Chapter I: Part 1

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NEARLY READY,

Cloth Gilt, PRICE FIVE SHILLINGS, Elaborately and Profusely
Illustrated by THE BROTHERS DALZIEL, uniform with the
BOY’S BOOK OF INDUSTRIAL INFORMATION.

OUTLINES OF CREATION. By ELISHA NOYCE.

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

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

London: WARD & LOCK, 158, Fleet Street.

Illustration: (‡ Composite of several Industrial Scenes.)

Illustration: (‡ Illustrated Title Page.)

THE BOY’S BOOK

OF

INDUSTRIAL INFORMATION.

BY

ELISHA NOYCE.

ILLUSTRATED
WITH THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE ENGRAVINGS,

BY
THE BROTHERS DALZIEL.

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

PREFACE.

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

* * * * *

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

* * * * *

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

INTRODUCTION.

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

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

CONTENTS.

NATURAL PRODUCTS:
Earths
Metals and Alloys
Iron
Copper
Lead
Tin
Zinc
Mercury
Gold
Silver
Platinum
Nickel
Coal
Sulphur
Plaster of Paris
Salt
Stone
Wood
Cotton
Flax
Silk
India-rubber
Gutta-percha
Wax
Nitre
Blacklead
Spermaceti

MANUFACTURED PRODUCTS:
Sugar
Alcohol, or Spirit
Starch
Soap
Stearine
Soda
Wines
Vinegar
Coal Gas
Tar
Acetic Acid, or Wood Vinegar
Varnishes
Oils
Inks
Charcoal
Cements
Coke
Gunpowder
Gun-cotton
Phosphorus
White Lead
Prussian Blue
Prussiate of Potash
Sulphate of Iron
Sulphate of Copper
Chloride of Lime
Sulphuric Acid
Leather
Glue and Size
Parchment
Catgut
Paper
Malt
Chocolate and Cocoa
Steel
Tin-plate, and Galvanised Iron
Glass
Soda-Water
Coal-tar Naptha
Wood Naptha, or Pyroxylic Spirit

PRODUCTS OF SKILLED LABOUR:
Pottery
Bricks and Tiles
Tobacco-pipes
Gold-Leaf
Shot
Files
Type
Lucifer-matches
Candles
Rope
Wire
Cutlery
Nails
Screws
Pins
Needles
Tubing
Steel-pens

ARTS AND TRADE PROCESSES:
Wood and Plate Engraving
Lithography
Printing
Photography
Bookbinding
Paper-staining
Flax Manufacture
Glass-painting
Cotton Manufacture
Woollen Manufacture
Weaving
Bleaching
Calico Printing
Dyeing
Calendering
Bread-making
Sugar Refining
Brewing
Distillation
Gilding
Silvering Looking Glasses
Silver Plating
Electro-plating and Deposition of Metals
Soldering and Brazing
The Smelting of Metals
Founding
Glass-blowing and Casting
Glass Cutting
Bricklaying
Stone-cutting

APPARATUS AND MACHINERY:
Steam Engines
Boilers
Furnaces
Bellows and Blowing Machines
Screw Propellers
Anchors
Chains
Cranes
Cranks
Fire-arms and Projectiles
Percussion Caps
Pumps and Fire Engines
Valves
Wheels
Watermills
Windmills
Syphons
Stopcocks or Taps
Filters
Presses
Stills
Blowpipes
Thermometers
Barometers
Pendulums
Ploughs
Harrows
Rollers
Mowing Machines
Thrashing Machines
Reaping Machines
Drills

ENGINEERING WORKS:
Railways
Electric Telegraphs
Roads
Bridges
Tunnels
Drains
Artesian Wells
Mines
Ships
Canals and Locks

NATURAL PRODUCTS.

EARTHS.

Illustration: (‡ Illustrations of:)
1. EMERALD. 3. FORTIFICATION AGATE. 5. DIAMOND.
2. GARNET. 4. RUBY. 6. ROCK CRYSTAL.

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

METALS AND ALLOYS.

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

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

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

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

IRON.

Illustration: NATIVE OXIDE OF IRON.

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

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

COPPER.

Illustration: NATIVE COPPER.

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

LEAD.

Illustration: SULPHURET OF LEAD.

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

TIN.

Illustration: OXIDE OF TIN.

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

ZINC.

Illustration: SULPHURET OF ZINC.

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

MERCURY.

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

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

GOLD.

Illustration: GOLD (‡ NUGGET).

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

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

SILVER.

Illustration: SILVER.

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

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

PLATINUM.

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

NICKEL.

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

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

COAL.

Illustration: MINERALS (‡ INDUSTRIAL SCENE).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SULPHUR.

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

PLASTER OF PARIS, OR GYPSUM.

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

SALT.

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

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

STONE.

Illustration: STONE QUARRY.

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

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

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

WOOD.

Illustration: (‡ LOGGERS.)

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

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

Some specimens of the _Araucaria Excelsa_ or Norfolk Island pine, have stems upwards of three hundred feet high, and in the Crystal Palace is the bark of another gigantic tree the _Wellingtonia Gigantea_.

COTTON.

Illustration: COTTON (‡ PLANT).

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

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

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

FLAX.

Illustration: FLAX (‡ PLANT).

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

SILK.

Illustration: SILK (‡ WORMS).

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

INDIA-RUBBER.

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

GUTTA-PERCHA.

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

WAX.

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

NITRE.

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

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

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

BLACKLEAD.

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

SPERMACETI.

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

MANUFACTURED PRODUCTS.

SUGAR.

Illustration: (‡ SUGAR CANE FIELD.)

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

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