abandons it to unite with the acids formed by
the decomposition, first of the foreign matters
attached to the linen, and then, if present in
excess, with those which arise from the
decomposition of the linen itself.

The hypochloric acid set at liberty is
decomposed; its oxygen acts as a discolorant, while
the other portion is evaporated. It makes
spots disappear, but at the risk of burning the
stuff. It is not easy to prescribe completely
the use of eau de javelle; for it is a powerful
auxiliary: but the utmost moderation in its use
cannot be too strongly insisted upon. Chloride
of lime ought to be entirely abstained from.
Its lime gives birth to insoluble calcareous
soaps which stick to the linen, and require, to
remove them, a force of friction injurious to
the tissue. It not only deteriorates both the
linen and the washing utensils, but it produces
cracks in the washerwoman's hands and arms,
and often even causes trembling of the limbs.
The use of eau de javelle ought to be restricted,
first, to the removal of spots before washing;
and, secondly, to bleaching the linen afterwards
by dipping it in water containing a very small
quantity of eau de javelle, and immediately
rinsing it thoroughly.

As to the mechanical portion of the operation
of washing—the rubbing and squeezing, the
use of brushes, beaters, or ribbed bits of board
—private individuals have little choice. Every
country and district has its mode, which is as
unalterable as the old laws of Medes and
Persians. Where the operatives are accustomed
to rub soaped linen between the wrists, they
would refuse to beat it with a battledore or
beetle; and where wooden beaters for linen are
the fashion, to request it to be rubbed between
the wrists would be considered the height of
tyrannous cruelty. In vain you import an
American washing-machine; your ladies of the
wash-tub will burn the wooden balls, and stick
the receiving trough out of the way in the
garret. It is only in large or public establishments
that mechanical washing can be carried out. A
monumental example may be witnessed at the
Grand Hotel, Paris.

Washing by steam, dates, in Europe, only
from the beginning of the present century; but
in India it has been practised from time
immemorial. A pamphlet published in 1805 (by
Cadet-de-Vaux, in obedience to an order from
Chaptal, then minister), directs the linen to be
completely and equally steeped in an alkaline
solution properly dosed, and then exposed to a
current of steam. By gradually and gently
raising the temperature to the boiling point,
the saponification of the grease which defiles it
is so well effected that simple rinsing suffices to
remove it. The wash is made with crystallised
subcarbonate of soda and soap, in the proportion
of ten of the former to one of the
latter; its strength, i.e. the proportion of
water, will depend upon the degree of coarseness
and dirtiness of the linen. This simple
and rational method of washing is said to be
followed by excellent results; and, when well
conducted, takes only three or four hours to
complete it.

After linen has been rinsed, all that remains
is to dry it. It is of great consequence that the
drying should take place as speedily as possible.
The greater part of the water contained in linen
after rinsing, is ordinarily expelled by twisting
it; but this operation has the grave
inconvenience of straining, displacing, and separating
the threads of the tissue. It does less harm
when effected in a net, but should be avoided as
much as possible. Some persons use a press.
For the twisting of linen by hand, may be
substituted a very rapid rotatory motion given
to linen by enclosing it in a wire or wicker
basket, which is made to revolve on its axis by
means of a crank. The water is thrown off by
centrifugal force, exactly as when a housemaid
twirls her mop. This little machine (whose
exterior circumferential velocity may be made
to exceed twenty yards a second) enables the
water to be ejected out of ninety or a hundred
pounds of wet linen in the short space of ten
minutes, and that so effectually, that the finger
is not sensibly moistened by its contact.

The process of drying is then completed
either in the open air, or in apartments heated
by steam, or by hot air. There are great
objections to drying linen in the open air. The
great enemies of vegetable substances, such as
wood, ropes, linen cloth, are, as is well known,
alternations of moisture and drought. By
exposing linen to rain and sunshine, you expose it
to those alternations; and in winter-time to
frost besides, which breaks and destroys it.
Hot air drying-places are far preferable. They
can be constructed at no great expense, and
are a desirable appendage to every laundry.
The majority of public washing-places in
Paris are provided with them, and housewives
are strongly recommended to turn them to
account. The habit which poor women have
of loading their shoulders with masses of
moisture, after being heated with work, is
frequently the cause of numerous maladies; and
not seldom, besides their linen, they carry home
with them a troublesome cough. The necessity
under which they labour of hanging out this
damp linen on ropes in the chamber occupied
by their family in common, becomes a further
source of disease.

Linen hung out to dry, either in the open air,
or in heated apartments, requires a great deal
of care, and of space. M. Darcy, inspector-
general, who in 1850 was one of a commission
named by the government to study the question
of public washing-places, made many very
curious experiments to ascertain whether it were
not possible to dry linen in bundles, without
hanging it out, in apparatus heated to the boiling
point, and higher. These attempts (their
results were published) proved that, even at a
very high temperature, the water contained in
the inside of a bundle of linen will not evaporate
—so bad a conductor of heat is moistened linen,
and so impermeable is it even to steam at high
pressure. For this and other details, the writer