AN 1815 PERSPECTIVE OF CHLORINE AS A CHEMICAL AGENT USED IN BLEACHING - A SECTION FROM JAMES RENNIE'S ESSAY ON BLEACHING

摘要

Among publications concerning the chemical propertiesand bleaching aspects of chlorine in early bleaching isincluded the analytical testing of bleaching solutions,as described in a manuscript entitled "An Essay on theImprovements in the Art of Bleaching by the Applica-tion of the Principles of Chemistry" by James Rennie(1787-1867). The manuscript is held by BirminghamCity Archives within the James Watt Collection, and it isthought to have been written in 1815-16, very probablyshortly before Rennie was awarded a first prize for thisessay in the same period. The authorship is indicated bya pencil insertion in an apparently different hand. Anedited but incomplete version was published as a seriesof articles titled "Essays on Bleaching, By James Ren-nie, A.M. Lecturer on Philosophy, &c. &c., London,"in The Glasgow Mechanics' Magazine; and Annals ofPhilosophy during the period 1825-1826. For this pres-ent short article Rennie's section entitled "Chlorine andits Compounds," part of Chapter IV, "Chemical Agentsused in Bleaching," has been fully transcribed; and it iswithin this chapter that Rennie covers his main chemicalconsiderations within the entire essay.