Books › Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883 › scan 307
Scan 307
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
2 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 293. See the scan on archive.org.
1made in other directions, to which, as they proved fruitless, it is here needless to refer. Sandal wood in the raw state oxidises a good deal when exposed to the air, and the colour becomes a dark red. The alcoholic solution laid on a piece of wood at first appears of a red orange, but in a few hours it also becomes darker. If, however, it is dissolved in an essential oil, though it yields little colour, it does not seem to change, the essential oil, not completely evaporating, sheltering it from the air, while the alcohol forsakes it immediately. In this conjunction it has been observed that those dye-woods which darken most when in contact with the air afford the best standing colour. If to the alcoholic solution of sandal wood is added a little dry powdered annatto (the red pulp which envelopes the seeds of Bixa orellana, and which is used for colouring cheese), the solution takes a brown mahogany tint, and mixes well with the essential oils. Annatto, which is of a resinous nature, can be dissolved, without the intervention of alcohol, in pretty large quantities in the oxidised oil of turpentine, and if, after filtering, this solution is coloured with sandal wood by the intermediary of alcohol, a more harmonious reddish brown tint is obtained than by adding the annatto to the alcoholic solution before mixing it with the essence, but the colour is more fugitive than that resulting from the latter process. Its stability would not, however, be injured, if only 2drs. or 3drs. were added directly to every gill of the essential oil. It is difficult to give exact quantities in the case of annatto, because it is not always found in the same condition. Its age, and the length of time it may have
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.