Antichlor

Antichlor was the name formerly applied to commercial sulphite of soda by paper-makers, but now usually restricted to hyposulphite of soda. When the rags are reduced to a pulp, they are bleached by chloride of lime (bleaching-powder), which thoroughly soaks the pulp, and is very difficult to wash out. The traces of chlorine thus left in the pulp pass into the manufactured paper, and tend to bleach the writing-ink which may be traced thereon. To free the pulp from the residue of the chlorine, some hyposulphite of soda is employed, and hence the name antichlor, which literally signifies 'against (anti) chlorine.'