310 DYEIXG AND CALICO PRIN'lING. 



Brussels, deserves special notice, as they are remarkable for the neatness 

 and precision of the junction of the colours. 



If the dyed cottou yarns exhibited do not illustrate any new dis- 

 coveries, still the attention of the observer is strongly drawn to one 

 class of yarns, of which a very extensive and varied assortment is shown 

 and in which great excellence is attained, that is in Turkey-red dyed 

 yarns. It is, therefore, desirable to give a slight description of this 

 ancient (lout frequently improved) process, which gives shades of such 

 brilliancy and fastness. Without entering into a full detail of the 

 numerous and tedious manipulations undergone by the yarn in the 

 course of its preparation for fixing the colouring principles of madder, 

 it may be stated that the chief characteristic of Turkey-red dyeing, is 

 the use of olive or gallipoli oil as a fixing agent. The bleached yarn i^ 

 first soaked in a peculiar quality of this oil — I say peculiar, because the 

 oil used must, when mixed with a small quantity of an alkaline car- 

 bonate, form a white emulsion ; this is due, as we now known from M. 

 Pelouze's researches, to a ferment which the oil, as it is liberated from 

 the berry, carries with it, and which resolves the oil into its component 

 parts, viz., glycerine and fatty acids ; and it is the oils so modified which 

 are adapted for Turkey -red dyeing, The yarns saturated with these 

 acids are dipped into a solution of carbonate of soda, and thpn exposed 

 to the action of the air, or air and steam in a warm room. After this 

 treatment has been repeated a sufficient number of times, the yarns are 

 passed through a solution of nut-galls, then into a solution of a salt of 

 alumina, called red mordant, and the yarn so prepared is ready for dye- 

 ing, to effect which it is boiled for two or three hours in a bath to which 

 maddei-ioot has been added. Lastly, the brilliancy of the colour is 

 completed by boiling the yarns in a strong solution of soap. This 

 method of preparing cotton for dyeing has enabled dyers to apply with 

 success the aniline purple. 



The dyed fabrics exhibited in the Indian department will be 

 examined with great interest, and, considering the limited means at the 

 disposal of the dyer, the goods are deserving of public notice, es- 

 pecially with reference to the beauty and brilliancy of some of the dyes, 

 which are well illustrated by the exhibitors, Eao Yenkata and Rao 

 Papana ; there are also several displays amougst the manufactured goods 

 which are worth examination. It may be here suggested, that 

 great advantage to these arts might be obtained if the Indian govern- 

 ment were to take steps to forward to this country some of the dye- 

 stuffs used by the Indian dyers, in quantities sufficient for practical 

 trials. For if we consider the wonderful progress which Turkey-red 

 dyeing has made with European appliances, and with the assistance of 

 chemistry, as compared with the mode in which it was carried on for 

 centuries in India, it is impossible to say what advantages might result 

 to India ; if, for instance, the new green of Dr. Thompson, the Jack- 



