Calico

(kal'e-ko.) [From Calicut, India.] (Manf.) Cloth made of cotton-whether plain, printed, dyed, stained, or painted, chintz or muslins-is all included under this one general denomination.- Calico printing, is the art of impre ing cotton cloth with colored patterns. Though for many centuries practised by the Oriental methods in Asia and the Levant, the art was unknown in Europe till the end of the 17th cent. The patterns are printed from revolving cylinders. Of late years great improvements have been made, especially in the chemical part of the proce . Whilst silk and wool have a strong affinity for colors, cotton will not retain soluble colors without the aid of mordants, which render the colors insoluble and thereby permanent. By varying the mordant, many changes of color may be obtained from the same dye-stuff. [s. 131]