14. The process of manufacturing soft soap, differs but little in its details from that described in the preceding paragraphs. The chief difference consists in omitting the use of salt. Soft soap, therefore, is composed of a greater proportion of water, and more alkali than is necessary to saturate the unctuous matters. Soft soap is made by almost every family in the country, from ashes, grease, and oily matters, reserved for the purpose.
15. The celebrated Marseilles white soap, is composed of
| Soda, | 6. |
| Olive-oil, | 60. |
| Water, | 34. |
Castile soap, of
| Soda, | 9. |
| Olive-oil, | 76.5. |
| Water, with a little coloring matter, | 14.5. |
Fine toilet-soaps are made with oil of almonds, nut-oil, palm-oil, suet, or butter, combined with soda or potash, according to their preparation in a solid or pasty state.
16. In the manufacture of white soap, the tallow is more carefully purified, and no rosin is used. In other particulars, the process differs but little from that employed in the production of the common kind. Two tons of tallow should yield three tons of white soap. In making the same quantity of common brown or yellow soap, twelve hundred weight less is required, on account of the substitution of that amount of yellow rosin.
17. The mottled appearance of some soaps is caused by dispersing the ley through it, towards the close of the operation, or by adding a quantity of sulphate of iron, indigo, or the oxide of manganese. Castile soap, now manufactured in the greatest perfection at Marseilles, in France, receives its beautifully marbled appearance from the sulphate of iron.
THE CANDLE-MAKER.
1. The subject of the candle-maker's labors may be defined to be a wick, covered with tallow, wax, or spermaceti, in a cylindrical form, which serves, when lighted, for the illumination of objects in the absence of the sun. The business of candle-making is divided into two branches; the one is confined to the manufacturing of tallow candles, and the other, to making those composed of wax or spermaceti.