DYEING. 



8. The bark of the walnut tree, and the 

 peel of the shell. 



9. Madder ; there is no certainty whe- 

 ther the ancients used the same species 

 with us, or another root of the same 

 tribe. 



10. Woad ; but we do not know that 

 the ancients used the |same preparation 

 of it which we do. 



Our acquisitions of dyeing materials, 

 especially since the discovery of America, 

 give us such a decided superiority over 

 the ancients in this respect, that we pro- 

 bably have no cause to regret the loss 

 of their methods, even in the instance of 

 their celebrated purple, which it may be 

 questioned if we do not equal in beauty 

 with a purple prepared from other much 

 cheaper materials. 



The kermes affords a colour which was 

 almost as highly esteemed by the ancients 

 as the purple, and we,probubly know how 

 to employ the kermes to greater advan- 

 tage than they did, as we possess alum 

 in a state of purity, which they knew not 

 how to obtain, with which the stuff is 

 prepared to receive a more durable and 

 beautiful colour ; yet our dyers have al- 

 most entirely discontinued the use of it, 

 because they can obtain from cochineal 

 a colour beyond all comparison more 

 beautiful. 



The ancients were also unacquainted 

 with that useful substance, soap, which 

 gives us a superiority in scouring, and 

 some parts of the art of dyeing; instead 

 of it they used two species of plants, one 

 railed radicula by Pliny, and struthian by 

 the Greeks, which some think to be our 

 saponaria, soap-wort ; and the other be- 

 ing a species of poppy, according to 

 Pliny : some of the bolar earths were like- 

 wise employed for the same purpose. 



From America we have acquired seve- 

 ral substances, which have been found 

 useful in dyeing ; namely, cochineal, bra- 

 sil-wood, and anotta. But above all, we 

 are indebted for the superiority of our co- 

 lours to our preparations of "alum, and 

 the solution of tin, which give so much 

 brilliany to many of our dyes. 



The Venetians, who derived much of 

 their power from furnishing shipping for 

 the Crusades, acquired the arts of dye- 

 ing used in the east at the same time : 

 from thence they spread over ,the rest of 

 Italy : in the year 1338, Florence contain- 

 ed two hundred thousand manufacturers, 

 who are said to have made from seventy 

 to eighty thousand pieces of cloth. 



About the year 1300, archil is said to 

 hive been discovered 'accidentally by a 



Florentine merchant. Having observed' 

 that urine gave a very fine colour to a 

 certain species of moss, he made expe- 

 riments, and learned to prepare archil. 

 He kept this discovery long secret, and 

 his posterity, (a branch of which still sub- 

 sists, according to Dominique Manni,) 

 have retained the name Ruccellai, from 

 oreiglia, the Spanish term for that spe- 

 cies of moss. 



The first collection of the processes 

 employed in dyeing appeared in Venice, 

 in the year 1429, under the title of" Ma- 

 riegoladel' Arte de i Tentori :"a second 

 edition of it much improved came out in 

 1510 ; and a certain person called Ven- 

 tura Rosetti, having formed the design of 

 rendering this description more useful 

 and extensive, travelled through the 

 different parts of Italy, and the neigh- 

 bouring countries, to make himself ac- 

 quainted with the various processes em- 

 ployed, which he published, under the 

 title " Plictho," and which, according to 

 M. Bischoff, ought to be considered as 

 forming the leading step toward the per- 

 fection which the art of dyeing has since 

 attained. It is remarkable, that in " Plic- 

 tho," not a word is said either of cochi- 

 neal or of indigo, which makes it proba- 

 ble that these two dyes were not employ- 

 ed in Italy. 



Pliny speaks of a substance called in- 

 dicum, but only as being used in painting. 

 It is probable, however, that the Indians 

 employed it in dyeing. The first of it 

 used in Europe appears to have been 

 brought by the Dutch from the East In- 

 dies. The cultivation of it in America 

 was first established in Mexico, and after- 

 wards in other parts, where it acquired a 

 superior quality to that which is procured 

 from India. The use of indigo was not at 

 first easily established ; it was strictly 

 prohibited in England in the reign of 

 Elizabeth, as was also logwood, and the 

 prohibition was not taken off till the reign 

 of Charles II. Its use was also proscrib- 

 ed in Saxony, and in the edicts against 

 it, it is spoken of as a corrosive colour, 

 and called food for the devil, fressende 

 teufels. 



The prohibitions aga'mt indigo were 

 caused by the representations of those 

 who prepared woad, that its use would 

 destroy the sale of this article, which was 

 the produce of the country. The preju- 

 dice against indigo was likewise commu- 

 nicated to France, and Colbert's instruc- 

 tion forbad the use of more than a certain 

 quantity in the pastel vats. 



Cochineal was introduced into Europe 



