Young's Demonstrative Translation of Scientific Secrets / Or, A Collection of Above 500 Useful Receipts on a Variety of Subjects

by Daniel Young

222. TO DYE WHITE GLOVES A BEAUTIFUL PURPLE

Boil 4 oz. of logwood, and 2 oz. of roche-alum, in 3 pints of soft water, till half wasted; let it stand to be cold after straining. If they be old gloves let them be mended; then do them over with a brush, and when dry repeat it. Twice is sufficient unless the colour is to be very dark; when dry, rub off the loose dye with a coarse cloth; beat up the white of an egg, and with a sponge, rub it over the leather. The dye will stain the hands, but wetting them with vinegar before they are washed will take it off.

223. TO BLEACH STRAW HATS, &c.

Straw hats and bonnets are bleached by putting them, previously washed in pure water, in a box with burning sulphur; the fumes which arise unite with the water on the bonnets, and the sulphurous acid, thus formed, bleaches them.