priests unto God and his Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever.'

But there is a higher and more ennobling employment still, which crowns the enjoyments of the celestial paradise. I allude to the exercise of the devout affections. Even in this world, imperfect and faint as are our conceptions of God, we can view Him with delight. We can, with feelings of admiration and reverence, see his perfections reflected from his works, and trace his hand in the operations of his providence and grace. Our hearts warm and overflow with gratitude, when we know that we ourselves are the objects of his paternal care; and when we further learn, that He has "not spared his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all," we are transported with astonishment, affection, and joy. What, then, must be our sensations when admitted to that heavenly temple, where, with open face, we shall behold the glory of the Eternal; and, being changed into his image, shall see Him as He is! How exalted, beyond all mortal conception, must be the pious feelings of the soul, when we shall be permitted to stand before the throne, and unite with angels, and with our fellow-redeemed, in worshipping the Father-God! "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him."

And this world is a state of preparation for these unspeakable blessings ! "What manner of persons, then, ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness?" Compared with the glory which shall hereafter be revealed, "how weary, stale, and unprofitable are all the uses of this world!" How poor is worldly ambition; how unsatisfactory and perishable worldly pleasure; how contemptible all sublunary pursuits! Here, we have nothing we can call our own: and, if we had, how short would be our possession! There, we are invited to inherit all things. Are we desirous of improving our rational powers, and eager in the pursuit of useful knowledge? It is well; but let us seek for these attainments on the road to heaven. In no other way can our intellectual faculties be so well employed; by no other means

can our thirst for knowledge find an object capable of satisfying it. But, more important still, is the cultivation of our moral and religious feelings,-those affections and habits which bind us to each other, and to our common Father and Redeemer. These, above all, prepare us for the joys of heaven. The pure, and holy, and pious alone shall see God. Those who have cultivated Christian charity on earth, are alone fitted to be denizens of that happy land whose Eternal King is love, and the duties and enjoyments of which consist in loving and being beloved.

NINTH WEEK-MONDAY.

CLOTHING.-THE ART OF DYEING-ITS MODERN HISTORY.

WHATEVER knowledge of dyeing the ancients possessed, appears to have been nearly lost about the fifth century, a period when almost all the arts were in a state of decay, and but few traces of civilization remained in the Western Empire. A faint knowledge of the arts was, indeed, retained in Italy, and afterwards kept alive by occasional intercourse with the East, in consequence of the Crusades, as well as by the introduction of various articles of luxury and refinement, by the commercial enterprise of the Venetians. This importation continually afforded new materials for industry, and new objects for imitation, and gradually led to the revival of the arts in Italy. The knowledge of the arts of dyeing, practised by the Greeks and Romans, was, in some measure, restored by the acquisition of chemical sciences, which early began to shed a feeble light, in modern Europe, over the objects of human industry.

From Italy, the knowledge of dyeing gradually spread itself through the other states of Europe. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, some works were published, detailing the processes then in use, which seem not only to prove, that greater attention had then begun

to be paid to the art, but to have afforded the first great stimulus to its improvement. Indigo had long been known as a dye; it is mentioned by Pliny, under the name of indicum, and seems to have been early imported from Syria and Egypt in considerable quantities. This drug came, however, to be much better known after the Dutch had established their trade with the East Indies, from whence they imported it.

I have already had occasion to remark, that accident has frequently contributed more to the improvement of the arts, than the most refined speculation; and this was strikingly exemplified in the discovery of the modern scarlet dye, as well as in that of the ancient purple. The kermes were early used for dyeing, and the term scarlet was applied to the color produced by these insects; but that color was very different from the brilliant scarlet now in use, which is derived from cochineal, an article which was unknown in Europe till the discovery of America; and which, even after its importation, produced for a considerable time not a scarlet, but a crimson hue.† About the year 1630, it was accidentally discovered, that the nitrate of tin possessed the property of exalting, in a very remarkable degree, the color of this. drug, and converting it from a dull crimson to an intense and brilliant scarlet. It is said, that a German chemist, of the name of Kuffler, having accidentally dropped a solution of tin, by aquafortis, into a decoction of cochineal, was the first who observed the singular effect, and who took advantage of it, by employing it in his dyehouse. The secret became soon afterwards known in Paris; and, having been, in the year 1643, conveyed to

*[Indicum simply means Indian, or from India, and being applied to the foreign drug to denote whence it came, was at length used as the name of the article itself, forming by a slight change the word indigó. The proper Indian name for the article is Anil. It is procured from several, but especially from two or three plants, belonging to the order of vetches.-AM. ED.]

† [Both of the dyeing substances mentioned above, are parasitic insects, of the genus Coccus, the one inhabiting a species of oak, in warm climates of the Old world, and the other dwelling on certain species of cactus, in the tropical regions of the New. This genus of insects, in some of its species, goes by the common name of the scale insect.-AM. ED.]

England by a Fleming, gave rise to a dye-house at Bow, near London; whence the new color was for some time called the Bow dye.

In 1662, the Royal Society of London directed its attention to the subject of dyeing; but the chemical art was then too little understood, to permit of much success in their labors; and the art made little progress in England, till a much more recent period. In France, the case was different. The legislature of that country not only appointed proper persons to superintend, officially, the practice of dyeing in all its departments; but held out suitable rewards for the encouragement of such individuals as should contribute, by their discoveries, to the progress of the art. The beneficial effects of this liberal policy, were quickly felt in the numerous improvements in dyeing, which were suggested, from time to time, by the eminent men who filled the official situations. The investigations of Hellot, of Macquer, and of Berthollet, who, each in his turn, held the office of superintendent of the practice of dyeing in that country, gave a new character to the art, and raised it from an obscure, empirical employment, to the rank of a branch ⚫ of chemical science. The latter, in particular, distinguished himself by conjoining extensive observation with enlightened theory; and published a treatise, which may be considered as a standard work on the subject, since it contains not only a detailed account of the practical operations of the art, but a correct theoretical view of the principles on which it is founded.

The two eminent Englishmen who have conferred the most important benefits on the practice of dyeing, are Dr. Henry of Manchester, and Dr. Bancroft. The latter, in particular, has thrown new light on this art, by his two volumes, entitled, 'Experimental Researches concerning the Philosophy of Permanent Colors,' the second of which was published in 1813. In this work, he has corrected various mistakes of his predecessors, and has advanced the scientific and practical principles of the art still nearer perfection, by applying to it more extensively the growing resources of chemistry.

NINTH WEEK-TUESDAY.

CLOTHING.-THE ART OF DYEING-ITS CHEMICAL PRINCIPLES.

BEFORE leaving the subject of dyeing, it seems desirable that something should be said respecting the principle on which the art depends, so far as it has hitherto been discovered by chemical analysis.

Dyeing is effected by the principle of chemical affinity. There must be such an affinity between the stuff to be dyed and the coloring matter, otherwise the process will not be effectual. Now, this may be either direct or indirect; or, as Dr. Bancroft expresses it, the coloring matters may be either substantive or adjective; “the first including those matters which, when put into a state of solution, may be fixed with all the permanency of which they are susceptible, and made fully to exhibit their colors in or upon the dyed substance, without the interposition of any earthy or metallic basis; and the second, comprehending all those matters, which are incapable of being so fixed, and made to display their proper colors, without the mediation of some such basis." Both of these kinds of dyes are to be found in various productions of the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms; but the adjective are much the most numerous. These having no affinity, or but a very slight affinity to the cloth itself, are yet powerfully and permanently attracted to another substance, which, in its turn, is attracted to the cloth. This intermediate agent is called a mordant, and the effect was long known, before the chemical principle on which it depends was at all suspected. It was not till the last half-century, that the true theory was understood. Before that period, the most absurd and unphilosophical opinions were entertained concerning it. Dr. Bancroft suggested the right principle in regard to ink and the black dye, which he attributed to the chemical affinity between iron and the coloring principle of galls; but Mr. Keir was probably the first, who proposed