first edition Recent half-calf and marbled boards in period style.
1799 · London
by Higgins, William - TRADITIONAL TEXTILE BLEACHING BEFORE CHLORINE
London: Printed for the Author, 1799. First Edition.. Recent half-calf and marbled boards in period style.. Very good; some overall modest toning and dustiness. There is a library stamp of the UK Linen Trade Board on the verso of the title page.. 8vo, xxxii, [1] - 71, [1 - blank] pp. The Contents page is misbound after page viii of the Preface.
Higgins says this is a practical book for bleachers, written as simply as possible with no chemistry. The book is dedicated to the members of the Irish Linen Board who employed Higgins to find a substitute for potash in the fabric bleaching process which was at least as effective and both cheaper and in more reliable supply. Potash was mined in several countries and imported to Europe by Dutch merchants, making it difficult for bleachers to control price and supply. The traditional way of bleaching cloth had long been an iterative process of soaking (bowking) the cloth in an alkaline lye derived from potash or other ashes of burnt vegetable matter, spreading out the cloth in a field (crofting) exposed to the sun often for several weeks, bringing in the cloth and soaking it in an acidic solution such as buttermilk, bowking it again and so on. It could take many months to achieve the required whiteness. In 1785 Berthollet pioneered the use of chlorine as a bleaching agent to avoid the need to expose the cloth to air and light. This gave the potential for shortening the process significantly and freeing up land for agriculture. However, he left the bowking process relatively unchanged. Higgins conducted experiments to find alternatives to potash and finally recommended sulpheret of lime. This was made by boiling up ground, locally mined brimstone with lime to produce a soluble mixture of several compounds containing both calcium and sulphur. The cloth was soaked in this, washed and dried, and then soaked in a solution of oxymuriate of lime (calcium chloride), this process being repeated about six times before bleaching by chlorine or crofting. He concluded that this new process was as effective as potash in the bowking process while being cheaper and controllable within Ireland. He also described a process for detecting the fraudulent additions of common salt and potassium sulphate to potash. Higgins came from a well-known Irish medical family. As boy he was sent to London to live with his uncle, an eminent chemist, where he developed expertise in experimental chemistry. He attended Pembroke College, Oxford but did not finish his degree. He then spent four years in London where he published two editions of his most important work "Comparative View of Phlogistic and Antiphlogistic Theories" in which he claims to be " the first to adopt the antiphlogistic doctrine which all the good chemist philosophers now believe". He described many elements of the atomic theory that Dalton introduced in 1803. Much of the Preface to this present book is devoted to arguing against phlogistic theories. Cole #650; Partington III, 737; Poggendorf I, 1102. (Inventory #: 24023)
Higgins says this is a practical book for bleachers, written as simply as possible with no chemistry. The book is dedicated to the members of the Irish Linen Board who employed Higgins to find a substitute for potash in the fabric bleaching process which was at least as effective and both cheaper and in more reliable supply. Potash was mined in several countries and imported to Europe by Dutch merchants, making it difficult for bleachers to control price and supply. The traditional way of bleaching cloth had long been an iterative process of soaking (bowking) the cloth in an alkaline lye derived from potash or other ashes of burnt vegetable matter, spreading out the cloth in a field (crofting) exposed to the sun often for several weeks, bringing in the cloth and soaking it in an acidic solution such as buttermilk, bowking it again and so on. It could take many months to achieve the required whiteness. In 1785 Berthollet pioneered the use of chlorine as a bleaching agent to avoid the need to expose the cloth to air and light. This gave the potential for shortening the process significantly and freeing up land for agriculture. However, he left the bowking process relatively unchanged. Higgins conducted experiments to find alternatives to potash and finally recommended sulpheret of lime. This was made by boiling up ground, locally mined brimstone with lime to produce a soluble mixture of several compounds containing both calcium and sulphur. The cloth was soaked in this, washed and dried, and then soaked in a solution of oxymuriate of lime (calcium chloride), this process being repeated about six times before bleaching by chlorine or crofting. He concluded that this new process was as effective as potash in the bowking process while being cheaper and controllable within Ireland. He also described a process for detecting the fraudulent additions of common salt and potassium sulphate to potash. Higgins came from a well-known Irish medical family. As boy he was sent to London to live with his uncle, an eminent chemist, where he developed expertise in experimental chemistry. He attended Pembroke College, Oxford but did not finish his degree. He then spent four years in London where he published two editions of his most important work "Comparative View of Phlogistic and Antiphlogistic Theories" in which he claims to be " the first to adopt the antiphlogistic doctrine which all the good chemist philosophers now believe". He described many elements of the atomic theory that Dalton introduced in 1803. Much of the Preface to this present book is devoted to arguing against phlogistic theories. Cole #650; Partington III, 737; Poggendorf I, 1102. (Inventory #: 24023)