Manufacturer and Builder 9, 1872
It is announced that a green of nearly the same brilliant shade as Paris-green may be obtained by taking twenty parts of oxide of zinc and one of sulphate of cobalt, mixed into a paste with water, and exposed to a red heat.
If so, the invention is of considerable value, as the Paris-green is subject to the grave objection of being highly poisonous; and cases of fatal poisoning occur repeatedly by its use. Our readers well know that it is arsenite of copper, according to the detailed information given in our paper in regard to its manufacture. See our March Number for 1871 (page 63, Vol, III.)
[432] Outdoor Whitewash of Lime or Chalk.
Manufacturer and Builder ?, 1872
A common remedy to make lime stand the weather is to put a solution of common alum in the lime whitewash. If the lime is not old, but freshly burnt, it combines while drying to an insoluble compound. If the lime is old, it is no better than chalk; in fact, it becomes similar to chalk. In this case you must use water-glass, or silicate of soda. This, mixed with the finely-ground chalk, makes a coat which water will not wash off, except when your water-glass contains a little too much soda. In this case you must cover your chalk coat with a second wash of a solution of chloride of calcium. This will take the soda out, and make the chalk coat stand the water better.
A common remedy to make lime stand the weather is to put a solution of common alum in the lime whitewash. If the lime is not old, but freshly burnt, it combines while drying to an insoluble compound. If the lime is old, it is no better than chalk; in fact, it becomes similar to chalk. In this case you must use water-glass, or silicate of soda. This, mixed with the finely-ground chalk, makes a coat which water will not wash off, except when your water-glass contains a little too much soda. In this case you must cover your chalk coat with a second wash of a solution of chloride of calcium. This will take the soda out, and make the chalk coat stand the water better.
27.9.20
Paints Made of Lead. Dutch Method of Making White-Lead.
Manufacturer and Builder 4, 1872
In former years the only white-lead known was that produced after time method invented in Holland, from which country the manner of its production has spread in all parts of Europe and America. Half of the white-lead used in the world is still made in this way. The method is based on time following peculiar behavior of lead under the circumstances stated:
If a sheet of lead of four to six inches in width, and of the thickness of an old copper cent, is rolled up in such a way that it does not touch itself at any point, then, if this coil be placed in a glazed pot, with vinegar on its bottom, in such a meaner that, by means of pieces of wood, it is kept above the vinegar, without touching it, and this pot be placed iu a warm locality — for instance, behind the stove in winter — keeping it loosely covered, it trill be found that, in it few months, the lead will be changed through its whole mass into a white substance. This body, when rubbed up into a powder, produces the finest white-lead, which is a compound of oxide of lead with carbonic acid, made chiefly at the expense of the vinegar, which is decomposed and produces carbonic acid and water, while the air also furnishes a certain amount of carbonic acid, and a larger amouet of oxygen. That the substances mentioned are derived from both sources is proved by the fact that white-lead can not be made by placing water in place of vinegar on the bottom of the jet; neither can the operation succeed when the air is excluded by closing the vessel hermetically.
The operation here described is an exact representation of the Holland method, on a small scale. When operating on a large scale, special pots are used of nearly a foot high; the lead plates are cast in a peculiar way, after the same method as is used in China to cast the leaden lining of the tea-chests, namely, by spreading the melted lead, by a dexterous movement over a cool, flat surface. Then a cheap way of warming is used, namely, burying the pots in stable manure, which, at the same time, develops more of the necessary carbonic acid than is found in the atmosphere.
One of the largest establishments where white-lead is manufactured in this way is situated in Philadelphia, near the Schuylkill River. The manure used is that of horses, and the quality of the same is of much more importance than at first sight would. be supposed. The decomposition of the same is, in fact, a slow combustion under development of carbonic acid, and both these are wanted in the process — a gentle heat, without raising the temperature to ignition, and the pure carbonic acid gas. If the manure becomes old and dry, the heating process stops, and it most be replaced by a fresh portion, while that which has served is good for the farm. If the horse manure accidentally become mixed with that of pigs, or any other carnivorous animal, during its combustion sulphureted hydrogen is also developed, which gives rise to the formation of sulphide of lead, which is black, and would ruin the whole of the white-lead, of which pure whiteness is the principal merit.
In Holland, a mixture of horse manure and refuse tan bark is used, in Germany only manure, in England oak bark, and in the northern lands of Europe and Russia, willow bark. But, whatever the material, the arrangement of the rooms is the same. They are built on the principle of ice-houses, so as to guard against the exterior temperature, and to keep a uniform heat inside, which is of great importance in northern climes, while otherwise the operations would be totally interrupted in winter. In some of these buildings artificial heat, by actual fire, is even added to the heat of the manure.
Two kinds of pots are used, with and without covers. They are piled up in layers, and, in case pots without covers are used, a floor of boards is to be placed on the top of each layer, to prevent the entrance of dirt. A layer of manure of one and a half to two feet thick is first placed on the floor, and trodden down level, then moistened, and the pots put in place. In order that the weight of the upper layer shall not all come on the lower one, proper supports are placed between the rows of pots; these details differ in different establishments, according to the custom and judgment of those superintending the same. In any case the pots should not be closed hermetically, as is clear from what has been said in regard to the theory of the operation.
It seldom takes more than a few days to have the fermentation of the manure in full action, which is seen by the hot watery vapor which proceeds frOill all cracks and sometimes reaches as high as 170° Fahr. As soon as this is noticed, nothing more needs to be done for from four to six weeks, when the vapors disappear and the whole has become dry and sometimes cold. it is evident that here the heat and the carbonic acid is obtained in as economical a way as is possible.
The pots are then removed, and, by opening them, it is found that all, or nearly all, the lead is changed into white-lead, and that time vinegar on the bottom has disappeared. The contents are placed in a box to separate any remaining lead, and the pots at once filled with a fresh charge and replaced in the fermenting-rooms. The old way of separating the white-lead from the metallic core is to break it off, in which operation the laborers cover up their mouths and noses, in order not to inhale the dust too freely. As this operation is so injurious to the workmen, it has, in all well-regulated modern establishments, been superseded by machinery, in which the whole is passed between grooved iron rollers, by which operation the same separation of the metallic lead is accomplished, with the production of much less dust. The remaining pieces of lead are, of course, incited up with the metal for the next castings.
The amount of white-lead thus obtained should be, theoretically, 132 parts for every 100 of lead consumed, but, practically, it is only about 125-parts. When the operation goes on prosperously, 90 per cent of the lead is corroded, but sometimes only 70, so that nearly one third of the lead remains.
The next operation is to grind the white lead obtained as fine as possible; this is done, after mixing it with water, in proper mills, which differ in different localities, while the resulting paste is dried, and then either pulverized or ground up again in oil.
The last operation performed is the adulteration with chalk or barytes, in order to obtain paint of different prices, and a proper degree of cheapness, which, unfortunately, is one of the most essential conditions of an article which is produced for the purpose to make it sell well.
In former years the only white-lead known was that produced after time method invented in Holland, from which country the manner of its production has spread in all parts of Europe and America. Half of the white-lead used in the world is still made in this way. The method is based on time following peculiar behavior of lead under the circumstances stated:
If a sheet of lead of four to six inches in width, and of the thickness of an old copper cent, is rolled up in such a way that it does not touch itself at any point, then, if this coil be placed in a glazed pot, with vinegar on its bottom, in such a meaner that, by means of pieces of wood, it is kept above the vinegar, without touching it, and this pot be placed iu a warm locality — for instance, behind the stove in winter — keeping it loosely covered, it trill be found that, in it few months, the lead will be changed through its whole mass into a white substance. This body, when rubbed up into a powder, produces the finest white-lead, which is a compound of oxide of lead with carbonic acid, made chiefly at the expense of the vinegar, which is decomposed and produces carbonic acid and water, while the air also furnishes a certain amount of carbonic acid, and a larger amouet of oxygen. That the substances mentioned are derived from both sources is proved by the fact that white-lead can not be made by placing water in place of vinegar on the bottom of the jet; neither can the operation succeed when the air is excluded by closing the vessel hermetically.
The operation here described is an exact representation of the Holland method, on a small scale. When operating on a large scale, special pots are used of nearly a foot high; the lead plates are cast in a peculiar way, after the same method as is used in China to cast the leaden lining of the tea-chests, namely, by spreading the melted lead, by a dexterous movement over a cool, flat surface. Then a cheap way of warming is used, namely, burying the pots in stable manure, which, at the same time, develops more of the necessary carbonic acid than is found in the atmosphere.
One of the largest establishments where white-lead is manufactured in this way is situated in Philadelphia, near the Schuylkill River. The manure used is that of horses, and the quality of the same is of much more importance than at first sight would. be supposed. The decomposition of the same is, in fact, a slow combustion under development of carbonic acid, and both these are wanted in the process — a gentle heat, without raising the temperature to ignition, and the pure carbonic acid gas. If the manure becomes old and dry, the heating process stops, and it most be replaced by a fresh portion, while that which has served is good for the farm. If the horse manure accidentally become mixed with that of pigs, or any other carnivorous animal, during its combustion sulphureted hydrogen is also developed, which gives rise to the formation of sulphide of lead, which is black, and would ruin the whole of the white-lead, of which pure whiteness is the principal merit.
In Holland, a mixture of horse manure and refuse tan bark is used, in Germany only manure, in England oak bark, and in the northern lands of Europe and Russia, willow bark. But, whatever the material, the arrangement of the rooms is the same. They are built on the principle of ice-houses, so as to guard against the exterior temperature, and to keep a uniform heat inside, which is of great importance in northern climes, while otherwise the operations would be totally interrupted in winter. In some of these buildings artificial heat, by actual fire, is even added to the heat of the manure.
Two kinds of pots are used, with and without covers. They are piled up in layers, and, in case pots without covers are used, a floor of boards is to be placed on the top of each layer, to prevent the entrance of dirt. A layer of manure of one and a half to two feet thick is first placed on the floor, and trodden down level, then moistened, and the pots put in place. In order that the weight of the upper layer shall not all come on the lower one, proper supports are placed between the rows of pots; these details differ in different establishments, according to the custom and judgment of those superintending the same. In any case the pots should not be closed hermetically, as is clear from what has been said in regard to the theory of the operation.
It seldom takes more than a few days to have the fermentation of the manure in full action, which is seen by the hot watery vapor which proceeds frOill all cracks and sometimes reaches as high as 170° Fahr. As soon as this is noticed, nothing more needs to be done for from four to six weeks, when the vapors disappear and the whole has become dry and sometimes cold. it is evident that here the heat and the carbonic acid is obtained in as economical a way as is possible.
The pots are then removed, and, by opening them, it is found that all, or nearly all, the lead is changed into white-lead, and that time vinegar on the bottom has disappeared. The contents are placed in a box to separate any remaining lead, and the pots at once filled with a fresh charge and replaced in the fermenting-rooms. The old way of separating the white-lead from the metallic core is to break it off, in which operation the laborers cover up their mouths and noses, in order not to inhale the dust too freely. As this operation is so injurious to the workmen, it has, in all well-regulated modern establishments, been superseded by machinery, in which the whole is passed between grooved iron rollers, by which operation the same separation of the metallic lead is accomplished, with the production of much less dust. The remaining pieces of lead are, of course, incited up with the metal for the next castings.
The amount of white-lead thus obtained should be, theoretically, 132 parts for every 100 of lead consumed, but, practically, it is only about 125-parts. When the operation goes on prosperously, 90 per cent of the lead is corroded, but sometimes only 70, so that nearly one third of the lead remains.
The next operation is to grind the white lead obtained as fine as possible; this is done, after mixing it with water, in proper mills, which differ in different localities, while the resulting paste is dried, and then either pulverized or ground up again in oil.
The last operation performed is the adulteration with chalk or barytes, in order to obtain paint of different prices, and a proper degree of cheapness, which, unfortunately, is one of the most essential conditions of an article which is produced for the purpose to make it sell well.
Lead-Pencils.
Manufacturer and Builder ?, 1872
Taking the whole world together there is perhaps no one article more extensively used than the lead-pencil, and, aside from the steel-pen, there is probably no single article that contributes more to human progress. In even the most ancient manuscripts we find marks resembling those of a hard lead-pencil, but a little research leads to the discovery that the ruled lines were made with sharp-edged disks of lead, and not by an instrument like a pencil. The use of black and red chalks dates to the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in the year 1564, the black-lead mines of Burrowdale, County of Cumberland, England, were discovered, and the following year black-lead-pencils were made in substantially the same form as we use them at the present day.
Black-lead, graphite, or plumbago is a mineral form of carbon, with a slight mixture of iron. Of great value in the arts and extensively used, yet, from its great abundance, only the finer and purer qualities find a ready market. The discovery of the Cumberland lead, as it is called, was most valuable. The manufacture of pencils from it at once became exceedingly important, and the English government deemed it necessary to forbid the exportation of the substance. A market was established for it, and every Monday, sufficient lead was sold to meet the supposed wants of the manufacturers. The prices were exceedingly high, ranging from less than ten dollars per pound up to nearly $40 per pound. The mine was never allowed to remain open more than six weeks in the year, yet the value of the yearly product is said to have reached the sum of 240,000, or much above $100,000, if we take into account the greater value of money in those days. But even the moderate working of six weeks in a year gradually diminished the supply and at last exhausted the yield, and it is now many years since any thing has been obtained from the mine except impure refuse.
Before the mine was exhausted processes were invented for cleansing and refining this refuse, which were applied to the poorer grades of the ore which had formerly been thrown aside. This purified material was then pressed into cakes, which were cut up in the same way that the natural products had been; but even this was not at all satisfactory, the pencils were of a poorer quality, in spite of all efforts.
In 1795, Centel; a Frenchman, nixed powdered clay with the plumbago or other colored powder and, by molding into the proper form, produced crayons of all shades of color and degrees of hardness. Isinglass, glue, sulphur, gum, and a hundred other ingredients had been tried, but only to result in complete failures. The new process was a complete success, and gave what could not be obtained from the native ore—a complete graduation in degrees of hardness, from the softest and blackest up to a pencil so hard that its point is like metal.
The earth or clay used has the property of diminishing in bulk and increasing in hardness in exact proportion to the length of time to which it is exposed to heat. The clay is washed until only the finest particles remain; these are mixed in the proper proportions with the plumbago and kneaded until they are thoroughly incorporated. The washing, grinding, kneading, and the proportioning of the quantities of clay to lead are in fact the most important parts of the pencil manufacture. The cake, after it comes from the machine, is put into a cylinder, and, by a blow, heavy pressure, forced out through a hole in the bottom in the shape of a square, octagonal, or round (as the case may be) continuous thread, which coils up like a rope on the board below. This is the lead for the pencils. It is then straightened, pieces cut to the proper lengths, placed close together in layers, and kept in place by a slight pressure which pre vents warping. They are then dried at a moderate temperature, and, when dry, are packed in crucibles and submitted to a high heat in ovens or furnaces. Upon the quantity of clay and length of heat are dependent the degree of blackness as well as the hardness of the product. This is the modern process, and, with one exception, is the same as that employed by Conté.
In 1846, a Frenchman, John Peter Alibert, living at that time in Asiatic Siberia, started on a business tour through the mountain regions of Eastern Siberia. Searching on his way the sandy beds of various rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean he hoped to discover gold. No gold was found, but in the mountain gorges near Irkutsk he discovered is the sand. what was of more importance and of greater value to mankind, smooth rounded pieces of pure graphite. Immediately recognizing the importance of the discovery, he at once abandoned the search for gold and began to follow the various streams in which the graphite was found to their fountain heads in order to find the original deposit. In 1847 the deposit was found in a mountain about 170 miles west of Irkutsk, near the Chinese frontier. Men and material had to be transported through the mountain wilderness. For seven years he labored taking out granite rock and an innpure lead exactly resembling the refuse of the Cumberland mines. At the end of that time he discovered an unbroken layer of "superb graphite," from which immense pieces could be taken. He had now readied the material, the next thing was to bring it to the world. In 1856 he received the first rewards for his labor in the shape of a decoration from the Emperor of Russia. Favor was shown lnim everywhere, but it was two or three years more before the graphite from his mine made its appearance in the market in the shape of pencils, it not being until 1865 that it was introduced into this country.
We are, it will be seen, indebted to Frenchmen for the two great discoveries which have given us the moderns admirable and indispensable lead-pencil. Still later improvements in the manufacture and purifications of the best grades of lead have given the world a complete independence of any particular mine or region, and it is now asserted, and it appears pretty well substanti,ted by facts, that pencils equal to the best in the world may be made from ordinary or inferior kinds of plumbags, if the improved methods of purification and treatment be used.
The wood universally employed for pencils is red-cedar, (Juniperus Virginiania) front Florida. With its characteristics every one is acquainted, through the medium of the pencil. It is the only wood that can with profit to manufacturer or comfort to the consumer be used for pencils. It is the practice in the best manufactories in this country to cut the logs of cedar into planks the thickness of which shall be just equal to four pencils. This plank is then cut into strips of a thickness about half that of a pencil. In this conditions the wood is seasoned, and when thoroughly dry is ready for snaking into pencils. The next step is cutting into strips the length of a pencil, and, of course, four times as wide. These go to rotary cutters that groove them on one side for the leads, and on the other side snake another groove for a division between the pencils. Then the lead is dipped in glue and laid in the grooves and a plain slip of cedar fastened down upon it. The whole is then fed to a set of circular saws, which cut the pencils apart, and which, without stopping, are pushed forward to a shaping machine, where revolving cutters give them the final shape round or octagonal. Polishing is the next operation; it is accomplished by passing the pencils on an endless belt beneath vibrating surfaces covered with emery. After coloring, which is done by machinery, comes the lettering. Here the pencils are operated upon one at a time. The length of time required for all these processes, leaving out the time occupied in seasoning the wood, from the log to the finished pencil ready for the market, is about four days. This of course, is in a large establishment where machinery is employed to the greatest possible extent. The complicated machines employed in the manufacture such as we have just described, render it almost impossible to show by means of cuts the course of a pencil from its earliest stage until it is complete. We therefore present our readers with a series of cuts showing the process of snaking a pencil by bandlabor. Titans will be of still greater interest when we say that, with unimportant exceptions, the processes represented are the same as those used in the manufacture of the famous Cumberland lead.
The first process is to cut the strips of cedar or thin planks of the length of three or four pencils and width of a dozen into the proper width. This is done by a simple machine shown in Fig. 1., and a small circular saw at the same time cuts the groove for the lead, also the cover for the pencil. The next process is to fill the groove of the pencil with the lead, which is fastened in its place by glue.
The cover is then glued down, and our pencil is ready for the rounding machine shown in Fig. 2. Here a man takes one of the long sticks in each hand and places them between the small wheels shown in the cut by which they are carried to revolving cutters, which perfectly rounds the pencil as it passes through them.
They are next smoothed with a plane, and then taken by boys who, holding five or six of the sticks in their hounds at a time, pull them up and down between a leathercovered revolving roller, and a board also covered with leather. See Fig. 3. The pencils are now cut into the proper lengths by a circular sass. Another workman then takes them, places them in a block of iron which has proper holes to receive them. The ends projecting a trifle, a razor blade is then brought ,down upon them cutting tine ends off perfectly smooth. This is shown in Fig. 4.
Very often pencils have a plain stamp upon them, as well as a gilt one. This plain stamping is done by a wheel which has the required letters upon it, a grooved wheel beneath keeping the pencil in place. Fig. 5 is a representation of the machine showing the pencil as it enters. The gilt inscription on the opposite side of tine pencil is affixed by a small hand press, Fig. 6. The die in this case has the lettering arranged in a straight line, and not around a wheel. The dieholder is made hollow, so that it may be kept. hot by a red hot iron inserted in it. The gala or silver leaf is put upon the pencil in a narrow strip. The pencil is then carefully placed under the die which is brought clown lay the screw, and the type imbeds the gold or silver in the pencil.
Nothing now remains to be done but to sort the pencils, tie them up, and pack them its the form in which they reach the market.
Of the number of pencils used in a year, and of the ratio in which the different kinds are consumed, there are many interesting facts. The black round pencil seems to be the favorite, and the No. 2 is the special style. The average somber of pencils consumed in the United States in a year is estimated by good authority to be about 20,260,000. The lowest retail price would be about five cents, which would bring the commercial value at $1,013,000. The duty upon pencils of from 30 to 50 cents per gross prevents the importation of any except the finest grades. All the cheap pencils are of American make. In regard to the waste of pencils, a word should be said, namely, that only three quarters of each pencil is really used, and the remainder, or one fourth, thrown away. In effect the people of the country waste no less than $250,000 worth of pencils by throwing them away before they are used.
Taking the whole world together there is perhaps no one article more extensively used than the lead-pencil, and, aside from the steel-pen, there is probably no single article that contributes more to human progress. In even the most ancient manuscripts we find marks resembling those of a hard lead-pencil, but a little research leads to the discovery that the ruled lines were made with sharp-edged disks of lead, and not by an instrument like a pencil. The use of black and red chalks dates to the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in the year 1564, the black-lead mines of Burrowdale, County of Cumberland, England, were discovered, and the following year black-lead-pencils were made in substantially the same form as we use them at the present day.
Black-lead, graphite, or plumbago is a mineral form of carbon, with a slight mixture of iron. Of great value in the arts and extensively used, yet, from its great abundance, only the finer and purer qualities find a ready market. The discovery of the Cumberland lead, as it is called, was most valuable. The manufacture of pencils from it at once became exceedingly important, and the English government deemed it necessary to forbid the exportation of the substance. A market was established for it, and every Monday, sufficient lead was sold to meet the supposed wants of the manufacturers. The prices were exceedingly high, ranging from less than ten dollars per pound up to nearly $40 per pound. The mine was never allowed to remain open more than six weeks in the year, yet the value of the yearly product is said to have reached the sum of 240,000, or much above $100,000, if we take into account the greater value of money in those days. But even the moderate working of six weeks in a year gradually diminished the supply and at last exhausted the yield, and it is now many years since any thing has been obtained from the mine except impure refuse.
Before the mine was exhausted processes were invented for cleansing and refining this refuse, which were applied to the poorer grades of the ore which had formerly been thrown aside. This purified material was then pressed into cakes, which were cut up in the same way that the natural products had been; but even this was not at all satisfactory, the pencils were of a poorer quality, in spite of all efforts.
In 1795, Centel; a Frenchman, nixed powdered clay with the plumbago or other colored powder and, by molding into the proper form, produced crayons of all shades of color and degrees of hardness. Isinglass, glue, sulphur, gum, and a hundred other ingredients had been tried, but only to result in complete failures. The new process was a complete success, and gave what could not be obtained from the native ore—a complete graduation in degrees of hardness, from the softest and blackest up to a pencil so hard that its point is like metal.
The earth or clay used has the property of diminishing in bulk and increasing in hardness in exact proportion to the length of time to which it is exposed to heat. The clay is washed until only the finest particles remain; these are mixed in the proper proportions with the plumbago and kneaded until they are thoroughly incorporated. The washing, grinding, kneading, and the proportioning of the quantities of clay to lead are in fact the most important parts of the pencil manufacture. The cake, after it comes from the machine, is put into a cylinder, and, by a blow, heavy pressure, forced out through a hole in the bottom in the shape of a square, octagonal, or round (as the case may be) continuous thread, which coils up like a rope on the board below. This is the lead for the pencils. It is then straightened, pieces cut to the proper lengths, placed close together in layers, and kept in place by a slight pressure which pre vents warping. They are then dried at a moderate temperature, and, when dry, are packed in crucibles and submitted to a high heat in ovens or furnaces. Upon the quantity of clay and length of heat are dependent the degree of blackness as well as the hardness of the product. This is the modern process, and, with one exception, is the same as that employed by Conté.
In 1846, a Frenchman, John Peter Alibert, living at that time in Asiatic Siberia, started on a business tour through the mountain regions of Eastern Siberia. Searching on his way the sandy beds of various rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean he hoped to discover gold. No gold was found, but in the mountain gorges near Irkutsk he discovered is the sand. what was of more importance and of greater value to mankind, smooth rounded pieces of pure graphite. Immediately recognizing the importance of the discovery, he at once abandoned the search for gold and began to follow the various streams in which the graphite was found to their fountain heads in order to find the original deposit. In 1847 the deposit was found in a mountain about 170 miles west of Irkutsk, near the Chinese frontier. Men and material had to be transported through the mountain wilderness. For seven years he labored taking out granite rock and an innpure lead exactly resembling the refuse of the Cumberland mines. At the end of that time he discovered an unbroken layer of "superb graphite," from which immense pieces could be taken. He had now readied the material, the next thing was to bring it to the world. In 1856 he received the first rewards for his labor in the shape of a decoration from the Emperor of Russia. Favor was shown lnim everywhere, but it was two or three years more before the graphite from his mine made its appearance in the market in the shape of pencils, it not being until 1865 that it was introduced into this country.
We are, it will be seen, indebted to Frenchmen for the two great discoveries which have given us the moderns admirable and indispensable lead-pencil. Still later improvements in the manufacture and purifications of the best grades of lead have given the world a complete independence of any particular mine or region, and it is now asserted, and it appears pretty well substanti,ted by facts, that pencils equal to the best in the world may be made from ordinary or inferior kinds of plumbags, if the improved methods of purification and treatment be used.
The wood universally employed for pencils is red-cedar, (Juniperus Virginiania) front Florida. With its characteristics every one is acquainted, through the medium of the pencil. It is the only wood that can with profit to manufacturer or comfort to the consumer be used for pencils. It is the practice in the best manufactories in this country to cut the logs of cedar into planks the thickness of which shall be just equal to four pencils. This plank is then cut into strips of a thickness about half that of a pencil. In this conditions the wood is seasoned, and when thoroughly dry is ready for snaking into pencils. The next step is cutting into strips the length of a pencil, and, of course, four times as wide. These go to rotary cutters that groove them on one side for the leads, and on the other side snake another groove for a division between the pencils. Then the lead is dipped in glue and laid in the grooves and a plain slip of cedar fastened down upon it. The whole is then fed to a set of circular saws, which cut the pencils apart, and which, without stopping, are pushed forward to a shaping machine, where revolving cutters give them the final shape round or octagonal. Polishing is the next operation; it is accomplished by passing the pencils on an endless belt beneath vibrating surfaces covered with emery. After coloring, which is done by machinery, comes the lettering. Here the pencils are operated upon one at a time. The length of time required for all these processes, leaving out the time occupied in seasoning the wood, from the log to the finished pencil ready for the market, is about four days. This of course, is in a large establishment where machinery is employed to the greatest possible extent. The complicated machines employed in the manufacture such as we have just described, render it almost impossible to show by means of cuts the course of a pencil from its earliest stage until it is complete. We therefore present our readers with a series of cuts showing the process of snaking a pencil by bandlabor. Titans will be of still greater interest when we say that, with unimportant exceptions, the processes represented are the same as those used in the manufacture of the famous Cumberland lead.
The first process is to cut the strips of cedar or thin planks of the length of three or four pencils and width of a dozen into the proper width. This is done by a simple machine shown in Fig. 1., and a small circular saw at the same time cuts the groove for the lead, also the cover for the pencil. The next process is to fill the groove of the pencil with the lead, which is fastened in its place by glue.
The cover is then glued down, and our pencil is ready for the rounding machine shown in Fig. 2. Here a man takes one of the long sticks in each hand and places them between the small wheels shown in the cut by which they are carried to revolving cutters, which perfectly rounds the pencil as it passes through them.
They are next smoothed with a plane, and then taken by boys who, holding five or six of the sticks in their hounds at a time, pull them up and down between a leathercovered revolving roller, and a board also covered with leather. See Fig. 3. The pencils are now cut into the proper lengths by a circular sass. Another workman then takes them, places them in a block of iron which has proper holes to receive them. The ends projecting a trifle, a razor blade is then brought ,down upon them cutting tine ends off perfectly smooth. This is shown in Fig. 4.
Very often pencils have a plain stamp upon them, as well as a gilt one. This plain stamping is done by a wheel which has the required letters upon it, a grooved wheel beneath keeping the pencil in place. Fig. 5 is a representation of the machine showing the pencil as it enters. The gilt inscription on the opposite side of tine pencil is affixed by a small hand press, Fig. 6. The die in this case has the lettering arranged in a straight line, and not around a wheel. The dieholder is made hollow, so that it may be kept. hot by a red hot iron inserted in it. The gala or silver leaf is put upon the pencil in a narrow strip. The pencil is then carefully placed under the die which is brought clown lay the screw, and the type imbeds the gold or silver in the pencil.
Nothing now remains to be done but to sort the pencils, tie them up, and pack them its the form in which they reach the market.
Of the number of pencils used in a year, and of the ratio in which the different kinds are consumed, there are many interesting facts. The black round pencil seems to be the favorite, and the No. 2 is the special style. The average somber of pencils consumed in the United States in a year is estimated by good authority to be about 20,260,000. The lowest retail price would be about five cents, which would bring the commercial value at $1,013,000. The duty upon pencils of from 30 to 50 cents per gross prevents the importation of any except the finest grades. All the cheap pencils are of American make. In regard to the waste of pencils, a word should be said, namely, that only three quarters of each pencil is really used, and the remainder, or one fourth, thrown away. In effect the people of the country waste no less than $250,000 worth of pencils by throwing them away before they are used.
The Figure and Color of Wood.
Manufacturer and Builder 10, 1874
The figure of wood depends more upon the particular mixings and directions of the fibers, than upon any difference of color. If a tree were found formed of merely circular rings, like the section of an orange, filled with layers of peel instead of pulp, the horizontal section would exhibit circles; the vertical, parallel straight lines; and the oblique section, parts of ovals; but few, if any, trees are to be found either exactly perpendicular or straight; and therefore, although the three natural sections have a general disposition to the figures described, every little bend and twist in the tree disturbs the regularity of the fiber, and adds to the variety and ornamentation of the wood. A perpendicular cut through the heart of the tree is the hardest and most diversified, because in it occurs the most profuse mixture and density of the fiber, the first and the last in point of age being presented in the same plank, but the density and diversity lessen as the board is cut further away from the axis.
Curls are formed by the confused filling in of the space between the forks of the branches. The beautiful figure thus induced causes a log, say of mahogany, to be valuable in proportion to the number of curls it contains. There is great competition at public auctions for such logs, and prices which seem astonishingly large are sometimes given for a log known by judges to contain several fine curls. Occasionally some disappointment may be experienced when the log is opened, but not often. The curl generally shows itself on the outside, where it can be seen, and there is always the possibility of there being interior ones as well, which do not show on the surface.
Figure is also produced as follows: The germs of the primary branches are set at an early period of the growth of the parent stem; and thus give rise to knots. But many fail to penetrate to the exterior, and are covered over by the more vigorous deposition of the annual rings. Each branch is a miniature tree down to the smallest twig, and this process goes on in each individual branch just as in the trunk. These knots produce figure in the following manner: When the germ succeeds in forcing its way to the surface, the future rings of the trunk bend and turn aside when they encounter the knot, and in the softer wood do not unite with it. This accounts for whitewood knots being so liable to fall out. The turpentine in other sorts of woods acts as a sort of cement, and keeps the knot in its place. The hardness of knots is due to the close grouping of the fibers, and to their compression by the surrounding wood, which itself is allowed expansion by the yielding nature of the bark. The same operation goes on beneath the ground in tire roots of a tree, and splendid furniture veneer is obtained from soars descriptions.
The bird's-eye maple has internal points or spines on the inside of the bark, which penetrate the wood and make irregular indentations. These cause tire peculiar appearance which is so much prized, and from which the wood takes its name.
In woods the figure of which resembles the ripple marks of the sea on fine sand, such as satinwood, sycasnore, mahogany, ash, etc., the figure is produced by the serpentine form of the grain. The fibers of all such pieces are wavy on the face at right angles to that on which the ripple is observed, if not on both faces, those parts of the wood which happen to receive the light, being brightest. Woods having the silver grain, or, as called by botanists, "medullary plates or rays," possess another sort of adornment, namely, a sort of dappled effect, or an effect similar to that produced on silk by threads running crosswise to those longitudinally disposed. English oak, Riga and Dutch wainscot logs, Austrian wainscot, etc., have this peculiarity. In the oak plank the principal streaks or lines are the edges of the annual rings, which show, as usual, parallel lines (more or less waved) from the curvature of the tree or the neighboring knots and branches. The damask pencillings, or broad curly veins and stripes, are caused by groups of the medallary rays, which undulate in layers from the margin to the center of the tree, and creep in betwixt the longitudinal fibers. Had the fibers of trees been arranged with the uniformity and exactitude of a piece of plain cloth, they would have shown an even uninterrupted color; but being arranged by nature in irregular curved lines, almost every intersection of them by the hand of man partly removes some, and exposes others, thus causing a great variety of figure. To such a boundless extent do the changes caused by tints, fibers, curls, knots, etc., exist that the cabinetmaker scarcely ever seeks to match any pieces of wood for the purpose of causing uniformity of figure in the article he is making, and, indeed, diversity is more pleasing to the eye than uniformity would be, if it were practicable.
As regards color, some woods are nearly uniform, and some have several shades of the same hue, or of two or three different colors. In the horizontal section of such woods, the tree seems to have clothed itself with different coats of various colors — such as tulipwood, kingwood, zebrawood and rosewood. In the ordinary planks these markings get drawn out into stripes, bands, and patches, or wavy figures of the most beautiful or grotesque character. Woods variegated both in grain and color are snore generally employed for objects with smooth surfaces, such as cabinet work. Such are Amboyna, kingwood, some mahogany, maple, partridge, rose, satin, snake, tulip, and zebrawood. Beautiful specimens of marquetry which we have recently seen, aptly illustrate the use of such wood for tire purpose of ornamentation, and they also prove that they are out of place in other than smooth surfaces, for the same style of work in moldings has a decidedly inferior effect.
The colors of fancy woods are not liable to fade by exposure to light, tulipwood being an exception; bunt age of course darkens them and mellows the general effect. But the whitest of varnishes should be applied, or the natural tint is liable to be spoiled.
The rich greenish-brown of walnut is much esteemed, and especially for piano-forte cases. The large makers own stocks of this and other fancy woods to an extent few have any idea of. The rich deep orange of Spanish mahogany makes beautiful tables and counter tops, and its large square surface makes it peculiarly adapted to either uses. Honduras, of a brownish tint, is used for all kinds of superior cabinetwork, while oak is principally employed in those parts of housebuilding where durability is a necessity. Wainscot is preferred for cabinetwork, and the Austrian. has lately come into deserved favor. Pitch pine, too, is pleasing both as to color and figure; rosewood, with its rich tints, is not so much used as formerly. The color of wood, when in the log, may readily be ascertained by scraping the outer rind, when the figure may also be guessed at with a tolerable degree of accuracy; but to arrive at any degree of perfection as a judge requires a very long practice, and it is almost impossible to frame rules in writing, any one of which would not be liable to numerous and bewildering exceptions
The figure of wood depends more upon the particular mixings and directions of the fibers, than upon any difference of color. If a tree were found formed of merely circular rings, like the section of an orange, filled with layers of peel instead of pulp, the horizontal section would exhibit circles; the vertical, parallel straight lines; and the oblique section, parts of ovals; but few, if any, trees are to be found either exactly perpendicular or straight; and therefore, although the three natural sections have a general disposition to the figures described, every little bend and twist in the tree disturbs the regularity of the fiber, and adds to the variety and ornamentation of the wood. A perpendicular cut through the heart of the tree is the hardest and most diversified, because in it occurs the most profuse mixture and density of the fiber, the first and the last in point of age being presented in the same plank, but the density and diversity lessen as the board is cut further away from the axis.
Curls are formed by the confused filling in of the space between the forks of the branches. The beautiful figure thus induced causes a log, say of mahogany, to be valuable in proportion to the number of curls it contains. There is great competition at public auctions for such logs, and prices which seem astonishingly large are sometimes given for a log known by judges to contain several fine curls. Occasionally some disappointment may be experienced when the log is opened, but not often. The curl generally shows itself on the outside, where it can be seen, and there is always the possibility of there being interior ones as well, which do not show on the surface.
Figure is also produced as follows: The germs of the primary branches are set at an early period of the growth of the parent stem; and thus give rise to knots. But many fail to penetrate to the exterior, and are covered over by the more vigorous deposition of the annual rings. Each branch is a miniature tree down to the smallest twig, and this process goes on in each individual branch just as in the trunk. These knots produce figure in the following manner: When the germ succeeds in forcing its way to the surface, the future rings of the trunk bend and turn aside when they encounter the knot, and in the softer wood do not unite with it. This accounts for whitewood knots being so liable to fall out. The turpentine in other sorts of woods acts as a sort of cement, and keeps the knot in its place. The hardness of knots is due to the close grouping of the fibers, and to their compression by the surrounding wood, which itself is allowed expansion by the yielding nature of the bark. The same operation goes on beneath the ground in tire roots of a tree, and splendid furniture veneer is obtained from soars descriptions.
The bird's-eye maple has internal points or spines on the inside of the bark, which penetrate the wood and make irregular indentations. These cause tire peculiar appearance which is so much prized, and from which the wood takes its name.
In woods the figure of which resembles the ripple marks of the sea on fine sand, such as satinwood, sycasnore, mahogany, ash, etc., the figure is produced by the serpentine form of the grain. The fibers of all such pieces are wavy on the face at right angles to that on which the ripple is observed, if not on both faces, those parts of the wood which happen to receive the light, being brightest. Woods having the silver grain, or, as called by botanists, "medullary plates or rays," possess another sort of adornment, namely, a sort of dappled effect, or an effect similar to that produced on silk by threads running crosswise to those longitudinally disposed. English oak, Riga and Dutch wainscot logs, Austrian wainscot, etc., have this peculiarity. In the oak plank the principal streaks or lines are the edges of the annual rings, which show, as usual, parallel lines (more or less waved) from the curvature of the tree or the neighboring knots and branches. The damask pencillings, or broad curly veins and stripes, are caused by groups of the medallary rays, which undulate in layers from the margin to the center of the tree, and creep in betwixt the longitudinal fibers. Had the fibers of trees been arranged with the uniformity and exactitude of a piece of plain cloth, they would have shown an even uninterrupted color; but being arranged by nature in irregular curved lines, almost every intersection of them by the hand of man partly removes some, and exposes others, thus causing a great variety of figure. To such a boundless extent do the changes caused by tints, fibers, curls, knots, etc., exist that the cabinetmaker scarcely ever seeks to match any pieces of wood for the purpose of causing uniformity of figure in the article he is making, and, indeed, diversity is more pleasing to the eye than uniformity would be, if it were practicable.
As regards color, some woods are nearly uniform, and some have several shades of the same hue, or of two or three different colors. In the horizontal section of such woods, the tree seems to have clothed itself with different coats of various colors — such as tulipwood, kingwood, zebrawood and rosewood. In the ordinary planks these markings get drawn out into stripes, bands, and patches, or wavy figures of the most beautiful or grotesque character. Woods variegated both in grain and color are snore generally employed for objects with smooth surfaces, such as cabinet work. Such are Amboyna, kingwood, some mahogany, maple, partridge, rose, satin, snake, tulip, and zebrawood. Beautiful specimens of marquetry which we have recently seen, aptly illustrate the use of such wood for tire purpose of ornamentation, and they also prove that they are out of place in other than smooth surfaces, for the same style of work in moldings has a decidedly inferior effect.
The colors of fancy woods are not liable to fade by exposure to light, tulipwood being an exception; bunt age of course darkens them and mellows the general effect. But the whitest of varnishes should be applied, or the natural tint is liable to be spoiled.
The rich greenish-brown of walnut is much esteemed, and especially for piano-forte cases. The large makers own stocks of this and other fancy woods to an extent few have any idea of. The rich deep orange of Spanish mahogany makes beautiful tables and counter tops, and its large square surface makes it peculiarly adapted to either uses. Honduras, of a brownish tint, is used for all kinds of superior cabinetwork, while oak is principally employed in those parts of housebuilding where durability is a necessity. Wainscot is preferred for cabinetwork, and the Austrian. has lately come into deserved favor. Pitch pine, too, is pleasing both as to color and figure; rosewood, with its rich tints, is not so much used as formerly. The color of wood, when in the log, may readily be ascertained by scraping the outer rind, when the figure may also be guessed at with a tolerable degree of accuracy; but to arrive at any degree of perfection as a judge requires a very long practice, and it is almost impossible to frame rules in writing, any one of which would not be liable to numerous and bewildering exceptions
26.9.20
[946] Printer's Ink.
Manufacturer and Builder 4, 1874
Boil gallons of linseed-oil to the consistency of a thick varnish; while hot add, during constant stirring, 6 pounds powdered rosin, then 1¾, pounds dry brown soap shavings, then mix 2½ ounces indigo blue and 5 pounds best lampblack; let stand for a week and grind it. When white soap is used in place of brown, and vermilion in place of the indigo and lampblack, you have red ink; chrome yellow, chrome green, and ultramarine give respectively yellow green, and blue inks.
Precaution. — Boil your oil in the open air, and have a well-fitting cover to the pot, with long handle, so as to smother the fire when the oil takes fire. Some think that black ink is much better when it has been on fire, and therefore at the end of the operation they set it on fire intentionally, but then soon extinguish it by putting on the close fitting cover with long handle.
Boil gallons of linseed-oil to the consistency of a thick varnish; while hot add, during constant stirring, 6 pounds powdered rosin, then 1¾, pounds dry brown soap shavings, then mix 2½ ounces indigo blue and 5 pounds best lampblack; let stand for a week and grind it. When white soap is used in place of brown, and vermilion in place of the indigo and lampblack, you have red ink; chrome yellow, chrome green, and ultramarine give respectively yellow green, and blue inks.
Precaution. — Boil your oil in the open air, and have a well-fitting cover to the pot, with long handle, so as to smother the fire when the oil takes fire. Some think that black ink is much better when it has been on fire, and therefore at the end of the operation they set it on fire intentionally, but then soon extinguish it by putting on the close fitting cover with long handle.
(1670) Aluminum Bronze.
Manufacturer and Builder 10, 1876
— In making Aluminum bronze, the metallic copper is first melted and the metallic aluminum added in the desired quantity. As the aluminum ore is clay, which requires an elaborate chemical operation to extract the metal from, it is of course utterly unavailable for the purpose in question. The use of this bronze at present is only in its infancy, but is continually extending. Two important qualities secure it a very extensive application — its extreme hardness, being next to steel, and its freedom from tarnishing by oxidation, making it similar to gold, of which it has also the color. In Paris it has been used for the steps of public buildings subject to much wear, and has been found for superior to cast-iron. It is now also used for small objects, such as pen and pencil holders, now found in the trade, and sold for gold-plated ones, to which they are however far superior. The price of aluminum is $4 per pound, and the bronze from $1 to $2, according to the ratio of the alloy.
— In making Aluminum bronze, the metallic copper is first melted and the metallic aluminum added in the desired quantity. As the aluminum ore is clay, which requires an elaborate chemical operation to extract the metal from, it is of course utterly unavailable for the purpose in question. The use of this bronze at present is only in its infancy, but is continually extending. Two important qualities secure it a very extensive application — its extreme hardness, being next to steel, and its freedom from tarnishing by oxidation, making it similar to gold, of which it has also the color. In Paris it has been used for the steps of public buildings subject to much wear, and has been found for superior to cast-iron. It is now also used for small objects, such as pen and pencil holders, now found in the trade, and sold for gold-plated ones, to which they are however far superior. The price of aluminum is $4 per pound, and the bronze from $1 to $2, according to the ratio of the alloy.
25.9.20
The Color of Pure Water.
Manufacturer and Builder ?, 1883
An effort has been made by Herr Victor Meyer to determine the color of pure water. He has found that it is a shade between blue and green. Taking two glass tubes 40 millimeters in diameter and about 1.5 meters in length, he connected them by means of rubber tubing, forming a tube about 7½ meters long. Both ends of this tube are fixed in glass plates and fitted with metal sockets, which are provided with brass nozzles for filling the tube. All being arranged, the tube is placed in a perfectly horizontal position and covered with a black cloth. Upon looking through the empty tube the field of vision appears colorless, as the cloth and the metal sockets prevent the glass from exerting any influence. As soon, however, as the tube is filled with distilled water and intense bluish-green color is observed.
An effort has been made by Herr Victor Meyer to determine the color of pure water. He has found that it is a shade between blue and green. Taking two glass tubes 40 millimeters in diameter and about 1.5 meters in length, he connected them by means of rubber tubing, forming a tube about 7½ meters long. Both ends of this tube are fixed in glass plates and fitted with metal sockets, which are provided with brass nozzles for filling the tube. All being arranged, the tube is placed in a perfectly horizontal position and covered with a black cloth. Upon looking through the empty tube the field of vision appears colorless, as the cloth and the metal sockets prevent the glass from exerting any influence. As soon, however, as the tube is filled with distilled water and intense bluish-green color is observed.
A Dead Black Paint.
The Manufacturer and Builder 2, 1886
Probably many of our readers, especially those who are the possessors of optical instruments, have, at some time or other, been in need of a "dead black" paint or varnish for brass work, such as tubes, diaphragms, etc. We have often been in the same boat, and all the formulæ and recipes given in the books were unsatisfactory because of their vagueness. The following can be relied upon to give a first-rate dead black, and it is easily made: Take two grains of lampblack, put it into any smooth, shallow dish, such as a saucer or small butter plate, add a little gold size, and thoroughly mix the two together. Just enough gold size should be used to hold the lampblack together - about three drops of such size as may be had by dipping the point of a lead pencil about half an inch into the gold size will be found right for the above quantity of lampblack; it should be added a drop at a time, however. After the lampblack and size are thoroughly mixed and worked, add 24 drops of turpentine, and again mix and work.
Probably many of our readers, especially those who are the possessors of optical instruments, have, at some time or other, been in need of a "dead black" paint or varnish for brass work, such as tubes, diaphragms, etc. We have often been in the same boat, and all the formulæ and recipes given in the books were unsatisfactory because of their vagueness. The following can be relied upon to give a first-rate dead black, and it is easily made: Take two grains of lampblack, put it into any smooth, shallow dish, such as a saucer or small butter plate, add a little gold size, and thoroughly mix the two together. Just enough gold size should be used to hold the lampblack together - about three drops of such size as may be had by dipping the point of a lead pencil about half an inch into the gold size will be found right for the above quantity of lampblack; it should be added a drop at a time, however. After the lampblack and size are thoroughly mixed and worked, add 24 drops of turpentine, and again mix and work.
Q. 4124. The Manufacture of India Ink.
Manufacturer and Builder 9, 1888
—Call you inform me through your Notes and Queries if I am right in ssupposing that the so-called "India Ink" is made from the dried ink sack of the cuttle fish? This its what I have been taught to believe, and have always supposed to be correct, until lately when I have been told that it was made from lampblack.
- Draughtsman, New York.
Answer.
There is no doubt that the ink sack of the cuttle fish was at one time largely used by the Chinese for the production of the ink called incorrectly "India Ink," so highly prized by draughtsmen. At present, however, it is probable that most of the material known by that name is made from lampblack and zinc, by some special process. the details of which are not certainly known. An item which lately appeared in one of the daily papers, gives what purports to be a history of the process of its manufacture, from which we abstract what seems to be the essential portion. It reads like a very excellent recipe, and even though it may not be just what it purports to be it will doubtless afford a very good substitute for the genuine article: "The process now employed by the Chinamen in the manufacture of their India ink is not radically different from that in use in ancient days. The old principle that burning resinous material will throw off thick smoke in large quantities is employed, only the smoke thus obtained is a little more scientifically handled. In the middle of a big porcelain dish, about two feet in diameter and three or four Inches deep, they place a stand of about six inches diameter and the same bight as the dish. Several small lamps rest upon the stand, and by means of arms fastened to the sides of the dish, small conical dishes are held just over the lamps. The dish is filled with water, almost up to the tops of the lamps' wicks and the lamps are lighted. The smoke condenses on the conical dishes hung over the lamps and is collected in the form of a dense, black powder. This powder is placed in a vase and a warmed mixture of nine parts of fish glue and one of animal glue strained into it through a piece of silk held over the mouth of the vase. The contents of the vase, then being thoroughly stirred, is rolled into balls, wrapped in cloth and immersed in hot water.
"Kneading, another immersion and beating with a hammer follow. the paste is scented and in the form of long sticks is placed in various shaped molds. Wrapped in paper the sticks aro placed in a dish filled with rice-straw ashes and in a day or two are thoroughly dried. Rubbing with cloths and brushes serves to clean and polish them and they are then ready for the market. The soft paste can of course be molded in any shape, but ass a rule is made into short, slender sticks which are generally ornamented with Chinese inscriptions or designs. The peculiar qualities of the ink render it indispensable to sketch-artists and draughtsmen and nothing has been found to take its place." "Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, etc.," gives several recipes for preparing Chinese ink, which confirm the above in the general feature that they invoke the use of lampblack. The size indicated is glue, British gum (dextrine), and other materials.
—Call you inform me through your Notes and Queries if I am right in ssupposing that the so-called "India Ink" is made from the dried ink sack of the cuttle fish? This its what I have been taught to believe, and have always supposed to be correct, until lately when I have been told that it was made from lampblack.
- Draughtsman, New York.
Answer.
There is no doubt that the ink sack of the cuttle fish was at one time largely used by the Chinese for the production of the ink called incorrectly "India Ink," so highly prized by draughtsmen. At present, however, it is probable that most of the material known by that name is made from lampblack and zinc, by some special process. the details of which are not certainly known. An item which lately appeared in one of the daily papers, gives what purports to be a history of the process of its manufacture, from which we abstract what seems to be the essential portion. It reads like a very excellent recipe, and even though it may not be just what it purports to be it will doubtless afford a very good substitute for the genuine article: "The process now employed by the Chinamen in the manufacture of their India ink is not radically different from that in use in ancient days. The old principle that burning resinous material will throw off thick smoke in large quantities is employed, only the smoke thus obtained is a little more scientifically handled. In the middle of a big porcelain dish, about two feet in diameter and three or four Inches deep, they place a stand of about six inches diameter and the same bight as the dish. Several small lamps rest upon the stand, and by means of arms fastened to the sides of the dish, small conical dishes are held just over the lamps. The dish is filled with water, almost up to the tops of the lamps' wicks and the lamps are lighted. The smoke condenses on the conical dishes hung over the lamps and is collected in the form of a dense, black powder. This powder is placed in a vase and a warmed mixture of nine parts of fish glue and one of animal glue strained into it through a piece of silk held over the mouth of the vase. The contents of the vase, then being thoroughly stirred, is rolled into balls, wrapped in cloth and immersed in hot water.
"Kneading, another immersion and beating with a hammer follow. the paste is scented and in the form of long sticks is placed in various shaped molds. Wrapped in paper the sticks aro placed in a dish filled with rice-straw ashes and in a day or two are thoroughly dried. Rubbing with cloths and brushes serves to clean and polish them and they are then ready for the market. The soft paste can of course be molded in any shape, but ass a rule is made into short, slender sticks which are generally ornamented with Chinese inscriptions or designs. The peculiar qualities of the ink render it indispensable to sketch-artists and draughtsmen and nothing has been found to take its place." "Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, etc.," gives several recipes for preparing Chinese ink, which confirm the above in the general feature that they invoke the use of lampblack. The size indicated is glue, British gum (dextrine), and other materials.
A Dead Black Paint.
Manufacturer and builder 3, 1888
For a dead-black paint for the inside of tubes, use lampblack or artists' boneblack mixed with alcohol in which a few drops of shellac varnish have been mixed. Use no more shellac than will just make the black stick. Make a trial on a piece of metal. If, on drying, it shows the least shining surface, there is too much shellac; if, on the contrary, the black readily rubs of with the timers, there is not enough shellac. A drop of shellac varnish to a tablespoonful of the mixture may change its drying character to a shining or a dead surface. As but a very small quantity of the blacking is needed for an instrument, we cannot readily give the precise quantity.
For a dead-black paint for the inside of tubes, use lampblack or artists' boneblack mixed with alcohol in which a few drops of shellac varnish have been mixed. Use no more shellac than will just make the black stick. Make a trial on a piece of metal. If, on drying, it shows the least shining surface, there is too much shellac; if, on the contrary, the black readily rubs of with the timers, there is not enough shellac. A drop of shellac varnish to a tablespoonful of the mixture may change its drying character to a shining or a dead surface. As but a very small quantity of the blacking is needed for an instrument, we cannot readily give the precise quantity.
The Coloration of Glass.
Manufacturer and builder ?, 1870
The French chemist, Pelouze, states that glass, even when produced with the best crude materials, (pure silica and sulphate or carbonate of soda,) shows always either a yellowish green or sea-green shade, which, according to this savant, originates from traces of iron that are always present in those materials. Window-glass, which contains more iron, is of a more greenish tinge than mirror-glass, but each of these kinds turns more or less yellow in the sunlight, and indeed the more so the less greenish they were originally. An exposure to the sun on a bright day is sufficient to produce this change in color, the thickest pieces becoming yellow throughout within a few weeks. A scratch upon window-glass appears nearly as yellow as salphur after being exposed to the sun for but a short while. It is true that, owing to the little depth to which it penetrates, this color can sometimes scarcely be recognized; but it will always be observed by thoroughly examining the specimen. If glass that has assumed a yellow tinge in the light is reheated to a dark-red heat, it assumes again its original greenish shade; but an exposure to the sun turns it yellow for a second time; though, if reheated, it will again partake of its original color. Indeed, this experiment may be repeated for an indefinite number of times, provided the glass be heated over 700° Fahr. In diffused daylight, for instance, in a room, no change of color appears to take place, and, if it does, it will only be noticed after many years. Pelouze had in his possession glass plates that had been preserved for upward of twenty years, without showing the least change in color. Glass that has been turned yellow by the rays of the sun contains protoxide of iron and sulphate of sod. By the action of the light, oxide of iron and sulphuret of sodium are formed; heating reproduces the original combinations. It is shown by chemical tests that glass that has turned yellow by the action of the sun contains traces of a sulphuret, while before the exposure not the least trace can over be ascertained. Carbon, silica, boron, phosphorus, and hydrogen turn glass yellow by reducing the sulphate to a sulphuret. Glass that is free from sulphate of soda is not changed. As regards the philosophy of these phenomena, it may be condensed in the following In the glass that has turned yellow by reduction of the sulphate at a high temperature, the iron exists in the form of a protoxide, which is without action upon sulphurets. On the other hand, in the glass turned yellow by the sun, the iron is present as an oxide, capable of being converted into a sulphate.
Besides these, other not less remarkable changes in the color of glass are known. Faraday, for instance, states that certain English kinds of window-glass, when exposed to the sun, assume a purplish tinge. This is not unknown to glass-makers; it appears in glass that contains oxide of iron and manganese together. This shade also disappears ander the action of heat, which fact may be accounted for by the circumstance that the oxide of manganese yields a part of its oxygen to the iron, which then forms with it a colorless oxide of iron.
The French chemist, Pelouze, states that glass, even when produced with the best crude materials, (pure silica and sulphate or carbonate of soda,) shows always either a yellowish green or sea-green shade, which, according to this savant, originates from traces of iron that are always present in those materials. Window-glass, which contains more iron, is of a more greenish tinge than mirror-glass, but each of these kinds turns more or less yellow in the sunlight, and indeed the more so the less greenish they were originally. An exposure to the sun on a bright day is sufficient to produce this change in color, the thickest pieces becoming yellow throughout within a few weeks. A scratch upon window-glass appears nearly as yellow as salphur after being exposed to the sun for but a short while. It is true that, owing to the little depth to which it penetrates, this color can sometimes scarcely be recognized; but it will always be observed by thoroughly examining the specimen. If glass that has assumed a yellow tinge in the light is reheated to a dark-red heat, it assumes again its original greenish shade; but an exposure to the sun turns it yellow for a second time; though, if reheated, it will again partake of its original color. Indeed, this experiment may be repeated for an indefinite number of times, provided the glass be heated over 700° Fahr. In diffused daylight, for instance, in a room, no change of color appears to take place, and, if it does, it will only be noticed after many years. Pelouze had in his possession glass plates that had been preserved for upward of twenty years, without showing the least change in color. Glass that has been turned yellow by the rays of the sun contains protoxide of iron and sulphate of sod. By the action of the light, oxide of iron and sulphuret of sodium are formed; heating reproduces the original combinations. It is shown by chemical tests that glass that has turned yellow by the action of the sun contains traces of a sulphuret, while before the exposure not the least trace can over be ascertained. Carbon, silica, boron, phosphorus, and hydrogen turn glass yellow by reducing the sulphate to a sulphuret. Glass that is free from sulphate of soda is not changed. As regards the philosophy of these phenomena, it may be condensed in the following In the glass that has turned yellow by reduction of the sulphate at a high temperature, the iron exists in the form of a protoxide, which is without action upon sulphurets. On the other hand, in the glass turned yellow by the sun, the iron is present as an oxide, capable of being converted into a sulphate.
Besides these, other not less remarkable changes in the color of glass are known. Faraday, for instance, states that certain English kinds of window-glass, when exposed to the sun, assume a purplish tinge. This is not unknown to glass-makers; it appears in glass that contains oxide of iron and manganese together. This shade also disappears ander the action of heat, which fact may be accounted for by the circumstance that the oxide of manganese yields a part of its oxygen to the iron, which then forms with it a colorless oxide of iron.
Asuntojen ulkomaalauksesta.
Kauhava 33, 15.8.1929
Kauhavalla 15 p. elok. 1929
Vaikka käsittelimmekin tätä asiaa jo aikaisemmin alkukesällä, otamme sen kuitenkin vielä uudestaan puheeksi. Pitäjämme rakennukset tekevät auttamattoman harmaan ja kolkon yleisvaikutuksen ja näyttävät vieraspitäjäläisestä paljon huonommilta ja ränstyneimmiltä kuin mitä ne todellisuudessa ovat. Kun nyt taas lentopäivien aikana pitäjäämme saapuu paljon vierastakin väkeä, luultavasti kauempaakin, oiisi sopiva taas, kuten viime kesänäkin, oikein joukolla ja kyläkunnittain maalata talot, jolloin ne vieraalle esiintyisivät kaikin puolin miellyttävinä, puhumattakaan siitä ilosta, jonka se tuottaisi jatkuvasti talon asukkaille. - Opastukseksi julkaisemme tässä ylitarkastaja Lauri Kuoppamäen antamia ohjeita "Maalaistalojen ulkomaalauksesta".
Vanhuuttaan harmahtuneet hirsirakennukset saattavat sellaisinaan olla kauniit katsella kuten kaikki muukin, mitä ihmiskäsi ei ole pilannut. Valitettavan totta nimittäin on, että nykyajan ihmisillä on paljon suurempi taipumus jalostusinnossaan rumentaa kuin sumentaa luontoa. Siihen katsoen, että rakennusten seiniin ilmestyvää homesienen ja sammalen kasvua ja muita puuaineen ikää lyhentäviä ilman vaikutuksia voidaan vaimentaa maali- y.m. sivellyksillä, on maalaisrakennustenkin värittäminen puollettavissa. Voidaanpa siten saada maisemaan silmää hivelevää raikkauttakin ja sielua ravitsevaa vaihtelua sekä rakennusten ääriviivoille selventävää korostusta.
Maalaistalojen maalaaminen on siis puollettavissa. Mutta älköön tällöin suinkaan apinoitako kaupungeissa nähtyjä menettelytapoja, sillä tällä, kuten monella muullakin alalla, on kaupunkiarkkitehtuuri esteettisesti alemmalla asteella kuin se, mitä yleensä vanhalta pohjalta on kehittynyt maalaisoloissa. Onneksi hirsitaloja on teknillisistä syistä vaikea sivellä öljyväreillä, jotka vaativat sileää pintaa. Joko luonnostaan kalseilla tai äiteläsointuisilla öljyväreillä on monikin muuten mukiin menevä rakennus saatettu vastenmieliseksi katsella.
Jos maalaisrakennus maalla on vuorattu höylätyillä laudoilla, on öljyväri suojukseksi välttämätön. Monista siedettävistä väri vivahteista olen valmis arvelematta asettamaan ensi sijalle hillityn puhtaan keltaisen pääväriksi. Ikkunalaudat ja muun listoituksen sivelisin tällöin valkoisella.
Valkoinen säilyäkseen alkuperäisenä vaatii hieman sekoitettaessa muuta väriä. Usein tähän käytetään sinistä. Se ei ole puollettava, koska sininen kalseuttaa ennestäänkin kylmää valkoista. Keltaisella voi valkoisen saada lämpimämmäksi, kuorimattoman maidon, vieläpä kerman lähimailta. Harmaakin vivahdus on parempi kuin sininen. Tämä otettakoon huomioon huonekalumaalauksessakin.
Hauskin värisuojus maalaisrakennuksiin saadaan sivelemällä ne tervan ja lamppuöljyn seoksella. Jos ne tahdotaan värikkäämmiksi, ei ole syytä ajatella muuta kuin kelta- tai punamultaa vesivärinä. Molemmista näistä saa rakennus pehmeän tunnun, eikä puun luontaista rakennettakaan tarvitse tyystin peittää. jos talo vuorataan, valittakoon sahauspintaisia lautoja, koska vesiväri ei tarpeeksi imeydy höylättyyn.
Keltaväriksi soveltuu tavallinen okra, punaiseksi mieluimmin Italian punamulta. "Ja valkoiset ikkunalaudat" lauletaan laulussakin. Mutta ei niitten enemmän kuin muunkaan listoituksen tarvitse ehdottomasti punaisen kanssa aina olla valkoisia. Keltainen ja valkoinen on aina hyvä yhdistelmä, joten siitä ei sen enempää. Vaikka seinä onkin sivelty vesivärillä, on listoitukseen syytä käyttää höylättyä tavaraa ja niihin öljyväriä, ottaen huomioon mitä edellä valkoisesta on sanottu.
Luonnostaan kylmä valkoinen erottautuu tavallistakin kylmempänä lämpöisen punaisen rinnalla. Kyllähän se menettelee, en sitä kiellä, kun siitä yhdistelmästä on opittu kauniisti laulamaankin. Mutta on syytä ajatella muutakin, vaikka ei suinkaan mitä tahansa taivaan kaaren väriä. Punaisten talojen ovia näkee mailla joskus mustalla himmeällä värillä maalattuina ja aika mukiinmenevästi. Tummahko tervaväri tässä, kuten listoituksessakin, on vieläkin suositeltavampi, samoin tummanvihreä sekä harvemmissa paikoissa kuten ovien ja ikkunain kehystyksissä ja puitteissa myös tumma sininen. Mutta liikaa kirjavuutta tarkoin vältettäköön.
Katon väriäkään emme tässä yhteydessä saa unohtaa. Hauskin on mailla pärekatto, joka punaisellakin "impregnoitu" ajan oloon saa mustan tunnun. Musta huopakatto (ei harmaa) on myös paremman puutteessa siedettävä, mutta ei suinkaan galvanoitu levy, joka kuuluu kaupunkien kylmään kiviarkkitehtuuriin. Jos rautalevyä käytetään kattamisaineena, maalattakoon se kyllin tummalla punaisella öljyvärillä. Tiilikatot tietenkin ovat erittäin suositeltavia ja sietäisivät meillä tulla entistä enemmän käytäntöön.
Vesivärin keittämisessä on alla esitetty maalari Svante Lehtosen Käsiteollisuuskirjaston "Maalaus kotitarpeiksi" kirjasesta lainaamani ohje suositeltava.
Ensin asetetaan isokokoiseen pataan noin 2 tai 3 kiloa raakaa alunaa eli vihtrilliä ja hämmennetään sitä veden seassa, kunnes se sulaa. Kun sitten vesi on alkanut kiehua, hämmennetään siihen ruisjauhoja niin paljon, että siitä tulee tavallista ruisjauhovelliä. Kun se on kiehunut tulella vähintään tunnin ajan, sekoitetaan siihen sitä väriä, jolla aiotaan maalata. Koko seoksen annetaan sitten kiehua 2 tai 3 tuntia sitä parempi mitä kauemmin sitä kiehutetaan, sillä sitä kestävämpää tulee väri. Kun se on tarpeeksi kiehunut ja sitten jäähtynyt, voidaan sillä alkaa siveieminen. Sellaisenaan sillä ei kuitenkaan, käy maalaaminen, sillä se on jäähdyttyään liian paksua. Sen takia olisi tarpeen olla jotakin suolaista lientä, jolla väriä voidaan ohentaa, esim. sillin suolavettä t. m. s. Kiehutetulla vedellä se tietysti myös käy päinsä, mutta se heikontaa jonkin verran värin kestävyyttä. Väriin voidaan myös keitettäessä sekoittaa joku määrä vernissaa, jolloin se tulee kestävämpää.
Hyväksi havaittu "resepti" on myös seuraava, tarkastaja Fr. Jokelan käytettäväkseni antama:
10 litraa vettä
2 kg. ruisjauhoja
¾ kg. suolaa
½ kg. alunaa (vihtrilliä)
Ruisjauhot sekoitetaan veteen ja keitetään velliksi, johon sittemmin lisätään suola. Kun kaikki ovat täysin sulaneet, sekoitetaan punamultaa kohtuulliseen värivahvuuteen asti. Punamultaa sekoitettaessa on varottava, ettei maali kuohu ylitse.
Kun väriä on tarpeeksi ohennettu, voi sillä maalata ken hyvänsä ilman mitään harjoitelemista, sillä sitä voidaan sivellä pitkin ja poikin, miten vain parhain sopii, pääasia on, että ei jää paljaita paikkoja.
Vesiväriä on hyvä maalata sateisella ilmalla, jollei sada juuri niin rankasti, että se huuhtoo värin heti pois seinältä. Sadeilmalla ei nimittäin puu ime niin paljon väriä kuin kuivalla poutailmalla, ja maalauskin tulee tasaisempaa. Kun poutasää sen taasen kuivaa, niin se ei vähennä värin kestävyyttä, vaikka tämä onkin kostealla ilmalla sivelty.
Nykyjään on kaupoissa myös n.s. mineraalivärejä ulkomaalausta varten. Näitä tarvitsee vain sekoittaa veteen ja maali on valmista. Niistä voi sitäpaitsi sekoittaa erilaisia värejä, aivan kuin öljy- ja liimaväreistä, mutta perin helposti saadaan näillä väreillä joko liian laimeita tai äitelän ärsyttäviä värisävyjä. Kestävyydessä ne kyllä yleensä vetävät vertoja keitetylle vesivärille, mutta kalliimmaksi niiden käyttäminen aina tulee.
Kauhavalla 15 p. elok. 1929
Vaikka käsittelimmekin tätä asiaa jo aikaisemmin alkukesällä, otamme sen kuitenkin vielä uudestaan puheeksi. Pitäjämme rakennukset tekevät auttamattoman harmaan ja kolkon yleisvaikutuksen ja näyttävät vieraspitäjäläisestä paljon huonommilta ja ränstyneimmiltä kuin mitä ne todellisuudessa ovat. Kun nyt taas lentopäivien aikana pitäjäämme saapuu paljon vierastakin väkeä, luultavasti kauempaakin, oiisi sopiva taas, kuten viime kesänäkin, oikein joukolla ja kyläkunnittain maalata talot, jolloin ne vieraalle esiintyisivät kaikin puolin miellyttävinä, puhumattakaan siitä ilosta, jonka se tuottaisi jatkuvasti talon asukkaille. - Opastukseksi julkaisemme tässä ylitarkastaja Lauri Kuoppamäen antamia ohjeita "Maalaistalojen ulkomaalauksesta".
Vanhuuttaan harmahtuneet hirsirakennukset saattavat sellaisinaan olla kauniit katsella kuten kaikki muukin, mitä ihmiskäsi ei ole pilannut. Valitettavan totta nimittäin on, että nykyajan ihmisillä on paljon suurempi taipumus jalostusinnossaan rumentaa kuin sumentaa luontoa. Siihen katsoen, että rakennusten seiniin ilmestyvää homesienen ja sammalen kasvua ja muita puuaineen ikää lyhentäviä ilman vaikutuksia voidaan vaimentaa maali- y.m. sivellyksillä, on maalaisrakennustenkin värittäminen puollettavissa. Voidaanpa siten saada maisemaan silmää hivelevää raikkauttakin ja sielua ravitsevaa vaihtelua sekä rakennusten ääriviivoille selventävää korostusta.
Maalaistalojen maalaaminen on siis puollettavissa. Mutta älköön tällöin suinkaan apinoitako kaupungeissa nähtyjä menettelytapoja, sillä tällä, kuten monella muullakin alalla, on kaupunkiarkkitehtuuri esteettisesti alemmalla asteella kuin se, mitä yleensä vanhalta pohjalta on kehittynyt maalaisoloissa. Onneksi hirsitaloja on teknillisistä syistä vaikea sivellä öljyväreillä, jotka vaativat sileää pintaa. Joko luonnostaan kalseilla tai äiteläsointuisilla öljyväreillä on monikin muuten mukiin menevä rakennus saatettu vastenmieliseksi katsella.
Jos maalaisrakennus maalla on vuorattu höylätyillä laudoilla, on öljyväri suojukseksi välttämätön. Monista siedettävistä väri vivahteista olen valmis arvelematta asettamaan ensi sijalle hillityn puhtaan keltaisen pääväriksi. Ikkunalaudat ja muun listoituksen sivelisin tällöin valkoisella.
Valkoinen säilyäkseen alkuperäisenä vaatii hieman sekoitettaessa muuta väriä. Usein tähän käytetään sinistä. Se ei ole puollettava, koska sininen kalseuttaa ennestäänkin kylmää valkoista. Keltaisella voi valkoisen saada lämpimämmäksi, kuorimattoman maidon, vieläpä kerman lähimailta. Harmaakin vivahdus on parempi kuin sininen. Tämä otettakoon huomioon huonekalumaalauksessakin.
Hauskin värisuojus maalaisrakennuksiin saadaan sivelemällä ne tervan ja lamppuöljyn seoksella. Jos ne tahdotaan värikkäämmiksi, ei ole syytä ajatella muuta kuin kelta- tai punamultaa vesivärinä. Molemmista näistä saa rakennus pehmeän tunnun, eikä puun luontaista rakennettakaan tarvitse tyystin peittää. jos talo vuorataan, valittakoon sahauspintaisia lautoja, koska vesiväri ei tarpeeksi imeydy höylättyyn.
Keltaväriksi soveltuu tavallinen okra, punaiseksi mieluimmin Italian punamulta. "Ja valkoiset ikkunalaudat" lauletaan laulussakin. Mutta ei niitten enemmän kuin muunkaan listoituksen tarvitse ehdottomasti punaisen kanssa aina olla valkoisia. Keltainen ja valkoinen on aina hyvä yhdistelmä, joten siitä ei sen enempää. Vaikka seinä onkin sivelty vesivärillä, on listoitukseen syytä käyttää höylättyä tavaraa ja niihin öljyväriä, ottaen huomioon mitä edellä valkoisesta on sanottu.
Luonnostaan kylmä valkoinen erottautuu tavallistakin kylmempänä lämpöisen punaisen rinnalla. Kyllähän se menettelee, en sitä kiellä, kun siitä yhdistelmästä on opittu kauniisti laulamaankin. Mutta on syytä ajatella muutakin, vaikka ei suinkaan mitä tahansa taivaan kaaren väriä. Punaisten talojen ovia näkee mailla joskus mustalla himmeällä värillä maalattuina ja aika mukiinmenevästi. Tummahko tervaväri tässä, kuten listoituksessakin, on vieläkin suositeltavampi, samoin tummanvihreä sekä harvemmissa paikoissa kuten ovien ja ikkunain kehystyksissä ja puitteissa myös tumma sininen. Mutta liikaa kirjavuutta tarkoin vältettäköön.
Katon väriäkään emme tässä yhteydessä saa unohtaa. Hauskin on mailla pärekatto, joka punaisellakin "impregnoitu" ajan oloon saa mustan tunnun. Musta huopakatto (ei harmaa) on myös paremman puutteessa siedettävä, mutta ei suinkaan galvanoitu levy, joka kuuluu kaupunkien kylmään kiviarkkitehtuuriin. Jos rautalevyä käytetään kattamisaineena, maalattakoon se kyllin tummalla punaisella öljyvärillä. Tiilikatot tietenkin ovat erittäin suositeltavia ja sietäisivät meillä tulla entistä enemmän käytäntöön.
Vesivärin keittämisessä on alla esitetty maalari Svante Lehtosen Käsiteollisuuskirjaston "Maalaus kotitarpeiksi" kirjasesta lainaamani ohje suositeltava.
Ensin asetetaan isokokoiseen pataan noin 2 tai 3 kiloa raakaa alunaa eli vihtrilliä ja hämmennetään sitä veden seassa, kunnes se sulaa. Kun sitten vesi on alkanut kiehua, hämmennetään siihen ruisjauhoja niin paljon, että siitä tulee tavallista ruisjauhovelliä. Kun se on kiehunut tulella vähintään tunnin ajan, sekoitetaan siihen sitä väriä, jolla aiotaan maalata. Koko seoksen annetaan sitten kiehua 2 tai 3 tuntia sitä parempi mitä kauemmin sitä kiehutetaan, sillä sitä kestävämpää tulee väri. Kun se on tarpeeksi kiehunut ja sitten jäähtynyt, voidaan sillä alkaa siveieminen. Sellaisenaan sillä ei kuitenkaan, käy maalaaminen, sillä se on jäähdyttyään liian paksua. Sen takia olisi tarpeen olla jotakin suolaista lientä, jolla väriä voidaan ohentaa, esim. sillin suolavettä t. m. s. Kiehutetulla vedellä se tietysti myös käy päinsä, mutta se heikontaa jonkin verran värin kestävyyttä. Väriin voidaan myös keitettäessä sekoittaa joku määrä vernissaa, jolloin se tulee kestävämpää.
Hyväksi havaittu "resepti" on myös seuraava, tarkastaja Fr. Jokelan käytettäväkseni antama:
10 litraa vettä
2 kg. ruisjauhoja
¾ kg. suolaa
½ kg. alunaa (vihtrilliä)
Ruisjauhot sekoitetaan veteen ja keitetään velliksi, johon sittemmin lisätään suola. Kun kaikki ovat täysin sulaneet, sekoitetaan punamultaa kohtuulliseen värivahvuuteen asti. Punamultaa sekoitettaessa on varottava, ettei maali kuohu ylitse.
Kun väriä on tarpeeksi ohennettu, voi sillä maalata ken hyvänsä ilman mitään harjoitelemista, sillä sitä voidaan sivellä pitkin ja poikin, miten vain parhain sopii, pääasia on, että ei jää paljaita paikkoja.
Vesiväriä on hyvä maalata sateisella ilmalla, jollei sada juuri niin rankasti, että se huuhtoo värin heti pois seinältä. Sadeilmalla ei nimittäin puu ime niin paljon väriä kuin kuivalla poutailmalla, ja maalauskin tulee tasaisempaa. Kun poutasää sen taasen kuivaa, niin se ei vähennä värin kestävyyttä, vaikka tämä onkin kostealla ilmalla sivelty.
Nykyjään on kaupoissa myös n.s. mineraalivärejä ulkomaalausta varten. Näitä tarvitsee vain sekoittaa veteen ja maali on valmista. Niistä voi sitäpaitsi sekoittaa erilaisia värejä, aivan kuin öljy- ja liimaväreistä, mutta perin helposti saadaan näillä väreillä joko liian laimeita tai äitelän ärsyttäviä värisävyjä. Kestävyydessä ne kyllä yleensä vetävät vertoja keitetylle vesivärille, mutta kalliimmaksi niiden käyttäminen aina tulee.
Colors Made Audible.
Manufacturer and builder ?, 1891
A beam of sunlight is thrown through a lens on a glass vessel that contains lamblack, colored silk or worsted, or other substance. A disk, having slits cut in it, is made to revolve swiftly in this beam of light, so as to make alternate flashes of light and shadow. On putting the ear to the glass vessel, sounds are heared so long as the flashing beam is falling on the vessel. If a beam of sunlight is made to pass through a prism, so as to produce the solar spectrum, and the colored light breaks through the revolving disk, and if, for instance, the vessel contains red worsted, and the green light flashes upon it, loud sounds will be given. Only feeble sounds will be heard when the red and blue parts of the rainbow fall upon the vessel, and other colors make no sound at all. Green silks give sound best in red light. Every kind of material gives more or less or no sound in different colors.
A beam of sunlight is thrown through a lens on a glass vessel that contains lamblack, colored silk or worsted, or other substance. A disk, having slits cut in it, is made to revolve swiftly in this beam of light, so as to make alternate flashes of light and shadow. On putting the ear to the glass vessel, sounds are heared so long as the flashing beam is falling on the vessel. If a beam of sunlight is made to pass through a prism, so as to produce the solar spectrum, and the colored light breaks through the revolving disk, and if, for instance, the vessel contains red worsted, and the green light flashes upon it, loud sounds will be given. Only feeble sounds will be heard when the red and blue parts of the rainbow fall upon the vessel, and other colors make no sound at all. Green silks give sound best in red light. Every kind of material gives more or less or no sound in different colors.
India Ink.
Manufacturer and builder ?, 1891
I find that a color apparently identical to India ink can be produced by the action of sulphuric acid on camphor. An excess of camphor should remain some twenty-four hours in strong sulphuric acid; it then results in a gelatinous mass of a slightly reddish color. This when heated, effervesces, gives off fumes of sulphurous acid and turns intensely black. By evaporation the superfluous sulphuric acid and camphor — for there remains an excess of both, the weakened acid not acting on the camphor — can be driven off. The remainder when applied to paper as a paint, appears, to my inartistic eye, to be India ink. When dissolved in water, it remains an indefinite time without precipitating. It appears to be dissolved, not held in suspencion.
— Correspondent of the Chemical News.
I find that a color apparently identical to India ink can be produced by the action of sulphuric acid on camphor. An excess of camphor should remain some twenty-four hours in strong sulphuric acid; it then results in a gelatinous mass of a slightly reddish color. This when heated, effervesces, gives off fumes of sulphurous acid and turns intensely black. By evaporation the superfluous sulphuric acid and camphor — for there remains an excess of both, the weakened acid not acting on the camphor — can be driven off. The remainder when applied to paper as a paint, appears, to my inartistic eye, to be India ink. When dissolved in water, it remains an indefinite time without precipitating. It appears to be dissolved, not held in suspencion.
— Correspondent of the Chemical News.
24.9.20
How to Produce Paints of Various Colors.
Manufacturer and builder ?, 1891
French Red.
This color is simply Indian red, lightened with vermilion and glazed with carmine.
Chocolate Color.
Add lake or carmine to burnt wither; or take Indian sod and black to form a brown; then add yellow to bring about the desired shade.
Yellow Lake.
Take of umber and white equal parts, and Naples yellow and scarlet lake, glaze with yellow lake.
Olive Brown.
Mix one part of lemon yellow with three parts burnt umber. Change proportions for different shades.
Clay Drab.
Raw sienna, raw umber and white lead, equal parts, then shade with chrome green.
Bismarck Brown.
Take carmine, crimson lake and gold bronze, and mix together. If a light shade is desired, use vermilion in place of carmine.
Jonquil Yellow
Mix flake white and chrome yellow, and add vermilion or carmine.
Medium Gray.
Eight parts of white to two of black.
Lead Color
Eight parts of white, one of blue and one of black.
Light Buff.
Yellow ocher, tinted with white.
Deep Buff
The same, with the addition of a little red.
French Gray.
White shaded with ivory black.
Gold Color.
While and yellow, shaded with red and blue.
Pearl Color.
White, black and red in proportions to suit taste.
Canary Color.
Five parts white and three parts lemon yellow.
Oak Color.
Five parts white, two of yellow and one of red.
Olive Color.
Eight parts of yellow, one blue and one black.
Snuff Color.
Four parts of yellow and two of Vandyke brown.
Rose Color.
Five parts of white and two of carmine.
Bottle Green.
Dutch pink and Prussian blue for ground; glaze with yellow lake.
Salmon Color.
Five parts white, one yellow, one umber, one red.
Brown.
Three parts of red, two black and one yellow.
Copper Color.
One part red, two of yellow and one of black.
Lemon Color.
Five parts of lemon yellow and two of white.
Straw Color.
Five parts of yellow, two of white and one of red.
Fawn Color.
Eight parts of white, one of red, two of yellow and one of umber.
Flesh Color.
Eight pasts of white, three of red and three of chrome yellow.
Chestnut Color.
Two parts Of red, one of black and two of chrome yellow.
Wine Color.
Two parts of ultramarine and three of carmine.
Green.
Blue and yellow or black and yellow.
Maroon Color.
Three parts of carmine and two of yellow.
Tan Color.
Five parts of burnt sienna, two yellow and one raw umber.
Pea Green.
Five parts of white and one of chrome green.
Stone Color.
Five parts of white, two of yellow and one of burnt umber.
Citron.
Three parts of red, two of yellow and one blue.
Drab Color.
Nine parts of white and one of umber.
Lilac.
Four parts red, three white and one blue.
Purple.
The same as lilac, but differently proportioned; say two parts of blue.
Violet.
Similar, but more red in than purple.
Cream Color.
Five parts white, two yellow and one red.
Claret
Red and black, or carmine and blue.
Dove Color.
Red, white, blue and yellow.
Light Gray.
Nine parts white, one blue and one black.
Willow Green.
Five parts of white and two verdigris.
Peach-Blossom.
Eight parts white, one red, one blue and one yellow.
Bronze Green.
Five parts chrome green, one black and one umber.
Carnation Red.
Three parts lake and one white.
Grass Green
Three parts yellow and one Prussian blue.
Brick Color.
Two parts yellow ocher, one red and one white.
Portland Shone.
Three parts raw umber, three yellow ocher, one white.
Plum Color.
Two parts white, one blue and one red.
French Red.
This color is simply Indian red, lightened with vermilion and glazed with carmine.
Chocolate Color.
Add lake or carmine to burnt wither; or take Indian sod and black to form a brown; then add yellow to bring about the desired shade.
Yellow Lake.
Take of umber and white equal parts, and Naples yellow and scarlet lake, glaze with yellow lake.
Olive Brown.
Mix one part of lemon yellow with three parts burnt umber. Change proportions for different shades.
Clay Drab.
Raw sienna, raw umber and white lead, equal parts, then shade with chrome green.
Bismarck Brown.
Take carmine, crimson lake and gold bronze, and mix together. If a light shade is desired, use vermilion in place of carmine.
Jonquil Yellow
Mix flake white and chrome yellow, and add vermilion or carmine.
Medium Gray.
Eight parts of white to two of black.
Lead Color
Eight parts of white, one of blue and one of black.
Light Buff.
Yellow ocher, tinted with white.
Deep Buff
The same, with the addition of a little red.
French Gray.
White shaded with ivory black.
Gold Color.
While and yellow, shaded with red and blue.
Pearl Color.
White, black and red in proportions to suit taste.
Canary Color.
Five parts white and three parts lemon yellow.
Oak Color.
Five parts white, two of yellow and one of red.
Olive Color.
Eight parts of yellow, one blue and one black.
Snuff Color.
Four parts of yellow and two of Vandyke brown.
Rose Color.
Five parts of white and two of carmine.
Bottle Green.
Dutch pink and Prussian blue for ground; glaze with yellow lake.
Salmon Color.
Five parts white, one yellow, one umber, one red.
Brown.
Three parts of red, two black and one yellow.
Copper Color.
One part red, two of yellow and one of black.
Lemon Color.
Five parts of lemon yellow and two of white.
Straw Color.
Five parts of yellow, two of white and one of red.
Fawn Color.
Eight parts of white, one of red, two of yellow and one of umber.
Flesh Color.
Eight pasts of white, three of red and three of chrome yellow.
Chestnut Color.
Two parts Of red, one of black and two of chrome yellow.
Wine Color.
Two parts of ultramarine and three of carmine.
Green.
Blue and yellow or black and yellow.
Maroon Color.
Three parts of carmine and two of yellow.
Tan Color.
Five parts of burnt sienna, two yellow and one raw umber.
Pea Green.
Five parts of white and one of chrome green.
Stone Color.
Five parts of white, two of yellow and one of burnt umber.
Citron.
Three parts of red, two of yellow and one blue.
Drab Color.
Nine parts of white and one of umber.
Lilac.
Four parts red, three white and one blue.
Purple.
The same as lilac, but differently proportioned; say two parts of blue.
Violet.
Similar, but more red in than purple.
Cream Color.
Five parts white, two yellow and one red.
Claret
Red and black, or carmine and blue.
Dove Color.
Red, white, blue and yellow.
Light Gray.
Nine parts white, one blue and one black.
Willow Green.
Five parts of white and two verdigris.
Peach-Blossom.
Eight parts white, one red, one blue and one yellow.
Bronze Green.
Five parts chrome green, one black and one umber.
Carnation Red.
Three parts lake and one white.
Grass Green
Three parts yellow and one Prussian blue.
Brick Color.
Two parts yellow ocher, one red and one white.
Portland Shone.
Three parts raw umber, three yellow ocher, one white.
Plum Color.
Two parts white, one blue and one red.
Glazing Colors.
Manufacturer and builder 6, 1891
Glazing is a term which has probably been borrowed from the potter's art of coating the ware with a transparent vitreous substance.
The house-painter uses the word glaze in speaking of the setting of windowpanes, and the word is used also by other tracks when speaking of a finish that adds luster.
Glassy, transparent, is the correct meaning, therefore glazing colors arc those possessing but little body or covering power, and which are employed when richness and brilliancy are desired.
Body colors may be rendered transparent or partially so by using but little color to a large proportion of vehicle; but such glazing is of no value except to landscape painters, and not much to them.
There is no difficulty in producing a perfect glazing coat, when the painter knows how to prepare the foundation colors.
The self-taught painter, supposing that all colors are used the same, may worry over his carmine or yellow lake and wonder why they will not cover, and he may give up in despair; but the regular vehicle painter, knowing what is demanded, proceeds with a glaze with as little concern as be would for a body color.
Any body color which is to be used as the color proper should be flue, clean, and laid on perfectly smooth. This being the practice in good shops, glazing is merely the extra work of laying two or more coats of transparent color.
The glaze may be put on thin and but one coat given, which is practiced when it is desired to impart brilliancy to the under coat. Brilliant vermillion is produced by a thin glaze of carmine over vermillion, and the same method may be adopted with the yellow and green lakes.
The common practice is to prepare the ground color so that it will cloudy match the tone of glazing color as it appears when mixed or "wet up," for every color is slightly deeper in tone when wet or mixed in oil or varnish; but the glazing colors are capable of a wider application, for they may be painted over grounds wholly opposite in color. Thus carmine may be glazed over lead color, black, and also over white, yellow, pale green, verdigris, blue, purple, violet and yellow lake; verdigris and ultramarine blue may be glazed over about the same range of colors, but when so used they are better adapted to narrow spaces, striping ornamental and pictorial work.
Glazing is a term which has probably been borrowed from the potter's art of coating the ware with a transparent vitreous substance.
The house-painter uses the word glaze in speaking of the setting of windowpanes, and the word is used also by other tracks when speaking of a finish that adds luster.
Glassy, transparent, is the correct meaning, therefore glazing colors arc those possessing but little body or covering power, and which are employed when richness and brilliancy are desired.
Body colors may be rendered transparent or partially so by using but little color to a large proportion of vehicle; but such glazing is of no value except to landscape painters, and not much to them.
There is no difficulty in producing a perfect glazing coat, when the painter knows how to prepare the foundation colors.
The self-taught painter, supposing that all colors are used the same, may worry over his carmine or yellow lake and wonder why they will not cover, and he may give up in despair; but the regular vehicle painter, knowing what is demanded, proceeds with a glaze with as little concern as be would for a body color.
Any body color which is to be used as the color proper should be flue, clean, and laid on perfectly smooth. This being the practice in good shops, glazing is merely the extra work of laying two or more coats of transparent color.
The glaze may be put on thin and but one coat given, which is practiced when it is desired to impart brilliancy to the under coat. Brilliant vermillion is produced by a thin glaze of carmine over vermillion, and the same method may be adopted with the yellow and green lakes.
The common practice is to prepare the ground color so that it will cloudy match the tone of glazing color as it appears when mixed or "wet up," for every color is slightly deeper in tone when wet or mixed in oil or varnish; but the glazing colors are capable of a wider application, for they may be painted over grounds wholly opposite in color. Thus carmine may be glazed over lead color, black, and also over white, yellow, pale green, verdigris, blue, purple, violet and yellow lake; verdigris and ultramarine blue may be glazed over about the same range of colors, but when so used they are better adapted to narrow spaces, striping ornamental and pictorial work.
Pukujen historiaa.
Kanerva 3-4, 14.2.1905
Kanervalle kokoonsommitteli Jalmari Kekkonen.
Eri aikakausilla vallitseva henki voidaan nähdä jo niistä puvuista, mitä ihmiset kulloinkin käyttävät.
Niin hullulta kuin ylläoleva väite tuntuneekin, luulemme kumminkin voivamme sen todeksi näyttää. Alamme aikakaudesta, jolloin täydellinen mullistus kaikilla aloilla, kirkossa ja valtiossa, taiteessa ja tavoissa, teoriassa* ja käytännössä, ajatuksissa ja tunteissa, tapahtui. Tämmöinen aika oli 15:nnen vuosisadan päättyessä jolloin humanismi* tieteen, taiteen ja kirjallisuuden alalla ja uskonpuhdistus kirkon alalla toimittivat siirtymisen keskiajasta uuteen-aikaan.
Millään historian aikakaudella ei liene niin samanlaatuista alkuperäistä ja ominaista luonnetta, kuin keskiajalla; mikään ei ole ihmisiä niin toisiinsa liittänyt samassa hengessä, mikään ei ole siinä määrin näille antanut samoja ajatuksia ja tunteita sekä pitänyt heitä niihin kytkettyinä kuin tuo aika. Mutta kun kahle kätkee ja nämät aatteet näyttäytyvät olevan tyhjäsisältöisiä, hedelmättömiä, uuden elämän kehittäjiksi mahdottomia, niin on ihminen kadottanut lujan tukensa, ja koko maailma, jota me keskiajan maailmaksi nimitämme, tämä ritarien, uskon- ja tunnekiihkon, romantikan* ja kahlehdittujen ajatusten maailma, on pirstoiksi särkynyt. Jokainen on kadottanut sen tuen, mikä häntä pystyssä piti. Ja ihmiset joutuvat hapuilemaan. Senvuoksi me näemme tämän aikakauden tarjoovan mitä suurimman rikkauden äärimmäisiä vastakkaisuuksia: hulluus ja viisaus asuvat täydellisessä sisarsovussa saman hatun alla, pintapuolisuus ja uskoninto viihtyvät samassa rinnassa; raakuus jahävyttömyys sopivat mitä suloisimmin suurimman siveyden, hienostuneimman sivistyksen, tuskallisimman, pikkumaisimman ja keinotekoisimman etiketin* kanssa.
Ritarin luja linna ei enää jaksa vastustaa ruutia ja kanuunia; pyssymiehet kaatavat hänet hevoselta, ennenkuin hän on päässyt vastustajaansa silmästä silmään katsomaankaan. Paksummat panssarit tekevät hänestä vain kömpelömmän ja mahdottomamman. Yhtä surullinen on hänen kohtalonsa muutenkin. Ei tarjoa enään kirkko hänelle sankaritöitä,niinkuin ristiretkien aikana; ja sen sijaan että hän ennen pyhitti elämänsä avuttomien naisten suojelemiseen, on hän tullut näiden sortajaksi. Siitä puhtaasta, aistittomasta rakkaudesta, joka meidän käsityksemme mukaan tulee kuulua ritarin olemukseen, rakkaudesta, mikä saapi suurimman nautintonsa jo vain ajatellessaankin rakastettuaan ja mikä elämänsä uhraa yhdestä ainoasta katseesta — siitä ei ole edes hiiloksen alla kiiluvaa kipinätäkään jälellä. Se on valtaistuimelta alas sysätty ja Venus-rouva* on sen tilalle astunut.
Porvarissäädyltä on myöskin tuki jalkojen alla alkanut horjua. Kauppiaalle näyttäytyy maailma uudessa karvassaan: tuntemattomia meriä kuljetaan, uusia maita löydetään, vanhat kauppatiet hylätään ja hänen tavaransa hankitaan uusia, vielä epävarmoja, tuntemattomia teitä pitkin. Ihmiset tuntevat levottomuutta omissatunnoissaan ellei muukaan heidän rauhaansa häiritse. He näkevät kuinka kuri ja vaatimattomuus häviävät,kuinka siveellisyyden siteet höltyvät jahävyttömyys ja raakuus astuvat tilalle;he näkevät kirkon maallistuvan, hengellisen säädyn turmeltuvan, uskonkappaleita halveksittavan, uskonnollisuuden melkein häviävän.
Ja tämä pirstautunut ajan henki se kuvastuu silloisten ihmisten ulkomuodossakin, heidän pukimissaan! Kun me heitä katselemme, emme oikein tiedä kumpaako enemmän ihmettelisimme pukujen silmiinpistävää moninaisuutta ja erilaisuutta vaiko niiden hassunkurisuutta ja naurettavaisuutta. Miehet esiintyvät puvuissa niin ahtaissa, että heidän täytyy toisten apuun turvautua niihin päästäkseen, jalassa pitkäkärkiset nahkakengät, tukka pitkäkiharaisena ja käherrettynä sekä kaula paljaana, "decolté"*, kuten nykyaikana suurimmilla tanssiaiskeijuillamme, samaten käsivarret kyynäspäihin saakka, kun taas naisilla on tukka hunnun peitossa ja koko ruumis laajan, poimuisen puvun kätkössä! Miehen kuvan täydentääksemme, mainitkaamme vielä pikku kulkuset — joita hienot herrat kantoivat päässään, kaulassaan, olkapäillään, vöissään, selässään, kyynäränpitkissä kengänkärjissään, sanalla sanoen kaikkialla — sekä sananen silloisesta merkillisestä värimausta. Että rakastettiin mitä räikeimpiä ja vahvimpia värikontrasteja* ei meitä enään ihmetytä, edellä olevan kuultuamme. Vaihteen vuoksi pidettiin joskus hauskuutena näyttäytyä vain yhteen väriin pukeutuneena, esim. yhtenä päivänä punaseen kiireestä kantapäähän — niin ettei edes hiuskarvakaan häirinnyt tätä yksivärisyyden tunnelmaa, kalpeita kasvoja korkeintaan lukuunottamatta — ja toisena päivänä taas mustaan aivan samalla tavalla. Mutta ihmeellisin oli n. k. "jaettu puku", mikä oli sellainen,että esim. yläpuolella oli toinen väri kuin alapuolella. Koko keskiaika oli kyllä tämän tavan tuntenut, mutta ainoastaan vasalleilla* tai herrojen palvelijoilla oli tuollaiset eriväriset pukimet, joissa eri värit kuvasivat herran vaakunaa. Viidestoista vuosisata teki tämän puvun muotipuvuksi.
Naisten puvuista sitävastoin tällä ajalla puuttui paljon sellaisia kummallisuuksia, joita miehillä oli, — vaikka eivät hekään kyllä värien sovittelussa olleet sen vähemmän huomionhaluisia — mutta olipa heilläkin silti oma hulluutensa. Ja se oli heidän tukanlaittotapansa. Harvinaista tosin ei ole, että hiukset valuvat aivan valloillaan olkapäille suorina, sileinä,taikka käherretään ne kauniisti kiharoihin sekä kiinnitetään otsalle kapealla kultasiteellä tai värillisellä nauhalla. Mutta usein nostetaan hiukset kokonaan päälaelle ja peitetään tyystin tarkkaan hunnulla; ollaanpa niinkin tarkkoja, että esim. ohimoilta ja otsalta ajetaan partaveitsellä pois kaikki hiussuortuvat, jotka eivät hunnun alla. pysy. Täten tuli korkea otsa muodiksi naisille. Vaan eipä nämät mainitsemamme kiinnitystavat olleet läheskään ainoat; mitä useimmanlaatuisia kiehkuroita ja palmikoita käytettiin. Samoin olivat hunnut ja hatut mitä kummallisimpia ja suunnattoman suuria. Hunnuista, jotka olivat pingotetut poikittain kuin purje, oli yksi laji niin leveä, että naiset saattoivat "purjehtia" oven läpi vain sivuttain. Toinen laji oli taas useamman jalan korkuinen, terävähuippuinen, värillinen ja kullalla koristeltu keila, jonka huipusta huntu laskeutui takana maahan asti. Tämä päähine muistutti sarvea ja siihen aikaan sanottiinkin leikillä, että naisia arvelutti mennä kirkkoon, koska he olivat vaarassa katkaista "sarvensa" ovesta sisään mennessään. Jotkut naiset asettelivat päänsä päälle tai sen ympäri suuria "tyynyjä", jotka he varustivat koruilla tai pukivat hunnuilla, toiset taas kiersivät kangaskappaleita jonkinlaisiksi turbaneiksi*, tai pitivät sieviä barettimaisia* huntuja. Muutamat taas kätkivät koko päänsä hienosta nahkasta ja rautalankakehyksestä laadittuun kömpelöön laitokseen; vieläpä jotkut peittivät otsansa, suunsa ja leukansa, niin että vain silmät ja nenännipukka jäivät näkyviin.
Näin vallitsi eriskummallisuus ja sekaannus kaikkialla, hyvin kuvastaen ajanhengen eriskummallisuutta ja käsitteiden sekaannusta. Mutta tämä mitä kirjavimpien muotojen maailma, tämä vastakkaisuuksien maailma, jolloin jokainen saattoi pukeutuakin aivan kuten halusi, hävisi vähitellen. Ja olihan tarpeen aika, jolloin kuri jahyvät tavat vallitsivat. Tämä uusi alkanut aika on varsinkin Keski- ja Länsi-Europassa uskonnollisen taistelun aika, se on uskonpuhdistuksen aika, vaikka unohtaa emme saa, niinkuin ehkä monasti teemme, että reformationi* tapahtui sekä "päässä että jäsenissä", s. o. reformit* tarkottivat muutakin kuin uskonnollista elämää, että aateli samoin kuin porvaristo olivat tässä muutostyössä osallisina, että kirjapainotaidon avulla koko koulusivistys, oppien ja tieteiden koko ala muodostui toiseksi samaten kuin itse kansansivistys muuttui pakolliselta keskiajan kannalta vapaammaksi, suvaitsevammaksi.
Uskonnollisen liikkeen vaikutuksen täytyi pian näyttäytyä siveellisyystunteessakin; ja niinpä nähdäänkin, kuinka avonaisiksi leikatut vaatteet vuosi vuodelta yhä yleisemmin alkavat jäädä käytännöstä. Samaan aikaan häviää narrimaisuus miehen puvusta. Kuudennentoista vuosisadan alusta lähtien ei enään ole nähty paljaita käsivarsia eikä olkapäitä miehillä. Koko suuri päähineiden liuta saa väistyä yhden ainoan päänpeitteen edestä, joka on sekä miehillä että naisilla sama, nim. baretti*. Pukujen ahtauttakaan ei ruumis enää siedä. Partakin, jota edellisellä ajalla on halveksuttu, tulee jälleen arvoonsa, ja poltettujen ja öljyihin kasteltujen hiusten tilalle tulee arvokkaampi, kaikille enemmän yhtäläinen hiusten hoito. Yleensä saa ihmisen koko ulkoasu miehekkäämmän, vakavamman luonteen kuvastaen ajan vakavampaa henkeä.
Mutta vaikka puku yleensä tulee kaikille samankuosiseksi, ei kumminkaan saata kieltää, ettei se olisi myrskyisen ajan lapsi. Se saa villiyden, samalla myös fantastisuuden* ja miellyttämishalun leiman, varsinkin siitä syystä, että kaikenlaiset seikkailijat monastikin kulkevat muodin määrääjinä. Lantion, kyynärpään ja polven kohdalla, missä edellisen aikakauden puvunahtaus etenkin oli rasittavalta tuntunut, tehtiin nyt erikoisesti väljät pussit, värillisestä silkistä; ja jos kengät olivat olleet pitkäkärkiset ja suipot, lyhenivät ne nyt ja levenivät kärjestään niin, että niitä syyllä voitiin "karhunkämmeniksi" nimittää.
Renessansi* — joksi yllä esittämäämme aikaa nimitetään — toi siis vakavamman leiman ihmisten makuun. Mutta uskonnollisen harrastuksen synnyttämästä tosihartaudesta johduttiin vähitellen tekopyhyyteen ja pelästyneen omantunnon moraliseraavaan* pyrkimykseen, maku muuttui yksinkertaistarakastavasta jäykän, raskaan ja liiaksi sälytettyjen muotojen ihailemiseen, teennäisyyteen, luonnottomuuteen. Ja taas tämänkin ajan — barokkiajan* — henki ilmeni ihmisten ulkoasussa.
Tämä aikakausi alkoi 16:nnen vuosisadan keskipaikoilta noilla edellä kertomillamme maantiesankarien keksimillä "pussipuvuilla", joihin voitiin käyttää satojakin kyynäriä kangasta, jotka liehuivat omistajansa ympärillä olkapäistä jalkoihin asti, ja pitivät — käyttääksemme erään sen ajan moralisaarnan sanoja — "sellaista suhinaa ja kahinaa, kuin myllypuro yli äyräittensä syöstessään." Mutta tuskin paria kymmentä vuotta tarvittiin, ennenkuin muotoihinsa kaavottuneen ajan vaikutus huomataan maantiesankareissakin. Koko tuo pullottava kangasjoukko kutistuu paksuiksi rohtimilla, joskus myös nisuilla täytetyiksi "valkeiksi", joita espanjalainen muoti sovitti ruumiin ympärille saksalaisten pussien tilalle. Tämmöisiä valkkeja kulki ympäri olkapäiden, lanteiden, reisien ja riippuivat rinnan kohdalla lujaksi täytettyinä n. k. "hanhenmahoina".
Samaa muotia tahtoivat naisetkin noudattaa; hekin sovittivat puhveja ja tyynyjä olkapäilleen ja käsivarren yläosaan, mutta lanteittensa korokkeeksi he keksivät pönkkähameen, mikä nyt esiintyy ensi kerran historian näyttämöllä. Mutta kovin oli tämä alussa muodoton: se uloni lanteilta vaakasuoraan kuin pyörä ja nainen tässä puvussaan näytti tynnyrissä seisovalta.
Kuten mainitsimme, alkoi 15:vuosisata räikeillä väreillä puvuissa, mutta sikäli kuin uskonpuhdistus levisi ja sen mukana vakavampi elämänkäsitys voitti alaa, tapahtuu värienkin tummentuminen puvuissa: tulipunanen, kullankeltanen, taivaansininen ynnä kaikki muut tuollaiset loistavat värit väistyvät vähitellen, ja porvari, jonka esimerkkiä muutkin noudattavat, kulkee pian tummanruskeissa, tumman sinipunervissa ja mustissa puvuissa. Mieliväriksi tulee lopulta musta, minkä synnyttämää arvokkuuden tunnelmaa valkoinen kaulus ja kultaketjut vielä korottavat; vieläpä, jotta mustan tekemä vaikutus enentyisi, käytetään juhlapukuina ennen arvossa olleen silkin asemesta mustaa samettia, mikä ei heijasta valoa kuten muut kankaat, vaan imee sen itseensä.
Näimme myös miten decolté-puvut olivat vähitellen kasvaneet kaulaan saakka peittäviksi. Tämä kehitys edistyy, meneepä niin pitkälle, että joskus kasvonaamarillakin peitetään "turmeltunut liha". Puku kasvaa koko kaulan pituuden aina leukaan ja korviin asti ja pakottaa muodissa olleen sirosti "kruusatun" kaulurin silittymään paksuksi, päällekkäin ladotuista liuskoista muodostetuksi kauluriksi tai "rynkkykaulukseksi" tahi rengaskaulukseksi, jolla pää lepää kuin "Johanneksen pää Herodiaan vadilla", käyttääksemme erästä senaikaista vertausta.
Tämmöinen puku ei siedä, että parta ja hiukset miehellä yhtä vähän kuin naisten aaltoilevat suortuvat saisivat vapaasti kasvaa. Miehet pyöristävät partansa lyhyeksi kokoparraksi ja leikkuuttavat hiuksensa lyhyiksi, naiset kähertävät ne ylös päänsä päälle ja peittävät pienten huntujen tai hattujen alle. Pehmeä barettipäähine muutetaan ajan vaatimiin koviin, hienoihin silkkihattuihin.
Tämä espanjalainen muoti tulee 16:nnen vuosisadan lopulla ja 17:nnen alulla vallitsevaksi kaikissa silloisissa sivistysmaissa.
(Jatk.)
Kanervalle kokoonsommitteli Jalmari Kekkonen.
Eri aikakausilla vallitseva henki voidaan nähdä jo niistä puvuista, mitä ihmiset kulloinkin käyttävät.
Niin hullulta kuin ylläoleva väite tuntuneekin, luulemme kumminkin voivamme sen todeksi näyttää. Alamme aikakaudesta, jolloin täydellinen mullistus kaikilla aloilla, kirkossa ja valtiossa, taiteessa ja tavoissa, teoriassa* ja käytännössä, ajatuksissa ja tunteissa, tapahtui. Tämmöinen aika oli 15:nnen vuosisadan päättyessä jolloin humanismi* tieteen, taiteen ja kirjallisuuden alalla ja uskonpuhdistus kirkon alalla toimittivat siirtymisen keskiajasta uuteen-aikaan.
Millään historian aikakaudella ei liene niin samanlaatuista alkuperäistä ja ominaista luonnetta, kuin keskiajalla; mikään ei ole ihmisiä niin toisiinsa liittänyt samassa hengessä, mikään ei ole siinä määrin näille antanut samoja ajatuksia ja tunteita sekä pitänyt heitä niihin kytkettyinä kuin tuo aika. Mutta kun kahle kätkee ja nämät aatteet näyttäytyvät olevan tyhjäsisältöisiä, hedelmättömiä, uuden elämän kehittäjiksi mahdottomia, niin on ihminen kadottanut lujan tukensa, ja koko maailma, jota me keskiajan maailmaksi nimitämme, tämä ritarien, uskon- ja tunnekiihkon, romantikan* ja kahlehdittujen ajatusten maailma, on pirstoiksi särkynyt. Jokainen on kadottanut sen tuen, mikä häntä pystyssä piti. Ja ihmiset joutuvat hapuilemaan. Senvuoksi me näemme tämän aikakauden tarjoovan mitä suurimman rikkauden äärimmäisiä vastakkaisuuksia: hulluus ja viisaus asuvat täydellisessä sisarsovussa saman hatun alla, pintapuolisuus ja uskoninto viihtyvät samassa rinnassa; raakuus jahävyttömyys sopivat mitä suloisimmin suurimman siveyden, hienostuneimman sivistyksen, tuskallisimman, pikkumaisimman ja keinotekoisimman etiketin* kanssa.
Ritarin luja linna ei enää jaksa vastustaa ruutia ja kanuunia; pyssymiehet kaatavat hänet hevoselta, ennenkuin hän on päässyt vastustajaansa silmästä silmään katsomaankaan. Paksummat panssarit tekevät hänestä vain kömpelömmän ja mahdottomamman. Yhtä surullinen on hänen kohtalonsa muutenkin. Ei tarjoa enään kirkko hänelle sankaritöitä,niinkuin ristiretkien aikana; ja sen sijaan että hän ennen pyhitti elämänsä avuttomien naisten suojelemiseen, on hän tullut näiden sortajaksi. Siitä puhtaasta, aistittomasta rakkaudesta, joka meidän käsityksemme mukaan tulee kuulua ritarin olemukseen, rakkaudesta, mikä saapi suurimman nautintonsa jo vain ajatellessaankin rakastettuaan ja mikä elämänsä uhraa yhdestä ainoasta katseesta — siitä ei ole edes hiiloksen alla kiiluvaa kipinätäkään jälellä. Se on valtaistuimelta alas sysätty ja Venus-rouva* on sen tilalle astunut.
Porvarissäädyltä on myöskin tuki jalkojen alla alkanut horjua. Kauppiaalle näyttäytyy maailma uudessa karvassaan: tuntemattomia meriä kuljetaan, uusia maita löydetään, vanhat kauppatiet hylätään ja hänen tavaransa hankitaan uusia, vielä epävarmoja, tuntemattomia teitä pitkin. Ihmiset tuntevat levottomuutta omissatunnoissaan ellei muukaan heidän rauhaansa häiritse. He näkevät kuinka kuri ja vaatimattomuus häviävät,kuinka siveellisyyden siteet höltyvät jahävyttömyys ja raakuus astuvat tilalle;he näkevät kirkon maallistuvan, hengellisen säädyn turmeltuvan, uskonkappaleita halveksittavan, uskonnollisuuden melkein häviävän.
Ja tämä pirstautunut ajan henki se kuvastuu silloisten ihmisten ulkomuodossakin, heidän pukimissaan! Kun me heitä katselemme, emme oikein tiedä kumpaako enemmän ihmettelisimme pukujen silmiinpistävää moninaisuutta ja erilaisuutta vaiko niiden hassunkurisuutta ja naurettavaisuutta. Miehet esiintyvät puvuissa niin ahtaissa, että heidän täytyy toisten apuun turvautua niihin päästäkseen, jalassa pitkäkärkiset nahkakengät, tukka pitkäkiharaisena ja käherrettynä sekä kaula paljaana, "decolté"*, kuten nykyaikana suurimmilla tanssiaiskeijuillamme, samaten käsivarret kyynäspäihin saakka, kun taas naisilla on tukka hunnun peitossa ja koko ruumis laajan, poimuisen puvun kätkössä! Miehen kuvan täydentääksemme, mainitkaamme vielä pikku kulkuset — joita hienot herrat kantoivat päässään, kaulassaan, olkapäillään, vöissään, selässään, kyynäränpitkissä kengänkärjissään, sanalla sanoen kaikkialla — sekä sananen silloisesta merkillisestä värimausta. Että rakastettiin mitä räikeimpiä ja vahvimpia värikontrasteja* ei meitä enään ihmetytä, edellä olevan kuultuamme. Vaihteen vuoksi pidettiin joskus hauskuutena näyttäytyä vain yhteen väriin pukeutuneena, esim. yhtenä päivänä punaseen kiireestä kantapäähän — niin ettei edes hiuskarvakaan häirinnyt tätä yksivärisyyden tunnelmaa, kalpeita kasvoja korkeintaan lukuunottamatta — ja toisena päivänä taas mustaan aivan samalla tavalla. Mutta ihmeellisin oli n. k. "jaettu puku", mikä oli sellainen,että esim. yläpuolella oli toinen väri kuin alapuolella. Koko keskiaika oli kyllä tämän tavan tuntenut, mutta ainoastaan vasalleilla* tai herrojen palvelijoilla oli tuollaiset eriväriset pukimet, joissa eri värit kuvasivat herran vaakunaa. Viidestoista vuosisata teki tämän puvun muotipuvuksi.
Naisten puvuista sitävastoin tällä ajalla puuttui paljon sellaisia kummallisuuksia, joita miehillä oli, — vaikka eivät hekään kyllä värien sovittelussa olleet sen vähemmän huomionhaluisia — mutta olipa heilläkin silti oma hulluutensa. Ja se oli heidän tukanlaittotapansa. Harvinaista tosin ei ole, että hiukset valuvat aivan valloillaan olkapäille suorina, sileinä,taikka käherretään ne kauniisti kiharoihin sekä kiinnitetään otsalle kapealla kultasiteellä tai värillisellä nauhalla. Mutta usein nostetaan hiukset kokonaan päälaelle ja peitetään tyystin tarkkaan hunnulla; ollaanpa niinkin tarkkoja, että esim. ohimoilta ja otsalta ajetaan partaveitsellä pois kaikki hiussuortuvat, jotka eivät hunnun alla. pysy. Täten tuli korkea otsa muodiksi naisille. Vaan eipä nämät mainitsemamme kiinnitystavat olleet läheskään ainoat; mitä useimmanlaatuisia kiehkuroita ja palmikoita käytettiin. Samoin olivat hunnut ja hatut mitä kummallisimpia ja suunnattoman suuria. Hunnuista, jotka olivat pingotetut poikittain kuin purje, oli yksi laji niin leveä, että naiset saattoivat "purjehtia" oven läpi vain sivuttain. Toinen laji oli taas useamman jalan korkuinen, terävähuippuinen, värillinen ja kullalla koristeltu keila, jonka huipusta huntu laskeutui takana maahan asti. Tämä päähine muistutti sarvea ja siihen aikaan sanottiinkin leikillä, että naisia arvelutti mennä kirkkoon, koska he olivat vaarassa katkaista "sarvensa" ovesta sisään mennessään. Jotkut naiset asettelivat päänsä päälle tai sen ympäri suuria "tyynyjä", jotka he varustivat koruilla tai pukivat hunnuilla, toiset taas kiersivät kangaskappaleita jonkinlaisiksi turbaneiksi*, tai pitivät sieviä barettimaisia* huntuja. Muutamat taas kätkivät koko päänsä hienosta nahkasta ja rautalankakehyksestä laadittuun kömpelöön laitokseen; vieläpä jotkut peittivät otsansa, suunsa ja leukansa, niin että vain silmät ja nenännipukka jäivät näkyviin.
Näin vallitsi eriskummallisuus ja sekaannus kaikkialla, hyvin kuvastaen ajanhengen eriskummallisuutta ja käsitteiden sekaannusta. Mutta tämä mitä kirjavimpien muotojen maailma, tämä vastakkaisuuksien maailma, jolloin jokainen saattoi pukeutuakin aivan kuten halusi, hävisi vähitellen. Ja olihan tarpeen aika, jolloin kuri jahyvät tavat vallitsivat. Tämä uusi alkanut aika on varsinkin Keski- ja Länsi-Europassa uskonnollisen taistelun aika, se on uskonpuhdistuksen aika, vaikka unohtaa emme saa, niinkuin ehkä monasti teemme, että reformationi* tapahtui sekä "päässä että jäsenissä", s. o. reformit* tarkottivat muutakin kuin uskonnollista elämää, että aateli samoin kuin porvaristo olivat tässä muutostyössä osallisina, että kirjapainotaidon avulla koko koulusivistys, oppien ja tieteiden koko ala muodostui toiseksi samaten kuin itse kansansivistys muuttui pakolliselta keskiajan kannalta vapaammaksi, suvaitsevammaksi.
Uskonnollisen liikkeen vaikutuksen täytyi pian näyttäytyä siveellisyystunteessakin; ja niinpä nähdäänkin, kuinka avonaisiksi leikatut vaatteet vuosi vuodelta yhä yleisemmin alkavat jäädä käytännöstä. Samaan aikaan häviää narrimaisuus miehen puvusta. Kuudennentoista vuosisadan alusta lähtien ei enään ole nähty paljaita käsivarsia eikä olkapäitä miehillä. Koko suuri päähineiden liuta saa väistyä yhden ainoan päänpeitteen edestä, joka on sekä miehillä että naisilla sama, nim. baretti*. Pukujen ahtauttakaan ei ruumis enää siedä. Partakin, jota edellisellä ajalla on halveksuttu, tulee jälleen arvoonsa, ja poltettujen ja öljyihin kasteltujen hiusten tilalle tulee arvokkaampi, kaikille enemmän yhtäläinen hiusten hoito. Yleensä saa ihmisen koko ulkoasu miehekkäämmän, vakavamman luonteen kuvastaen ajan vakavampaa henkeä.
Mutta vaikka puku yleensä tulee kaikille samankuosiseksi, ei kumminkaan saata kieltää, ettei se olisi myrskyisen ajan lapsi. Se saa villiyden, samalla myös fantastisuuden* ja miellyttämishalun leiman, varsinkin siitä syystä, että kaikenlaiset seikkailijat monastikin kulkevat muodin määrääjinä. Lantion, kyynärpään ja polven kohdalla, missä edellisen aikakauden puvunahtaus etenkin oli rasittavalta tuntunut, tehtiin nyt erikoisesti väljät pussit, värillisestä silkistä; ja jos kengät olivat olleet pitkäkärkiset ja suipot, lyhenivät ne nyt ja levenivät kärjestään niin, että niitä syyllä voitiin "karhunkämmeniksi" nimittää.
Renessansi* — joksi yllä esittämäämme aikaa nimitetään — toi siis vakavamman leiman ihmisten makuun. Mutta uskonnollisen harrastuksen synnyttämästä tosihartaudesta johduttiin vähitellen tekopyhyyteen ja pelästyneen omantunnon moraliseraavaan* pyrkimykseen, maku muuttui yksinkertaistarakastavasta jäykän, raskaan ja liiaksi sälytettyjen muotojen ihailemiseen, teennäisyyteen, luonnottomuuteen. Ja taas tämänkin ajan — barokkiajan* — henki ilmeni ihmisten ulkoasussa.
Tämä aikakausi alkoi 16:nnen vuosisadan keskipaikoilta noilla edellä kertomillamme maantiesankarien keksimillä "pussipuvuilla", joihin voitiin käyttää satojakin kyynäriä kangasta, jotka liehuivat omistajansa ympärillä olkapäistä jalkoihin asti, ja pitivät — käyttääksemme erään sen ajan moralisaarnan sanoja — "sellaista suhinaa ja kahinaa, kuin myllypuro yli äyräittensä syöstessään." Mutta tuskin paria kymmentä vuotta tarvittiin, ennenkuin muotoihinsa kaavottuneen ajan vaikutus huomataan maantiesankareissakin. Koko tuo pullottava kangasjoukko kutistuu paksuiksi rohtimilla, joskus myös nisuilla täytetyiksi "valkeiksi", joita espanjalainen muoti sovitti ruumiin ympärille saksalaisten pussien tilalle. Tämmöisiä valkkeja kulki ympäri olkapäiden, lanteiden, reisien ja riippuivat rinnan kohdalla lujaksi täytettyinä n. k. "hanhenmahoina".
Samaa muotia tahtoivat naisetkin noudattaa; hekin sovittivat puhveja ja tyynyjä olkapäilleen ja käsivarren yläosaan, mutta lanteittensa korokkeeksi he keksivät pönkkähameen, mikä nyt esiintyy ensi kerran historian näyttämöllä. Mutta kovin oli tämä alussa muodoton: se uloni lanteilta vaakasuoraan kuin pyörä ja nainen tässä puvussaan näytti tynnyrissä seisovalta.
Kuten mainitsimme, alkoi 15:vuosisata räikeillä väreillä puvuissa, mutta sikäli kuin uskonpuhdistus levisi ja sen mukana vakavampi elämänkäsitys voitti alaa, tapahtuu värienkin tummentuminen puvuissa: tulipunanen, kullankeltanen, taivaansininen ynnä kaikki muut tuollaiset loistavat värit väistyvät vähitellen, ja porvari, jonka esimerkkiä muutkin noudattavat, kulkee pian tummanruskeissa, tumman sinipunervissa ja mustissa puvuissa. Mieliväriksi tulee lopulta musta, minkä synnyttämää arvokkuuden tunnelmaa valkoinen kaulus ja kultaketjut vielä korottavat; vieläpä, jotta mustan tekemä vaikutus enentyisi, käytetään juhlapukuina ennen arvossa olleen silkin asemesta mustaa samettia, mikä ei heijasta valoa kuten muut kankaat, vaan imee sen itseensä.
Näimme myös miten decolté-puvut olivat vähitellen kasvaneet kaulaan saakka peittäviksi. Tämä kehitys edistyy, meneepä niin pitkälle, että joskus kasvonaamarillakin peitetään "turmeltunut liha". Puku kasvaa koko kaulan pituuden aina leukaan ja korviin asti ja pakottaa muodissa olleen sirosti "kruusatun" kaulurin silittymään paksuksi, päällekkäin ladotuista liuskoista muodostetuksi kauluriksi tai "rynkkykaulukseksi" tahi rengaskaulukseksi, jolla pää lepää kuin "Johanneksen pää Herodiaan vadilla", käyttääksemme erästä senaikaista vertausta.
Tämmöinen puku ei siedä, että parta ja hiukset miehellä yhtä vähän kuin naisten aaltoilevat suortuvat saisivat vapaasti kasvaa. Miehet pyöristävät partansa lyhyeksi kokoparraksi ja leikkuuttavat hiuksensa lyhyiksi, naiset kähertävät ne ylös päänsä päälle ja peittävät pienten huntujen tai hattujen alle. Pehmeä barettipäähine muutetaan ajan vaatimiin koviin, hienoihin silkkihattuihin.
Tämä espanjalainen muoti tulee 16:nnen vuosisadan lopulla ja 17:nnen alulla vallitsevaksi kaikissa silloisissa sivistysmaissa.
(Jatk.)
Paint from Slate Dust.
Manufacturer and builder 11, 1894
Slate pigment, which is simply slate stone ground and bolted, has become within the past few years quite an important industry; it is now used as a cheap paint. When mixed paints were first introduced it was a scheme of unprincipled manufacturers to add a given quantity of slate dust to the paint in order to make full weight and save lead. It took a number of years for the Yankee genius who manufactured the slate dust for half a cent a pound to comprehend the boomerang side of the case, and realize that he had purchased the same slate dust that he had sold for a small amount at the rate of 16 to 20 cents per pound whenever he had occasion to paint his buildings. Paint made of slate dust is now sold according to its actual merits, and at a corresponding price.
— Stone.
Slate pigment, which is simply slate stone ground and bolted, has become within the past few years quite an important industry; it is now used as a cheap paint. When mixed paints were first introduced it was a scheme of unprincipled manufacturers to add a given quantity of slate dust to the paint in order to make full weight and save lead. It took a number of years for the Yankee genius who manufactured the slate dust for half a cent a pound to comprehend the boomerang side of the case, and realize that he had purchased the same slate dust that he had sold for a small amount at the rate of 16 to 20 cents per pound whenever he had occasion to paint his buildings. Paint made of slate dust is now sold according to its actual merits, and at a corresponding price.
— Stone.
Imparting a Fine Orange-Yellow Tone to Oak Wood.
Manufacturer and builder 2, 1876
According to Niedling, a beautiful orange-yellow tone, much admired in a chest at the Vienna Exhibition, may be imparted to oak wood by rubbing it in a warm room with a certain mixture until it acquires a dull polish, and then coating it after an hour with thin polish, and repeating the coating of polish to improve the depth and brilliancy of the tone. The ingredients for the rubbing mixture are about 3 ounces of tallow, ¾ of an ounce of wax, and 1 pint of oil of turpentine, mixed by heating together and stirring.
According to Niedling, a beautiful orange-yellow tone, much admired in a chest at the Vienna Exhibition, may be imparted to oak wood by rubbing it in a warm room with a certain mixture until it acquires a dull polish, and then coating it after an hour with thin polish, and repeating the coating of polish to improve the depth and brilliancy of the tone. The ingredients for the rubbing mixture are about 3 ounces of tallow, ¾ of an ounce of wax, and 1 pint of oil of turpentine, mixed by heating together and stirring.
23.9.20
Red Hair.
The Living age 373, 12.7.1851
From Bentley's Miscellany.
In the general category of "red" the greater part of people one meets confound every description of hair which is neither black, nor brown, nor white, nor whitybrown. It may be the fiery Milesian shock — it may be the paly amber — it may be the burnished gold — it may be the
And yet, under this general term are confounded the two extremes of beauty and ugliness — the two shades which have been respectively made the attributes of she angel and of the demon — we find that while, no the one hand, red hair (or rather a certain shade of it) has been both popularly and poetically associated with all ugliness, all vice, and all malignity, a more pleasing variety of the same hue has been associated with all loveliness, all meekness, and all innocence.
Thus Smithey, in his vision of the "Maid of Orleans," after having taken the poor girl to a number of unpleasant places, introduces her to the following disagreeable personage: —
This demon is Cruelty, and to his charge are committed all those who have exercised cruelty in their lifetime. Among others, "bad husbands," the poet tells us, "undero" a long purgation;" and serve them right too, but I would rather have handed them over fur pickling to their mothers-in-law.
Thus we find that red hair, or rather a certain shade of it, (be it understood that I always qualify it thus,) as betokening a cruel and fiendlike disposition, is a part of the orthodox description of a professed exeentimier. Scott, in the "Talisman," gives Richard's headsman "a huge red beard, mingling with shaggy locks of the same color;" and in the very same scene introduces, as a most marked contrast, his beautiful Queen Berengaria, with her "cherub" countenance, and dishevelled "golden tresses."
It scans, likewise, to he considered the mark of a crafty and treacherous disposition. In Spain it is popularly known by the name of Judas hair, front a belief that the traitor disciple's hair was of that shade, and in all Spanish paintings he is distinguished from the rest of the disciples by the fiery color of his hair. (See Stirling's "Annals of the Artists of Spain.") To such an extent do the Spaniards carry their prejudices that the Castilians have a proverb, "De tul pelo, ni gato ni perro" (of such hair neither cat nor dog).
In our own country a similar belief seems to have prevailed, though unattended by the same unreasonable prejudice as in Spain. In Shakspeare's play of "As You Like It,' Rosalind says of her lover —
Having now seen a certain variety of red hair to be the attributes of the demon — the headsman and the traitor — we shall find another variety of the Same hue to be one of the attributes of perfect beauty and innocence. In that most unequal poem, "The Course of Time," Pollok, describing the dawn, says it was: —
A hold step, by the way, beyond the sublime. Thus, Tennyson's —
Thus, by an authority which it would be heresy to dispute, and to which even a French painter has deferred, she who was "fairest of her daughters," was adorned with lucks of flowing gold. And, indeed, it would seem a natural thing for a person to suppose, if unassisted by experience — on two beautiful women being placed before him — the one with shining locks of gold, and complexion radiant as the light, and the other with raven tresses and olive cheek, that the former was the native of a bright and sunny clime, and that the latter had grown up in the shadow of the gloomy northern land. Milton, as a scholar and a traveller, could not have written his description in ignorance, but it was painted, no doubt, from a model of his own, and he could not have drawn the fairest of women after any other pattern than that of her who possessed his imagination as the ideal of womanly beauty.
Now were I to picture the first of women, I would give her an altruist Indian dusk, and the Abyssinian large, sad, gentle eye, (for the mother of mankind should have a touch of melancholy,) and flowing tresses of raven black, and everybody would say it was nothing like her.
The talented authoress of "Jane Eyre," by the way, is very much dissatisfied with Milton's Eve, (not with the color of her hair, but with her culinary qualifications,) and, making a mouthpiece of her heroine, Shirley, exclaims indignantly, that she was not Adam's wife, but his "housekeeper." She accordingly tries her hand upon an Eve of her own, and produces a sort of misty angel instead of Milton's comfortable woman. Fie! Miss Bell! find fault with Eve for being a good housekeeper! What sort of prospect is that for your husbandI I have an idea, however, that Miss Bell is better than her word, and could almost wager that the authoress of "Jane Eyre" makes first-rate apple-jelly.
To return to our subject; I have in the next place to draw the reader's attention to some of the more marked prejudices or predilections of different nations on the subject. Among all nations the ancient Egyptians stand preeminent for the violence of their aversion to red hair. Theirs was literally a burning hatred, for, on the authority of lliodorus and others, that highly civilized people annually performed the ceremony of burning alive an unfor tunate individual whose only crime was the color of his hair. Fancy the state of mind into which every possessor of the obnoxious shade must have been thrown on the approach of the dreaded ceremony, each not knowing whether himself might not be selected as the victim. Let us try to realize a case. Suppose an individual, perhaps a most respectable citizen, of unblemished character, and with hair not so very red, only the supply has been unequal to the demand, and the more flagrant culprits have been used up — fancy the poor man rushing distractedly about, piteously asking his friends whether they think his hair is really so very red — fancy him, more eagerly than Titmouse, grasping at every receipt warranted to preduce a deep and permanent black — fancy him sneaking nervously through the streets, imagining that every one who looks at him is saying to himself, "That's the man for the bonfire." What can the poor man do? If he were to flee to another city they would burn him all the more readily as being a stranger, in preference to one of their own townsmen. If he were to have an artful wig made, the perruquier might be a conscientious man, and feel it his duty to denounce him. The time draws nearer and nearer, and as the dread truth that his hair is unquestionably the reddest in the place begins to ooze out by degrees, his agony is redoubled. It is the last night: unable in the extremity of his anguish to form any plan, or take any measure, he passes the time walking distractedly about his house, exclaimin, "O this dreadful red hair!" The morning draws; for the ten-thousandth time he rushes to his glass. Ha! what is this? His hair is no longer red, fear and anguish have turned it white. He leaps high into the air. "Ha-ha—cured in an instant!" But he dares not trust the evidence of his own bewildered mind. He calls all his household around him, and puts the question to each of his servants in turn, "WhAt color is my hair?" They all tell him it is white, and their looks of astonishment assure him that they speak the truth. A loud knocking is heard at the door. His heart leaps within him, yet he feels that he is safe. Then a horrible qualm comes over him, fear and anguish had turned his hair white — perhaps joy may have turned it red again. Once more he rushes to his glass. No, it is all right. But he cannot bear the suspense, and rushes to the door himself. He sees the priests come for him — themagistrates, and all the little boys. Some of them may be his friends, but it is a religious ceremony, and all private feeling must give way. However, they think it proper to look grave as they inquire, "Is Mr. — within?" — "I am, Mr. — ," he cries with trembling eagerness. His fellow-townsmess are taken aback. They had known his well — its any of them often dined at his house, and therefere it would have been interesting to see how he behaved when burnt (our amateurs will tell you that there is a great deal more pleasure in seeing a man hanged whom you know.) However, there is no help for it — it would be monstrous to burn a man whose hair was not red. So they hypocritically congratulate him, and he goes off with a lightsome heart to see his neighbor burnt.
It is right, however, to remark, that Sir Gardner Wilkinson throws doubt on the whole story, upon the general ground that the Egyptians were too civilized a people to permit such a barbarous custom. Seeing, however, that it is not a couple of centuries since old women were served in the same way in England, I think his reason scarcely sufficient. As to the fact that this people had a violent antipathy to red hair, there is no dispute, and the reason may probably be found in the circumstance of their being, as we learn from the sculptures, continually at war with a red-haired people called the Rebo, and it is probable, that if the above savage rite was ever actually performed, the victims were the prisoners taken in war. Among their own nation red hair was very uncommon, for though it is found upon a great number of mummies, it is merely the effect of imperfect embalming, which has changed the natural color of the hair.
It would appear, from the terms "red-haired barbarians," and "red-haired-devils," which the Chinese have been wont to employ towards us English, that in that country a similar antipathy prevails.
Now I want to know what rielit the Chinese have to call us "red-haired!" They may call us "barbarians" or "devils," if they like, for that is a matter of opinion, but as to the color of our hair that is a matter of fact, and I submit that they have no right to take the exception for the rule.
And here I would call attention to a curious coincidence of idea between these two people. It was in honor of Typho, or the devil, that also Egyptians annually burned a person with red hair, and "red-haired devils" is the term which the Chinese employ towards us, both nations apeearing to associate the idea of devils with red hair.
Another idea suggests itself in connection with the above, namely, the deceptiveness of a great part of historical evidence. We say uehesitatingly, on the authority of the Egyptian monuments, that that people were at war with a red-haired tribe called the Rebo, whom they bouncily thrashed. Now will not future historians, if they trust to similar evidence, say as unhesitatingly, on the authority of Chinese records, that that people were at war with a red-haired tribe called the English, whom they soundly thrashed?
We find another instance of that manner in which this peculiarity of individuals has appeared so striking to an Oriental nation as to induce them te make it the characteristic of the people, in the prophecy current among the Turks, that Costantinople shall one day be retaken by a yellow-haired nation, in which prophecy the general opinion is that the Russians are referred to.
But we can scarcely wonder at the delusion of the Chinese respecting the color of our hair, when we find that a eimilar idea (based probably on she same foundation as that of our selling our wives) used to prevail very generally among our well-informed neighbors across the Channel. I believe, however, that this impression has very much died away since a certain French traveller was candid enough to contradict it. "I spik," said he, "alvays do truth, and I vill say dat I have seen English which had not red hair."
If we turn to the ancient Romans we find that that people had as strong a penchant in favor of yellow or gulden hair as the above-named nations had a prejudice against red. Among them yellow hair was so much admired that their ladies were in the habit of making use of cosmetics to change the colar of their raven locks. The hue most esteemed was probably a very dark shade, and almost a brown, as the epithet (flavus) made use of by Horace to describe it is the same which he constantly to describe the color of the Tiber. Judging by what we know of the color of the Tiber, the epithet appears to be by no means complimentary, but the affections of the Romans for their river made them imagine it to be everything that was beautiful. In this respect they were the reverse of ourselves, who make a point of abusing the Thames, for the dirt we ourselves have put into it.
The predilection of the Romans has descended to the modern Italians, among whose women we find many beautiful varieties of the golden hue so much prized by the ancient connoisseurs among the
ancient, as among the modern Greeks, we find a similar penchant, and the ancient custom of employing ornaments of gold to heighten the effect of the darker-colored hair, as bronze is set off by or-molu, is preserved to the present day.
To the violent antipathy of the Spaniards I have already had occasion to allude. In our own country golden hair has always been admired, and in the middle ages a similar practice to that of the ancient Romans was in faahion among, our ladies. They were in the habit of dyeing their hair yellow, and thinning their eyebrows — the latter custom exactly the reverse of that so common in the East.
In the Lowlands of Scotland yellow hair is a still more general favorite, for we find that of almost all the popular songs a "yellow-haired laddie," or a "yellow-haired lassie," is the hero, or the heroine, as the case may be.
On the other hand, among some of the Highland clans, red hair is regarded with so much aversion as to he considered a positive deformity. I remember an amusing instance of this, though I do not at present recollect the authority. A certain nobleman paid a visit to an old Highlander, and was introduced by him to his family, consisting of six fine, stalwart sons. The nobleman, however, happened to be aware that there were seven, and inquired after the absent member. The old man sorrowfully gave him to understand that an afflictive dispensation of Providence had rendered the seventh unfit to be introduced in company.
"Ah, poor fellow," said the sympathizing visitor, "I see — some mental infirmity!"
"On the contrary," replied the father, "he is by far the cleverest of the family — there is nothing the matter with his mind."
"Oh, then, by all means let me see him!" said the nobleman, and, while the old man went in quest of the unpresentable youth, he prepared a kind word for the cripple, whom he expected to be produced. To his astonishment, however, the father returned, followed by a fine, tall, handsome young fellow, by far the mom preposessing of the family.
"Excuse me," stammered the nobleman; "but I — in fact — I — see nothing the matter with him."
"Nothing the matter with him!" mournfully exclaimed the afflicted parent; "nothing the matter with him! Look at his hair!"
The nobleman looked; sure enough his hair was red!
It is probable that this bitter aversion may have originated in some quarrel between the different clans, as we find that there are clans in which red hair preåpmderates.
Sir Walter Scott seems to have had a decided penchant for golden locks — at least I judge so from the number of his heroines to when he has given hair of that color, and from the fact of his invariably comfortably marrying them, while their dark-haired companions are frequently much less satisfactorily disposed of. His reason for this stems to be an idea that they are more gentle, less ambitious, and less apt to get into mischief. Thus the amiable, golden-haired, Brenna marries the interesting Mordaunt, while the dark-haired and high-souled Minna spills her affection upon a good-for-nothing pirate. Thus the gentle Rose Bradwardine marries the interesting Waverley, while poor Flora M'Ivor's gallant heart is wasted in chivalrous and unprofitable loyalty. I somewhat doubt the correctness of his theory, for I think the spirit of the old seakings not unfrequently descends with the inheritance of their golden hair.
From Bentley's Miscellany.
In the general category of "red" the greater part of people one meets confound every description of hair which is neither black, nor brown, nor white, nor whitybrown. It may be the fiery Milesian shock — it may be the paly amber — it may be the burnished gold — it may be the
Brown in the shadow, and gold in the sun;- c'est ègal — it is all "red" — they have no other word.
And yet, under this general term are confounded the two extremes of beauty and ugliness — the two shades which have been respectively made the attributes of she angel and of the demon — we find that while, no the one hand, red hair (or rather a certain shade of it) has been both popularly and poetically associated with all ugliness, all vice, and all malignity, a more pleasing variety of the same hue has been associated with all loveliness, all meekness, and all innocence.
Thus Smithey, in his vision of the "Maid of Orleans," after having taken the poor girl to a number of unpleasant places, introduces her to the following disagreeable personage: —
From thence they came
Where, in the next ward, a most wretched band
Groaned underneath the bitter tyranny
Of a fierce Demon. His Coarsee hair was red —
Pale gray his eyes, and blood-hot, and his face
Wrinkled with such a smile as malice wears
In ecstasy. Well pleased he went around,
Plunging his dagger in the hearts of some,
Or probing with a poisoned lance their breasts,
Or placing coals of fire within their wounds.
This demon is Cruelty, and to his charge are committed all those who have exercised cruelty in their lifetime. Among others, "bad husbands," the poet tells us, "undero" a long purgation;" and serve them right too, but I would rather have handed them over fur pickling to their mothers-in-law.
Thus we find that red hair, or rather a certain shade of it, (be it understood that I always qualify it thus,) as betokening a cruel and fiendlike disposition, is a part of the orthodox description of a professed exeentimier. Scott, in the "Talisman," gives Richard's headsman "a huge red beard, mingling with shaggy locks of the same color;" and in the very same scene introduces, as a most marked contrast, his beautiful Queen Berengaria, with her "cherub" countenance, and dishevelled "golden tresses."
It scans, likewise, to he considered the mark of a crafty and treacherous disposition. In Spain it is popularly known by the name of Judas hair, front a belief that the traitor disciple's hair was of that shade, and in all Spanish paintings he is distinguished from the rest of the disciples by the fiery color of his hair. (See Stirling's "Annals of the Artists of Spain.") To such an extent do the Spaniards carry their prejudices that the Castilians have a proverb, "De tul pelo, ni gato ni perro" (of such hair neither cat nor dog).
In our own country a similar belief seems to have prevailed, though unattended by the same unreasonable prejudice as in Spain. In Shakspeare's play of "As You Like It,' Rosalind says of her lover —
Res. — His very hair is of the dissembling color.
Celia. — Something browner than Judas'.
Ros. — I'faith — his hair is of a good color.
Having now seen a certain variety of red hair to be the attributes of the demon — the headsman and the traitor — we shall find another variety of the Same hue to be one of the attributes of perfect beauty and innocence. In that most unequal poem, "The Course of Time," Pollok, describing the dawn, says it was: —
As though the glorious, golden, bushy locks
Of thousand cherubim had been shorn off,
And in the temples hung of morn and e'en.
A hold step, by the way, beyond the sublime. Thus, Tennyson's —
Sweet girl-graduates, in their golden hair.
Thus, by an authority which it would be heresy to dispute, and to which even a French painter has deferred, she who was "fairest of her daughters," was adorned with lucks of flowing gold. And, indeed, it would seem a natural thing for a person to suppose, if unassisted by experience — on two beautiful women being placed before him — the one with shining locks of gold, and complexion radiant as the light, and the other with raven tresses and olive cheek, that the former was the native of a bright and sunny clime, and that the latter had grown up in the shadow of the gloomy northern land. Milton, as a scholar and a traveller, could not have written his description in ignorance, but it was painted, no doubt, from a model of his own, and he could not have drawn the fairest of women after any other pattern than that of her who possessed his imagination as the ideal of womanly beauty.
Now were I to picture the first of women, I would give her an altruist Indian dusk, and the Abyssinian large, sad, gentle eye, (for the mother of mankind should have a touch of melancholy,) and flowing tresses of raven black, and everybody would say it was nothing like her.
The talented authoress of "Jane Eyre," by the way, is very much dissatisfied with Milton's Eve, (not with the color of her hair, but with her culinary qualifications,) and, making a mouthpiece of her heroine, Shirley, exclaims indignantly, that she was not Adam's wife, but his "housekeeper." She accordingly tries her hand upon an Eve of her own, and produces a sort of misty angel instead of Milton's comfortable woman. Fie! Miss Bell! find fault with Eve for being a good housekeeper! What sort of prospect is that for your husbandI I have an idea, however, that Miss Bell is better than her word, and could almost wager that the authoress of "Jane Eyre" makes first-rate apple-jelly.
To return to our subject; I have in the next place to draw the reader's attention to some of the more marked prejudices or predilections of different nations on the subject. Among all nations the ancient Egyptians stand preeminent for the violence of their aversion to red hair. Theirs was literally a burning hatred, for, on the authority of lliodorus and others, that highly civilized people annually performed the ceremony of burning alive an unfor tunate individual whose only crime was the color of his hair. Fancy the state of mind into which every possessor of the obnoxious shade must have been thrown on the approach of the dreaded ceremony, each not knowing whether himself might not be selected as the victim. Let us try to realize a case. Suppose an individual, perhaps a most respectable citizen, of unblemished character, and with hair not so very red, only the supply has been unequal to the demand, and the more flagrant culprits have been used up — fancy the poor man rushing distractedly about, piteously asking his friends whether they think his hair is really so very red — fancy him, more eagerly than Titmouse, grasping at every receipt warranted to preduce a deep and permanent black — fancy him sneaking nervously through the streets, imagining that every one who looks at him is saying to himself, "That's the man for the bonfire." What can the poor man do? If he were to flee to another city they would burn him all the more readily as being a stranger, in preference to one of their own townsmen. If he were to have an artful wig made, the perruquier might be a conscientious man, and feel it his duty to denounce him. The time draws nearer and nearer, and as the dread truth that his hair is unquestionably the reddest in the place begins to ooze out by degrees, his agony is redoubled. It is the last night: unable in the extremity of his anguish to form any plan, or take any measure, he passes the time walking distractedly about his house, exclaimin, "O this dreadful red hair!" The morning draws; for the ten-thousandth time he rushes to his glass. Ha! what is this? His hair is no longer red, fear and anguish have turned it white. He leaps high into the air. "Ha-ha—cured in an instant!" But he dares not trust the evidence of his own bewildered mind. He calls all his household around him, and puts the question to each of his servants in turn, "WhAt color is my hair?" They all tell him it is white, and their looks of astonishment assure him that they speak the truth. A loud knocking is heard at the door. His heart leaps within him, yet he feels that he is safe. Then a horrible qualm comes over him, fear and anguish had turned his hair white — perhaps joy may have turned it red again. Once more he rushes to his glass. No, it is all right. But he cannot bear the suspense, and rushes to the door himself. He sees the priests come for him — themagistrates, and all the little boys. Some of them may be his friends, but it is a religious ceremony, and all private feeling must give way. However, they think it proper to look grave as they inquire, "Is Mr. — within?" — "I am, Mr. — ," he cries with trembling eagerness. His fellow-townsmess are taken aback. They had known his well — its any of them often dined at his house, and therefere it would have been interesting to see how he behaved when burnt (our amateurs will tell you that there is a great deal more pleasure in seeing a man hanged whom you know.) However, there is no help for it — it would be monstrous to burn a man whose hair was not red. So they hypocritically congratulate him, and he goes off with a lightsome heart to see his neighbor burnt.
It is right, however, to remark, that Sir Gardner Wilkinson throws doubt on the whole story, upon the general ground that the Egyptians were too civilized a people to permit such a barbarous custom. Seeing, however, that it is not a couple of centuries since old women were served in the same way in England, I think his reason scarcely sufficient. As to the fact that this people had a violent antipathy to red hair, there is no dispute, and the reason may probably be found in the circumstance of their being, as we learn from the sculptures, continually at war with a red-haired people called the Rebo, and it is probable, that if the above savage rite was ever actually performed, the victims were the prisoners taken in war. Among their own nation red hair was very uncommon, for though it is found upon a great number of mummies, it is merely the effect of imperfect embalming, which has changed the natural color of the hair.
It would appear, from the terms "red-haired barbarians," and "red-haired-devils," which the Chinese have been wont to employ towards us English, that in that country a similar antipathy prevails.
Now I want to know what rielit the Chinese have to call us "red-haired!" They may call us "barbarians" or "devils," if they like, for that is a matter of opinion, but as to the color of our hair that is a matter of fact, and I submit that they have no right to take the exception for the rule.
And here I would call attention to a curious coincidence of idea between these two people. It was in honor of Typho, or the devil, that also Egyptians annually burned a person with red hair, and "red-haired devils" is the term which the Chinese employ towards us, both nations apeearing to associate the idea of devils with red hair.
Another idea suggests itself in connection with the above, namely, the deceptiveness of a great part of historical evidence. We say uehesitatingly, on the authority of the Egyptian monuments, that that people were at war with a red-haired tribe called the Rebo, whom they bouncily thrashed. Now will not future historians, if they trust to similar evidence, say as unhesitatingly, on the authority of Chinese records, that that people were at war with a red-haired tribe called the English, whom they soundly thrashed?
We find another instance of that manner in which this peculiarity of individuals has appeared so striking to an Oriental nation as to induce them te make it the characteristic of the people, in the prophecy current among the Turks, that Costantinople shall one day be retaken by a yellow-haired nation, in which prophecy the general opinion is that the Russians are referred to.
But we can scarcely wonder at the delusion of the Chinese respecting the color of our hair, when we find that a eimilar idea (based probably on she same foundation as that of our selling our wives) used to prevail very generally among our well-informed neighbors across the Channel. I believe, however, that this impression has very much died away since a certain French traveller was candid enough to contradict it. "I spik," said he, "alvays do truth, and I vill say dat I have seen English which had not red hair."
If we turn to the ancient Romans we find that that people had as strong a penchant in favor of yellow or gulden hair as the above-named nations had a prejudice against red. Among them yellow hair was so much admired that their ladies were in the habit of making use of cosmetics to change the colar of their raven locks. The hue most esteemed was probably a very dark shade, and almost a brown, as the epithet (flavus) made use of by Horace to describe it is the same which he constantly to describe the color of the Tiber. Judging by what we know of the color of the Tiber, the epithet appears to be by no means complimentary, but the affections of the Romans for their river made them imagine it to be everything that was beautiful. In this respect they were the reverse of ourselves, who make a point of abusing the Thames, for the dirt we ourselves have put into it.
The predilection of the Romans has descended to the modern Italians, among whose women we find many beautiful varieties of the golden hue so much prized by the ancient connoisseurs among the
ancient, as among the modern Greeks, we find a similar penchant, and the ancient custom of employing ornaments of gold to heighten the effect of the darker-colored hair, as bronze is set off by or-molu, is preserved to the present day.
To the violent antipathy of the Spaniards I have already had occasion to allude. In our own country golden hair has always been admired, and in the middle ages a similar practice to that of the ancient Romans was in faahion among, our ladies. They were in the habit of dyeing their hair yellow, and thinning their eyebrows — the latter custom exactly the reverse of that so common in the East.
In the Lowlands of Scotland yellow hair is a still more general favorite, for we find that of almost all the popular songs a "yellow-haired laddie," or a "yellow-haired lassie," is the hero, or the heroine, as the case may be.
On the other hand, among some of the Highland clans, red hair is regarded with so much aversion as to he considered a positive deformity. I remember an amusing instance of this, though I do not at present recollect the authority. A certain nobleman paid a visit to an old Highlander, and was introduced by him to his family, consisting of six fine, stalwart sons. The nobleman, however, happened to be aware that there were seven, and inquired after the absent member. The old man sorrowfully gave him to understand that an afflictive dispensation of Providence had rendered the seventh unfit to be introduced in company.
"Ah, poor fellow," said the sympathizing visitor, "I see — some mental infirmity!"
"On the contrary," replied the father, "he is by far the cleverest of the family — there is nothing the matter with his mind."
"Oh, then, by all means let me see him!" said the nobleman, and, while the old man went in quest of the unpresentable youth, he prepared a kind word for the cripple, whom he expected to be produced. To his astonishment, however, the father returned, followed by a fine, tall, handsome young fellow, by far the mom preposessing of the family.
"Excuse me," stammered the nobleman; "but I — in fact — I — see nothing the matter with him."
"Nothing the matter with him!" mournfully exclaimed the afflicted parent; "nothing the matter with him! Look at his hair!"
The nobleman looked; sure enough his hair was red!
It is probable that this bitter aversion may have originated in some quarrel between the different clans, as we find that there are clans in which red hair preåpmderates.
Sir Walter Scott seems to have had a decided penchant for golden locks — at least I judge so from the number of his heroines to when he has given hair of that color, and from the fact of his invariably comfortably marrying them, while their dark-haired companions are frequently much less satisfactorily disposed of. His reason for this stems to be an idea that they are more gentle, less ambitious, and less apt to get into mischief. Thus the amiable, golden-haired, Brenna marries the interesting Mordaunt, while the dark-haired and high-souled Minna spills her affection upon a good-for-nothing pirate. Thus the gentle Rose Bradwardine marries the interesting Waverley, while poor Flora M'Ivor's gallant heart is wasted in chivalrous and unprofitable loyalty. I somewhat doubt the correctness of his theory, for I think the spirit of the old seakings not unfrequently descends with the inheritance of their golden hair.
Värikäs pienviljelijän koti.
Forssan Lehti 111, 23.9.1929
Onko maaseudun kodeissa tarpeeksi aurinkoa ja valoa iloisten värien muodossa? Onko edes vaaleita aurinkoisia seinäpintoja, jotka uudemmassa ulkomaalaisessa sisustustaiteessa ovat tulleet yleisiksi aiheuttaen erilaisten peitevärien valmistuksen korvaamaan useinkin mauttomia tapetteja?
Valitettavasti ei, täytyy vastata. On jo mennyt se aika, jolloin talonpoikaiskulttuuri pystyi luomaan kauniita, eri väreillä maalattuja ovia, kaappeja, arkkuja y.m. Muistoina tuosta hyvän taiteellisen maun ja rohkean värien käsittelyn ajasta on täällä Lounais-Hämeessäkin vielä siellä täällä vanhoissa talonpoikaistaloissa joku kellertävä ovi sinisine peilireunustoineen, kellertävän punainen kaappi heleänkeltaisine listoineen ja kirjoituksineen ja mustikansinisine ovineen. Mutta tästä huolimatta ei liene monikaan maaseudun asukas enää edes tullut ajatelleeksikaan maalauttaa uuden talonsa ovia kahdella, kolmella iloisella värillä ja määrätä ikkunalautoihin ja vesipenkkeihin aurinkoisia kellertävän punaisia värejä. Ei asiaa ole useinkaan edes viitsitty harkita, vaan on se kokonaan jätetty maalarin ratkaistavaksi, maalarin, jolla ei tavallisesti ole aikaa, halua eikä aina taitoakaan sekoittaa muuta kuin kahta kolmea ikuisesti toistuvaa väriä; valkoista ja ruskeata. Edellisellä peitetään talonpoikaistuvassakin, jossa vuosikausia tulee olemaan hirsiseinät peittämättöminä, ovet ja ikkunalaudat, jälkimäisellä lattiat, rappuset, komeroiden ovet j.n.e. Kun lisäksi seiniin ostetaan tavallisesti harmaan ruskeat kukkaiskuviolliset tapetit ja katot joko vernissataan, jos ovat printatuista höylälaudoista, tai peitetään paperilla ja maalataan liidunvalkeiksi niin tulee kotien kokonaisvaikutus kyllin kalseaksi, vaikka ei siltä ensi aluksi voikaan kieltää siisteyden leimaa. Värien sopusointuista leikkiä ei kotiin ole saatu, ei aurinkoa, ei sitä ihmeellistä väreissä taittuvaa valoa, josta luonto sentään meille kertoo joka askeleella, kun vain maltamme sitä tarkkailla.
Niin on nykypolven väriaisti turmeltunut, vaikka tämä sukupolvi tarvitsisi entistä enemmän elämäniloa.
Tätä valitettavaa asiantilaa miettiessäni sattui kuitenkin kulkuni tänä kesänä pienviljelijän luo, joka oli uskaltanut tehdä kodistaan värikylläiset ja -hohtoiset suojat. Vaikutus oli vallan yllättävä. Huoneiden ovet, seinät, katot, parrut, jopa kakluunitkin oli maalattu sateenkaaren kaikilla väreillä, vieläpä sekoitusväreilläkin. Rohkeita vetoja, tulenliekkien kaltaisia kasvikiehkuroita ja välilehtiä näki kaikkialla eteisen, vierashuoneen ja oleskeluhuoneen seinissä ja ovissa pihtipielineen, uunien pinnoissa ja huonekaluissa. Oleskeluhuoneen kattoparrut olivat tummansiniset, lattia mustikansininen, seinänvierustat vaaleammat. Loistavia, lämpimiä värejä oli tuhlailtu pöytään ja penkkeihin, kattoparrujen välisiin pintoihin j.n.e. Ovien vuorilautoihin oli vedetty taitavalla kädellä värikkäitä murtoviivoja ja oleskeluhuoneen ikkunaruuduissakin oli hehkuvia kukkia. Kirjoitukseen liittyvä kuva antanee lukijalle edes jonkinlaisen käsityksen tämän kodin väririkkaudesta. Sadesäälläkin tuntuu näissä huoneissa paistavan värikylläinen ilta-aurinko.
Tämä merkillinen pienviljelijän koti on Urjalan ja Humppilan rajoilla, Nuutajärven maalla, kauniin Sahankosken rannalla. Tilan nimi onkin Saha, isännän nimi Paavo. Maalaukset on suorittanut taiteilija E. Saari, jonka ateljeeri on nousemassa talon lähistöllä. Sahan talon koristelu ei ole vain ulkonaista prameutta, sen huomaa pian sekä asukkaista että talon ympäristöstä. Kodin henki on sopusuhtainen kauniiden suojien kanssa, ja talo on saatu tuottavaksi isäntäväen uutteruuden ja taitavuuden kautta. Kaunis nurmikkopyörylä on talon edustalla, kasvilavat, tomaattipenkit y.m. olivat kesällä rehevät, ja isäntä suunnittelee puutarhansa laajentamista, mihin kosken kauniit rantapengermät tarjoavatkin hyvän tilaisuuden. Talon pellot, joita on alun kolmattakymmentä hehtaaria, ovat voimallisessa viljelyksessä, karja jalostettua, kanala tuottava j.n.e. On hämmästyttävää nähdä, miten lyhyessä ajassa on uutteruudella ja voimakkaalla tahdolla entisestä Nuutajärven kartanon torpasta kehittynyt tällainen mallitila. Vieraasta tuntuukin kuin tähän olisi osansa antanut myös kauniisti sisustettu koti, jossa aina puhtaus ja ilo viihtyvät.
Niin monikirjavasta sisämaalauksesta kuin Sahan Paavon talossa on, saatetaan täydellä syyllä olla erimielisiä. Moni varmaan toivoisi laajempia pintoja, suorempia linjoja, keskitetympää väriasteikkoa. En tahdokaan talon koristelua esittää malliksi talonpoikaiskoteihin. Tuntee selvästi, että tuossa väri- ja muotokyllyydessä on jotakin vierasta, liiaksi kuohahtelevaa meikäläiselle tyynelle ja vaatimattomalle kansanluonteellemme. Mutta pääasia on, että jokukin talonpoika on uskaltanut rikkoa hengettömän ja kalsean maalaustyylin. Ne lukuisat maalarit, jotka maaseudun taloihin vetävät vaikosta ja ruskeata, saisivat mennä ojennusta saamaan Sahan Paavon taloon.
- E. Aaltonen.
Onko maaseudun kodeissa tarpeeksi aurinkoa ja valoa iloisten värien muodossa? Onko edes vaaleita aurinkoisia seinäpintoja, jotka uudemmassa ulkomaalaisessa sisustustaiteessa ovat tulleet yleisiksi aiheuttaen erilaisten peitevärien valmistuksen korvaamaan useinkin mauttomia tapetteja?
Valitettavasti ei, täytyy vastata. On jo mennyt se aika, jolloin talonpoikaiskulttuuri pystyi luomaan kauniita, eri väreillä maalattuja ovia, kaappeja, arkkuja y.m. Muistoina tuosta hyvän taiteellisen maun ja rohkean värien käsittelyn ajasta on täällä Lounais-Hämeessäkin vielä siellä täällä vanhoissa talonpoikaistaloissa joku kellertävä ovi sinisine peilireunustoineen, kellertävän punainen kaappi heleänkeltaisine listoineen ja kirjoituksineen ja mustikansinisine ovineen. Mutta tästä huolimatta ei liene monikaan maaseudun asukas enää edes tullut ajatelleeksikaan maalauttaa uuden talonsa ovia kahdella, kolmella iloisella värillä ja määrätä ikkunalautoihin ja vesipenkkeihin aurinkoisia kellertävän punaisia värejä. Ei asiaa ole useinkaan edes viitsitty harkita, vaan on se kokonaan jätetty maalarin ratkaistavaksi, maalarin, jolla ei tavallisesti ole aikaa, halua eikä aina taitoakaan sekoittaa muuta kuin kahta kolmea ikuisesti toistuvaa väriä; valkoista ja ruskeata. Edellisellä peitetään talonpoikaistuvassakin, jossa vuosikausia tulee olemaan hirsiseinät peittämättöminä, ovet ja ikkunalaudat, jälkimäisellä lattiat, rappuset, komeroiden ovet j.n.e. Kun lisäksi seiniin ostetaan tavallisesti harmaan ruskeat kukkaiskuviolliset tapetit ja katot joko vernissataan, jos ovat printatuista höylälaudoista, tai peitetään paperilla ja maalataan liidunvalkeiksi niin tulee kotien kokonaisvaikutus kyllin kalseaksi, vaikka ei siltä ensi aluksi voikaan kieltää siisteyden leimaa. Värien sopusointuista leikkiä ei kotiin ole saatu, ei aurinkoa, ei sitä ihmeellistä väreissä taittuvaa valoa, josta luonto sentään meille kertoo joka askeleella, kun vain maltamme sitä tarkkailla.
Niin on nykypolven väriaisti turmeltunut, vaikka tämä sukupolvi tarvitsisi entistä enemmän elämäniloa.
Tätä valitettavaa asiantilaa miettiessäni sattui kuitenkin kulkuni tänä kesänä pienviljelijän luo, joka oli uskaltanut tehdä kodistaan värikylläiset ja -hohtoiset suojat. Vaikutus oli vallan yllättävä. Huoneiden ovet, seinät, katot, parrut, jopa kakluunitkin oli maalattu sateenkaaren kaikilla väreillä, vieläpä sekoitusväreilläkin. Rohkeita vetoja, tulenliekkien kaltaisia kasvikiehkuroita ja välilehtiä näki kaikkialla eteisen, vierashuoneen ja oleskeluhuoneen seinissä ja ovissa pihtipielineen, uunien pinnoissa ja huonekaluissa. Oleskeluhuoneen kattoparrut olivat tummansiniset, lattia mustikansininen, seinänvierustat vaaleammat. Loistavia, lämpimiä värejä oli tuhlailtu pöytään ja penkkeihin, kattoparrujen välisiin pintoihin j.n.e. Ovien vuorilautoihin oli vedetty taitavalla kädellä värikkäitä murtoviivoja ja oleskeluhuoneen ikkunaruuduissakin oli hehkuvia kukkia. Kirjoitukseen liittyvä kuva antanee lukijalle edes jonkinlaisen käsityksen tämän kodin väririkkaudesta. Sadesäälläkin tuntuu näissä huoneissa paistavan värikylläinen ilta-aurinko.
Tämä merkillinen pienviljelijän koti on Urjalan ja Humppilan rajoilla, Nuutajärven maalla, kauniin Sahankosken rannalla. Tilan nimi onkin Saha, isännän nimi Paavo. Maalaukset on suorittanut taiteilija E. Saari, jonka ateljeeri on nousemassa talon lähistöllä. Sahan talon koristelu ei ole vain ulkonaista prameutta, sen huomaa pian sekä asukkaista että talon ympäristöstä. Kodin henki on sopusuhtainen kauniiden suojien kanssa, ja talo on saatu tuottavaksi isäntäväen uutteruuden ja taitavuuden kautta. Kaunis nurmikkopyörylä on talon edustalla, kasvilavat, tomaattipenkit y.m. olivat kesällä rehevät, ja isäntä suunnittelee puutarhansa laajentamista, mihin kosken kauniit rantapengermät tarjoavatkin hyvän tilaisuuden. Talon pellot, joita on alun kolmattakymmentä hehtaaria, ovat voimallisessa viljelyksessä, karja jalostettua, kanala tuottava j.n.e. On hämmästyttävää nähdä, miten lyhyessä ajassa on uutteruudella ja voimakkaalla tahdolla entisestä Nuutajärven kartanon torpasta kehittynyt tällainen mallitila. Vieraasta tuntuukin kuin tähän olisi osansa antanut myös kauniisti sisustettu koti, jossa aina puhtaus ja ilo viihtyvät.
Niin monikirjavasta sisämaalauksesta kuin Sahan Paavon talossa on, saatetaan täydellä syyllä olla erimielisiä. Moni varmaan toivoisi laajempia pintoja, suorempia linjoja, keskitetympää väriasteikkoa. En tahdokaan talon koristelua esittää malliksi talonpoikaiskoteihin. Tuntee selvästi, että tuossa väri- ja muotokyllyydessä on jotakin vierasta, liiaksi kuohahtelevaa meikäläiselle tyynelle ja vaatimattomalle kansanluonteellemme. Mutta pääasia on, että jokukin talonpoika on uskaltanut rikkoa hengettömän ja kalsean maalaustyylin. Ne lukuisat maalarit, jotka maaseudun taloihin vetävät vaikosta ja ruskeata, saisivat mennä ojennusta saamaan Sahan Paavon taloon.
- E. Aaltonen.
Effect of Bright Red on Animals.
Scientific American 16, 18.4.1868
We have never yet been able to arrive at a solution of the curious effects of the sight of scarlet or brilliant orange or crimson on some animals. No treatise on natural history we ever have seen has given a satisfactory explanation of facts which must often have been noticed by the most unobservant. An exchange says:
"Many persons have unquestionably lost their lives in consequence of wearing articles of dress which provoked domesticated animals to such a pitch of fury as to lead to melancholy results. Females, for example, in attempting to cross a pasture, wearing a red shawl, a red covering for the head, a scarlet dress, or flowing scarlet ribbons, where bulls are grazing hazard their lives. Oxen, otherwise peaceably disposed, become intensely infuriated at some seasons by the sight of bright red handkerchiefs, or almost any article of female dress of that particular hue. It is equally curious that turkeys manifest the same restlessness and ultimate excitement at red flags or red dresses. The turkey cock on such occasions assumes extraordinary dignity, gobbling most uproariously, and creating immense excitement In his family, not accustomed to the sight. Nearly all the wild grazing animals exhibit extreme surprise, if not positive fright, when a red cloth floats before them."
We have never yet been able to arrive at a solution of the curious effects of the sight of scarlet or brilliant orange or crimson on some animals. No treatise on natural history we ever have seen has given a satisfactory explanation of facts which must often have been noticed by the most unobservant. An exchange says:
"Many persons have unquestionably lost their lives in consequence of wearing articles of dress which provoked domesticated animals to such a pitch of fury as to lead to melancholy results. Females, for example, in attempting to cross a pasture, wearing a red shawl, a red covering for the head, a scarlet dress, or flowing scarlet ribbons, where bulls are grazing hazard their lives. Oxen, otherwise peaceably disposed, become intensely infuriated at some seasons by the sight of bright red handkerchiefs, or almost any article of female dress of that particular hue. It is equally curious that turkeys manifest the same restlessness and ultimate excitement at red flags or red dresses. The turkey cock on such occasions assumes extraordinary dignity, gobbling most uproariously, and creating immense excitement In his family, not accustomed to the sight. Nearly all the wild grazing animals exhibit extreme surprise, if not positive fright, when a red cloth floats before them."
Glass - Its Material and Manufacture.
Scientific American 25, 20.6.1868
A great number of earths, and other mineral bodies, after being fused, do not resume their original character, upon cooling, but pass into a dense, hard, shining, and brittle state, having the character of glass; and are thus said to be vitrified. Most of these substances do not immediately become hard, upon the reduction of their temperature, but go through an intermediate, or ductile, state, in which a combin[a]tion of of softness with tenacity, enables them to be wrought into articles of use and ornament. Of these, common glass is the most important, while enamels, artificial gems, etc., belong to the same species of manufacture.
Glass is a compound substance, artificially produced, by the combination of silicious earth with alkalies, and, in some cases, with other metallic oxides. These substances, being melted together at a high temperature, unite, lose their opacity, and are fused into a homogeneous mass, which, on cooling, has the properties of hardness, transparency, and brittleness.
The most important ingredient, and, in fact, the basis, of transparent glass, is silica, or oxide of silicium, This earth, nearly in a state of purity, is found in the sand of certain situations, and also in common flint, and quartz pebbles. Sand has the advantage of being already in a state of minute division, not requiring to be pulverized. Pure silicious sand, proper for the glass furnace, is found in many localities. A great portion of that used in the United States is taken from the banks of the Delaware. When flints, or quartz, are employed, they must be first reduced to powder, which is done by heating them red hot, and plunging them in cold water. This causes them to whiten and fall to pieces; after which, they are ground and sifted, before they are ready for the furnace.
An alkaline substance, either potash or soda, is the second ingredient in glass. For the finer kinds of glass, pure pearlash is used, or soda, procured by decomposing sea salt; but, for the inferior sorts, impure alkalies, and even wood ashes, are made to answer the purpose. Lime is often employed, in small quantities; also borax, a salt, which facilitates the fusion of the silica.
Instead of the common alkalies, the sulphate of soda may be employed in glass making. But, in this case, it is necessary to liberate the alkali by decomposing the sulphuric acid of the salt. This may be done by charcoal, or, in flint glass, by metallic lead. Lime is also used with this salt.
Of the metallic oxides, which are added in different cases, the deutoxide of lead (red lead) is the most common. This substance renders flint glass more fusible, heavy, and tough, and more easy to be ground and cut. At the same time, it imparts to it a greater brilliancy, and refractive power. Black oxide of manganese, in small quantities, has the effect of cleansing the glass, or of rendering it more colorless and transparent. This effect it seems to produce by imparting oxygen to the carbonaceous impurities, thus forming with them carbonic acid, which subsequently escapes. Common niter produces a similar effect. If too much manganese be added, it communicates a purple tinge to the glass, which, however, may be destroyed by a little charcoal or wood. Arsenious acid (white arsenic) in small quantities, promotes the clearness of glass; but, if too much be used, it communicates a milky whiteness. Its use, in drinking vessels, is not free from danger, when the glass contains so much alkali as to render any part of it soluble in acids.
Glass is of various kinds, which are named, not only from the character of their ingredients, but from the mode in which they are wrought. The name of crown glass is given to the best kind of window glass, that which is hardest, and most free from color. It is made almost entirely of sand and alkali, and a little lime, without lead, or any other metallic oxide, except a minute quantity of manganese, and sometimes of cobalt, which are added to counteract the effect of any im purities, in giving color to the glass. Crown glass requires a greater heat to melt its ingredients, than those kinds which contain a larger quantity of metallic oxide, especially of lead.
After the materials have been intimately mixed, they are subjected to the operation called fritting. This consists in exposing them to a dull, red heat, which is not sufficient to produce their fusion. The use of this process is to drive off the carbonic acid, and other gaseous and volatile matters, which would otherwise prove troublesome, by causing the materials to swell up in the glass pots. The heat is gradually increased, and the materials constantly stirred for some hours until they unite into a soft, adhesive mass; the alkali having gradually combined with the silicious earth. The reason why the fritting is conducted at a low heat is that, if a high temperature were applied at once, the alkali would be driven off, before it had time to combine with the silica.
The homogeneous mass, or frit, is next transferred to the glass pots of the melting furnace. These are crucibles, made of the most refractory clays and sand. A quantity of old glass is commonly placed upon the top of the frit, and the heat of the furnace is raised to its greatest hight, at which state it is continued for thirty or forty hours. During this time the materials become perfectly united, and form a transparent, uniform mass, free from specks and bubbles. The whole is then suffered to cool a little by slackening the heat of the furnace until it acquires sufficient tenacity to be wrought.
The formation of window glassy is effected by blowing the melted matter, or metal, as it is called, into hollow spheres, which are afterward made to expand into circular sheets. The workman is provided with a long, iron tube, one end of which he thrusts into the melted glass, turning it round until certain quantity, sufficient for the purpose, is gathered or adheres to the extremity. The tube is then withdrawn from the furnace, the lump of glass which adheres is rolled upon a smooth iron table, and the workman blows strongly with his mouth through the tube. The glass, in consequence of its ductility, is gradually inflated like a bladder, and is prevented from falling off by a rotary motion constantly communicated to the tube. The inflation is assisted by the heat, which causes the air and moisture of the breath to expand with great power. Whenever the glass becomes so stiff, from cooling, as to render the inflation difficult, it is again held over the fire to soften it, and the blowing is repeated, until the globe is expanded to the requisite thinness. It is then received by another workman upon an iron rod, while the blowing iron is detached. It is now opened at its extremity, and, by means of the centrifugal force, acquired from its rapid whirling, it spreads into a smooth, uniform sheet of equal thickness throughout, excepting a prominence at the center where the iron rod was attached.
After the glass has received the shape which it is to retain, it is transferred to a hot chamber, or annealing furnace, in which its temperature is gradually reduced, until it becomes cold. This process is indispensable to the durability of glass; for, if it is cooled too suddenly, it becomes extremely brittle, and flies to pieces upon the slightest touch of any hard substance. This effect is shown in the substances called Rupert's drops, which are made by suddenly cooling drops of green glass by letting them fall into cold water These drops fly to pieces with an explosion whenever their smaller extremity is broken off. The Bologna phials, and some other vessels of unannealed glass, break into a thousand pieces if a flint, or other hard and angular substance is dropped into them. This phenomenon seems to depend upon some permanent and strong inequality of pressure; for when these drops are heated so red as so be soft, and left to cool gradually, the property of bursting is lost, and the specific gravity of the drop is increased.
Broad glass is a coarser kind of window glass, and is made from sand, with kelp and soap boilers' waste. It is blown into hollow cones, about a foot in diameter, and these, while hot, are touched on one side with a cold iron, dipped in water. This produces a crack, which runs through the length of the cone, nearly in a right line. The glass then expands into a sheet, in its form resembling somewhat the shape of a fan. This appears to have been one of the oldest methods of manufacturing glass.
Flint glass, so called from its having been originally made of pulverized flints, differs from window glass in containing a large quantity of the red oxide of lead. The proportions of its materials differ; but, in round numbers, it consists of about three parts of fine sand, two of red lead, and one of pearlash, with small quantities of niter, arsenic, and manganese. It fuses at a lower temperature than crown glass, has a beautiful transparency, a great refractive power, and a comparative softness which enables it to be cut and polished with ease. On this account it is much used for glass vessels of every description, as especially those which are intended to be ornamented by cutting. It is also employed for lenses and other optical glasses. Flint glass is worked by blowing, molding, pressing, and grinding. Articles of complex form, such as lamps and wine glasses, are formed in pieces, which are afterward joined by simple contact, while the glass is hot. It appears that the red lead used in the manufacture of flint glass gives up a part of its oxygen and passes to the state of a protoxide.
Common green glass, of which bottles are made, is the cheapest kind, and formed of the most ordinary materials. It is composed of sand, with lime, and sometimes clay, and alkaline ashes of any kind, such as kelp, barilla, or even wood ashes. The green color is owing to the impurities in the ashes, but chiefly to oxide of iron. This glass is hard, strong, and well vitrified. It is less subject to corrosion by strong acids than flint glass, and is superior to any cheap material for the purposes to which it is ordinarily applied.
The plates of crown glass which are obtained in the common manner, by blowing them in circular plates, afford the common material for window glass, being cut into squares by first marking the surface deeply with a diamond and then breaking the glass in the same directions, the crack always following the exact course of the incision made by the diamond. But there is always a loss or waste in cutting squares from a circular plate, besides which they can never be very large, owing to the protuberance, or bull's eye, which fills the center of the plate, so that a square can never be larger than can be described within less than half the circle. To remedy this disadvantage, plates for looking glasses, and others of large size, are executed in s, different way, either by blowing them in cylinders or by casting them in plates at first.
Cylinder glass is blown at first in spheres, like window glass. These are elongated into spheroids by a swinging motion which the workman gives to his rod. The ends this spheroid are successively perforated, thus converting it into an irregular cylinder. One side of this cylinder is cut through with shears, and the glass is laid upon a flat surface, where it expands into a uniform plate, without any protuberance. It is then annealed, by diminishing the heat, in the common way. When the plates are intended for looking glasses, the finest materials are used, and the heat kept at its greatest hight, for a long time, to dissipate all impurities and remove any specks or bubbles.
Looking-glass plates may be blown in cylinders, when they do not exceed about four feet in length. But they cannot well be blown of a larger size than this, from such a quantity of glass as the rod will take up, without becoming too thin to bear polishing. Plates, however, may be made of more than double this size by another process, which is called casting, the only mode by which very large plates are produced.
When glass is to be cast it is melted in great quantities, in large pots or reservoirs, until it is in a state of perfect fusion, in which state it is kept for a long time. It is then drawn out by means of iron cisterns of considerable size, which are lowered into the furnace, filled, and raised out by machinery. The glass is poured out from these cisterns upon tables of polished copper, of a large size, having a rim elevated as high as the intended thickness of the plate. In order to spread it perfectly, and to make the two surfaces parallel, a heavy roller of polished copper, weighing five hundred pounds or more, is rolled over the plate, resting upon the rim at the edges. The glass, which is beginning to grow stiff, is pressed down and spread equally, the excess being driven before the roller till it falls off at the extremity of the table. The plate is then ready to be annealed.
As the plates which are cast for looking-glasses are always uneven and dull at their surface, it is necessary to grind and polish them before they are fit for use. The process employed for producing a perfectly even and smooth surface is very similar to that employed in polishing marble, except that the glass, being the harder substance, requires more labor and nicety in the operation. The plate to be polished is first cemented to a table of wood or stone, with plaster of Paris. A quantity of wet sand or emery is spread upon it, and another glass plate, similarly cemented to another wooden surface, is brought in contact with it. The two plates are then rubbed together until the surfaces have become mutually smooth and plane. The emery which is first used is succeeded by emery of a finer grain, and the last polish is given by colcothar or putty. When one surface has become perfectly polished the cement is removed, the plate turned, and the opposite side polished in the same manner.
As the grinding of glass causes an expenditure of a considerable portion of its substance, a great waste of glass takes place when foreign materials are employed in the manner which has been described. To prevent this loss a more economical mode has been introduced, in which the glass is ground with pure flint, reduced to powder. The mixture of glass and flint which is left after the operation is valuable for forming fresh glass.
A variety of ornamental forms are produced upon the surface of glitss vessels by impressions given to them with a metallic mold while the glass is in a hot state. Flint glass is the kind which is used for articles intended to possess much brilliancy, but coarser kinds, even of colored glass, are also subjected to the same process. The simplest manner in which the operation is conducted consists in blowing the glass into the mold till it receives the impression on its outside. For this purpose a quantity of glass sufficient to form the intended vessel is taken up on the end of a pipe and inserted at the top of the mold. The workman then blows with his mouth till a hollow portion of glass is driven into the mold, and expands so as to fill every part, and receive an impression on its outside. The mold is usually made of copper, with the figure cut on its inside, and opens with hinges, to permit the glass to be inserted and taken out. As the mold is of necessity much colder than the glass, the latter substance is chilled at its surface as soon as it comes in contact with the copper; hence its ductility is impaired. and the impression given is never so sharp as that which is obtained with substances which are nearly at the same temperatures. Molded bottles, vials, decanters, etc., are made in this way.
An improvement has been made in the process of molding glass, by subjecting the material to pressure, on the inside and outside at the same time, by different parts of a mold, which are brought suddenly together by mechanical power. This process has been carried to great perfection in several of the manufactories in this country, and produces specimens which compare with cut glass in the accuracy and beauty of the workmanship. It is applied only to solid articles, and to vessels which are not contracted at top. The hot glass being dropped into the mold, a part, called the follower, answering to the inside or top of the vessel, or other article, is immediately pressed down upon it, by a lever, and the glass is thus stamped with a very distinct impression of the figure on both sides at once. The glass vessel is sometimes transferred from the mold to another receptacle, called the receiver, in order to preserve its shape, till it is cool enough to stand.
The name of cut-glass is given, in commerce, to glass which is ground and polished, in figures, with smooth surfaces, appearing as if cut by incisions of a sharp instrument. This operation is chiefly confined to flint-glass, which, being more tough, soft, and brilliant, than the other kinds, is more easily wrought, and produces specimens of greater luster. An establishment for cutting glass, contains a great number of small wheels, of stone metal, and wood, which are made to revolve rapidly, by a steam engine or other power. The cutting of the glass consists entirely, in grinding away successive portions, by holding them upon the surface of these wheels. The first or rough cutting, is sometimes given by wheels of stone, resembling grindstones. Afterward, wheels of iron are used, having their edges covered with sharp sand, or with emery, in different states of fineness, The last polish is given by brush wheels, covered with putty, which is an oxide of tin and lead. To prevent the friction from exciting so much heat as to endanger the glass, a small stream of water continually drops upon the surface of the wheel.
The name of staining has been applied to the process, by which painting, with vitrifiable colors, is executed upon the surface of glass. The pigments used are, chiefly, metallic oxides, which do not exhibit their full color, until they have been exposed to the heat of the furnace. This art has been repeatedly described, as being no longer known; but this is not the fact, except in respect to some particular colors, which are found in the windows of ancient cathedrals.
The metallic oxides, used in staining glass, are difficult of fusion; on which account, it is necessary to mix them with a flux, composed of glass with lead or borax. This renders the oxide fusible, at a temperature which does not injure its color; also by enveloping the particles, it causes them to adhere to the glass, and afterwards protects them from the atmosphere.
A very beautiful violet but liable to turn blue, is made from a flux, composed of borax and flint-glass, colored with one sixth part of the purple of Cassius, precipitated from muriate of gold by protomuriate of tin.
A fine red is made from red oxide of iron, prepared by nitric acid and heat, mixed with a flux of borax, and a small pro. portion of red lead.
A yellow, equal in beauty to that produced by the ancients, may be made from muriate of silver, oxide of zinc, white clay, and the yellow oxide of iron, mixed together, without any flux. A powder remains on the surface after the glass has been baked, but this is easily cleaned off.
Blue is produced by oxide of cobalt, with a flux composed of fine sand, purified pearlash, and red lead.
Black is produced by mixing the composition for blue with the oxides of manganese and iron.
To stain glass green, it may be painted blue on one side and yellow on the other.
The colors, ground with water, being laid upon the glass, must be exposed to heat under a muffle, so as to be heated equally, until the color is melted upon the surface. To prevent the panes of glass from bending, they are placed upon a bed of bone ashes, of quicklime, or of unglazed porcelain. A bed of gypsum has been recommended, but the sulphuric acid exhaling from it is apt to injure the glass.
Among the ancient specimens of painted glass, some pieces have been found in which the colors penetrate through the glass, so that the figure appears in any section made parallel to the surface. It is supposed that such pieces can only have been made in the manner of mosaic, by accumulating transverse filaments of glass, of different colors, and uniting them by heat, the process being one of great labor. They are described by Winckelmann and Caylus, from some specimens brought from Rome.
The great ductility of glass is one of its most remarkable properties. When heated to a sufficient degree it may not only be molded into any possible form with the utmost facility, but it can be drawn out into the finest fibers. The method of spinning glass is very simple. The operator holds a piece of glass over the flame of a lamp with one hand; he then fixes a hook to the melted mass, and, by withdrawing it, obtains a thread of glass attached to the hook. The hook is then fixed in the circumference of a cylindrical drum, which can be turned round by the hand, and a rapid rotary motion being given to the drum, the glass is drawn in the finest threads, from the fluid mass, and coiled round the cylindrical circumference. M. Reaumur supposed, with gre‘at reason, that the flexibility of glass increased with the fineness of the threads, and he therefore conjectured that, if they were drawn to a sufficient degree of fineness, they might be used in the fabrication of stuffs. He succeeded in making them as fine as a spider's web, but he was never able to obtain them of a sufficient length, when their diameter was so much reduced. The circumference of these threads is generally a flat oval, about three or four times as broad as it is thick. By using opaque and transparent glass of different colors, artists hove been able to produce many beautiful ornaments. M. Bonnet and others have succeeded in obtaining glass fibers of such fineness and flexibility as to admit of being woven into cloth of a very brilliant, silvery appearance.
A great number of earths, and other mineral bodies, after being fused, do not resume their original character, upon cooling, but pass into a dense, hard, shining, and brittle state, having the character of glass; and are thus said to be vitrified. Most of these substances do not immediately become hard, upon the reduction of their temperature, but go through an intermediate, or ductile, state, in which a combin[a]tion of of softness with tenacity, enables them to be wrought into articles of use and ornament. Of these, common glass is the most important, while enamels, artificial gems, etc., belong to the same species of manufacture.
Glass is a compound substance, artificially produced, by the combination of silicious earth with alkalies, and, in some cases, with other metallic oxides. These substances, being melted together at a high temperature, unite, lose their opacity, and are fused into a homogeneous mass, which, on cooling, has the properties of hardness, transparency, and brittleness.
The most important ingredient, and, in fact, the basis, of transparent glass, is silica, or oxide of silicium, This earth, nearly in a state of purity, is found in the sand of certain situations, and also in common flint, and quartz pebbles. Sand has the advantage of being already in a state of minute division, not requiring to be pulverized. Pure silicious sand, proper for the glass furnace, is found in many localities. A great portion of that used in the United States is taken from the banks of the Delaware. When flints, or quartz, are employed, they must be first reduced to powder, which is done by heating them red hot, and plunging them in cold water. This causes them to whiten and fall to pieces; after which, they are ground and sifted, before they are ready for the furnace.
An alkaline substance, either potash or soda, is the second ingredient in glass. For the finer kinds of glass, pure pearlash is used, or soda, procured by decomposing sea salt; but, for the inferior sorts, impure alkalies, and even wood ashes, are made to answer the purpose. Lime is often employed, in small quantities; also borax, a salt, which facilitates the fusion of the silica.
Instead of the common alkalies, the sulphate of soda may be employed in glass making. But, in this case, it is necessary to liberate the alkali by decomposing the sulphuric acid of the salt. This may be done by charcoal, or, in flint glass, by metallic lead. Lime is also used with this salt.
Of the metallic oxides, which are added in different cases, the deutoxide of lead (red lead) is the most common. This substance renders flint glass more fusible, heavy, and tough, and more easy to be ground and cut. At the same time, it imparts to it a greater brilliancy, and refractive power. Black oxide of manganese, in small quantities, has the effect of cleansing the glass, or of rendering it more colorless and transparent. This effect it seems to produce by imparting oxygen to the carbonaceous impurities, thus forming with them carbonic acid, which subsequently escapes. Common niter produces a similar effect. If too much manganese be added, it communicates a purple tinge to the glass, which, however, may be destroyed by a little charcoal or wood. Arsenious acid (white arsenic) in small quantities, promotes the clearness of glass; but, if too much be used, it communicates a milky whiteness. Its use, in drinking vessels, is not free from danger, when the glass contains so much alkali as to render any part of it soluble in acids.
Glass is of various kinds, which are named, not only from the character of their ingredients, but from the mode in which they are wrought. The name of crown glass is given to the best kind of window glass, that which is hardest, and most free from color. It is made almost entirely of sand and alkali, and a little lime, without lead, or any other metallic oxide, except a minute quantity of manganese, and sometimes of cobalt, which are added to counteract the effect of any im purities, in giving color to the glass. Crown glass requires a greater heat to melt its ingredients, than those kinds which contain a larger quantity of metallic oxide, especially of lead.
After the materials have been intimately mixed, they are subjected to the operation called fritting. This consists in exposing them to a dull, red heat, which is not sufficient to produce their fusion. The use of this process is to drive off the carbonic acid, and other gaseous and volatile matters, which would otherwise prove troublesome, by causing the materials to swell up in the glass pots. The heat is gradually increased, and the materials constantly stirred for some hours until they unite into a soft, adhesive mass; the alkali having gradually combined with the silicious earth. The reason why the fritting is conducted at a low heat is that, if a high temperature were applied at once, the alkali would be driven off, before it had time to combine with the silica.
The homogeneous mass, or frit, is next transferred to the glass pots of the melting furnace. These are crucibles, made of the most refractory clays and sand. A quantity of old glass is commonly placed upon the top of the frit, and the heat of the furnace is raised to its greatest hight, at which state it is continued for thirty or forty hours. During this time the materials become perfectly united, and form a transparent, uniform mass, free from specks and bubbles. The whole is then suffered to cool a little by slackening the heat of the furnace until it acquires sufficient tenacity to be wrought.
The formation of window glassy is effected by blowing the melted matter, or metal, as it is called, into hollow spheres, which are afterward made to expand into circular sheets. The workman is provided with a long, iron tube, one end of which he thrusts into the melted glass, turning it round until certain quantity, sufficient for the purpose, is gathered or adheres to the extremity. The tube is then withdrawn from the furnace, the lump of glass which adheres is rolled upon a smooth iron table, and the workman blows strongly with his mouth through the tube. The glass, in consequence of its ductility, is gradually inflated like a bladder, and is prevented from falling off by a rotary motion constantly communicated to the tube. The inflation is assisted by the heat, which causes the air and moisture of the breath to expand with great power. Whenever the glass becomes so stiff, from cooling, as to render the inflation difficult, it is again held over the fire to soften it, and the blowing is repeated, until the globe is expanded to the requisite thinness. It is then received by another workman upon an iron rod, while the blowing iron is detached. It is now opened at its extremity, and, by means of the centrifugal force, acquired from its rapid whirling, it spreads into a smooth, uniform sheet of equal thickness throughout, excepting a prominence at the center where the iron rod was attached.
After the glass has received the shape which it is to retain, it is transferred to a hot chamber, or annealing furnace, in which its temperature is gradually reduced, until it becomes cold. This process is indispensable to the durability of glass; for, if it is cooled too suddenly, it becomes extremely brittle, and flies to pieces upon the slightest touch of any hard substance. This effect is shown in the substances called Rupert's drops, which are made by suddenly cooling drops of green glass by letting them fall into cold water These drops fly to pieces with an explosion whenever their smaller extremity is broken off. The Bologna phials, and some other vessels of unannealed glass, break into a thousand pieces if a flint, or other hard and angular substance is dropped into them. This phenomenon seems to depend upon some permanent and strong inequality of pressure; for when these drops are heated so red as so be soft, and left to cool gradually, the property of bursting is lost, and the specific gravity of the drop is increased.
Broad glass is a coarser kind of window glass, and is made from sand, with kelp and soap boilers' waste. It is blown into hollow cones, about a foot in diameter, and these, while hot, are touched on one side with a cold iron, dipped in water. This produces a crack, which runs through the length of the cone, nearly in a right line. The glass then expands into a sheet, in its form resembling somewhat the shape of a fan. This appears to have been one of the oldest methods of manufacturing glass.
Flint glass, so called from its having been originally made of pulverized flints, differs from window glass in containing a large quantity of the red oxide of lead. The proportions of its materials differ; but, in round numbers, it consists of about three parts of fine sand, two of red lead, and one of pearlash, with small quantities of niter, arsenic, and manganese. It fuses at a lower temperature than crown glass, has a beautiful transparency, a great refractive power, and a comparative softness which enables it to be cut and polished with ease. On this account it is much used for glass vessels of every description, as especially those which are intended to be ornamented by cutting. It is also employed for lenses and other optical glasses. Flint glass is worked by blowing, molding, pressing, and grinding. Articles of complex form, such as lamps and wine glasses, are formed in pieces, which are afterward joined by simple contact, while the glass is hot. It appears that the red lead used in the manufacture of flint glass gives up a part of its oxygen and passes to the state of a protoxide.
Common green glass, of which bottles are made, is the cheapest kind, and formed of the most ordinary materials. It is composed of sand, with lime, and sometimes clay, and alkaline ashes of any kind, such as kelp, barilla, or even wood ashes. The green color is owing to the impurities in the ashes, but chiefly to oxide of iron. This glass is hard, strong, and well vitrified. It is less subject to corrosion by strong acids than flint glass, and is superior to any cheap material for the purposes to which it is ordinarily applied.
The plates of crown glass which are obtained in the common manner, by blowing them in circular plates, afford the common material for window glass, being cut into squares by first marking the surface deeply with a diamond and then breaking the glass in the same directions, the crack always following the exact course of the incision made by the diamond. But there is always a loss or waste in cutting squares from a circular plate, besides which they can never be very large, owing to the protuberance, or bull's eye, which fills the center of the plate, so that a square can never be larger than can be described within less than half the circle. To remedy this disadvantage, plates for looking glasses, and others of large size, are executed in s, different way, either by blowing them in cylinders or by casting them in plates at first.
Cylinder glass is blown at first in spheres, like window glass. These are elongated into spheroids by a swinging motion which the workman gives to his rod. The ends this spheroid are successively perforated, thus converting it into an irregular cylinder. One side of this cylinder is cut through with shears, and the glass is laid upon a flat surface, where it expands into a uniform plate, without any protuberance. It is then annealed, by diminishing the heat, in the common way. When the plates are intended for looking glasses, the finest materials are used, and the heat kept at its greatest hight, for a long time, to dissipate all impurities and remove any specks or bubbles.
Looking-glass plates may be blown in cylinders, when they do not exceed about four feet in length. But they cannot well be blown of a larger size than this, from such a quantity of glass as the rod will take up, without becoming too thin to bear polishing. Plates, however, may be made of more than double this size by another process, which is called casting, the only mode by which very large plates are produced.
When glass is to be cast it is melted in great quantities, in large pots or reservoirs, until it is in a state of perfect fusion, in which state it is kept for a long time. It is then drawn out by means of iron cisterns of considerable size, which are lowered into the furnace, filled, and raised out by machinery. The glass is poured out from these cisterns upon tables of polished copper, of a large size, having a rim elevated as high as the intended thickness of the plate. In order to spread it perfectly, and to make the two surfaces parallel, a heavy roller of polished copper, weighing five hundred pounds or more, is rolled over the plate, resting upon the rim at the edges. The glass, which is beginning to grow stiff, is pressed down and spread equally, the excess being driven before the roller till it falls off at the extremity of the table. The plate is then ready to be annealed.
As the plates which are cast for looking-glasses are always uneven and dull at their surface, it is necessary to grind and polish them before they are fit for use. The process employed for producing a perfectly even and smooth surface is very similar to that employed in polishing marble, except that the glass, being the harder substance, requires more labor and nicety in the operation. The plate to be polished is first cemented to a table of wood or stone, with plaster of Paris. A quantity of wet sand or emery is spread upon it, and another glass plate, similarly cemented to another wooden surface, is brought in contact with it. The two plates are then rubbed together until the surfaces have become mutually smooth and plane. The emery which is first used is succeeded by emery of a finer grain, and the last polish is given by colcothar or putty. When one surface has become perfectly polished the cement is removed, the plate turned, and the opposite side polished in the same manner.
As the grinding of glass causes an expenditure of a considerable portion of its substance, a great waste of glass takes place when foreign materials are employed in the manner which has been described. To prevent this loss a more economical mode has been introduced, in which the glass is ground with pure flint, reduced to powder. The mixture of glass and flint which is left after the operation is valuable for forming fresh glass.
A variety of ornamental forms are produced upon the surface of glitss vessels by impressions given to them with a metallic mold while the glass is in a hot state. Flint glass is the kind which is used for articles intended to possess much brilliancy, but coarser kinds, even of colored glass, are also subjected to the same process. The simplest manner in which the operation is conducted consists in blowing the glass into the mold till it receives the impression on its outside. For this purpose a quantity of glass sufficient to form the intended vessel is taken up on the end of a pipe and inserted at the top of the mold. The workman then blows with his mouth till a hollow portion of glass is driven into the mold, and expands so as to fill every part, and receive an impression on its outside. The mold is usually made of copper, with the figure cut on its inside, and opens with hinges, to permit the glass to be inserted and taken out. As the mold is of necessity much colder than the glass, the latter substance is chilled at its surface as soon as it comes in contact with the copper; hence its ductility is impaired. and the impression given is never so sharp as that which is obtained with substances which are nearly at the same temperatures. Molded bottles, vials, decanters, etc., are made in this way.
An improvement has been made in the process of molding glass, by subjecting the material to pressure, on the inside and outside at the same time, by different parts of a mold, which are brought suddenly together by mechanical power. This process has been carried to great perfection in several of the manufactories in this country, and produces specimens which compare with cut glass in the accuracy and beauty of the workmanship. It is applied only to solid articles, and to vessels which are not contracted at top. The hot glass being dropped into the mold, a part, called the follower, answering to the inside or top of the vessel, or other article, is immediately pressed down upon it, by a lever, and the glass is thus stamped with a very distinct impression of the figure on both sides at once. The glass vessel is sometimes transferred from the mold to another receptacle, called the receiver, in order to preserve its shape, till it is cool enough to stand.
The name of cut-glass is given, in commerce, to glass which is ground and polished, in figures, with smooth surfaces, appearing as if cut by incisions of a sharp instrument. This operation is chiefly confined to flint-glass, which, being more tough, soft, and brilliant, than the other kinds, is more easily wrought, and produces specimens of greater luster. An establishment for cutting glass, contains a great number of small wheels, of stone metal, and wood, which are made to revolve rapidly, by a steam engine or other power. The cutting of the glass consists entirely, in grinding away successive portions, by holding them upon the surface of these wheels. The first or rough cutting, is sometimes given by wheels of stone, resembling grindstones. Afterward, wheels of iron are used, having their edges covered with sharp sand, or with emery, in different states of fineness, The last polish is given by brush wheels, covered with putty, which is an oxide of tin and lead. To prevent the friction from exciting so much heat as to endanger the glass, a small stream of water continually drops upon the surface of the wheel.
The name of staining has been applied to the process, by which painting, with vitrifiable colors, is executed upon the surface of glass. The pigments used are, chiefly, metallic oxides, which do not exhibit their full color, until they have been exposed to the heat of the furnace. This art has been repeatedly described, as being no longer known; but this is not the fact, except in respect to some particular colors, which are found in the windows of ancient cathedrals.
The metallic oxides, used in staining glass, are difficult of fusion; on which account, it is necessary to mix them with a flux, composed of glass with lead or borax. This renders the oxide fusible, at a temperature which does not injure its color; also by enveloping the particles, it causes them to adhere to the glass, and afterwards protects them from the atmosphere.
A very beautiful violet but liable to turn blue, is made from a flux, composed of borax and flint-glass, colored with one sixth part of the purple of Cassius, precipitated from muriate of gold by protomuriate of tin.
A fine red is made from red oxide of iron, prepared by nitric acid and heat, mixed with a flux of borax, and a small pro. portion of red lead.
A yellow, equal in beauty to that produced by the ancients, may be made from muriate of silver, oxide of zinc, white clay, and the yellow oxide of iron, mixed together, without any flux. A powder remains on the surface after the glass has been baked, but this is easily cleaned off.
Blue is produced by oxide of cobalt, with a flux composed of fine sand, purified pearlash, and red lead.
Black is produced by mixing the composition for blue with the oxides of manganese and iron.
To stain glass green, it may be painted blue on one side and yellow on the other.
The colors, ground with water, being laid upon the glass, must be exposed to heat under a muffle, so as to be heated equally, until the color is melted upon the surface. To prevent the panes of glass from bending, they are placed upon a bed of bone ashes, of quicklime, or of unglazed porcelain. A bed of gypsum has been recommended, but the sulphuric acid exhaling from it is apt to injure the glass.
Among the ancient specimens of painted glass, some pieces have been found in which the colors penetrate through the glass, so that the figure appears in any section made parallel to the surface. It is supposed that such pieces can only have been made in the manner of mosaic, by accumulating transverse filaments of glass, of different colors, and uniting them by heat, the process being one of great labor. They are described by Winckelmann and Caylus, from some specimens brought from Rome.
The great ductility of glass is one of its most remarkable properties. When heated to a sufficient degree it may not only be molded into any possible form with the utmost facility, but it can be drawn out into the finest fibers. The method of spinning glass is very simple. The operator holds a piece of glass over the flame of a lamp with one hand; he then fixes a hook to the melted mass, and, by withdrawing it, obtains a thread of glass attached to the hook. The hook is then fixed in the circumference of a cylindrical drum, which can be turned round by the hand, and a rapid rotary motion being given to the drum, the glass is drawn in the finest threads, from the fluid mass, and coiled round the cylindrical circumference. M. Reaumur supposed, with gre‘at reason, that the flexibility of glass increased with the fineness of the threads, and he therefore conjectured that, if they were drawn to a sufficient degree of fineness, they might be used in the fabrication of stuffs. He succeeded in making them as fine as a spider's web, but he was never able to obtain them of a sufficient length, when their diameter was so much reduced. The circumference of these threads is generally a flat oval, about three or four times as broad as it is thick. By using opaque and transparent glass of different colors, artists hove been able to produce many beautiful ornaments. M. Bonnet and others have succeeded in obtaining glass fibers of such fineness and flexibility as to admit of being woven into cloth of a very brilliant, silvery appearance.