working and drying properties, and because of its covering or hiding power. At best it is a soft, sensitive, and unstable compound, and often, as sold, it is but a mechanical mixture of White Lead and other salts of lead that are white. Corroded lead is not amorphous, but more or less crystalline in form.

White Lead is a mixture or compound of lead carbonate and lead hydrate. A perfectly finished White Lead contains two parts of lead carbonate and one part of lead hydrate (and nothing else), the former giving whiteness and the latter only hardening the oil; but without it there is no paint, only a wash. Excess of lead hydrate lessens the opacity of the paint, too little lead hydrate lessens its binding power and working quality. One who has had much experience  with White Lead writes: "The