Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation has been standardized.

This book was written in a period when many words had not become standardized in their spelling. Words may have multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in the text. These have been left unchanged unless indicated with a Transcriber’s Note.

The symbol ‡ indicates the description in parenthesis has been added to an illustration. This may be needed if there is no caption or if the caption does not describe the image adequately.

Transcriber Notes are used when making corrections to the text or to provide additional information for the modern reader. These notes are not identified in the text, but have been accumulated in a single section at the end of the book.

NEARLY READY,

Cloth Gilt, Price Five Shillings, Elaborately and Profusely Illustrated by The BROTHERS DALZIEL, uniform with the Boy’s Book of Industrial Information.

OUTLINES OF CREATION. By Elisha Noyce.

The object of the Author is to give a simple, clear, and lucid description of the Universe under the following divisions:—

The Sky. The Earth. The Vegetable Kingdom.
The Air. The Waters. The Animal Kingdom.

London: Ward & Lock, 158, Fleet Street.

THE BOY’S BOOK
OF
INDUSTRIAL INFORMATION.

BY

ELISHA NOYCE.

ILLUSTRATED
WITH THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE ENGRAVINGS,

BY

THE BROTHERS DALZIEL.

LONDON:
WARD & LOCK, 158, FLEET STREET.
1858.

PREFACE.

In putting this work before the public, the Author has endeavoured to supply a clear and brief description of the materials, processes, and apparatus made use of in the various examples of industry and skill constantly before our eyes, so that the reader may acquire a knowledge of such things, and an interest in those, who, by their hard work and patient ingenuity, supply them; for every article and process can be made to have a value and an interest, in proportion to the amount of knowledge we possess respecting them.

There is no attempt in this work to describe every article and process, but such only as are most interesting and instructive. All the mere trades and handicrafts—the results of which are so various, and depend so completely upon the skill of the artisan, that any description of their particulars would scarcely be profitable or interesting to the reader—have been avoided. The illustrations of this work have been prepared with the greatest care, and drawn from reality. By the kind permission of Lord Panmure, the artists were allowed to make whatever drawings were necessary in the Arsenal at Woolwich; and thanks are due to many of our eminent manufacturers for similar favours with respect to their several factories and machinery.

In the first division of this work have been placed all those materials which exist in nature, either isolated or combined, and which have merely to be extracted or separated, as the earths, metals, &c. Under the second division, “Manufactured Products,” such results of manufacture as are known by the common designation “stuff,” and are of an uniform and particular quality, as soap, soda, &c., not existing in Nature as such. In the third division, individual articles, the result of skilled labour, each compounded and made up of several substances, or of particular forms. In the fourth section are the processes made use of in the production of the various necessaries or elegancies of life. Some of these might have been placed under the second and third divisions, but the Author thought proper to place them here, on account of the processes being more readily described than their results. The fifth division is devoted to the most usual forms of Apparatus and Machinery of general application, avoiding all mere tools and machines for specific purposes. The last division is a mere outline of those important engineering works which of late have acquired an increased interest from the addition of railways and electric telegraphs to their number.

INTRODUCTION.

The inquiring mind uses all its senses to obtain some new idea, and to apply it to some useful purpose; it is this spirit of research that has led to all the great results in Art and in the mechanical and chemical sciences, which we now enjoy and admire; but it is only by very slow degrees, and by great perseverance, that such results are obtained, although the accumulation of a few years makes an enormous aggregate. Look back a generation or two—where was then the steam engine, where the tall stalks which indicate the sites of complicated and ingenious manufactures? the blacksmith then worked at his anvil, and wrought out with his hands what he required in iron; but what is now done with this treasure of the mine? behold the Leviathan and the Britannia Bridge,—count their thousands of tons of plate iron rolled out by machinery, and think of the work of their removal, the millions of rivets to fix them together, the elevation of the one, and the launching of the other. Could this be done without that machinery which has become gradually perfected by thought and perseverance? Visit the iron works and see the powerful “steam hammer” moulding into form a mass of red-hot iron, many tons in weight; see the powerful and beautiful contrivances for rolling into plates, drawing into bars and wire, or cutting up this stubborn metal, and call it stubborn no more! See the powerful “locomotive” carrying along the trams hundreds of tons of goods at a rate that can hardly be equalled by the bird that flies through the air on its light pinions; and the huge steam ships which cut their rapid way across the seas, holding in contempt those very winds upon which alone the mariner used to depend! See with what rapidity and accuracy almost every kind of “textile” material is produced by the steam-worked loom, and remember that these have all arisen, with hundreds more, from small beginnings, and step by step.

Nor does the mechanical genius bound the works of civilisation. From studying the various properties of the elements of nature, and the results of their combination in various proportions and under various conditions, the chemist arrives, not only at their uses and applications, but obtains results before quite unthought of! Instance the electric telegraph, and think how it conveys one’s thoughts half round the globe before you can express an exclamation of surprise that such things can be! See also the wonderful results of the photographic art, copying the most elaborate picture, machine, or portrait, in a few seconds, and see the results of electro-deposition, which by an invisible agent, coats with pure gold or silver any article subjected to its action, or produces in a mould the article itself of the most elaborate form or pattern, and in solid metal, extracted by this all-powerful agent from liquids which the uninformed would never believe could contain any metal at all. Think of the beautiful colours of our carpets, draperies, silks, &c.—the chemist has devised the dyes with which they are stained; and in our chemical factories, what tons of vitriol, soda, bleaching powder, and scores of other chemical agents are daily produced. All this is the result of study and perseverance. Neither have the Fine Arts been behind in contributing to civilisation, as may be seen in the structure and decoration of our houses, churches, and public buildings; in our glass and pottery ware; paper hangings, and other artistic designs; in engraving and the copious illustration of our books, saving a long and tedious description, and often presenting to the eye forms that words could not express. And now let us consider one by one the “materials” and processes from which all these results arise.

CONTENTS.

NATURAL PRODUCTS.

EARTHS.

1. EMERALD. 2. GARNET. 3. FORTIFICATION AGATE.
4. RUBY. 5. DIAMOND. 6. ROCK CRYSTAL.

All earths are metals in combination with oxygen: that is to say, they can all be separated into a metal and oxygen. The chief earths used are Alumina, found as clay or slate; Lime, found as chalk or limestone; and Silica, found as sand, flint, or rock-crystal. These, in various proportions, combined with some few other matters, form, by far, the greatest portion of the earth we dwell on. The earths, when pure, are all white substances, not very heavy, and having scarcely any of the properties of the metals from which they are derived. The next frequent of the earths are Baryta and Strontia; but these may be said to be useless when compared with the three former. Alumina, in its various forms of clay, is used for brick and tile-making, and for pottery; hardened into the form of slate, it is much used for roofing and for making cisterns. Lime, in the form of carbonate, constitutes the best building stones, including marble, so valuable for ornamental carving and decoration, and when burnt, to separate the carbonic acid, forms lime itself, which is invaluable as a cement when mixed with sand; lime, in union with another acid (sulphuric) forms plaster of Paris, also a most useful article in the arts, &c. Silica, in the form of sand, is very extensively used for glass making, and, in the form of flint, it is ground and used for pottery: all such stones as quartz, rock-crystal, Scotch pebble, agate, cornelian, &c. are but various forms of Silica, either crystallized or deposited in layers. Most of the precious stones are composed of the earths in a crystalline state and colored by some foreign ingredient, such are the emerald, ruby, garnet, &c. The diamond is not an earth but composed of pure carbon.

METALS AND ALLOYS.

Metals may be known from all other substances by certain properties: they have that peculiar brilliancy, called, for that reason, the “metallic” lustre; they are rapidly heated, and as rapidly cool, hence they are said to be good conductors of heat; they are all opaque, and most of them very heavy; some indeed, as gold and platinum, are the heaviest substances known, being about twenty times heavier than water; they have, moreover, other valuable properties such as the capability of being melted, of being drawn out into wire, of being beaten into thin plates, &c.

All metals are simple bodies; that is to say, they cannot be made out of other substances, although two or more metals may be combined and be again separated, or they may be combined with numerous other substances, as oxygen, and also again separated. There are upwards of fifty metals known to chemists, yet but few are used to any extent in the arts or manufactures. All the metals in use for the very many purposes to which they are applied are not simple metals, but are what are called “alloys,” that is to say, compounds of two or more metals. The chief metals in use are—

IRON, MERCURY,
COPPER, NICKEL,
LEAD, GOLD,
TIN, SILVER,
ZINC, PLATINUM.

But in the state of oxide many are used which are seldom seen in the metallic state, such are the earths and alkalies; and for colors, and several other purposes, many other preparations are in use. The chief alloys, or compound metals in use, are, brass, made of copper and zinc; pewter, made of lead and tin; bell metal and gun metal, made of copper and tin; and solder, which is a kind of pewter, and made of the same metals; the silvering for looking-glasses is made of mercury and tin; the gold and silver used for coin are not pure metals, but alloyed with two parts of silver or copper to every twenty-two of the pure metal, and this forms the “standard” gold or silver. The gold used by jewellers has often a much greater proportion of alloy—for this name is given both to a compound metal and the cheaper metal made to combine with the more precious. The object gained by thus alloying the coinage, is that of rendering the metals harder, so that they shall not suffer much loss in wearing; thus a small quantity of copper mixed with either gold or silver, renders them both harder, although itself softer than either. The combination of certain metals forming alloys, is often not exactly the mean of their respective qualities, for instance, a small quantity of silver is sometimes fused with cast steel for penknife blades, and although the silver is itself much softer than the steel, yet the combination is found to be both closer in the grain and harder; it is known as silver-steel in commerce. Bismuth, although itself not very fusible, increases the fusibility of other metals; a combination of 2 parts tin, 3 lead, and 5 bismuth, forms a metal fusible by boiling water.

IRON.

NATIVE OXIDE OF IRON.

Iron stands first in usefulness of all the metals, for railways, bridges, ships, and a thousand other purposes; it can be both cast and wrought, having that peculiar property, the capability of being “welded,” that is to say, of softening while hot to such an extent that when two pieces are made white hot and laid together, a few blows of the hammer will cause them to unite into one piece, and it is by means of this most useful quality that large masses of wrought iron are produced, such, for instance, as anchors and cranks for steam-boats. This property of welding, and the abundance of the ores of iron, render it one of the most useful materials supplied by nature for the various purposes of manufacture. In combination with carbon it forms that hardly less useful article known by the name of steel.

Cast Iron has scarcely any of the metallic lustre, and is only fitted for solid work; it is brittle, like steel, without its elasticity, and is too soft and too porous to be made into any of the numerous tools and instruments for which steel is so eminently suitable. Cast iron contains many impurities, the chief of which are carbon, sulphur, and silica, got from the coke whilst being smelted in contact with it, and from the fluxes used in the process; it is coarse in grain, and much more fusible than wrought iron, which is iron in a nearly pure state and can be fused only by the very highest heat capable of being produced. Cast iron is converted into wrought or malleable iron by being re-melted and stirred for a long time in contact with the air, this process is called “puddling,” its object is to get rid of all the impurities (chiefly carbon and sulphur) which, by being brought into contact with the air at a high temperature, are said to be burnt out, that is to say, they combine with oxygen and form carbonic and sulphurous acids. After puddling, the iron is rolled or hammered out, folded up, and again extended, and as a general rule it may be said, the more this is continued the purer and softer is the iron.

COPPER

NATIVE COPPER.

Copper is a reddish-coloured heavy metal, much used for sheathing the under part of ships, for making boilers, &c. It is about eight-and-a-half times heavier than water, and is too valuable to be used for many purposes where either iron, tinned iron, or zinc are applied, but for which purposes its great durability would fit it, as it is easily rolled out or beaten into plates, and is not quickly acted on by the weather. It is used as coin in pence, halfpence, and farthings; all vessels for cooking purposes, when made of copper, are tinned inside to prevent the food becoming poisonous from verdigris, which is the rust of copper, and is very injurious. Copper is found chiefly combined with sulphur, forming “native sulphuret of copper.” Copper melts at a full red heat.

LEAD.

SULPHURET OF LEAD.

Lead is a heavy metal, of a dull blueish tint, and very soft; it is extensively used for covering roofs, for cisterns, and for pipes for conveying water, as it is easily bent and joined, and is not acted on by the water which passes through it. Lead melts at a heat below that of redness, and, in combination with oxygen and carbonic acid, forms the “white lead” of commerce so largely used as a paint. Oxide of lead, called “litharge,” enters into the composition of flint glass, and in combination with a larger quantity of oxygen forms “red lead,” a substance much used in painting. Lead is found in many parts of England, especially Cornwall, where many lead mines exist; it is got from the sulphuret called “galena,” which is lead in union with sulphur. What is called “black-lead” is not lead at all, but is an ore of iron, being iron in combination with carbon. Lead is about eleven-and-a-half times heavier than water.

TIN.

OXIDE OF TIN.

Tin is a white metal, almost as white as silver, it is found chiefly in Cornwall. It is a light, soft metal, and, like lead, is easily melted; it is used chiefly for coating vessels of harder metal, such as iron and copper. It is used to mix with copper to produce bronze, bell metal, and gun metal, and with lead to produce pewter, which used to be so extensively used as table-ware before the manufacture of earthenware became general for that purpose. Tin does not easily tarnish or rust by exposure to the air, hence the use of tinned iron-plate. Tin, united with mercury, forms the silvering for looking-glasses. Tin is about seven-and-a-half times heavier than water.

ZINC.

SULPHURET OF ZINC.

Until the last quarter of a century, zinc was but little used, but of late it has taken the place for many useful purposes where lead was formerly used, principally owing to its cheapness and lightness. Zinc is a hard metal of a grayish colour, not easily bent but rather brittle, but when made nearly red hot, it is capable both of being rolled out into sheets and being beaten into form by the hammer. Zinc is about six-and-three-quarter times heavier than water. Like many other metals, zinc is volatile, that is to say, when heated to a certain extent it passes off into vapour, and there is no doubt, the reason that zinc was not known or used of old was that it was chiefly lost in “smelting,” or getting it from its ores. Zinc is now obtained by a sort of distillation; the ores are mixed with the flux, &c., in a large earthen crucible or pot, from which an iron tube passes into a vessel of water, the lid is securely fastened on, and as the heat is urged the zinc is driven off in vapour, passes down the tube and condenses in the water. The zinc of commerce is obtained chiefly from the ore known by the name of “calamine stone,” which is zinc in combination with oxygen and carbonic acid. A substance called “zinc white” has been lately introduced as a substitute for white lead, and would certainly supersede it, but the zinc is found to be deficient in “body,” which means, the power of covering anything over which it is laid-on in a thin layer, but as zinc white does not blacken in foul air, and white lead does, it has a great advantage, and it is to be hoped that some improvement in its manufacture may improve its “body.” Zinc is chiefly used for roofs, gutters, water-pipes, cisterns, and various vessels for holding water, as it does not rust so easily as iron. What is called “galvanised iron,” is iron dipped into melted Zinc in the same way that tin-plate is.

MERCURY.

Mercury, or quicksilver, is known from all other metals by being fluid at the ordinary temperature of the air. This is only owing to its extreme fusibility, for at 72 degrees below the freezing point of water, it also becomes solid, and may be hammered out or cut by a knife; it is very heavy, being about fifteen-and-a-half times that of water, so that most of the metals will float on its surface; it has a bright lustre and is almost as white as silver. It is found both in the fluid metallic state, and in combination with sulphur, in which last state it is called “cinnabar;” this is a heavy mass of a deep red color, and when ground to powder, of a most magnificent red, and is the vermillion so well known as a pigment; this vermillion is, however, most frequently manufactured by combining the mercury and sulphur, both first purified, in this way a more brilliant color is produced than can be got from the cinnabar. The metal is extracted by heating the cinnabar with iron-filings or lime in a retort, by which means the mercury distils over and the sulphur is left behind united with the iron or lime.

Mercury is used for many purposes in the arts and sciences, for barometers, thermometers, compensating pendulums for clocks, &c., and also in the processes of water-gilding, looking glass silvering, and in the Daguerreotype process. The combinations of mercury with other metals are called “amalgams.”

GOLD.

GOLD.

Gold is the heaviest of the metals with the exception of Platinum, being rather more than nineteen times heavier than water; it is of a bright yellow color, and is not tarnished by exposure to the air or moisture, hence its usefulness in ornamenting frames, cornices, &c. Gold is chiefly used, in the form of coin, as the medium of exchange; for ornamental purposes, such as jewellery; for gilding, and for staining glass, to which it gives a beautiful ruby-red color. Gold coin contains about one twelfth part, by weight, of copper, this is added to give it hardness and consequently cause it to lose less by wear in use. Gold is not dissolved by any of the pure acids, but a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids will dissolve it in consequence of giving out chlorine, an element which freely dissolves gold.

Gold is capable of being beaten out into leaves of extreme thinness, and also of being drawn into wire of such thinness that five hundred feet of it weigh but one grain.

SILVER.

SILVER.

Silver is the whitest of the metals; it is about ten-and-a-half times heavier than water; it does not easily tarnish by the air, and is not converted into dross by heat continued for any length of time, or, in chemical language, it is not oxydised; it is chiefly used for coin and for ornamental purposes where its cleanliness and beauty are strong qualities to recommend it. Many kinds of lead ore contain silver, and when this is in sufficiently large proportion to pay for its extraction, the reduced lead is subjected to the flame of a furnace which is blown on to it with a strong blast, the flame melts the lead and converts it into an oxide called “litharge,” which is in the form of reddish scales, and as these are formed the blast blows them off; in this way the lead is gradually consumed, leaving the silver with but a small quantity of lead, this is put on to a cup made of bone ashes called a “cupel,” hence this operation is called “cupellation,” the heat is then raised, and the lead which remains with the silver, forming a liquid glass with the bone ashes, sinks into them, leaving the silver bright and pure. Silver in some districts is extracted from its ores by what is called “amalgamation;” the finely powdered ore is mixed with water, some cuttings of iron and quicksilver, and turned round in a barrel for a considerable time, when the quicksilver is drawn off through a small hole, and is found to contain all the silver in the ore, together with some other metals. The quicksilver is got rid of, first by pressing and then by distillation; so that it is all recovered for a second operation. What remains is separated from the other metals, which it may have been mixed with by different processes, according to the nature of these metals.

The standard silver of the Mint is what is called 22 carats fine (nearly), that is to say, 22 parts in 24, the two parts being copper; this is done to harden it. The silvering of looking-glasses is made of a compound of tin and mercury, but a process for really silvering looking-glasses has been patented by Mr. Drayton; it consists of precipitating silver from its solution by means of the oil of Cassia, or some other volatile oil: the process is far too expensive for general use or for large plates. Silver leaf is made and used in the same way that gold leaf is.

PLATINUM.

Platinum is a metal of a white color, and is the heaviest substance known, being more than twenty-one times heavier than water. It is capable of being welded and wrought out by the hammer like iron; it is not acted on by any of the acids, but, like Gold, is dissolved by chlorine or a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acid; it does not tarnish by exposure to air, and is extremely difficult to melt, requiring the very highest heat that can be produced; these qualities render it one of the most useful of the metals to the chemist, furnishing him with retorts, crucibles, and evaporating dishes suitable for many purposes; its high price, however, renders it not so generally used as it would otherwise be.

NICKEL.

This metal is of a white color and very difficult to melt, it is about eight times heavier than water and is chiefly obtained from the ore known as kupfer-nickel, found very plentifully in Germany; this kupfer-nickel is a native arseniuret of nickel, that is, nickel in chemical combination with arsenic. It is very difficult to separate these two metals, but an effectual and cheap process has lately been devised to do so.

Nickel is attracted by the magnet similar to iron but in an inferior degree. Till lately nickel was but little used, but it now forms the basis of those compound metals known as nickel-silver, German-silver, and British-plate, all which varieties are generally employed as an economical substitute for silver; it is also used largely as a foundation on which to deposit pure silver by the electro-plating process, for which purpose it is most admirably suited being very superior to copper in consequence of its color, as the silver always wears off unequally and exposes the ground work of metal beneath. German-silver is composed of copper, nickel, and zinc, in various proportions. Nickel always forms one of the constituents of meteoric iron, those mysterious masses called aerolites, which sometimes fall to the earth.

COAL.

MINERALS.

This, the richest product of the mine, the well-known fuel used in almost every branch of industry as well as for warming our houses, is got from the depths of the earth, where it exists in certain localities forming what are called “coal fields” or “basins.” It is the result of changes produced during many ages upon vegetable matter buried during the various convulsions which the earth has undergone, and pressed into layers or strata of various thicknesses. To raise this valuable fuel, powerful machinery is used and deep shafts are sunk at an enormous expense.

Coal exists in various forms: the following are the most easily recognised:—

1.—Cubical coal; shining and easily broken into squarish fragments. It burns brightly.

2.—Slate coal; dull in color, splits like slate. Burns well.

3.—Cannel coal; dull color, breaks like resin, and somewhat resembles jet. Burns brilliantly, and splits with a crackling noise when in the fire. It affords the best gas.

4.—Glance, or Kilkenny coal; steel-grey color and metallic lustre. Burns without flame or smoke, somewhat like charcoal.

5.—Lignite, or brown coal; is an imperfectly formed coal.

The quantity of coal used is rapidly increasing owing to the extensive number of steam engines used, especially for navigation and railway transit; and it is a problem, not yet determined, how long the coal existing in Great Britain is likely to last; the lowest statements make it but little below a thousand years.

SULPHUR.

Sulphur, also called Brimstone, is a natural production, and is found either pure, or combined with metals forming ores, for the most part called “pyrites,” as, iron pyrites, copper pyrites, &c. In chemical language these compounds are called “sulphurets” or “sulphides.” Sulphur is one of the elements; that is to say, it is a simple body, or one neither capable of being made nor separated into other ingredients.It is crystalline, of a bright yellow color, very inflammable and volatile, burns with a blue flame and gives off pungent fumes of sulphurous acid. It is got pure by distillation from various substances containing it, and in Sicily is found nearly pure as a volcanic product. Sulphur is chiefly used for the manufacture of sulphuric acid and gunpowder, and was also largely used for making matches, but phosphorus (a still more inflammable substance) has almost superseded it in the manufacture of this necessary article.

PLASTER OF PARIS, OR GYPSUM.

Plaster of Paris is sulphate of lime—a combination of lime and sulphuric acid; and exists abundantly in various degrees of purity; it occurs plentifully in the locality of Paris, and is brought here in masses of a greenish, pink, or brown color. To prepare the gypsum it is first made red hot, to separate the water which it contains, and then ground to powder of various degrees of fineness. Plaster of Paris has the peculiar property of uniting with a certain quantity of water and forming a solid compound with it; upon this property all its usefulness depends. If a portion of Plaster of Paris be mixed with sufficient water to form a liquid of the consistence of cream, in a few minutes it will harden and become quite set, and as it dries, it will harden still more, till it is of a hardness almost equal to stone: this useful property causes it to be much used for casting figures and ornaments; cheap plaster figures, &c., are generally cast hollow, to save the plaster; this is done by pouring into the mould a certain quantity of the plaster mixed with water, and quickly turning the mould about so that it shall adhere and form a layer on all the inside of the mould; when set hard, the mould is taken to pieces and the figure finished by scraping off the marks where the mould was joined. Plaster of Paris, combined with whiting, forms what is called by plasterers “putty,” and is much used for ceilings, and similar purposes.

SALT.

Salt is one of the most widely spread and plentiful minerals which the earth gives for the use of man; all the water of the ocean derives its saline taste from salt; many springs are completely saturated and are hence called “brine springs,” and it also exists crystallized in beds within the earth of immense thickness and extending for miles each way. The salt mines of Cheshire are the finest and most extensive in England, and in some places the stratum or layer of salt is more than one hundred feet thick, perfectly white and crystallized. Salt is not a simple body, but is composed of two simple bodies or elements, chlorine and sodium, hence it is called by chemists the chloride of sodium, it can be formed by putting carbonate of soda into hydro-chloric acid (sometimes called muriatic acid,) until no more effervescence takes place, the result will taste salt and yield pure salt on evaporation. The waters of the sea are in some places evaporated by the heat of the sun in shallow hollows dug out in the beach, this is called “bay salt” and is very impure; but the chief part of the salt of commerce is procured by evaporating the waters of brine springs; this water is pumped up into large iron cisterns placed beneath slight sheds to keep the rain off, and having flues running beneath them, the first impurities are thrown away, and as evaporation goes on, the salt crystallizes and falls to the bottom of the cistern in a fine white powder; this is taken out with wooden shovels and placed in conical vessels with a hole in their lower part to drain off all the moisture; it is then dried by stoves and is fit for use; when no more salt falls down, the impure liquor, called “bittern,” is drawn off and used to procure Epsom salts from, by mixing it with sulphuric acid. The bittern contains chloride of magnesium, and the sulphuric acid changes it into sulphate of magnesia, which, when purified, forms the Epsom salts sold by druggists.

About half a million tons of salt are made in England every year. Salt, besides its general use as a condiment, and in preserving food for storing ships, &c., is also used for several manufacturing purposes. By adding sulphuric acid and heating it, the acid called “hydrochloric” is given off, which is largely used for many purposes; but the chief use made of salt by the manufacturing chemist is to prepare soda for cleansing and soap making.

STONE.

STONE QUARRY.

Stone for building is chiefly of four kinds:—lime-stone, sand-stone, granite, and marble. Slate is never used for building, but is very suitable for roofing. The most common stone is limestone, and that brought from Portland Island is especially good for building-stone; it is called Portland stone, and it is of this stone that St. Paul’s Cathedral is built, and most of the other public buildings of London: it is rather soft when first dug from the quarry, but hardens with age. Sandstone is a very coarse kind of stone, and is only used where not much exposed to the weather; it consists of grains of sand adhering so firmly together as to form a stone of considerable hardness. Granite is a very hard stone, and very durable; so hard that it cannot well be carved, and is therefore only used where durability and plain solidity are required; London Bridge and the Euston Square Terminus of the Birmingham Railway are built of granite. Marble is a very fine heavy kind of limestone, sometimes quite white, and generally partly transparent; the white kind is very expensive, and is used for statuary, that is to say, for carving into figures, vases, &c.; it is very durable, but is too expensive for general use. Chimney-pieces, slabs for washing-stands, and other articles of that description, are also made of it.

Limestone, marble, and also chalk (a soft kind of limestone), all become changed into lime if made red hot, hence the name, limestone, is often applied to all three.

Stone quarries are those places where stone exists of a quality suitable for building purposes, and in a situation admitting of its easy removal. All stone, with the exception of granite and marble, exists in layers or strata as they are called, so that the stone can be easily split in the direction of these strata or seams. When a large piece of stone has to be removed, wedges are driven in a row into these seams, and when the stone has started, it is notched at the sides and back, so that in general a square piece is thus removed; if it be not so, it is generally made into a somewhat square before leaving the quarry, hence the name, derived from the French “quarre.” Granite having none of the lines of cleavage, as they are called, is broken by a row of wedges driven till a crack forms from one to the other. Slate is a clay-stone found in layers like limestone, but much more perfect; so much so, indeed, that it can be split into slices a quarter of an inch thick and one or two feet square; these, when sorted into sizes, form the slates for roofing houses. It has been much used of late in thick slabs, cut by circular saws, for making cisterns, a purpose for which it is well adapted.

WOOD.

Wood is an article of universal application; its lightness, strength, and the facility with which it can be worked, render it almost invaluable; although in ship-building and many of its applications to house-building iron has to some extent superseded it, yet there are so many other ways in which it is indispensable, that it may be looked upon as one of the greatest boons to mankind. There is scarcely a use to which wood may not be applied, whether as fuel for fires, timber for building, furniture both useful and ornamental, various parts of machinery, vessels to contain wine and other fluids, handles to instruments, (for in cold climates and cold weather metal cannot be handled with impunity), and indeed for all uses in which lightness, dryness, warmth, and variety of form are desirable, wood serves as an excellent material. The kind of trees that produce wood fit for building and other useful purposes are those called by the botanists exogenous. Amongst which the pine tribe, oak, ash, elm, and beech, stand pre-eminent; while mahogany, walnut, and rosewood are chiefly used for ornamental purposes; box-tree wood is also very useful on account of its closeness and evenness of grain; it is the wood used by engravers.

Wood when first cut is wet and heavy, but, by being exposed to the air, it shrinks and the sap dries up in it, it is therefore liable to swell and become damp in moist situations this is detrimental to its usefulness; most woods therefore are improved by being soaked a long time in water, this cleanses it from saline and extractive matters which keeps the wood damp, but which, when separated, allow the wood to shrink and harden permanently, this process is called seasoning, the same effect may be produced by exposure to the air and rain, it is generally resorted to when the timber is cut up into smaller pieces. The structure of wood is porous, hence its lightness, it has also a grain which runs the whole length of the wood in circles round its centre to the surface, one of these circles is produced every year while the tree is growing; wood is therefore capable of being cleft in the direction of the grain by a wedge, in this way builder’s laths are made. Wood cannot be cleft across the grain, but must be cut by sawing or otherwise. The pine or fir tribe produce the largest and straightest timber, but it is not so strong nor so durable as oak and many other woods.

Some specimens of the Araucaria Excelsa or Norfolk Island pine, have stems upwards of three hundred feet high, and in the Crystal Palace is the bark of another gigantic tree the Wellingtonia Gigantea.

COTTON.

COTTON.

Cotton consists of the fine long hairs which grow from the seeds of several varieties of Gossypium, a plant belonging to the natural order of Malvaceæ. These hairs are so long and numerous that they completely fill the pod or seed vessel; they are very delicate, and of the same size throughout, and but seldom jointed, they are each separate from the other.

The cotton plant is chiefly cultivated in America and India. In India, and some of the islands in the Indian Ocean, cotton has been cultivated, spun, and woven into textures from time immemorial. Cotton fabrics were in use in Mexico before its conquest by the Spaniards, and have been used in China for many hundred years; its chief source now is America, where more than two hundred times the quantity is grown at present than was grown there half-a-century ago; but the internal communication brought about by railways in India, may, in all probability, revive the cultivation of cotton in that country; the cost of conveyance from the interior having been one of the greatest drawbacks to its exportation.

Cotton is not only cheaper than linen (which is woven from flax), but has several advantages over it: it takes dyes much better, and produces brighter colors; the improvements made in the machinery for spinning and weaving cotton, have not only enabled us to match the spinners and weavers of India, which, for a long time supplied nearly the whole of Europe, but at the present time, cotton cloths of English manufacture are exported to India for the purpose of clothing the natives of that country.

FLAX.

FLAX.

Flax is obtained from the stalks of the flax plant Linum Usitatissimum, it is supposed to have been originally brought from Egypt, where linens have been woven from its fibres from time immemorial. It is now found growing wild in this country, and is cultivated in most parts of Europe, either for its stalks to make flax, or for its seed (linseed), which is used for fattening cattle, and yields an oil (linseed oil) much used in the making of paint. The plant grows to two or three feet in height, bears a blue flower in July, and has a great hollow stem; when gathered, it is pulled up by the roots. The fibres of flax are very long and even; it is the inner part which yields the best fibres.

SILK.

SILK.

Silk is by far the strongest of the textile fabrics, being nearly three times as strong as flax; it consists of the filaments spun by the silk-worm, Phalœna Bombyx Anori. These filaments are always double, proceeding from two holes in the head of the worm, and are united by a sort of varnish which is moist and clammy when the threads proceed from the insect, and causes them to adhere together. The silk-worm in spinning, moves the head backwards and forwards, attaching the threads on alternate sides and all around till it is completely covered in with a ball of silk; in this state it is called a “coccoon.” The silk-worm, like others of its class, undergoes four changes or metamorphoses—the Egg, the Grub or Worm, the Chrysalis, and the Imago or perfect insect, which, in this case, is a moth. The worm spins the coccoon to defend itself from injury and cold, but man, taking advantage of the useful qualities possessed by these fine filaments, spins them into his most gorgeous apparel. The coccoons are unwound by placing them in a basin of warm water, which dissolves the varnish, and they are then slowly wound off; formerly this was done by hand, but now machinery is chiefly employed which winds off the silk from a bowl full of coccoons at the same time.The silk is coiled into hanks or skeins, and in this form is imported into this country; from these hanks it is wound off on to large six-sided wheels called “swifts,” and from these on to bobbins or reels; it is then wound off from two or three of these bobbins on to one other bobbin, the threads of silk being laid side by side, and in this process a twist is given to it in one direction and two of these wound on to another receiving a twist in an opposite direction, this forms a fine cord called “organzine,” which is used by the silk weaver in the same way that yarn is by the cotton weaver. The short and broken pieces are carded and spun like cotton, and is called floss silk. The raw silk is of a bright buff or golden yellow color, but there are some kinds which are white.

INDIA-RUBBER.

India-rubber or Caoutchouc which was, a short time back, used only for the very insignificant purpose of rubbing out pencil marks, is now used for almost innumerable purposes. India-rubber is the solidified juice of several trees, such as the Siphonia, Jatropha Elastica, Ficus Elastica, &c., the juice is got by making incisions in the trunk of the trees during winter and collecting the juice, which is caoutchouc combined with water, in the form of a milky thick fluid, the water is then allowed to evaporate and the India-rubber remains. It is brought here in all sorts of shapes, and is purified before it is fit for commercial use by washing in warm water or steaming; it is then cut into pieces and put into a kneading machine which cuts and works it together with such rapidity that it becomes quite hot and the pieces join into one mass. After having undergone every kind of torture that can be well imagined in the form of cutting, tearing, and squeezing, it is finally compressed in a square cast iron mould, where it is kept for a time, and then is fit for any use it has to be applied to. What is called vulcanized India-rubber is produced by incorporating it with powdered sulphur, or some substance containing it, as sulphuret of antimony, or the vapour of sulphur is kneaded into the mass; this vulcanized rubber is very elastic and does not harden by cold. Waterproof fabrics are made by stretching the stuff to be waterproofed on a frame, at one end of which is a partition having a slit in it, through which it is drawn, after having been smeared with a solution of India-rubber in naptha; the slit is so narrow that it scrapes off all superfluous caoutchouc, it is then dried in the air.

GUTTA-PERCHA.

Gutta-percha is a substance possessing many useful and valuable properties; it was unknown in Europe until within a very recent date, though it is said to have been in common use, for a long period previous to our discovery of its utility, amongst the natives of the Indian Archipelago, chiefly for making axe-handles. It is the concrete juice of a large tree, supposed to be the Isonandra Gutta, and is brought to Europe in irregular masses of a brown color, and contains various impurities which are easily got rid of by working it in hot water. Gutta-percha possesses the desirable properties of being solid, slightly elastic, not brittle, and very tough, capable of being melted at the heat of boiling water, and being drawn out or moulded into almost any form; it resists the action of water and spirits, unless very strong, oils, alkalies, and weak acids, but spirits of turpentine, chloroform, and naptha, each dissolve it. A substance which has so many valuable properties as these, of course enters into a multiplicity of forms and uses.

WAX.

This useful substance is produced by bees for the purpose of building their comb, which consists of hexagonal cells made of wax; which substance they secrete in scales, between the sections of the abdomen, and draw out for building their beautiful cells. When the honey is drained off from the comb, this is washed and melted, it then constitutes the yellow wax of commerce, commonly called “bee’s-wax.” To make this into the white wax it is boiled in water, spread out into thin layers, and exposed to the light and air; this is repeated until all the color has gone and the wax remains pure and white. Pure wax is a soft-feeling substance, harder than tallow, and not greasy to the touch; it is easily melted, and burns with a clear white flame, hence its most general use—namely, that of making candles; it is not soluble in water, but unites with oils and fats.

NITRE.

This substance, known also in commerce by the name of saltpetre, is brought to this country from India, where in certain places, it forms a sort of efflorescence on the soil; this is taken off together with the surface of the soil, and mixed with water, which, after all the earth has subsided holds the nitre in solution. The water is then evaporated and the nitre crystallizes in six sided prisms.

On most parts of the continent nitre is manufactured from what are called nitre beds, these consist of old mortar and other matters containing lime, as the dry rubbish from old building, &c., together with manure and other animal refuse. These beds are packed up and kept from the rain for a certain time, when a small part of the lime is found to be converted into nitrate of lime, this is the white substance frequently seen to exude from newly built walls in the form of crystals like snow. The whole mass of the nitre bed is next washed; the water used for the first portions being poured over the next, and so on till it is pretty rich in nitrate of lime, this is then mixed with carbonate of potash, which decomposes the nitrate of lime forming nitrate of potash, (nitre), and carbonate of lime, (chalk); this last settles down and leaves the solution of nitre clear, which is evaporated, and the nitre got pure.

Nitre is used for making gunpowder and fireworks of different kinds, also for curing meat, especially pork and beef, to which it imparts a red color; it is also used for making nitric acid, in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, and as a medicine.

BLACKLEAD.

This substance, called by mineralogists “plumbago” and “graphite,” is found in small quantities in various districts, and in a very pure state in Cumberland. It is almost pure carbon, having but a very slight admixture of iron; it is used to make blacklead pencils; for coating the surface of iron, giving it a bright appearance and preventing it from rusting; it is also used to prevent friction in wooden machinery, and, mixed with tallow, as a lubricate for iron machinery; blacklead, mixed with clay, is also used to make crucibles for various purposes, these are especially adapted for melting glasses and enamels, and are known in the trade as blue pots.

SPERMACETI.

This substance is obtained from the oily matter contained in the head of the spermaceti whale, Phyceter Macrocephales, which consists of sperm oil and spermaceti. The latter crystallizes as the mass cools, and is afterwards purified. It is white and crystalline, is used chiefly for candles, or mixed with oil and wax, it forms an ointment.

MANUFACTURED PRODUCTS.

SUGAR.

Sugar, like starch, exists naturally formed in many vegetables, and has to be separated from the various foreign matters with which it is combined; the sugar used in this country is all extracted from the juice of the sugar-cane, Arundo Saccharifera, but in France a great portion is extracted from beet-root.

The raw, or Muscovado sugar as it is called, is a brownish compound of small crystals of sugar held together by molasses or treacle, which gives the sugar its color and peculiar moistness; when pure, sugar is quite white and capable of crystallization, as may be seen in sugar candy, which is crystallized sugar; sugar, if heated, becomes converted into a dark brown liquid called burnt sugar or “caramel,” this has an intensely rich color, but scarcely any sweetness; it is used to color wines and spirits. The tendency of sugar to be converted into caramel is very great, and the whole difficulty of sugar refining depends upon this fact, for a solution of sugar heated is constantly changing into this substance.

To obtain the sugar from the sugar cane, it is first crushed between powerful rollers, by which all the juice is pressed out, this is immediately clarified by boiling it strongly with a small quantity of slaked lime, or it would speedily ferment, it is then put into evaporating pans, in which it is evaporated till it is ready to crystallize or granulate; from these pans it is ladled out into a cooler, and from thence into wooden boxes where it granulates; the next process is called “curing” this consists of draining the sugar of its molasses, for this purpose hogsheads or large broad barrels are arranged on a sloping floor, and having several holes at their lower part with a piece of plantain leaf put into them; through these holes the molasses runs out and is collected in a vessel for the purpose.The best kinds of sugar are partly purified by a process called “claying;” this consists in putting the sugar into conical earthen jars, with a hole at the point which is turned downwards; the top is piled up with a mass of wet clay, the moisture from which slowly sinks down, carrying with it most of the coloring matter of the sugar; the cone of sugar is afterwards dried, broken up, and each part ground up separately, as they form sugars of different value, the point being the brownest and the base of the cone the whitest.

Sugar is made from the beet root in the same way as from the cane, the roots being rasped up into a pulp by a wheel with a notched edge acting against them. Beet-root sugar crystallizes better than cane sugar; otherwise it is exactly like it, and purifies as well.

ALCOHOL, OR SPIRIT.

Alcohol, commonly called spirits of wine, is procured from any liquid which has undergone the vinous fermentation, such as wine and beer. The spirit used in England is procured from a wash made by pouring boiling water upon ground malt, as for making beer; this, when fermented and distilled, produces a colorless spirit, which, by being again distilled at a gentle heat, called rectifying, produces a very strong spirit; but even this contains some considerable quantity of water, and to get rid of this, for certain chemical purposes, it is necessary to add carbonate of potash, quick lime, or some other ingredient greedy of water, and again distil it. Brandy, rum, and whiskey, are but various forms of spirit colored and flavored with different substances. Brandy is distilled from wine; rum from the molasses, a sort of treacle produced in sugar making; and whiskey from malt. The strongest brandy does not contain more than one half of its bulk of pure spirit.

Alcohol, when pure, is a very limpid, colorless fluid, lighter than water, in the proportion that 792 bears to 1000. It is very volatile, boiling at 172 deg. of Fahrenheit, and highly inflammable, it dissolves resins and volatile oils, and is, therefore, used largely in perfumery. The well known lavender water and eau de Cologne, are solutions of volatile oils of various kinds in pretty strong alcohol, and what are called spirit-varnishes, are most of them solutions of various kinds of resin in strong alcohol, although some of them, as mastic varnish, are made with spirit of turpentine, a volatile oil, in place of alcohol.

STARCH.

Starch exists naturally in various kinds of grain, as wheat and barley, and in the roots and tubers of many plants, as potatoes. The process of extracting the starch, and separating it from the other constituents of the seed or root, consists, essentially, of crushing it, and wishing out the starch with cold water; the liquid resulting from this mode of treatment is of a milky whiteness, and deposits starch by sediment. This liquid is passed through five sieves to separate the husks and skins, and when the starch has settled, and the liquid fermented and become sour, it is drawn off; it is allowed to become sour as the gluten of the grain is more completely separated by so doing. The starch is repeatedly stirred, allowed to settle, and the water drawn off, till it is quite pure; the top of the starch is scraped to separate any slime adhering, and the pure starch dug out with wooden shovels and put in a box lined with linen, in which the moisture drains off; the cakes taken from these boxes are cut up into squares, put upon bricks, and dried by a gentle heat; the squares are then scraped clean and packed in paper for sale, in these packages it breaks up into pieces, so that when they are opened, the starch has that peculiar appearance so familiar, and almost resembling six-sided columns. Arrow-root is the starch obtained from a West Indian plant called Maranta Arundinacea.

Cassava and Tapioca are starches from the manioc, and Sago, from the sago palm. Starch, under the microscope, appears in the form of minute globules, and is quite insoluble in cold water, in which it falls to the bottom, leaving the water at the upper part quite clear; but water that is nearly boiling (that is to say at 160 deg. of Fahrenheit’s thermometer, or above), breaks or dissolves the granules, and the starch forms with it a sort of paste, this is the liquid used for stiffening linen and other articles in domestic laundry.

The starch sold in this country is colored blueish by smalt or indigo; but on the continent is used of its natural white color. If starch be baked in an oven at the temperature of about 300 deg. it becomes, to a great extent, soluble in cold water, forming what is called “British gum,” this is largely used for calico printing and other purposes; if boiled in water under great pressure, so that the temperature can be raised to the same degree, it is also changed into an adhesive sort of gum—this is the substance made use of by the government authorities to spread over the backs of postage and receipt stamps to make them adhere. The starch of grain during germination, or growth, becomes converted into sugar; the same effect can be produced by heating starch with diluted sulphuric acid.

SOAP.

CUTTING SOAP.

COPPERS FOR THE MIXING PROCESS.

This very useful article is produced by a combination of tallow or oil with soda or potash; with soda, hard soap is formed; with potash, soft soap. The yellow soap of commerce has also an addition of resin or turpentine, and often palm oil, these give it its yellow color and peculiar smell; pure white soap is made by boiling a solution of soda with tallow or olive oil; ordinary soaps are generally made by mixing a solution of the soda of commerce, (carbonate of soda) with quick lime, this takes away the carbonic acid and makes the soda what is called “caustic;” this solution is drawn off, and kitchen stuff, tallow, turpentine, and sometimes palm oil, are added and boiled together, until all is converted into soap, but a large quantity of water remaining, it is necessary to separate the soap from this, for this purpose salt is added until the water becomes so heavy that the soap rises to the surface, whence it is removed into moulds or frames and allowed to cool, when it is cut into bars for sale.

FILLING YELLOW SOAP.

MOTTLED SOAP FRAMES.

Soft soap is made in the same way, using potash instead of soda, and, generally, a large quantity of train-oil. Castile soap is pure soda soap, and the blueish or red mottled appearance is produced by stirring in some sulphate of iron (green vitriol); when new it is of a blueish color, but gets red by exposure to the air.

Oils and fats combine with the oxides of several of the metals, and a combination of oxide of lead with olive oil forms a firm solid substance, or plaister, which, with the addition of a little resin, is used in surgery, and when spread upon linen or calico, forms the common adhesive plaister.

Oils and fats all consist of a combination of organic acids, (stearic, oleic, and margaric), with glycerine. When these fats are boiled with soda, potash, or metallic oxides, a combination of the oxide and fatty acid takes place, and this constitutes soap. The glycerine is then set free, and, when purified, forms a sweet, oily, colorless fluid, very similar to syrup, but not so sweet; it has lately been used for several purposes, especially as a remedy for chapped hands; a soap called “glycerine soap,” has lately been used for the same purpose; it is a soap made without separating the glycerine.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING SOAP IN BARS.

The above illustration represents an ingenious contrivance for the purpose of cutting soap.

STEARINE.

The Stearine Candles, so much in use of late, are made of what chemists call “stearic acid.” It is extracted from tallow by the following process:—The fat is first melted, then boiled with water and quick lime; the lime forms a solid insoluble soap with the stearic acid of the fat. This, when cold, is dug out of the cistern and separated from the watery parts; it is then melted in a wooden cistern by means of perforated iron pipes, through which steam passes; the steam not only melts it, but condenses and runs to the bottom, thoroughly washing it; it is again allowed to cool, separated when it is mixed, stirred well with sulphuric acid and a large quantity of water, and allowed to settle. This separates all the lime, which settles to the bottom, leaving the stearine floating on the top, from whence, when cold, it is taken and again well washed with steam. The mass, after cooling, is cut into shavings by a machine consisting of a wheel, having knives attached to its edge; the shavings are put into hair-cloth bags and subjected to the most powerful pressure by means of the hydraulic press; each hair-cloth bag having a warm iron plate interposed between it and the next bag. The oily parts of the mass are, by these means, all pressed out; the remainder is again cut up and a second time pressed, leaving the pure stearine, white and crystalline like spermaceti.

SODA.

The Soda of commerce is a carbonate of soda, and it is made from sea salt. It is used in large quantities for the general purposes of washing and cleansing, and very extensively in bleaching and soap making. Soda occurs in two forms—soda ash and in crystals; the first is the crude soda before crystallization. To make soda, oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid) is poured, by degrees, on a layer of sea salt, in a sort of funnel connected with a tall chimney; on the addition of the vitriol, copious fumes of the hydrochloric acid are given off; this is the acid formerly called spirit of salt. When the furnace is heated and all the acid driven off, the dried residue is taken out, it is sulphate of soda. It was formerly the custom to allow the hydrochloric acid to pass up a very tall chimney so that it may be dispersed in the air; but such an injurious effect was produced on the surrounding vegetation that this could no longer be allowed; the plan adopted was, to cause the acid to be condensed by filling the chimney with coke, and causing water to trickle through it; the acid vapours, coming into contact with this porous wet surface, is condensed into a liquid, which runs down into a cistern placed to receive it. The sulphate of soda, when taken from the furnace and cooled, is next ground in a mill with rather more than its weight of chalk, and about half its weight of coal. This mixture is placed in a furnace and raised to a sufficient heat to partly fuse it, during which time it is stirred about; the black mass which results is called by the workmen “black ball.” It is taken out and put into a cistern; water is then poured over it, and after stirring, it is drained off and evaporated to a dry mass; this is impure soda. It is mixed with coal-dust, again burnt, again washed and evaporated, by this second process the soda ash is produced, which, being dissolved, filtered and evaporated, produces large crystals of soda. The large quantity of hydrochloric acid produced in the first part of the process, is used in the of making chloric of lime. A few years back, soda was got from the ashes of the plant called “salsola soda,” and sold in the form of an impure carbonate called “barilla.”

WINES.

WINE MAKING.

Wine is made from the juice of grapes. When the grapes are ripe, they are gathered and at once put into a press, by which all the juice is squeezed out, and the skins, stalks, and seeds left in the press. This juice, which is called “must,” is allowed to ferment, which it does of its own accord, in the countries where grapes most abound, and at the season of the year when they are gathered, without the addition of yeast or other ferment; in a few days nearly all the sugary matter contained in the “must” becomes converted into spirit, and it has now the pungent taste of wine; (if the wine is allowed to ferment too long, it is very apt to become sour), the wine is now put into casks and kept for a time, during which a slow fermentation goes on, and that substance, which is called “tartar,” is deposited in the form of a thick crust of an acidulus taste and brown color; when purified till it is quite white, it forms the cream of tartar of the druggists’ shop. The color of wine depends upon the color of the grapes used, whether white or black.

Wine, at a general average, contains about 20 per cent. of spirit or alcohol; when port wine is put into bottles, a slow fermentation continues to go on, and a crust of tartar is deposited similar to that described above, and it is the separation of this tartar which causes port wine to improve by age.

What are called British wines, are liquids mostly made by fermenting the juice of the fruits whose name they bear, as currant wine, gooseberry wine, &c.; but as the climate of this country is not favorable to the growth of grapes, or the spontaneous fermentation of their juice, the grape wine of England is very inferior to the foreign. The juice of any fruit required to make wine of, has to be fermented artificially; this is generally done by making it slightly warm, and floating on the surface a piece of bread soaked with yeast; the wines thus produced are very apt to become sour, and it is generally necessary to add brandy to preserve them. Many of the British wines sold in London are made of an impure weak spirit called “faints,” sweetened and flavored with various substances, as ginger, orange-peel, &c. and sell for ginger or orange wine.

VINEGAR.

Vinegar is produced by fermenting and exposing to the air any liquor which contains sugar, such as wine, infusion of malt, cyder, &c.; by the addition of yeast, this sets up a fermentation, by means of which the sugar in any of these liquors is converted, first into spirit, and afterwards into vinegar; this contains a certain quantity of acetic acid, which makes the vinegar sour. In warm countries, vinegar is made by simply exposing the poorer kinds of wine to the sun’s rays, when they ferment and become sour. In England, all the vinegar produced is made by fermenting wort made of malt, this is fermented for three or four days, and is then put into casks, with the bunghole left open for several weeks, or until it is thoroughly sour. In ordinary vinegar, there is about five or six parts only in the hundred of real acetic acid, but this acid, when pure, is so strong as to blister the skin when dropped on it; it is often extracted from vinegar for chemical purposes, and to smell too; for when scented, it constitutes aromatic vinegar. Vinegar, besides acid and water, contains a little unchanged spirit, much coloring matter, and some mucilage.

BOILER OR COPPER.

COOLING APPARATUS.

Vinegar is chiefly used as a condiment, and for making pickles, and has considerable powers of preserving vegetable or animal substances; if common vinegar be distilled, a weak colorless acid comes over, commonly known as white or distilled vinegar. It is a common thing to sprinkle a sick room with vinegar, under the impression that it has disinfecting properties, but this is an error; although the odour is very refreshing. Vinegar has, of late, been made by means of the vinegar plant, which is a fungus, causing a species of slow fermentation, and converting the sugar or treacle used into acetic acid.

FILLING CASKS.

The [heading] of this section gives a good idea of the large scale on which vinegar is made; being an accurate representation of the extensive works of Messrs. Beaufoy & Co. at Lambeth.

COAL GAS.

SECTION OF RETORT.

FIG. 2.

FIG. 1.

FIG. 3.

Gas, for lighting, is made from coal, by subjecting it to heat in iron tubes and collecting and purifying the gas which is produced; the following is a summary of the process:—The vessels in which the coal is put are called “retorts,” they are six or seven feet long, one-and-a-half broad, and one high, generally fitted up six to a furnace, in such a way that the flame may entirely surround them (see [fig. 1]); from each retort an iron tube passes, and these all dip into a large horizontal tube, reaching nearly to its bottom ([fig. 2]), this is the receiver for all the gas from the retorts; it is connected with a pit for tar and ammonical liquor, which copiously condenses from the hot newly-formed gas. The object of causing the tubes to dip nearly to the bottom of the receiver is, that the fluid in it may close the end of each tube, and so prevent the gas returning when any of the retorts are opened for a fresh supply of coal; from the receiver, the gas passes by tubes bent up and down inside of a great cistern of water ([fig. 3]) kept cold by a constant change of its contents; this is the condenser, it causes the separation of all the tar and ammonia that remain; but the gas is still contaminated with sulphur, and this is got rid of by causing it to pass into a broad iron cylinder perforated with holes and dipping into a reservoir of lime and water mixed together and stirred about with a machine contrived for the purpose; the gas enters this lime mixture in hundreds of bubbles through the holes, and the sulphur the gas contains is attracted by the lime with which it unites. The gas now rises to the top of this reservoir, which is, of course, air tight, and from thence passes for use to the gasometer; this is the store-house where the gas is kept to supply the service pipes b, c, under the streets.

FIG. 4.

FIG. 5.

The gasometer is made of plates of iron rivetted together. The lower part of this cylinder (see [figs. 4] and [5]) is received into a circular deep channel cut in the ground (b b, [fig. 5]) and filled with water, so that the gasometer d, which is suspended and balanced by means of the chains and weights e e, may be raised or depressed at pleasure. When the gasometer is quite down, the inside of its top, a, rests on the ground; when the gas enters, it raises it up till the lower edge is but a few inches below the water, and is prevented from rising higher by frames which support it; when some of the weights, d d, are removed, the huge cylinder, a, slowly sinks down and forces the gas through the tubes, c c, to be burnt by thousands of consumers. About four cubic feet of gas is produced from every pound of coal used; the gas is lighter than air in the proportion of 650 to 1000, and it is owing to this lightness that balloons ascend when filled with it, not from any peculiar power it has of ascending, but because the air, being heavier, presses downwards and forces it up. When gas is mixed with air it becomes very explosive, and when any escape is suspected in a room, the windows of the room should be opened at the top, and the door also opened, before any light is introduced; a few minutes will then suffice to ensure safety.

One ton of good coal produces—

1Chaldron of Coke,weighing1494lbs.
12Gallons of Tar”135”
12Gallons Ammoniacal liquor100”
9500Cubic feet of Gas,weighing291”
Loss (chiefly water)”220”
2240lbs.
A cubic foot of gas weighs 514 and a-half grains.

TAR.

Tar is one of the results left in the distillation both of wood and coal; in places where wood is plentiful and tar in request, it is produced by burning the wood for that purpose; and in some of the pits in which charcoal is produced, an arrangement is made to collect the tar also. Coal-tar and wood-tar are different in some respects, and are both distilled to procure the napthas which bear the respective names. From wood-tar, creasöte is also extracted, and it is this substance which gives the peculiar tarry flavor to provisions cured or preserved by being smoked over wood fires, such as ham, bacon, or herrings. Tar is used as a sort of paint for covering wood-work and cordage, when much exposed to wet, which it resists better than anything else at the same price; but the tar chiefly used for these purposes, is that produced by burning fir or deal wood and condensing the tar in a pit below the stack of wood, it is called Stockholm tar, as it comes chiefly from that place.

ACETIC ACID, OR WOOD VINEGAR.

Acetic acid forms a considerable article of commerce. It is not only used in medicine and the culinary art, but is extensively employed in forming acetate of iron for dyeing and calico printing. To prepare it, large iron cylinders, about eight feet long and three in diameter, are embedded in brickwork in a row, and in such a manner that furnaces placed below may heat them red-hot; these cylinders have a tube leading from each into a main tube, where the liquid products from each cylinder are received for condensation; the other end of the cylinder has a plate of iron fitting closely to it. The cylinders are filled with logs of wood, either oak, beech, birch, or ash, the door is closely fastened and the joints smeared with clay; the fires are now lighted and kept up all day, till the cylinders are red-hot; at night they are allowed to cool. About seven or eight hundred weight of wood is put into each cylinder. In the morning, the charcoal, into which the wood is now converted, is withdrawn, and a fresh charge supplied; from this charge of wood about thirty or forty gallons of liquid is condensed in the main tube from each cylinder, the remainder being charcoal and gases which pass off; the liquid is acid, brown, and very offensive, and contains acetic acid, tar, and several other ingredients, among which may be named creasote; it is from this source all the creasote, so famous for the cure of toothache, is obtained. The next process is to purify this liquid; it is first distilled, and this separates much tar, it is then mixed with lime, evaporated to dryness, and heated to expel the remaining tar and other impurities; it is next mixed with sulphate of soda and water and the whole stirred together, the soda, now in unison with the acetic acid, is washed out from the lime and strained quite clear; it is afterwards evaporated till it crystallizes, and vitriol (sulphuric acid) then added; finally, the acetic acid is distilled over, and the acid left in unison with the soda, forming sulphate of soda, to be used in a similar process for the next batch of acid; the acetic acid is now quite colorless, transparent, and very sour, possessing a fragrant and agreeable smell. This acid is not pure acetic acid, but contains a considerable quantity of water. The acetic acid of commerce, mixed with seven times its bulk of water, forms an acid of about the strength of malt vinegar, perfectly wholesome, and, to many, more agreeable as a condiment.

Pure acetic acid may be made by mixing dry acetate of potash with oil of vitriol in a retort, and distilling the acetic acid into a very cold receiver; this, when flavored with various volatile oils, forms the aromatic vinegar sold by druggists. It is a very strong acid, and if applied to the skin will quickly blister it.

VARNISHES.

Varnishes are solutions of various resinous substances that will dry with a bright surface on exposure to the air. They are used to protect different substances from the action of the atmosphere, and to give them an elegant bright surface; woods and painted work are the chief things varnished; metals are coated with a kind of varnish called “lacquer,” this is to prevent the bright surface of the metal from being dulled by the air or damp, and to give an artificial appearance to some metals; tin, for instance, if lacquered with yellow lacquer, acquires somewhat the appearance of brass. Mastic varnish is the varnish generally used for paper and pictures; it is made by dissolving gum mastic in oil of turpentine. Copal varnish is that most generally used for carriages and wood, it is made by adding boiled linseed oil to melted copal, and afterwards thinning it with oil of turpentine. A common varnish, fit for many purposes, may be made by adding common resin to oil of turpentine, and warming it till dissolved. Lacquers are made by dissolving shellac and various other gums in strong spirits of wine, and in some cases coloring it, either yellow, by means of gamboge, or red, by dragon’s blood (a kind of resin). French polish is nearly the same as lacquer, but the mode of applying it is different; the grain of the wood is first filled up by means of drying oil and chalk rubbed in, when this becomes thoroughly dry, a rubber of flannel is covered by a piece or two of clean old linen, and some of the polish put on it, just enough to moisten it, and then a little oil, this is slowly rubbed round and round, the varnish adhering to the wood, and the oil preventing the rubber sticking to it, and at the same time, polishing the surface of the varnish as it dries. This process requires a good deal of art to produce a perfect surface.Old work, before being varnished with any varnish that contains oil (as copal varnish), should be thoroughly freed from grease or greasy matter, or the varnish will never dry. Good varnish should dry in twenty-four hours so that dust will not adhere to it.

OILS.

PRESSING LINSEED FOR OIL.

Oils, whether animal or vegetable, have pretty much the same properties. The vegetable oils are got by crushing and pressing certain seeds, as linseed; the animal oils are obtained chiefly from the whale and seal tribe, or from fish, as the cod and sturgeon. They are viscid and of a pale yellow color, lighter than water, and therefore float upon it, and are very combustible. Oils are used for a multiplicity of purposes: for burning in lamps, for making paints and varnishes, preventing the friction of machinery, in making soap, and numerous other processes. Oils are generally divided into fixed and volatile oils; as an example of the first, linseed oil may be selected; of the last, oil of lavender.

Some of the fixed oils are called drying oils, and it is this kind that are used for varnish making; as linseed oil possesses the properties of this class very perfectly, it may serve as a description of all. Linseed oil has the power of drying when spread out in a thin layer, becoming of a resinous consistence like varnish, and upon this quality depends the drying powers of paint, for the other non-drying oils, as olive oil, may be exposed to the air for months without drying at all; the drying powers of linseed oil are greatly increased by boiling it with litharge (oxide of lead). This forms the drying or boiled oil used in painting, and is employed in making varnishes, printers’ ink, and for other purposes. Oiled silk is formed by brushing silk over with this oil and exposing it to the air till it is dry; this oiled silk is the same that is used for sponge-bags and bathing-caps. Of the non-drying oils, the chief are those used for burning in lamps, as sperm oil. Salad oil is expressed from the olive, and is called olive oil. Of the volatile oils, the most useful is oil of turpentine, commonly called spirit of turpentine; it is got by distilling common turpentine (the concrete juice of trees of the fir and pine tribe), it has a strong odour, is very inflammable, and is volatile, that is to say, if spread out, will evaporate, leaving nothing behind; this oil is capable of mixing with drying oils, and it not only increases their drying powers, but, by thinning them, makes them more applicable to many purposes. Oil of turpentine dissolves resin and many resinous substances, and forms useful varnishes with them. Mastic varnish is mastic dissolved in oil of turpentine; it is the varnish always used for varnishing pictures. Many of the volatile oils are used as perfumes, and the odour of plants and flowers depends upon the volatile oil which evaporates from them, as lavender, cloves, and others. Peppermint water, dill water, and cinnamon water are produced by distilling water mixed with the substances, and is simply water containing a small quantity of the volatile oil of these substances in solution; but eau-de-Cologne and lavender water, although called “waters,” are mixtures of volatile oils and spirit of wine, and contain no more water than is comprehended in the spirit used.

INKS.

Inks are fluids of various kinds suitable for writing with pens. The chief inks in use are black, blue, and red writing inks, and indelible or marking ink, intended for marking linen which has to be washed. Indian ink is not used as an ink, properly so called. All the black inks in use are composed of green vitriol (sulphate of iron), in union with some astringent vegetable matter, the best is the gall-nut, although, for cheapness, logwood and oak bark have each been used. An excellent black ink may be made by putting into a gallon stone bottle twelve ounces of bruised galls, six ounces of green vitriol, and six of common gum, and filling up the bottle with rain water, this should be kept three or four weeks before using, shaking the bottle from time to time. Blue ink has lately been much used, it is made by dissolving newly-formed Prussian blue in a solution of oxalic acid. To make it, dissolve some yellow prussiate of potash in water in one vessel, and some sulphate of iron in another, adding a few drops of nitric acid to the sulphate of iron; now mix the two liquids, and a magnificent blue color will appear in the form of a light sediment; this is to be put upon a paper filter, and well washed by pouring over it warm water and allowing it to run through; a warm solution of oxalic acid should now be mixed with it, and the Prussian blue will dissolve into a bright blue ink.

Red ink is made by boiling chips or raspings of Brazil wood in vinegar, and adding a little alum and gum; it keeps well, and is of a good color. A red ink of more beautiful appearance, but not so durable, may be made by dissolving a few grains of carmine in two or three tea-spoonfuls of spirit of hartshorn.

Marking ink is made by dissolving nitrate of silver in water, and then adding some solution of ammonia, a little gum water, and some Indian ink to color it. Printers’ ink is made by grinding drying oil with lamp-black.

CHARCOAL.

Charcoal is made by burning wood in such a manner that but little air shall be admitted during the operation, that is to say, only sufficient to keep up the combustion of the more easily destroyed parts of the wood, leaving a black residue called charcoal. The best charcoal is made when the wood is quite excluded from the air, as in making acetic acid, but where large quantities of charcoal are used for common fuel, as in France, of course this process is too expensive. The usual way is to pile up billets of wood and cover the whole with turf; when fired, the wood consumes gradually and the charcoal is left behind. Charcoal is light and porous, and of a shining black color; it weighs about one quarter as much as the wood used, and burns without flame or smoke, giving out a strong heat. When charcoal burns, it combines with part of the air, and is converted into a gas called carbonic acid, which, although invisible, is much heavier than air, and is a deadly poison; it is therefore necessary, where charcoal is burning, to always have some opening at the bottom of the room. Many fatal accidents have arisen from people sleeping in a small room with a pot of burning charcoal, and no outlet for the poisonous vapour but the chimney, up which it will not pass on account of its weight. Charcoal enters into the composition of gunpowder, and is used for several other purposes. It is an excellent sweetener of foul water, and a few pieces should always be kept in the top of the filter when the water has any bad odour, or in the cistern or butt, where a filter is not used; powdered charcoal has also the power of taking away the color of many liquids, as well as the bad smell; vinegar, if warmed with powdered charcoal, and then strained, will be almost colorless. Water butts are sometimes burnt or charred inside, that the water may be the better preserved in them.

Chemically considered, charcoal consists of carbon with a certain amount of earthy matter (the ashes or earthy part of the wood from which it was made), but these ashes may be easily removed by maceration in an acid; the charcoal then remains unaltered in appearance and consists of carbon, but its structure is exceedingly porous.

CEMENTS.

In various processes, cements of different descriptions are required for a variety of purposes. The common cement used in building, which is called mortar, is made of sand and quicklime mixed with water. Roman and Portland cements consist of certain kinds of clay burnt and ground. Plaster of Paris forms a useful cement, it is to be mixed with water to the consistence of cream, and it hardens in a few minutes. Glue is an invaluable cement for wood and many other purposes, it also joins any kind of broken glass or china that will not have to be subjected to much wetting. Shellac dissolved in spirit is a useful cement; and isinglass, dissolved in weak spirit, and having some gum ammonicum added to it, forms the “diamond cement” for uniting china. China and glass which require to be much wetted, are best united by being made very hot and having the broken edges rubbed with a piece of shellac, this melts on them, and forms, while hot, a sort of cement; if they be immediately applied and pressed firmly and accurately together, and then permitted slowly to cool, they will unite so as to be almost as strong as before breaking.

COKE.

Coke is produced by the partial burning of coal, in the same way that charcoal is from wood. The great source of coke is the gas manufactory, where it is sold in large quantities, being the result left in the retorts after the gas has all been driven off; but the consumption of coke by locomotive engines, &c., where coal would not be admissible on account of the smoke produced, has become so great that it is necessary to burn coals for its production; this is done by a range of ovens fitted up for that purpose, having iron doors which can be closed to any extent required so as to regulate the draught of air. Dr. Ure gives the following in his account of the coke ovens belonging to the London and North Western Railway Company:—“An excellent range of furnaces for making a superior article of coke for the service of the locomotive engines of the London and Birmingham Railway Company, has been erected at the Camden Town Station, consisting of eighteen ovens, in two lines, the whole discharging their products of combustion into a horizontal flue which terminates in a chimney-stalk one hundred and fifteen feet high. Each alternate oven is charged, between eight and ten o’clock every morning, with three-and-a-hall tons of good coals, a wisp of straw is thrown in on the top of the heap, which takes fire by the radiation from the dome, which is in a state of dull ignition from the preceding operation, and inflames the smoke then rising from the surface by the reaction of the hot sides and bottom upon the body of the fuel, in this way the smoke is consumed at the very commencement of the process, when it would otherwise be most abundant. The coke being perfectly freed from all fuliginous and volatile matters by a calcination of upwards of forty hours, is cooled down to moderate ignition by sliding in the dampers and sliding up the doors, which had been partially closed during the latter part of the process. It is now observed to form prismatic concretions, somewhat like a columnar mass of basalt. These are loosened by means of iron bars, lifted out upon shovels furnished with long iron shanks, which are poised upon swung chains with hooked ends, and the lumps are thrown upon the pavement, to be extinguished by sprinkling water upon them from the rose of a watering can, or they may be transferred into a large chest of sheet iron set on wheels, and then covered up. Good coals, thus treated, yield eighty per cent. of an excellent, compact, glistening coke, weighing fourteen cwt. per chaldron.”

Coke burns without smoke, and not so rapidly by far as charcoal, it is, moreover, considerably cheaper than that article is.

GUNPOWDER.

Gunpowder is a mixture of nitre, sulphur, and charcoal, and the more completely they are mixed, the more finely ground, and the purer they are, the more perfect will be the gunpowder. The proportions used of these ingredients differ slightly in different powder mills; but the average is about seventy-four parts nitre, ten sulphur, and fourteen charcoal, by weight; the sulphur and nitre can easily be completely purified, but the charcoal differs very much in almost every specimen, and charcoal that has been burnt long ago and exposed to the air and moisture is almost unfit for the purpose, that charcoal which has the least ash when burnt is found to be the best, and the charcoal which has been made in iron cylinders, is better than that made in the usual way, when each of the ingredients are separately powdered and sifted through a kind of sieve of silk called a bolting machine (such as is used in dressing flour), they are mixed in the proper proportions and taken to the mill, where they are moistened with water and ground to a smooth paste, this is pressed hard and then broken up into pieces which are put into a copper sieve, the bottom of which is perforated with small hole; a flat wooden ball is put into each sieve with the pieces of damp powder, and the sieves are all put into a circular motion by machinery, this causes the wooden ball to turn round in the sieve and so rub the damp powder through the little holes; it is collected below in small grains or “corns,” this process is called “corning,” this is now dried, and then put into a “reel” (a sort of barrel which turns round) and the grains, by rubbing against each other, become smoothed on the surface; the dust is now removed by a sieve, too fine to let the grains through; the powder is now fit for use.

Gunpowder was first known in England about five hundred years ago. It is not only used to discharge firearms, but in the more peaceful occupations of quarrying stone, mining, and to get rid of rocks both below and above water; these processes are called “blasting.”

GUN COTTON.

To prepare gun cotton, make a mixture of three parts sulphuric acid and one part nitric acid; when this has cooled (for it becomes hot on mixing), put into it some cotton wool, and let it be stirred about with a glass rod, then taken out, and all the superfluous acid strained from it; it is then to be covered up for an hour or so. It should now be thoroughly washed in cold water, so that all the acid be removed; to ensure this completely, let it be afterwards washed in a very weak solution of potash, and then dried by a very gentle heat, produced by either steam or hot water; when dry, soak it in a solution of nitre and dry it again. It is now so explosive that great care is required in its management, being about three times as explosive as gunpowder.

PHOSPHORUS.

This substance, since the general use of lucifer-matches, has become an important article of manufacture; whereas, but a few years ago, it was a mere chemical curiosity. It is prepared by mixing bone ashes with sulphuric acid, straining off the liquid part, and evaporating it to a syrupy consistence; with this, about a quarter of its weight of powdered charcoal is mixed, and the whole stirred and evaporated to a dry powder; this is put into earthenware retorts, which are connected by copper tubes to receivers filled with water; the retorts are raised to a white heat and maintained at this high temperature as long as any phosphorous passes into the receivers, the water in which is kept warm, so that the phosphorous melts and runs to the bottom, from whence it is taken and strained through chamois leather bags, under warm water, and then cast in glass tubes into sticks. Phosphorous is of a whitish color, like wax, is easily melted, readily takes fire even by slight friction, and, in the air, gives off fumes which in the dark appear luminous. It is chiefly used in the manufacture of lucifer matches, and, mixed with flour, butter, or sugar, is used to poison rats, mice, and other vermin, under the name of “phosphorous paste.” Phosphorous is poison, and most dangerous stuff to handle, minute particles often getting under the nails and causing painful sores.

WHITE LEAD.

WHITE LEAD BED.

FIG. 1.

White Lead is used in very large quantities by painters, not only as white paint, but to mix with and qualify every shade of color, and to give body to them. It is prepared by different processes, and several patents have been taken out for improvements in its manufacture; but the most usual, and, perhaps, the best process, is as follows:—Alayer of spent tan (from the tanner’s pits) is spread out three or four feet thick, and in it a number of earthen pots are arranged in rows, each partly filled with a mixture of vinegar, water, and treacle, or some other acid fermenting liquid, each of these pots is covered with a piece of lead made in the form of a grating ([fig. 1]), and over all these a flooring of boards, and then again a layer of tan, pots covered with lead, and boards, two or three times repeated; this is called a white lead bed, and is left for several weeks; the tan ferments and gets warm, causing the acid vapours to rise and corrode the lead, at the same time giving off carbonic acid. At the end of about three months the leaden covers are found to have become completely changed into a white shining substance (carbonate and oxide of lead), this is washed from impurities and ground in a mill, under water, to a fine powder. It is the white lead of commerce; but what is familiarly called white lead, is this substance ground up with linseed oil into a thick paste so as to be ready for the use of painters.

White lead is a very poisonous substance, and produces the disease called painters’ colic, when taken into the system in minute quantities and for a long time, so that all who have much to do with this dangerous substance, as house-painters and artists, should be extremely careful that their hands are well washed frequently, and especially before going to meals.Cisterns of lead, used for containing water, very soon become coated inside with a thin film of sulphate of lead, this prevents the water from acting further on the lead, and the water from such cisterns is never found to be poisonous; but, if distilled water were used, it would act rapidly on the lead, corroding it, and causing a deposit in the water of white lead, which would render such water dangerous in the extreme.

PRUSSIAN BLUE.

This beautiful blue color is made by mixing solutions of sulphate of iron (green vitriol) and prussiate of potash together, when the Prussian blue falls in the form of a precipitate, or moist powder, of a pale greenish color, but which, by exposure to the air and the addition of a little nitric acid, becomes intensely blue; but the Prussian blue of commerce is never pure, for the solution of prussiate of potash is used as it comes from the factory, before being crystallized, and contains carbonate of potash, to get rid of which, alum is added, and the result is, the formation of a considerable amount of alumina, which is a white earth produced from the alum, and which falls down in the precipitate mixed with the Prussian blue, which is thereby increased in bulk and but little injured in color; when a larger quantity of this alumina is purposely produced, the result is a blue of a rather less intense color, called “Antwerp blue.” The chemical name for pure Prussian blue is percyanide of iron. Chinese blue is this substance in its purest state.