40 THE ECONOMIC MOLLUSCA OF ACADIA. 



Economics. This is one of a number of Molluscs which 

 furnish rich purple or crimson dyes. Indeed, it was a specie^- 

 of this same geuiis which afforded a part at least of the 

 famous Tyrian purple dye. Small shells of the genera Miirex 

 aiA Purpu7-a, containing the animals, together with the color 

 gland alone from larger individuals, were pounded up together 

 in mortars and mixed with five or six times their weight of 

 water. To this was added twenty pounds of soda to each 

 hundred pounds of the mixture and the whole was placed in 

 leaden or tin dishes. It was then exposed to the sun for a few 

 days, until the desired hue was obtained, when the wool was 

 placed in it and left for a few hours. The wool came out 

 dyed unchangeably of the color reserved for the garments of 

 kings and emperors. Indeed, it was far beyond the reach of 

 any but the most wealthy — so very expensive was it. Sim- 

 monds tells us in his " Commercial Products of the Sea," that 

 in the reign of Augustus, one pound of wool dyed with Tyrian 

 purple sold for about £3(3 sterling. This was because of the 

 tediousness of the process, and the small quantity of color 

 obtained from each Mollusc. It is now never used on a 

 commercial scale, partly on account of its expense and partly 

 because cheaper substitutes have been obtained from the 

 cochineal insect and later from the coal-tar or aniline colors. 



In the work last mentioned we find the following, refer- 

 ring to the Mollusc under consideration. "'If the shell of 

 Fur^nira lapillvs is broken, there is seen on the back of the 

 animal, under the skin, a slender, longitudinal, whitish vein, 

 containing a yellowish liquor. When this juice is applied to 

 linen, by means of a small brush, and exposed to the sun, it 

 becomes green, blue and purple, and at last settles into a fine 

 unchangeable crimson. Neither acids nor alkalies affect its 

 color, and it may be conveniently employed in marking linen 

 where an indelible ink is desired." And as Mr. Ingersoll adds, 

 "The housewives of New England, therefore, have growing 

 abundantly on their sea-side rocks little living bottles of 

 indelible ink which cannot be excelled by any manufactured 

 product for either beauty or durability, since neither acid nor 

 alkali will affect its color." In these facts are shown an 



