J.

Jeff.

See Throw.

JOB.

Any thing which printed does not exceed a sheet, is termed a Job, and is paid for extra to the compositor, because there is no return of furniture or of letter: he has generally to put up fresh cases, and has some additional trouble in getting the right letter, and in making up the furniture. See Scale of Prices.

JOB HOUSE.

A printing office, the general run of business in which is the printing of Jobs; namely, cards, shop bills, bills for articles stolen, or lost, play bills, lottery bills, large posting bills, and all other things of a similar description. These houses seldom execute book work to any extent, as their materials, particularly with respect to types, are not calculated for it; and few houses undertake both kinds of work to any great degree. The principal job houses in London have a variety of types, both as to size and shape, such as few or no book houses ever think of laying in; consequently they are enabled to execute such work in a style superior to that in which a book house could, with regard to producing effect, and, in general, more expeditiously. Jobbing is an extensive business in London. See Book House.

Johnson, Richard.

See Donations.

JOIN.

When two or more compositors are employed on the same piece of work, and one of them composes all his copy, so that there is no inter­vening matter between his copy and that in the hands of another of the companions who has followed him, he says, he has joined, or, he has set up close. Also, if a compositor be on a piece of work without a companion, and from any cause he be obliged to suspend composing one part of his copy, and to proceed with a succeeding part; then, when he has been enabled to compose this inter­vening part, and has got it completed, he says, he has joined, or, he has joined his matter.

JOINTS.

Tympan joints, and frisket joints.—M.

Justifiers.

See Quotation Quadrats.

JUSTIFYING.

Spacing a line out so that it fits with a proper degree of tightness in the measure of the composing stick;—placing a wood cut in a page, and filling up the vacancies with leads, scaleboards, quadrats, quotations, or furniture, so that when the form is locked up, the wood cut shall be fast, and the lines above and below it even;—fixing any other matter in a similar way in a page.—With pressmen, putting cards into the head of a wooden press, and screwing it up until the pull be proper, is termed Justifying the Head, or Justifying the Pull. See Hard Pull.

429

Justifying the Head.

This amounts to the same thing as justifying the pull, which see.

Justifying Links.

See Composing.

JUSTIFY THE PULL.

Putting additional cards into the mortises of the cheeks of a press, or taking some out, as the case may require, in order to regulate the pull: for a small light form, the pressure requires to be comparatively slight; but for a large, solid form of small letters, it requires a heavy soaking pull to do justice to the work; in this case, additional cards are put into the mortises of the head. This refers only to the wooden press; for justifying the pull of iron presses, see under the respective articles.

JUSTIFY A STICK;

viz. a composing stick. Screwing the slides of his composing stick to the measure wanted—M.

K.

KEEP IN,

is a caution either given to, or resolved on, by the compositor, when there may be doubt of driving out his matter beyond his counting off: wherefore he sets close, to Keep in.—M.

KEEP OUT,

is a caution either given to, or resolved on, by the compositor, when there may be doubt of getting in his matter too fast for his counting off: wherefore he sets wide, to drive or keep out.—M. This term is not now used; we say Drive out, which see.

KERN.

Kerned letters are such as have part of their face hanging over one side or both sides of their shanks.—M.

KEY.

A flat square hook, with a handle to put the fingers through in a transverse direction to the hook. Its use is to lift the forms out of the lye trough, after having brushed off the ink from the types, the furniture, and the chase.

KNOCK UP.

In the warehouse, is to place the sheets of each signature of a work uniformly even at the edges upon each other, after they are taken down from the poles, and previously to their being piled away.

The person who has this to do, takes a quantity of about two quires, (if it be a stout hard paper he may take a little more,) and holding it loosely at the edges with both hands, he bends the ends a little towards him, so that the paper shall form a curve; he then lifts it up a little from the table, and lets it drop upon its edge through his hands,—the curve giving the edge a little firmness, many of the sheets drop down into their places; he repeats this two or three times, and will then, in letting it drop upon the table, bring the lower part nearer to him, so that the outside of the curve may strike first, and throw the sheets gradually up higher at the back; this he will also do two or three times; he then lets the further side rest upon the table, and shuffles the upper sheets gradually away from him, lifting the whole up, and letting the edges drop upon the table, three or four times; repeating these operations soon brings all the edges even, both at the ends and sides; he then lays this taking on one side, and repeats the operation with other takings, laying them on each other, till he has completed the whole.

A soft flimsy paper takes more time in knocking up than a hard paper, as the sheets have not strength enough separately to be driven into their places by striking on the edges.

KNOCK UP BALLS.

To knock up balls is the term used for making balls: it is to cut the pelts to a proper size; to fill them with a 430 proper quantity of wool; to nail them to the ball stocks; to trim them; and to put them into a working condition. See Balls.

KNOCK UP A LETTER.

It sometimes happens with old letter, that a letter may be worn so low that it will not print well in a page; the workman then takes that letter out of the form, and holds the shank of it upon the side of the chase, and with the head of the shooting stick beats lightly upon the foot of the shank, till he have battered metal enough out of the shank, to raise it higher against paper; if it prove too high against paper, he rubs the bottom of the shank upon the side of the chase, to rub it down. This operation seldom happens, unless another of the same sort of letter is wanting, and hard to come by: for else the compositor will bow the letter, and pop it into a waste box in his case, where he puts all naughty letters, that he may not be troubled with them another time.—M. See Bow the Letter.

KOOFEE,

Kufic, Cufic, Cuphic, or Oriental. Ancient Arabic; it was called Cuphic, from the town of Couphah, built on the Euphrates. See Arabic.

L.

LATIN.

The Latin alphabet is the same as the English, with the exception of the W, which “is a letter unknown, as to form and place, in the alphabets of the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and Goths. This letter is peculiar to the northern languages and people, and particularly to the nations who are of Teutonic and Sclavonic original.”—Astle.

For the allowance of the duty on paper used in the printing of books in the Latin language within the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the universities of Scotland, and the university of Trinity College, Dublin, see Paper.

LAW AUTHORITIES,

with the abbreviations by which they are cited.

“The modes of quoting the Civil and Canon Laws.—The Institutions are contained in four Books: each Book is divided into Titles; and each Title into paragraphs; of which the first, described by the Letters pr. or princip. is not numbered. The Digests or Pandects are in fifty Books: each Book is distributed into Titles; each Title into Laws; and, very frequently, Laws into Paragraphs, of which the first is not numbered. The Code is comprised in twelve Books: each of which is divided, like the Digests, into Titles and Laws; and, sometimes, Laws into Paragraphs. The Novels are distinguished by their Number, Chapter, and Paragraph.

“The old way of quoting was much more troublesome, by only mentioning the Number, or initial Words, of the Paragraph or Law, without expressing the number either of Book or Title. Thus, § si adversus, 12 Inst, de Nuptiis, means the 12th Paragraph of the Title in the Institutions de Nuptiis, which Paragraph begins with the Words si adversus; and which a modern Civilian would cite thus, I. 1. 10. 12. So l. 30 D. de R. J. signifies the 30th Law of the Title in the Digests de Regulis Juris: according to the modern way thus, D. 50. 17. 30. Again, l. 5. § 3. ff. de Jurejur. means the 3d Paragraph of the 5th Law of the Title in the Digests de Jurejurando: better thus, D. 12. 2. 5. 3. And here note, that the Digests are sometimes referred to, as in the last instance, by a double f; and at other times by the Greek Π or π.

“The method of quoting the Roman Canon Law is as follows. The Decree, as said above, consists of three Parts; of which the first contains 101 Distinctions, each Distinction being subdivided into Canons: thus, 1 dist. c. 3. Lex (or 1 d. Lex) is the first Distinction, and 3d Canon, beginning with the word Lex. The second part of the Decree contains 36 Causes; each Cause comprehending several Questions, and each Question several Canons: thus 3. qu. 9. c. 2. Caveant is Cause the 3d, Question the 9th, and Canon the 2d, beginning with Caveant. The third part of the Decree contains 5 Distinctions, and is quoted as the first part, with the addition of the words de Consecratione; thus, de Consecr. dist. 2. can. Quia corpus (or, can. Quia corpus 35. dist. 2. d. Consecr.) means the 2d Distinction, and the 35th Canon of the Treatise de Consecratione, which Canon begins with Quia corpus.

“The Decretals are in three Parts; of which the first contains Gregory’s Decretals in 5 Books; each Book being divided into Titles, and each Title into Chapters: and these are cited by the name of the title, and the number of the chapter, with the addition of the word Extra, or the capital letter X: thus, c. 3. Extra de Usuris; is the 3d Chapter of the Title in Gregory’s Decretals, which is inscribed de Usuris; which 438 Title, by looking into the Index, is found to be the 19th of the 5th Book. Thus also, c. cum contingat. 36 X. de Offic. & Pot. Jud. Del. is the 36th Chapter, beginning with Cum contingat of the Title, in Gregory’s Decretals, which is inscribed de Officio et Potestate Judicis Delegati; and which, by consulting the Index, we find is the 29th Title of the 1st Book. The Sixth Decretal, and the Clementine Constitutions, each consisting of 5 Books, are quoted in the same manner as Gregory’s Decretals; only, instead of Extra or X, there is subjoined in sexto or in 6, and in Clementinis or in Clem. according as either part is referred to: thus, c. Si gratiose 5 de Rescrip. in 6, is the 5th Chapter, beginning with Si gratiose, of the Title de Rescriptis, in the 6th Decretal; the Title so inscribed being the 3d of the 1st Book: and Clem. 1. de Sent. et Re Judic. (or, de Sent. et R. J. ut calumniis, in Clem.) (or, c. ut calumniis 1. de Sent. et R. J. in Clem.) is the first Chapter of the Clementine Constitutions, under the Title de Sententiâ et Re Judicatâ; which Chapter begins with Ut calumniis, and belongs to the xith Title of the 2d Book.

“The Extravagants of John the 22d are contained in one Book, divided into 14 Titles: thus, Extravag. Ad Conditorem, Joh. 22. de V. S. means the Chapter, beginning with Ad Conditorem, of the Extravagants of John 22d; Title, de Verborum Signifi­cationibus. Lastly, the Extravagants of later Popes are called Communes, being distributed into 5 Books, and these again into Titles and Chapters: thus Extravag. Commun. c. Salvator. de Præbend. is the Chapter beginning with Salvator, among the Extravagantes Communes; Title, de Præbendis.”—Bibliotheca Legum. See Dr. Hallifax’s Analysis of the Roman Civil Law, and Butler’s Horæ Juridicæ Subsecivæ.

LAY DOWN.

To arrange the pages of a sheet, or of a half sheet upon the imposing stone in their proper order, and to take the page papers from under them. See Imposing.

In the warehouse this term is used to denote the placing the printed sheets of a work upon the gathering table in their proper order, for the purpose of gathering them together into complete books.

When a long number has been printed, the warehouseman generally lays down a bundle only of each signature, that the heaps may not be too high for the boys to reach the top sheet in gathering.

The first sheet in the gathering is laid down at the extreme end of the table at the left hand, and the succeeding sheets follow to the right in regular order, with the signature to the front of the table. The person who lays them down should run the signature page over in each heap to see that they all lie the same way, and have not been turned in knocking up, or piling away, which, when it happens, and passes undiscovered, causes a great deal of trouble in collating. See Gathering.

LAY LETTER.

The Laying of Letter, or, To lay Letter, is the putting of new types into cases, in their proper situations.

When a new fount of types has to be laid, the first consideration is, are there new cases for it, or are there any spare cases in the house, or are there any that can be appropriated to it; and, how many pairs are to be occupied with it? If it be for a work to be done by a companionship, each compositor takes his proportionate share, and lays the letter for his own use: or, it may be an addition to a fount already in work; in which case also each takes his share, as it is looked on as more advantageous to lay letter than to distribute, particularly if it be of a small size. After having put the letter into the cases, and set it up as close as possible, there will be found many superabundant sorts; these are put into a pair of fount cases, and the compositors generally make their cases even, that 439 is, take out their superfluous sorts. If the fount cases will not contain all the sorts, the remainder are put into coffins, and placed in a basket or a letter box; if there should not be any fount cases, then all the spare sorts are put into coffins. The overseer should then be informed of the state of the fount, so that the house may cast up to the surplus sorts, if thought necessary.

I would not advise the laying of many pairs of cases with a moderate sized fount, as an additional pair or two can be easily made at any time.

Where the letter founder has tied up in one piece more than one sort, I would recommend the compositor to put the piece upon a galley, or he will mix the sorts, and give himself and the house unnecessary trouble in his proof; using a composing rule will save him trouble.

LAY ON.

A phrase used for the number of books to be printed. Thus they say, There is 1000, 2000, 3000, &c. Laid on.—M. We also use the phrase, but without any regard to number; as, such a press is going to lay a form on—such a press has laid a form on—What form shall we lay on?

It is usual, when a work is printed in sheets, to take the inner form first; the only motive, to my knowledge, for this custom is, that, where there are many presses at work, it prevents the pressmen taking advantage of each other, by those who are first off choosing the form that has the least difficulty in working. An old reason assigned for this practice is, that it is advantageous to the bookbinders in beating the book, preparatory to binding it; as the indentions of the types face each other, and are more easily made smooth; but the indentions would face each other equally if the usual order of working the forms were reversed. When there are wood cuts in one form, and none in the other, then the form without cuts should be worked first; as working the cuts last prevents the indention of the types appearing on the engraving, which would otherwise necessarily take place to its prejudice.

The term is also used in printing at machines, where a boy lays a sheet on a board, or on a travelling web, in order to its being conveyed round the cylinders to be printed.

LAY IN SHEETS.

When the pressman lays sheets on the tympan, it is stiled Laying in Sheets.—M. The term is now obsolete.

LAY OUT SHEETS.

When the pressman takes sheets off the tympan, and lays them on the heap, it is stiled Laying out Sheets.—M. Obsolete.

LAY-UP.

Before the letter of a worked-off form is distributed, or before it is cleared away, if the work be finished it is unlocked upon a board laid in the trough, and well rinsed with water, while the compositor keeps working the pages backward and forward with his hands, and continues pouring water on them till the lye and ink are washed away, and the water runs off clear: this is termed laying-up.

The board should always be washed clean on its upper side before the form is laid upon it.

LEADERS.

Between the ends of the lines and the figures of reference, in indexes, contents, in many tables, and accounts, are placed, sometimes full points, sometimes hyphens, metal rules, or dotted quadrats; all these, without distinction, are termed Leaders. Full points with a sufficient space between them, or dotted quadrats, are now generally used, being looked upon as neater than hyphens or metal rules.

LEADS.

These articles are called leads by printers, and space lines by type founders. See Space Lines.

Lean.

See Beat Lean.—M.

440

LEAN FACE.

A letter whose stems and other strokes have not their full width.—M. As now understood, a letter of slender proportions compared to its height.—See Types.

LETTER BOARD.

In Moxon’s time both the letter board and the paper board were made alike, similar to the present paper board; and 441 he strongly recommended to have the board made of one piece, without a joint: they are now different from each other. The letter board is made of two deals, about an inch thick, and the smallest size allows a demy chase to lie upon it without hanging over the edges; the deals are joined together on the under side by two dovetailed tapering tongues inserted into dovetailed tapering grooves, the contrary way to each other; and these tongues project below the bottom, so as to serve as feet for the board, to a depth rather more than equal to the height of letter, and allow the board to be placed upon a bulk, or upon another letter board, upon which pages or small jobs are placed, without the bottom of the board touching the face of the type. If the boards shrink, or the joint opens, the aperture can be immediately closed up again, by striking the edges with a mallet, and driving the tongues up tight.

The usual sizes of letter boards in a printing office are Demy and Royal; but when works on larger paper are printed, it is necessary to have boards of a corresponding size. The Demy boards are 26 inches by 22; the Royal 30 inches by 26.

LETTER BRUSH.

A brush used in composing rooms, something like a polishing brush for shoes, but not quite so large; with which to brush dust off forms before they are taken to the proof press to have a proof pulled, and before they are taken into the press room to be worked. Every press ought also to have one, that if any dust, or particles of dirt, get upon the face of the letter, they may be brushed off.

LETTER HANGS.

If the compositor has been careless in emptying his composing stick, so as to set the letter loosely down in the galley, and they stand not perfectly square and upright, the Letter Hangs: or if after overrunning on the correcting stone he has not set his letter in a square position again, before he locks up (for we may suppose when the pages are opened the letter stands loose, and more or less out of square), so then, the matter standing thus out of square, is said to Hang.—M.

It hath been ruled that the finding a libel on a bookseller’s shelf is a publication of it by the bookseller; and that it is no excuse to say that the servant took it into the shop without the master’s knowledge; for the law presumes the master to be acquainted with what the servant does. Rex v. Dodd, 1 Sess. Cas. 33.—Burn’s Justice of the Peace, vol. 3, p. 292, Art. Libel. See Publications, Periodical.

Licence.

See Printing.

LIFT.

When a work is nearly completed, and perfect copies are required before the whole number can be worked off at press, it is customary when all the matter has been composed, and there is not convenience to lay every form on at a different press, to print short numbers of each, in order to make perfect books as soon as possible; thus, if there be 3000 copies of a work printing, 250 of each of the few last sheets may be worked, and when the pressmen have printed this number of one form and taken it off the press for the purpose of laying on another form, it is said they lift, or, they have lifted. This frequently takes place in periodical works, such as magazines, reviews, &c.; and also occasionally when a superior proof is wanted, or two or three copies of any thing particular are required, that will not admit of waiting till a press is off with its regular number: in these latter instances, the pressmen endeavour to pull them without the tympans, with a few sheets of proof paper over the form, that they may not disturb their overlays and making ready; and they mark the quoins which secured their form on the press, that they may replace it exactly in its situation with as little waste of time and paper as possible.

In the warehouse, each separate portion of printed paper, whether it consists of five or six sheets or more, that is placed upon the poles to dry, is termed a lift.

LIGATURES.

Two or more letters joined together, and cast on the same shank, are in a printing office called Ligatures.

The ligatures now used are few in number, having been reduced to æ, ff, ffi, ffl, fi, fl, and œ; within the last thirty years we had, in addition, , as also , , , , , , and ſt, which are now discarded, in consequence of our confining ourselves entirely to the s. In the leaf of an old book, De vita & gestis Scanderbegi, now lying before me, there are the following additional ones,—as, at, cta, et, es, ius, is, ij, iu, ll, ns, st, ſs, ſp, ta, and us.

I do not think it was an improvement to change the shape of the , which, till the alteration, was really a ligature, being e and t joined together; the modern character has no meaning in it, neither the Roman & nor the Italic &.

Earl Stanhope proposed to abolish the present ligatures, by making the f more upright without being kerned, so as to admit an i, an l, or another f after it, and to introduce other ligatures, or, as he termed them, ‘logotypes,’ that more frequently occur, viz. th, in, an, re, se, to, of, and on.

Smith, in his Printer’s Grammar, says that Mr. Caslon introduced the and the .—See Bill. Logotype.

Light Work.

See Easy Work.—M. Also Good Work.

Lines.

See Companionship.

445

LITERAL ERRORS.

By literal errors in printing, are understood the mistakes of the compositors in single letters only, viz. the taking up a wrong letter, or inverting a right letter; the term is never applied to either outs or doubles.

LITERARY PROPERTY.

The Libraries which are entitled to claim copies of new publications under the act of 6 & 7 W. 4. c. 110. are—

1. The King’s Library, since transferred to the British Museum.

2. The Library of the University of Oxford, commonly called the Bodleian.

3. The Library of the University of Cambridge.

4. The Library of the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh.

5. The Library of the College of the Holy Trinity in Dublin.

The two English Universities have the following privileges:—

1. The copyright in all works bequeathed to, or acquired by them, is vested in them in perpetuity, so long as the works are printed at their own presses.

2. They have (in common with the King’s Printers in England, Scotland, and Ireland,) the exclusive privilege of printing Bibles and Prayer Books; and an exemption from the duty on paper used for them.

[The Bibles and Prayer Books printed in Scotland and Ireland, are not allowed to be sold in England.]

3. They have the same privilege (in common with the King’s Printer in England) of printing the Statutes of the Realm.

4. They have an exemption from the duty on paper used in books for the purposes of classical instruction, and in all works in the learned languages, printed at their presses.

5. They have 500l. per annum paid to each of them by the nation, for the purpose of enabling them to assist poor scholars and fellows in printing their works.

The four Universities of Scotland, and Trinity College, Dublin, have the same advantage with respect to the perpetuity of their copyrights as the English Universities have.—(The printing of Bibles and Prayer Books, in both these countries, appears to be exclusively the right of the King’s Printer.) They have also an exemption from the duty on paper used in all works of classical instruction, and in the learned languages, printed at their presses.—The Scotch Universities do not appear to have ever made use of this privilege in the manner that Oxford and Cambridge have done; but by naming some individual as Printer to the University, have communicated to him the advantage derived from it.

LOCKING UP.

The tightening of the quoins round a form with the mallet and shooting stick, to enable the compositor to lift it from the imposing stone, and that it may be moved about without the types or the furniture being displaced by such moving; as also that the form may be secure when working at press, so that the types do not draw out with beating.—See Imposing.

LOGOTYPE.

Two, or more, letters cast in one piece. There have been several attempts to introduce such short words, terminations, and prefixes, as are of frequent occurrence, cast in one piece, but they have never succeeded.—See Ligatures.

LONG CROSS.

The cross that divides the chase the longest way; it is also the narrowest.

LONG PRIMER.

The name of a type, one size larger than Bourgeois, and one smaller than Small Pica.—See Types.

Long Pull.

See Easy Pull.—M.

446

LOOSE JUSTIFYING.

—M. To space a line or lines in a composing stick so that they shall not be tight; also to place wood cuts, or any other matter, in a page, so that they shall not be fast when locked up.

Lord’s Day, Public Meeting on the.

See Public Meetings.

Lost Property.

See Stolen Property.

LOW CASE.

When the compositor has composed almost all his letters out of his case, he says his Case is Low.—M.

LOWER CASE.

The case in which the small letters of an alphabet, the spaces, and quadrats are laid; it is placed upon the frame immediately below the fore edge of the upper case. See Case.

LUG.

When balls stick together in distributing they are said to lug; they then diffuse the ink more equally and thinly on the surface, and make better work: they also retain on their surface particles of dust, or other small substances, and do not part with them to the letter in the form, which is a great advantage. Composition Balls, when too soft, will lug so much in distributing as to tear the composition and spoil the ball; when this is the case, they require to be placed in a dry situation for a short time, and exposed to a draught of air, which evaporates the superfluous moisture, and brings them into good condition; when time cannot be allowed for this mode of cure, sponging the surface with spirits of turpentine will promote the evaporation, and be of great service. See Flaring Balls.

LYE.

The lye used for the purpose of cleaning a form is a solution of alkali in water; it ought to be made of the best pearl ash. The usual proportion is one pound of pearl ash to a gallon of soft water; it should be stirred up with a stick till the alkali dissolves, which soon takes place. It is generally kept in a large jar, with a cover to it, which some master printers lock; but more frequently the cover is loose for the pressmen to have free access to it; the cover should however be kept on, to prevent dust and dirt getting into the jar.

If hard water be used, it will require a greater quantity of pearl ash; as the acid in the water will combine with some of the alkali to neutralise it, which of course will have the effect of making the lye weaker than if soft water, with which there is no such combination, had been used.

An intelligent pressman once informed me, that in the country he had 447 frequently made lye, by boiling together a peck of wood ashes and nearly a quarter of a peck of quicklime, in a pailful and a half of soft water, and afterwards straining the decoction for use.

This is, in fact, soap lye, which is made caustic by the quicklime: lye from the soap boilers has indeed of late years been used by many master printers in the metropolis; but it requires to be kept constantly covered in order to exclude the air, which, when the lye is exposed, combines with it and renders it mild, thus destroying its power. I have always found that this lye affects the hands and makes them sore, as if chapped, when washed in it to take off ink.

In the choice of pearl ash the following table, from Vauquelin, may be found useful, which shows all the substances contained in six kinds of potash.

	Real Potash	Sulphate of Potash	Muriate of Potash	Insoluble Residuum	Carbonic Acid and Water
1152 of Russian Potash	772	65	5	56	254=1152
1152 of American Potash	857	154	20	2	119=1152
1152 of Pearl Ash	754	80	4	6	308=1152
1152 of Treves Potash	720	165	44	24	199=1152
1152 of Dantzic Potash	603	152	14	79	304=1152
1152 of Vosges Potash	444	148	510	34	304=1152

There is evidently an error in this statement as to the component parts of the last article, the Vosges potash, which appears to be with respect to the quantity of the muriate of potash; but the table shows that the American potash is by far the best, and the Dantzic potash the worst of the six analysed.

The following observations from Kirwan on Manures, may also be serviceable, particularly to printers who are so situated as to find it necessary to make their lye from the ashes of vegetables.

“Alkaline salts are of great importance in several arts, the proportion of ashes afforded by different vegetables, and that of alkali by the ashes of each sort of vegetable, has been accurately attended to: the following are the best authenticated results of the experiments made with this view.

“One thousand pounds of the following vegetables, perfectly dry, and burned in a clean chimney and open fire, afforded the quantity of ashes, and saline matter, exhibited in the annexed tables.

One thousand Pounds.	Pounds of Ashes.	Pounds of Salt.
Stalks of Turkey Wheat or Maize	86·6	17·5
Ditto of Sunflower	57·2	20·
Vine branches.	34·	5·5
Box	29·	2·26
Sallow	28·	2·85
Elm	23·5	3·9
Oak	13·5	1·5
Aspin.	12·2	0·74
Beech.	5·8	1·27
Fir	3·4	0·45
Fern cut in August	36·46	4·25 Home.
Wormwood	97·44	73·     Wiegleb.
Fumitory	219·	79·     Id.

448

Table of the Saline Products from one thousand Pounds of the Ashes of the following Vegetables.

Saline Products.
Stalks of Turkey Wheat or Maize	198 lbs.
Ditto of Sunflower	349
Vine branches	162·6
Elm	166
Box	78
Sallow	102
Oak	111
Aspin.	61
Beech.	219
Fir	132
Fern cut in August	116, or 125 according to Wildenheim.
Wormwood	748
Fumitory	360
Heath.	115 Wildenheim.

Thus though fumitory gives the greatest weight of saline product from a given weight of the dry vegetable, yet from a given weight of ashes wormwood produces above double the weight of saline matter.

In Yorkshire the women use the ashes of the ash tree to make a lye to scour their pewter dishes and plates, in preference to the ashes of any other wood; as this is the result of experience, I should be led to suppose that they contain a great proportional quantity of pearl ash.

LYE BRUSH.

The brush used with lye to remove the ink that adheres to the types, the furniture, and the chase, after a form has been worked off, as also after proofs have been pulled. It is about nine or ten inches long by three inches broad, and the hairs are nearly two inches long.

LYE TROUGH.

The lye trough is square and shallow, lined with lead, and its upper edge is bound with iron to preserve it from injury, which would otherwise arise from concussion when a form is lifted into it; there is also a loose board laid in it for the protection of the bottom. It is suspended on a frame by two centres, as here represented.

There is always some lye kept in this trough; and when a form has been worked off, it is laid in it, and the ink is brushed from the face of the letter, the furniture, and chase with the lye, previous to rinsing it with water. It is usually made capable of containing a royal chase.