The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1908-05-20

colorS were applied nrSt TO the human
body. Remnants of the practice are
still seen among savages who, on GER
emonious occasions, of war, the chase,
etc, decorate their faces with con-
ventional signs and colors.
The second use of paint in evolu-
tion was decorative. The Egyptians,
thousands of years ago, used the SIM
pie colors, both for broad effects and
for decorative design. The Greeks
are believed to have color"d all their
marbles, whether statuary or carving,
and the Romans, who we're initiative
in their arts, carried the use of colors
in architecture to the extreme, as
seen in the wall paintings of Pom
peii.
The pigments used in these earlier
days were generally of the simplest
type-usually natural colors found in
the earth and requiring only mechan-
ical treatment TO fit them for use. OF
these are the iron oxides, such as red
haematite, ochres, siennas, umbers,
ETC., the natural salts of lead, cad
MUM and arsenic yellows, and cinna-
bar, which are now produced arti-
ficially, these natural pigments are
still in use at the present day, the
chief improvement being in the pro-
cesses of preparation.
A few of our artificial colors were
apparently known to the Romans, at
least, since Vetruvius and Pliny de-
scribe processes for the production of
several, including white lead and
lamp black. According to what can
be gathered from these writer's and
from examination of paints found in
Pompeii and Rome, the liquid me-
dium appears to have been some sort
of vegetable gum in solution.
1t was not until comparatively re-
cent times that paint began to receive
attention as protective or preserva-
tive material. All of the earlier allu-
sions to the subject were along decor
ative lines, and down to nearly the
beginning of the last century all in
formation on the subject was directed
to the requirements of artists or ar
chitects. The dwellings of the more
fortunately circumstanced classes
were built of stone, brick and hard
woods, on which paint, except for dec
Grafton, was but sparingly used;
while the shelters of the poorer
classes were generally of the flimsiest
character on which paint would have
been an unthinkable luxury.
AS the means of the common peo-
pie improved and the use of wood for
permanent buildings became more
common, paint naturally suggested
itself as a preservative material, and
white lead, being the most generally
obtainable of the lighter colored pig
ments, its employment received an
impetus which it has scarcely yet lost.
OF all the artificial pigments, ex-
cepting lamp black, this is probably
the oldest. The natural carbonate of
lead was well known among the
Greeks and Romans, and it is proba-
BILE, from some remarks of the writers
of the first century, that the prepara-
tion of the hydrocarbonate by the use
of vinegar was also understood. White
lead was at least manufactured for
their own use by the Italian artists of
the Middle Ages. 1t is probable that
the Dutch acquired the art of making
white lead from Venice, but in Hol-
land the industry received such an
impetus that the process still in use
with some notifications, is known
to this day as the "Old Dutch Pro-
cess"
The Dutch corroded lead by expos
ing it to the fumes of vinegar in por-
celain pots buried under fermenting
manure in a trench excavated in the
earth. The industry was brought
from Holland to England, where
eventually certain improvements
brought it finally to it's present form
wherein the process is conducted in
wooden stacks" or bins by means OF
fermenting spent tan bark.
For many years white lead re.
mained the only available white base
for house paints, and so long as the
pigments used with 1t to produce tints
were the stable earth colors and such
unalterable artificial products as lamp
black, it answered the general re.
quirements quite satisfactorily. Two
defects were, however, noted very
ear!y-the first, its tendency to dark.
en- from exposure from sulphuretted
hydrogen gas, and second, its disas.
trous effect upon the health of those
working with it.
The last mentioned property led tc
increasing agitation against its use
as the practice of house painting
spread, and the history of the paint
Industry from late in the eighteenth
century to the middle of the nine,
teenth is full of attempts to replace
it with something else. This agita
tion led on the one hand to the sub
stitution of white lead ground in OF
by the manufacturer for the old form
of dry lead ground by the painter
himself, and on the other hand re-
suited in the addition of zinc oxide
sublimed lead, lithopone, blanc fixe
etc, to the list of available white