C A L 
CAL 
CAL 2-89 
with some of the dye stuff afterwards to 
be applied ; and he cautions the using of 
more for that purpose, than is sufficient to 
make the mordant distinguishable when ap- 
plied to the cloth. The reason of this pre- 
caution is obvious. If too much dye is 
mixed with the mordant, a great propor- 
tion of the mordant will be combined with 
colouring matter, which must weaken its 
affinity for the cloth, and of course prevent 
it from combining with it in sullicient quan- 
tity to ensure a permanent dye. 
Sometimes these two mordants are mixed 
together in different proportions ; and some- 
times one or both is mixed with an infusion of 
sumach, or of nut-galls. By these contriv- 
ances, a great variety of colours are produced 
by the same dye-stuff. 
After the mordants have been applied, the 
cloth must be completely dried. It is proper 
for this purpose to employ artificial heat, 
which will contribute something towards the 
separation of the acetous acid from its base, 
and towards its evaporation, by which the 
mordant will combine in a greater proportion, j 
and more intimately with the cloth. 
When the cloth is sufficiently dried, it is to 
be washed with warm water and cow-dung, 
till all the flour, or gum, employed to thicken 
the mordants, and all those parts of the mor- 
dants which are uncombined with the Cloth, are 
removed. The cow-dung serves to entangle 
these loose parts of the mordants, and to pre- 
vent them from combining with those parts of 
the cloth which are to remain white. After 
this, the cloth is thoroughly rinsed in clean 
water. 
Almost the only dye stuffs employed by 
cal lico-pr inters* are indigo, madder, and quer- 
citron bark, or weld. This last substance, 
however, is but little used by the printers of 
this country, except for delicate greenish 
yellows. The quercitron bark has almost 
superseded it, because it gives colours 
equally good, and is much cheaper and more 
convenient, not requiring so great a heat to 
fix it. Indigo, not requiring any mordant, is 
commonly applied at once, either with a block 
or a pencil. It is prepared by boiling together 
indigo and potash made caustic by quick-lime, 
and orpiment ; the solution is afterwards thick- 
ened with gum. It must be carefully secluded 
from the air, otherwise the indigo would soon 
be regenerated, which would render the solu- 
tion useless. Dr. Bancroft has proposed to 
substitute coarse brown sugar for orpiments : 
it is equally efficacious in decomposing the 
indigo, and rendering it soluble ; while it like- 
wise serves all the purposes of gum. 
Let us now give an example or two of the 
manner in which the printers give particular 
colours to catlicoes. Some callicoes are only 
printed of one colour, others have two, 
others three or more, even to the number 
of eight, ten, or twelve. The smaller the 
number of colours, the fewer in general are 
the processes. 
1. One of the most common colours on 
cotton prints, is a kind of nankeen yellow of 
various shades down to a deep yellowish 
brown, or drab. Tt is usually in stripes or 
spots. To produce it, the printers besmear a 
block, cut out into the figure of the print, 
with acetite of iron, thickened with gum or 
flour ; and apply it to the cotton, which, after 
being dried and cleaned in the usual manner, 
is jplunged into a potash ley. The quantity o 
acetite of iron is always proportioned to the 
depth of the shade. 2. For yellow the block 
is besmeared with acetite of alumina. The 
cloth, after receiving this mordant, is dyed with 
quercitron bark, and then bleached. 3. Red 
is communicated by the same process ; only 
madder is substituted for the bark. 4. The 
line light blues which appear so often on 
printed cottons, are produced by apply- 
ing to the cloth, a block besmeared with a 
composition, consisting partly of wax, which 
covers all those parts of the cloth which are 
to remain white. The cloth is then dyed in 
a cold indigo vat ; and after it is dry, the wax 
composition is removed by hot water. 5. Li- 
lac, liea brown, and blackish brown, are given 
by means of acetite of iron ; the quantity of 
which is always proportioned to the depth of 
the shade. For very deep colours, a little 
sumach is added. The cotton is afterwards 
dyed in the usual manner w ith madder, and 
I hen bleached. 6. Dove-colour and drab, 
by acetite of iron, and quercitron bark. 
When different colours are to appear in the 
i same print, a greater number of operations are 
necessary. 1 wo or more blocks are em- 
ployed, upon each of which, that part of the 
print only is cut, which is to be of some par- 
ticular colour. These are besmeared with 
different mordants and applied to the cloth, 
which is afterwards dyed as usual. Let us 
suppose, for instance, that these blocks are 
applied to cotton, one with acetite of alu- 
mina, another with acetite of iron, a third with 
a mixture of those two mordants, and that 
the cotton is then dyed with quercitron bark, 
and bleached. 1 he parts impregnated 
with the mordants would have the following- 
colours. 
Acetite of alumine, Yellow. 
y; — iron, Olive, drab, dove. 
I he mixture, Olive green, olive. 
If part of the yellow is covered over with 
the indigo liquor, applied with a pencil, it 
will be converted into green. By the same 
liquid, blue may be given to such parts of the 
print as require it. 
It the cotton is dyed with madder, instead 
of quercitron bark, 'the print will exhibit the 
following colours. 
Acetite of alumine. Red. 
y~ "iron, Brown, black. 
I lie mixture, Purple. 
\\ hen a great number of colours are to ap- 
pear ; for instance, when those communicated 
by bark, and those by madder, are wanted 
at the same time, mordants for part of the 
pattern are to be applied ; the cotton is then 
to be dyed in the madder bath, and bleached : 
then the rest of tire mordants, to fill up the 
pattern, are added, and the cloth is again 
dyed with quercitron bark, and bleached. 
1 he second dyeing does not much affect the 
madder colours ; because the mordants, 
which render them permanent, are already 
saturated. The yellow tinge is easily re- 
moved by the subsequent bleaching. Some- 
times a new mordant is also applied to some 
ot the madder colours, in consequence of 
which, they receive a new permanent co- 
lour from the bark. After the last bleaching, 
new colours may be added by means of the 
indigo liquor. The following table will give 
an idea ot the colours, which may be given to 
cotton by these complicated processes. 
I. Madder dye. 
Acetite of alumine, 
-iron, 
• -diluted, 
Both, mixed. 
Colours. 
Red. 
Brown, black. 
Lilac. 
Purple. 
II. Bark dye. 
Acetite of alumine, 
iron. 
Lilac and acetite of alumine. 
Red and acetite of alumine, 
Yellow. 
Dove, drab. 
Olive. 
Orange. 
III. Indigo dye. 
Indigo, Blue. 
Indigo and yellow. Green. 
Thus no less than \2 colours may be made 
to appear together in the same print, by these 
different processes. 
These instances will serve to give the reader 
an idea of the nature of callico-printing, and 
at the same time afford an excellent illustra- 
tion of the importance of mordants in dyeing. 
If it was possible to procure colours suf- 
ficiently permanent, by applying them at 
once to the cloth by the block or the pencil, 
as is the case with the mordants, the art of 
callico printing would be brought to the 
-greatest possible simplicity ; but at present, 
this can only be done in one case, that of in- 
digo ; every other colour requires dyeing. 
Compositions, indeed, may be made, by pre- 
viously combining the dye stuff’ and the mor- 
dants. Thus yelloiv may be applied at once, 
by employing a mixture of the infusion of 
quercitron bark and acetite of alumine; red, 
by mixing the same mordant with the de- 
coction of alumine, and so on. The colours 
applied in this way are, unfortunately, far 
inferior in permanency to those produced 
when the mordant is previously combined 
with the cloth, and the dye stuff’afterwards ap- 
plied separately. In this way are applied 
almost all the fugitive colours of calli- 
coes, which washing, or even exposure to the 
air, destroys. As the application of colours 
in this way cannot always be avoided by cal- 
lico-printers, every method of rendering 
them more permanent is an object of im- 
portance. 
CALLIGONUM, in botany, a genus of 
the polyandria digynia class of plants, hav- 
ing no flower; the fruit is an oval, com- 
pressed, striated, hairy pericarpium, with 
bifid tops, turning backwards ; the seed is 
single. There are three species. 
callisia, in botany, a genus of the 
monogynia order, in the triandria class of 
plants, and iri the natural method ranking 
under the 6th order, ensatax The calyx is 
triphyllcms ; the petals are three ; the' an- 
thers are double ; ami the capsule is bilocu- 
lar. There is but one species, a native of 
America. 
CALLITRICHE, or star-grass, in bo- 
tany, a genus of the digynia "order, in the 
monandria class-of plants, and in the natural 
method ranking under the 1 2th order, holo- 
raceax It has no calyx, but two petals, and 
the capsule is bilocular and tetraspermous. 
There are two species. 
CALLUS, or callosity, anycutaneous, cor- 
neous, or osseous hardness, whether natural 
or preternatural : but most frequently it 
means the callus generated about the edges 
of a fracture, provided by nature to preserve 
the fractured bones, or 'divided parts, in the 
