : and then 

 they were thoroughly foaked in pits of water, to cleanfe 

 them from the fuperfluous mordants, as well as from the 

 buffalo's milk, &c. ; and laftly, they were dyed in water, 

 with certain roots anfwering nearly in tbeir effefts to thofe 

 of madder. 



It was in tliis way the manufafture of printed cottons 

 4 H was 



