the first two are colorless, the peroxide of the latter is a light brown, and imparts to white goods a buff or nankeen color, which in many cases affects, to a considerable extent, the color of the cloth, a circumstance which must also be attended to by the dy er. Indeed, the principal part of all dyeing operations is the proper choice and application of mordants, there being a chemical union between them and the coloring matter; a new substance is formed, not only differing in properties but differing in color from any of the originals; consequent ly, a very little alteration in the strength or quality of a mordant gives a decided alteration in the shade of color. However, it gives the dyer a much wider field for variety of shades; at the same time a less number of coloring substances is required; as, for example, logwood alone gives no color to cotton worthy the name of a dye; yet by the judicious application of a few different kinds of mordants, all the shades from a French white to a violet-from a lavender to a purple-from a blue to a lilac-and from a slate to a black, are obtained from this substance." If a white piece of cotton be put through a dilute solution of chloride of tin (red spirits,) and from this put through a weak decoction of logwood, the coloring matter of the wood will be immediately precipitated, changing its hue to a violet color, very little of it combining with the cloth, and probably very unequally; but if the piece be thoroughly washed from the chloride of tin previous to putting into the logwood, the coloring matter of the wood will combine with the cloth, or rather the metallic base which is on the cloth; and provided the logwood solution corresponds with the strength of the mordant, the liquor will be left colorless; but the piece will be a light brownish shade.If a little of the chloride of tin be now added to the liquor, its effects upon the logwood will be the same as if the piece had been put into it without being washed, but with this difference, that the coloring matter is in combination with the clo h, upon which it is not only changed to a violet color, but is rendered insoluble in water, and sufficiently permanent to constitute a dye. The substances thus added to the colored liquor to change and fix the colors are termed alterants, in the technical language of the dye-house raising: because it brightens the color. terants and mordants are often spoken of as two distinct substances; but the only distinction is the mode of applying them. In some instances distinct substances are used. In the process detailed above, a little alum would do as well as the tin; or if a particular bluish shade were wanted, a little pyrolignite of alumina; but in almost all cases the mordant may also be the alterant." used as Al Having stated these general facts, the work proceeds with an historical and minute detail of the different mordants and their effects as discovered down to the present time, and proceeds with the most approved method of dyeing each color. In relation to Turkeyred, we have the following: "In 1808, Reber, at Mariakirch, furnished the finest yarns of this dye, and M. Koechlin became celebrated for his Turkey-red cloth. This gentleman has immortalised his name in the annals of calico printing, by the discovery which he made in 1811. It consists in printing upon Turkey-red, or any dyed color, some pow erful acid, and then immersing the cloth in a solution of chloride of lime. Neither of these agents singly affects the color, but those parts which have received the acid, on being plunged in chloride of lime, are speedily deprived of their dye, and made white by the acid of the liberated chlorine. This is one of the beautiful facts in the chemistry of calico printing, "For this process a patent was obtained in England, by Mr. James Thomson, of Primrose, near Clitheroe, in the year 1813; and the same gentleman, in 1816, took out a second patent for a very useful and happy modification of the principle of the former one, namely, for combining with the acid some mordant, or metallic oxide, capable, after the colors were removed, of having imparted to it some other color. This laid the foundation of that series of processes, in which the chromic acid and its combination have since been employed with such great success." We are necessarily confined to short extracts on the different branches; but we extract the following interesting sketches of the origin of some dyes; first, in relation to Lac-dye. "Stick-lac is produced by the puncture of a peculiar female insect, called coccus lacca or ficus, upon the branches of several plants, which grow in Siam, Assam. Pegu, Bengal and Malabar. The twig becomes thereby incrusted with a reddish mammelated resin, having a crystalline-looking fracture. The female lac insect is of the size of a louse; red, round, flat, with 12 abdominal circles, a bifurcated tail, antenna, and six claws, half the length of the body. The male is twice the above size, and has four wings; there is one of them to 5000 females. In November or December the young brood makes its escape from the eggs, lying beneath the dead body of the mother; they crawl about a little way, and fasten themselves to the bark of the shrubs. About this period the branches often swarm to such a degree with this vermin, that they seem covered with a red dust; in this case, they are apt to dry up, by being exhausted of their juices. Many of these insects, however, become the prey of others, or are carried off by the feet of birds, to which they attach themselves, and are transplanted to other trees. They soon produce smail nipple-like in crustations upon the twigs, their bodies being apparently glued, by means of a transparent liquor, which goes on increasing to the end of March, so as to form a cellular texture. At this time, the animal resembles a small oval bag, without life, of the size of cochineal. At the commencement, a beautiful red liquor only is perceived, after wards eggs make their appearance; and in October or November, when the red liquor gets exhausted, 20 or 30 young ones bore a hole through the back of their mother, and come forth. The empty cells remain upon the branches. These are composed of the milky juice of the plant, which serves as nourishment to the insects, and which is afterwards transformed or ela borated into the red coloring matter that is found mixed with the resin, but in greater quantity in the bodies of the insects, in their eggs, and still more copiously in the red liquor secreted for feeding the young. After the brood escapes, the cell contain much less coloring matter.On this account, the branches should be broken off before this happens, and dried in the sun. In the East Indies this operation is performed twice in the year; the first time in March, the second in October. The twigs incrusted with the radiated cellular substance constitute the stick-lac of commerce. It is a red color, more or less deep, nearly transparent, and hard, with a brilliant conchoidal fracture. The sticklac of Siam is the best." Next in relation to indigo we have a curious historical anecdote, beautifully illustrative of the manner in which government protection has aided manufacture. "Of the early history of indigo little is known, neither is it known when it was first used as a dye-stuff. The Greeks and Romans used it as a paint, under the name of Indicum. Its value, as a dye-stuff, was not known in Europe till nearly the close of the sixteenth century, when it was imported fromIndia by the Dutch; but English legislators, for a long time, prohibited its use in Great Britain under severe penalties. These prohibitions continued in force till the reign of Charles II., and the reason consisted in its being considered a corrosive substance, and capable of destroying the fibres of cloth, and therefore calculated to injure the character of the dyers. This opinion, no doubt, sprung from the strong and interested opposition given to its use by the cultivators of the woad, which was then regarded as an important branch of national industry.*” After describing some chemical operations, the work proceeds : "Some practical dyer may indeed be inclined to ask, what those already noticed have to do with dyeing? We are sorry that with respect to some of them, we cannot give any satisfactory answer to the question; but the same question was asked, when chemists first intimated that chromic acid produced yellow salts when combined with lead; yet this simple hint has completely revolutionized various departments of dyeing, as we shall have occasion to notice, when we come to treat of the mineral coloring matters in next chap ter; and the action of chromic acid upon indigo, as already observed, has been both a source of annoyance and advantage to the dyer. Previous to the use of alkaline substances with the salts of lead, dyers seldom could get an evenly chrome green; the chromic acid being set at liberty acted upon the indigo which was upon the yarn, destroying in part the blue color, after which the green was all light yellow blotches.These annoyances are still felt where the with an alkali is not practised. But this new process of working the lead solution same action of chromic acid upon indigo has been taken advantage of by calico printers, when they want a white pattern on a blue ground. The pattern is printed upon the cloth with the oxide of a metal which yields its oxygen easily to other substances, such as copper and zine; the "When Indigo was first introduced, only a small quantity was added to the woad, by which the latter was much improved; more was afterwards gradually used, and at last, the quantity became so large, that the small admixture of woad served only to revive the fermentation of the indigo. Germany thus lost a production by which farmers, merchants, carriers and others acquired great riches. In consequence of the sales of woad being so much injured, a prohibition was issued against the use of indigo by Saxony, in the year 1650. In the year 1652, Duke Ernest, the Pious, caused a proposal to be made to the diet by his envoy, that indigo should be entirely banished from the empire, and that an exclusive privilege should be granted to those who dyed with woad. This was followed by an imperial prohibition of indigo, on the 21st of April, 1654, which was enforced with the greatest severity in his dominions. The same was done in France; but in the well-known edict of 1669, in which Colbert separated the superior from the inferior dyers, it was stated that indigo should be used without woad; and in 1737, dyers were left at liberty to use indigo alone, or to employ a mixture of indigo and woad." 1846.] goods are afterwards dyed blue by passing them through the vat; but the parts upon which these metallic salts are printed, resist the dye, by a process which will be presently described, so that the piece, when finished, is a blue ground with a white pattern." We have made extracts as far as our limits will allow, in order to illustrate the varied and interesting matter contained in the volume. We have, however, not alluded to the chapters descriptive of the late inventions in the machinery for imparting colors to designs. We have before stated that it is only very recently that more than one color could be imparted by one operation. Chapter IV. contains a description of a machine patented in 1843, for printing five or more colors at once, by a most ingenious method. When we reflect upon the results of science, the multitudinous elements called from all quarters of the world, and combined lows: who achieve the distinction of knowledge, while doing his best to retain Nothing can be more true; and at the same time, he asks Congress to protect him against others that do know the The day for those follies is The "obsolete." secret. rapidly becoming The advance of manufactures does joint stock capital form the means of providing for the needy relatives of incannot be paid by a fair business. The fluential directors, at salaries which large profits necessary to the support of the expensive establishments of the rived from the labor of many persons, chartered corporations can only be dein the same manner in which splendid governments are supported only by the excessive taxation inflicted upon an Dissemunrepresented population. The question arises, are they necessary? and common sense answers, no. inate knowledge among the people, and, throwing the trade open, give the industrious with small capitals a chance The spirit of these monopolies is opequal to that of corporate monopolies. posed to advance in science, because with every improvement their large investments in machinery, &c., become depreciated, and their profits endangered. On the other hand, where the genius and enterprise of individuals have free scope in all the subdivisions of the different branches of the business, the whole improves with an accelerated movement. The new invencome promptly to profit by the success tions supersede the old, and the public of the individual. THE BROKEN HEART. A TALE OF HISPANIOLA. BY S. ANNA LEWIS, AUTHOR OF "RECORDS OF THE HEART." I. FULL many a tale of wo is thine, Bright Island of the Southern Sea, Of vows that should have been divine, And woman's speechless agonyThe pangs of sorrow's ruthless dartsThe hecatombs of trusting Hearts: Thou hast no mighty names in songNo famed recorders of thy wrongNo Tweed-no storied Helicon Colossus-neither Moslem Pile, Nor gilded Temple of the Sun, CANTO I. To consecrate thy name, bright Isle !— Thou hast nor classic memories, Nor border songs of ladies fair, Nor spirit-stirring Chivalries; But thou hast Records of Despair, And tales of deep, enduring Love, II. Oh! what is there like that deep grief, As the Promethean Vulture fed! III. The zephyrs sleep in Nieva's Vale- As ere was wrought by Grecian Master Dark eyes through which the soul beams warm A cheek of purest alabaster A step, once in her native dells She sweeps the wandering Gipsy's luteBut those who gaze on her distress Sorrow so eloquently mute, Know they behold no Gipsy maid, In those habiliments arrayed. The tiny foot her garb exposes, And crimson slipper close enclosesHer fairy hand and jewelled fingersHer brow, where pensive beauty lingersHer modest mien and movement free, Betray too well her high degree. IV. Beneath the solemn Yew all day That at her fairy feet they throw,- She only thinks and sings of wo- Stern Fate's irrevocable darts, [wrath- Young dark eyed maidens from the hill Three weary years have rolled away And weep, and murmur strains of wo, Found clad in garbs of high degree. Some guess she is the Spirit pale, They guess, and guess-yet nothing know. VI. When vesper bells are tolling loud, When he is near. Like dew-drops on the violet? Where it so long had been confined, Some clime of sunnier light to find? Yet lingers-falters in the hall, And turns away without confessing, 'Tis eve-soft lies the Indian sky, CANTO 11. Not as this cold, bleak, Northern clime As Heaven had centered all its smiles To breathe the breezy, balmy air,- With pearly flowers, No breath awakes the drowsy palm, The footsteps of responding maids, Oh! if there 're moments in this life Or by some soothing water-fall, And blend thought, fancy, feeling-all- And wan the mournful maiden now The hot tears trickling from her eyes- |