is by much the most useful of all the metals, as has been sufficiently proved under the article Iron, Encycl. and under Chemistry in this Supplement. The word is again introduced here, because it affords us an opportunity of laying before our readers some valuable observations by Chaptal on the use of the oxyd of iron in dyeing cotton.
"The oxyd of iron has such an affinity for cotton thread, that if the latter be plunged in a saturated solution of iron in any acid whatever, it immediately assumes a chamois yellow colour, more or less dark, according to the strength of the liquors. It is both a curious and easy experiment, that when cotton is made to pass through a solution of the sulphate of iron, rendered turbid by the oxyd which remains suspended in the liquor, it will be sufficient to dip the cotton in the bath to catch the last particle of the oxyd, and to restore to the liquor the transparency it has lost. The solution, then, which before had a yellowish appearance, becomes more or less green, according as it is more or less charged.
"The colour given to cotton by the oxyd of iron becomes darker, merely by exposure to the air; and this colour, soft and agreeable when taken from the bath, becomes harsh and ochre by the progressive oxidation of the metal. The colour of the oxyd of iron is very fast: it resists not only the air and water, but also alkaline lyes, and soap gives it splendour without sensibly diminishing its intensity. It is on account of these properties that the oxyd of iron has been introduced into the art of dyeing, and been made a colouring principle of the utmost value.
"In order that the oxyd of iron may be conveniently applied to the cotton thread, it is necessary to begin by effecting its solution; and, in this case, acids are employed as the most useful solvents. Dyers almost everywhere make a mystery of the acid which they employ; but it is always the acetic, the sulphuric, the nitric, or the muriatic. Some of them ascribe great differences to the solution of iron by the one or the other acid; but, in general, they give the preference to the acetic. This predilection appears to be founded much less on the difference of the colours that may be communicated by the one or the other salt, than on the different degrees of corrosive power which each exercises on the stuff. That of the sulphate and muriatic is so great, Iron that if the stuff be not washed when it comes from the bath, it will certainly be burnt; whereas solutions by the acetous, or any other vegetable acid, are not attended with the like inconvenience.
"Iron appears to be at the same degree of oxidation in the different acids, since it produces the same shade of colour when precipitated; and any acid solvent may be employed indiscriminately, provided the nature of the salt, and the degree of the saturation of the acid, be sufficiently known; for the subsequent operations may be then directed according to this knowledge, and the inconveniences which attend the use of some of these salts may be prevented. This, without doubt, is a great advantage which the man of science enjoys over the mere workman, who is incapable of varying his process according to the nature and state of the salts which he employs.
"1. If the sulphate of iron, or any other martial salt, be dissolved in water, and cotton be dipped in the liquid, the cotton will assume a chamois colour, more or less dark according as the solution is more or less charged. The affinity of the cotton to the iron is so great, that it attracts the metal, and takes it in a great measure from the acid by which it was dissolved.
"2. If the iron of a pretty strong solution be precipitated by an alkaline liquor that shows five or six degrees (by the areometer of Baumé), the result will be a greenish blue magma. The cotton macerated in this precipitate assumes at first an unequal tint of dirty green; but mere exposure to the air makes it in a little time turn yellow, and the shade is very dark.
"It is by such, or almost similar processes, that dyers communicate what is called among workmen an ochre or rusty colour. But these colours are attended with several inconveniences to the artist: 1. Strong shades burn or injure the cloth; 2. This colour is harsh, disagreeable to the eye, and cannot be easily united with the mild colours furnished by vegetables."
To avoid these inconveniences, our author made several attempts, which led him to the following practice: He treats the cotton cold in a solution of the sulphate of iron, marking three degrees; he wrings it carefully, and immediately plunges it in a ley of potash at two degrees, upon which he has previously poured to saturation a solution of the sulphate of alumina: the colour is then brightened, and becomes infinitely more delicate, soft, and agreeable. The sulphate no longer attacks the tissue of the stuff; and after the cotton has been left in the bath for four or five hours, it is taken out to be wrung, washed, and dried. In this manner we may obtain every shade that can be wished, by graduating the strength of the solutions. This simple process, the theory of which presents itself to the mind of every chemist, has the advantage of furnishing a colour very agreeable, exceedingly fixed, and, above all, extremely economical. He employs it with great advantage in dyeing nankeens, as it has the property of resisting leys. It becomes brown, however, by the action of alkalis.
M. Chaptal made several attempts to combine this yellow with the blue of indigo, in order to obtain a durable green; but as they were all unsuccessful, he infers that there is not a sufficient affinity between the blue of indigo and the oxyd of iron. He found that these oxyds, on the other hand, combine very easily with the red of madder, and produce a bright violet or plum colour, the use of which is as extensive as beneficial in the cotton manufacture. But if we should confine ourselves to apply these two colours to cotton, without having employed a mordant capable of fixing the latter, the colour would not only remain dull and disagreeable by the impossibility of brightening it, but it would still be attended with the great inconvenience of not resisting leys. We must begin, then, by preparing the cotton as if to dispose it for receiving the Adrianople red; and when it has been brought to the operation of galling, it is to be passed through a solution of iron, more or less charged, according to the nature of the violet required: it is then to be carefully washed, twice madered, and brightened in a bath of soap.
When a real velvety rich violet is required, it is not to be passed through the solution of iron till it has been previously galled; the iron is then precipitated in a bluish oxyd, which, combined with the red of madder, gives a most brilliant purple, more or less dark according to the strength of the galling and of the ferruginous solution. It is very difficult to obtain an equal colour by this process; and in manufactories, an equal violet is considered as a matter-piece of art. It is generally believed, that it is only by well-directed manipulations that it is possible to resolve this problem, of so much importance in dyeing. But I am convinced (says our author), that the great cause of the inequality in this dye is, that the iron deposited on the cotton receives an oxidation merely by exposure to the air, which varies in different parts of it. The threads which are on the outside of the hank are strongly oxidated, while those in the inside, removed from the action of the air, experience no change. It thence follows, that the inside of the hank presents a weak shade, while the exterior part exhibits a violet almost black. The means to remedy this inconvenience is, to wash the cotton when it is taken from the solution of iron, and to expose it to the madder moist. The colour will become more equal and velvety. The solvents of iron are almost the same for this colour as for the yellow colour already mentioned.
The following observation may serve to guide the artist in brightening the violet on his cotton. The red of madder and the oxyd of iron deposited on the stuff determine the violet colour. This colour becomes red or blue, according as either of the principles predominates. The dyer knows by experience how difficult it is to obtain a combination which produces the tone of colour desired, especially when it is required to be very full, lively, and durable. This object, however, may be obtained, not only by varying the proportions of the two colouring principles, but also by varying the process of brightening. The only point is to be acquainted with the two following facts; that the soda destroys the iron, while the soap, by strong ebullition, seizes in preference the red of the madder. Hence it is, that the colour may be inclined to red or blue, according as you brighten with one or the other of these mordants. Thus, cotton taken from the madder dye, when washed and boiled in the brightening liquor with ½th of soap, will give a superb violet; whereas you will obtain only a plum colour in treating it with soda.
The oxyd of iron precipitated on any stuff unites also very advantageously with the fawn colour furnished by astringents; and by varying the strength of mordants, an infinity of shades may be produced. In this case, it is left a combination or solution of principles than the simple mixture or juxtaposition of the colouring bodies on the stuff. By means of a boiling heat, we may combine, in a more intimate manner, the oxyd of iron with the astringent principle; and then it is brought to the state of black oxyd, as has been observed by Berthollet. It is possible also to embrown these colours, and to give them a variety of tints, from the bright grey to the deep black, by merely passing the cottons impregnated with the astringent principle through a solution of iron. The oxyd is then precipitated itself by the principle which is fixed on the stuff.
An observation, which may become of the utmost value for the art of dyeing, is, that the most usual astringent vegetables all furnish a yellow colour, which has not much brilliancy, but which has sufficient fixity to be employed with advantage. This yellow colour is brightened in the series of vegetables, in proportion as the astringent principle is diminished, and the vivacity of the colour is augmented in the same proportion. It is difficult, then, to obtain yellow colours which are at the same time durable and brilliant. These two valuable qualities are to each other in an inverse ratio; but it is possible to unite the colouring principles in such a manner as to combine splendour with fixity. Green oak bark unites perfectly with yellow weed, and sassafras with green citron. It is by this mixture that we may be able to combine with the oxyd of iron vegetable colours, the splendour of which is equal to their durability.
Our author concludes his observations with cautioning the dyer against substituting sassafras and the bark of the alder tree or oak for gall when dyeing cotton red. "I can safely assert (says he), that it is impossible to employ these as substitutes, in whatever doses they may be used. The colour is always much paler, poorer, and less fixed. I know that the case is not the same in regard to dyeing wool and silk, in which it may be employed with success; and in giving an account of this difference, I think the cause of it may be found in the nature of the gall-nuts. 1. The acid which they exclusively contain, as Berthollet has proved, facilitates the decomposition of the soap with which the cottons have been impregnated, and the oil then remains fixed in their tissue, and in a greater quantity, as well as in a more intimate combination. 2. The gall-nuts, which owe their development to animal bodies, retain a character of animalisation, which they transmit to the vegetable stuff, and by these means augment its affinities with the colouring principle of the madder; for it is well known of what utility animal substances are to facilitate this combination. This animalisation becomes useless in operating upon woollen or silk."
Juan de Fuca, a celebrated strait on the north-west coast of America, was surveyed by Captain Vancouver in the Discovery sloop of war, with a view to ascertain whether it leads to any communication between the North Pacific and the North Atlantic Oceans. As they advanced within the opening of the strait, their progress was greatly retarded by the number of inlets into which the entrance branched in every direction; and most of these were examined by the boats, which were frequently absent from the ships on this service for several days together. In the midst of their labours, they were surprised by the sight of two Spanish vessels of war, employed, like themselves, in surveying this inlet, the examination of which had been begun by them in the preceding year. Measures of mutual assistance were concerted between the captains of the two nations for the prosecution of the survey, in which each agreed to communicate to the other their discoveries. Not one of the many arms of the inlet, nor of the channels which they explored in this broken part of the coast, was found to extend more than 100 miles to the eastward of the entrance into the strait. After having surveyed the southern coast, on which side a termination was discovered to every opening, by following the continued line of the shore, they were led to the northward, and afterward towards the north-west, till they came into the open sea through a different channel from the strait of Juan de Fuca, by which they had commenced this inland navigation.
Thus it appeared, that the land forming the north side of that strait is part of an island, or of an archipelago, extending nearly 100 leagues in length from S.E. to N.W.; and on the side of this land most distant from the continent is situated Nootka Sound. The most peculiar circumstance of this navigation is the extreme depth of water, when contrasted with the narrowness of the channels. The vessels were sometimes drifted about by the currents during the whole of a night, close to the rocks, without knowing how to help themselves, on account of the darkness, and the depth being much too great to afford them anchorage.
In the course of this survey, the voyagers had frequent communications with the natives, whom they met sometimes in canoes and sometimes at their villages. In their transactions with Europeans, they are described as "well versed in the principles of trade, which they carried on in a very fair and honourable manner." In other respects they were less honest. At one village 200 sea otter skins were purchased of them by the crews of the vessels in the course of a day; and they had many more to sell in the same place, as also skins of bears, deer, and other animals. One party of Indians whom they met had the skin of a young lioness; and these spoke a language different from that used in Nootka Sound. Venison was sometimes bought for sale; and a piece of copper, not more than a foot square, purchased one whole deer and part of another. Among other articles of traffic, two children, five or seven years of age, were offered for sale. The commodities most prized by the natives were fire-arms, copper, and great coats. Beads and trinkets they would only receive as presents, and not as articles of exchange. Many of them were possessed of fire-arms. In one part it is related, that after a chief had received some presents, "he, with most of his companions, returned to the shore; and, on landing, fired several muskets, to show, in all probability, with what dexterity they could use these weapons, to which they seemed as familiarized as if they had been accustomed to fire-arms from their earliest infancy."
The dresses of these people, besides skins, are a kind of woollen garments; the materials composing which are explained in the following extract:
"The dogs belonging to this tribe of Indians were numerous, and much resembled those of Pomerania, though, though, in general, somewhat larger. They were all flaxen close to the skin as sheep are in England; and so compact were their fleeces, that large portions could be lifted up by a corner without causing any separation. They were composed of a mixture of a coarse kind of wool, with very fine long hair, capable of being spun into yarn. This gave Captain Vancouver reason to believe, that their woollen clothing might in part be composed of this material mixed with a finer kind of wool from some other animal, as their garments were all too fine to be manufactured from the coarse coating of the dog alone."
Of other animals alive, deer only were seen in any abundance by our people.
The number of inhabitants computed to be in the largest of the villages or towns that were discovered, did not exceed 600. Captain Vancouver conjectured the small-pox to be a disease common and very fatal among them. Many were much marked; and most of these had lost their right eye. Their method of disposing of their dead is very singular.
"Baskets were found suspended on high trees, each containing the skeleton of a young child; in some of which were also small square boxes filled with a kind of white paste, resembling (says our author) such as I had seen the natives eat, supposed to be made of the tarantula root; some of these boxes were quite full, others were nearly empty, eaten probably by the mice, squirrels, or birds. On the next low point south of our encampment, where the gunners were airing the powder, they met with several holes in which human bodies were interred, slightly covered over, and in different states of decay, some appearing to have been very recently deposited. About half a mile to the northward of our tents, where the land is nearly level with high water mark, a few paces within the skirts of the wood, a canoe was found suspended between two trees, in which were three human skeletons.
"On each point of the harbour, which, in honour of a particular friend, I called Penn's Cove, was a deserted village; in one of which were found several sepulchres, formed exactly like a cemetry box. Some of them were open, and contained the skeletons of many young children tied up in baskets; the smaller bones of adults were likewise noticed, but not one of the limb bones could here be found; which gave rise to an opinion, that these, by the living inhabitants of the neighbourhood, were appropriated to useful purposes; such as pointing their arrows, spears, or other weapons."
However honourably these people have been represented in their conduct as traders, it appeared on several occasions that it was unsafe to depend on their goodwill alone; and some instances occurred, of their making every preparation for an attack, from which they desisted only on being doubtful of the event; yet immediately on relinquishing their purpose, they would come with the greatest confidence to trade, appearing perfectly regardless of what had before been in agitation. The boats, as already noticed, were frequently at a great distance from the ships; and on such occasions, when large parties of Indians have first seen them, they generally held long conferences among themselves before they approached the boats; probably for the purpose of determining the mode of conduct which they judged it most prudent to observe. Captain Van-
couver places the entrance of the strait of Juan de Fuca Jugglers ca in 48° 20' N. Lat. and 124° W. Long.
JUGGLERS are a kind of people whose profession has not been often deemed either respectable or useful. Professor Beckmann, however, has undertaken their defense; and in a long and learned chapter in the third volume of his History of Inventions, pleads the cause of the practitioners of legerdemain; rope-dancers; persons who place their bodies in positions apparently dangerous; and of those who exhibit feats of uncommon strength. All these men he classes under the general denomination of Jugglers; and taking it for granted (surely upon no good grounds) that every useful employment is full, he contends, that there would not be room on the earth for all its present inhabitants did not some of them practice the arts of Juggling.
"These arts (says he) are indeed not unprofitable, for they afford a comfortable subsistence to those who practice them; but their gain is acquired by too little labour to be hoarded up; and, in general, these roving people spend on the spot the fruits of their ingenuity; which is an additional reason why their stay in a place should be encouraged. But farther, it often happens, that what ignorant persons first employ merely as a show, for amusement or deception, is afterwards enabled by being applied to a more important purpose. The machine with which a Savoyard, by means of shadows, amused children and the populace, was by Liberkuhn converted into a solar microscope; and, to give one example more, the art of making ice in summer, or in a heated oven, enables guests, much to the credit of their hosts, to cool the most expensive dishes. The Indian discovers precious stones, and the European, by polishing, gives them a lustre.
"But, if the arts of juggling served no other end than to amuse the most ignorant of our citizens, it is proper that they should be encouraged for the sake of those who cannot enjoy the more expensive deceptions of an opera. They answer other purposes, however, than that of merely amusing; they convey instruction in the most acceptable manner, and serve as an agreeable antidote to superstition, and to that popular belief in miracles, exorcism, conjuration, sorcery, and witchcraft, from which our ancestors suffered so severely."
Surely this reasoning, as well as the cause in which it is brought forward, is unworthy of the learning of Beckmann. It is indeed true, that jugglers spend their money freely, and that their arts afford them the means of subsistence; but it is very seldom, as our author must know, that they subsist either comfortably or innocently. Is it innocent to entice the ignorant and labouring poor, by useless deceptions, to part with their hard-earned pittance to idle vagabonds? or is the life of those vagabonds comfortable, when it is passed amid scenes of the most grovelling dissipation? Jugglers spend indeed their money, for the most part, on the spot where it is gained; but they spend it in drunkennesses, and other seducing vices, which corrupt their own morals and the morals of all with whom they associate; and therefore, their stay in a place should certainly not be encouraged. Could it be proved that the solar microscope would never have been invented, had not a Savoyard juggler contrived a similar machine to amuse children and the rabble, some stress might be laid on the service which such wretches base have rendered to science; but where is the man that will suppose the philosophy of Bacon and Newton to rest upon the arts of juggling? or who considers the refinements of science as of equal value with the morals of the people? There is, at the moment in which this article is drawing up, a fellow exhibiting, before the windows of the writer's chamber, the most indecent scenes by means of puppets, and keeping the mob in a constant roar. Is he innocently employed? or will any good man lay that there is not room for him in the armies which on the Continent are fighting in the cause of God and humanity?
Our author endeavours to strengthen his reasoning by proving, which he does very completely, the antiquity of juggling. "The deception (says he) of breathing out flames, which at present excites, in a particular manner, the astonishment of the ignorant, is very ancient. When the slaves in Sicily, about a century and a half before our era, made a formidable insurrection, and avenged themselves in a cruel manner for the sufferings which they had suffered, there was amongst them a Syrian named Eumus, a man of great craft and courage, who, having passed through many scenes of life, had become acquainted with a variety of arts. He pretended to have immediate communication with the gods; was the oracle and leader of his fellow slaves; and, as is usual on such occasions, confirmed his divine mission by miracles. When, heated by enthusiasm, he was delirious of inspiring his followers with courage, he breathed flames or sparks among them from his mouth while he was addressing them. We are told by historians, that for this purpose he pierced a nut-shell at both ends, and, having filled it with some burning substance, put it into his mouth and breathed through it.
"This deception, at present, is performed much better. The juggler rolls together some flax or hemp, so as to form a ball about the size of a walnut; sets it on fire; and suffers it to burn till it is nearly consumed; he then rolls round it, while burning, some more flax; and by these means the fire may be retained in it for a long time. When he wishes to exhibit, he flips the ball unperceived into his mouth and breathes through it; which again revives the fire, so that a number of weak sparks proceed from it; and the performer sustains no hurt, provided he inspire the air not through the mouth but the nostrils.
"For deceptions with fire the ancients employed also naphtha, a liquid mineral oil, which kindles when it only approaches a flame. (See NAPHTHA, Encycl.) Galen informs us, that a person excited great astonishment by extinguishing a candle and again lighting it, without any other process than holding it immediately against a wall or a stone. The whole secret of this consisted in having previously rubbed over the wall or stone with sulphur. But as the author, a few lines before, speaks of a mixture of sulphur and naphtha, we have reason to think that he alludes to the same here. Plutarch relates how Alexander the Great was astonished and delighted with the secret effects of naphtha, which were exhibited to him at Ecbatana. The same author, as well as Pliny, Galen, and others, has already remarked, that the substance with which Medea destroyed Creusa, the daughter of Creon, was nothing else than this fine oil. She sent to the unfortunate princess a dress besmeared with it, which burst into flames as soon as she approached the fire of the altar. The blood of Nessus, in which the dress of Hercules, which took fire likewise, had been dipped, was undoubtedly naphtha also; and this oil must have been always employed when offerings caught fire in an imperceptible manner.
"In modern times, persons who could walk over burning coals or red-hot iron, or who could hold red-hot iron in their hands, have often excited wonder. But laying aside the deception sometimes practised on the spectators, the whole of this secret consists in rendering the skin of the soles of the feet and hands so callous and insensible, that the nerves under them are secured from all hurt, in the same manner as by shoes and gloves. Such callosity will be produced if the skin is continually compressed, fingered, pricked, or injured in any other manner. Thus do the fingers of the industrious sempitrefa become horny by being frequently pricked; and the case is the same with the hands of fire-workers, and the feet of those who walk barefooted over scorching sand.
"In the month of September 1765, when I visited (says our author) the copper-works at Avedad, one of the workmen, for a little drink-money, took some of the melted copper in his hand, and after throwing it to us, threw it against a wall. He then squeezed the fingers of his horny hand close to each other; put it a few minutes under his arm-pit, to make it sweat, as he said; and, taking it again out, drew it over a ladle filled with melted copper, some of which he flung off, and moved his hand backwards and forwards, very quickly, by way of ostentation. While I was viewing this performance, I remarked a smell like that of fanged horn or leather, though his hand was not burnt. It is highly probable, that people who hold in their hands red hot iron, or who walk upon it, as I saw done at Amsterdam, but at a distance, make their skin callous before, in the like manner. This may be accomplished by frequently moistening it with spirit of vitriol; according to some the juice of certain plants will produce the same effect; and we are assured by others, that the skin must be very frequently rubbed, for a long time, with oil, by which means, indeed, leather also will become horny."
Our author then proves, in a very learned manner, that all these tricks were of high antiquity; that the Hirpi, who lived near Rome, jumped through burning coals; that women were accustomed to walk over burning coals at Callabatha in Cappadocia, near the temple dedicated to Diana; that the exhibition of balls and cups (see Legerdemain, Encycl.) is often mentioned in the works of the ancients; that in the third century, one Firmus or Firmius, who endeavoured to make himself emperor in Egypt, suffered a smith to forge iron on an anvil placed on his breast; that rope-dancers with balancing poles are mentioned by Petronius and others; and that the various feats of horsemanship exhibited in our circuses passed, in the thirteenth century, from Egypt to the Byzantine court, and thence over all Europe.