UNIVALVES. 129 
thousand Roman denarii, about thirty-six pounds 
sterling. We need not indeed wonder at this enor- 
mous price, when the tedious nature of the process is 
considered, and also the small quantity of dye; not 
more, on an average, than a single drop being af- 
forded by each shell fish. For fifty pounds of wool, 
the ancients used no less than two hundred pounds 
of the liquor of the Buccinum, and one hundred 
pounds of that of the Purpura, or six pounds of 
liquor to one pound of wool: consequently, the real 
Tyrian purple vied in value even with gold itself. 
Ancient writers mention several different shades of 
purple; one of which appears to have been a kind 
of dark violet, inclining towards a reddish hue; an- 
other, less esteemed, resembled crimson; but the 
most valued of all, was a deep red purple, of the 
colour of coagulated blood. 
A fourth kind, of a whitish tint, has been disco- 
vered in modern times. 
_ The wearing of purple robes, was, in Italy, origi- 
nally confined to the first officers of Rome; but as 
luxury increased in the capital of the world, they 
were progressively adopted into the lower ranks of 
patrician society, till every one who had wealth 
sufficient to purchase them, appeared in the Circus, 
and at the Theatre, arrayed with these costly trap- 
pings. But the Emperors could not endure that 
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