Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 8.djvu/89

 analyses made by Dr. Eykman, lately Professor of Chemistry in the Tōkyō Medical College, Dr. Matsui, of the Tōkyō University, and M. Salvetat, give the following results:—

With regard to the differences between the results of Salvetat's analysis and those obtained by Eykman and Matsui, Professor Korschelt observes that pieces of Gosu—as this cobalt blue is called by the Japanese—which were sent to Japan, would already have been subjected to refining processes, and that Salvetat probably examined not only a somewhat different but also an unrefined form of the mineral. It is of course possible that the gosu of old times may again come into general use, and that the grand colours of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries may once more be produced. But against this much-to-be-desired consummation has to be set the refractory nature of the pigment. Specially educated skill is needed to obtain good results with it, and even in the most expert hands failures are numerous. European cobalt labours under no such disadvantage, and for this reason will probably continue to be preferred in these exceedingly practical times.

When applied to the surface of the porcelaine dégourdie, smalt and Chinese cobalt alike give a muddy black col-