Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-09-13
CHEMICALS IN LAUNDRY WORK
The Analytical Chemist and His
Ruined Garments


Probably every person who has cloth
ing done up at the laundries, public
and private, has, at one time or an
other probably very frequently. had
some article come home in tatters,
eaten up by some corrosive material
used by the laundry people to save
labor. If you make complaint you are
told, with much show of indignation,
that no chemicals, nothing but pure
soap and water" are used in that
laundry. You Know on such occasions
that the party is lying, but you have
no recourse, except to change laun-
dries. and this is usually swapping the
devil for a witch. In fact, you fee!
that you have been done up quite
as effectively as your clothing.
1t is comforting to know, says the
National Druggist, that a: last chemi-
cal ingenuity has shown itself equal
to the task of proving the use of COR
rosives in the laundry, and that at
least one laundry concern has come
to grief. The hero of the affair was
TeutOnic name, is Frenchman, re
siding in Paris. He was recently con-
suited by party who had been i'm
posed on by his laundryman until for
bearance ceased to be a virtue. Brand
new table cloths, napkins, shirts, etc.
would go to the laundry whole and
return in tatterS.
On looking at the articles the chem
list thought that they had been sub
mitted to the action Of Javel water.
He therefore made a weak solution of
methylene blue and placed one of the
COrroded articles in it. In moment
all around the burned spots the blue
color fixed itself in the most intense
manner, while the other parts were
colOred weakly. This was proof posi-
! tive that his suspicious were cores,
and the courts subsequently justified
| him by making the laundryman settle
! for the articles destroyed.
! The next case was a little harder
| The articles sent to the laundry were
entirely new, but Oh being returned
! were found to be eaten in spots. The
test first named would not work in this
case, and since there was no evidence
of chlorine, the chemist concluded that
two or three reagents, he had recourse
to a weak solution of braSilein (C1G
HIP 90. He scattered few drops or
this around the burned or eroded
| spots, and had the pleasure of seeing
the rose color changed to yellow, show
ing that an acid had been used. Sub
seQuently it was shown that the cloth
ing, having been thrown carelessly
into some receptacle, had become
! spotted with iron rust, and this latter
had been removed by oXalic acid. The
! acid had been carelessly used, and had
! eaten out the fabric wherever it was
/ applied.
! In the absence of any statute specI-
fically bearing upon the subject, and
in the presence of the fact that the
use by the laundries Of Javel water, Ii
| quor calcis chlOrinate, ETC., is almost
universal, and that the laundries, with,
out exception, disclaim the use of these
! corrosive and miSchievOuS prepare
tons, it would seem that the offenders
! might be reached under the statute
Furnishing the obtaining of money un-
der false pretenses, or made to pay
/ for goods thus destroyed under those
regulating the mischievous and care
! less destruction of property. With the
! chemical means of proving the offense
/ at hand. conviction ought to follow
! The editor of the National Druggist
| (St. Louis will give his services as
chemical expert free to the first party
who will undertake a prosecution.