£36 Cleansing Silk , Woollen , and Cotton goods . 
No. 46. 
JSTew Method of cleansing Silk , Woollen , and Cotton 
Goods , without damage to the texture or the Colour , 
1% .Mrs. Ann Morris.* 
Take raw potatoes, in the state they are taken out of 
the earth, wash them well, then rub them on a grater 
over a vessel of clean water to a fine pulp, pass the liquid 
matter through a coarse seive into another tub of clear 
water; let the mixture stand till the fine white particles 
of the potatoes are precipitated, then pour the mucilagi- 
nous liquor from the fecula, and preserve this liquor for 
use. The article to be cleaned should then be laid upon 
a linen cloth upon a table, and having provided a clean 
sponge, dip the sponge in the potatoe-liquor, and apply 
the sponge thus wet to the article to be cleaned, and rub 
it well upon it with repeated portions of the potatoe-liquor, 
till the dirt is perfectly separated ; then wash the article 
in clean water several times, to remove the loose dirt; 
it may afterwards be smoothed or dried. 
Two middle-sized potatoes will be sufficient for a pint 
of water. 
The white fecula which separates in making the muci- 
laginous liquor will answer the purpose of tapioca, will 
make an useful nourishing food with soup or milk, or 
serve to make starch anti hair- powder. 
The coarse pulp which does not pass the sieve is of 
great use in cleaning worsted curtains, tapestry, carpets, 
or other coarse goods. 
The mucilaginous liquor of the potatoes will clean all 
* Tilloch, vol. 25, p. 71. From the Transactions of the Society for the En- 
couragement of Arts , r cjfc. 1805. — Fifteen guineas were voted by the Society of 
Arts to Mrs, Morris, for communicating this new process 
