26 
cotton. Nankin cotton is always, so far as I have seen, 
from fibrous-coated seed. As to the colour, I cannot tell, 
being no chemist, whether it is fast or not, but it never 
seems to fade with me According to my experience 
it is only in very hot countries, and on a rather arid soil, 
that the really dark Nankin is produced. I think if experi- 
ments were tried for three or four years together, Maltese 
on the West Coast of Africa would resemble African, and 
West African seed sown at Malta would become Maltese 
cotton; and I almost think that West African seed which 
at home produces yellow-tinged cotton, would, in one or two 
years, in the New Orleans district, produce white cotton. 
And I further think that pure New Orleans seed sown at 
Malta in three or four years would give cotton of the red 
tinge of ordinary Maltese.” Mr. Clegg seems therefore to 
agree with those who think that the variations in colour 
observed in cotton are entirely owing to differences of 
climate and soil, and are not peculiarities attaching to 
different species of the plant. 
These remarks will suffice to give a general idea of the 
properties of Nankin cotton and its supposed origin. I pro- 
pose in this communication to give a short account of some 
experiments made to ascertain the cause of the peculiar 
colour by which it is characterized. 
The colour of Nankin cloth having been successful^ 
imitated in this country by depositing oxide of iron on and 
within the fibres in the manner well known to dyers, it 
might be supposed that the colour of the raw cotton was 
due to iron in some form. The simplest experiments prove 
this however not to be the case. The cotton on being 
incinerated leaves an ash which does not contain a larger 
proportion of iron than that of ordinary cotton, and the 
colour is not removed by treating the cotton with dilute 
mineral acids capable of dissolving oxide of iron, whereas 
the colouring matter dissolves, though slowly, on boiling it 
