KERMES GRAINS 15 



The insoluble matter consisted of : 



Carbonate of lime 24'0 10 - 



Silica ........ 8-0 0*0 



Alumina, tinged with iron oxide . . . .9-0 10-0 



Sulphate of lime O'O 9-5 



Sulphur and loss . . . ..' . 6-Q 8-5 



47-0 "iJH) 



The first of these specimens was from Heisker, the second from Eona, both in the 

 Isle of Skye, upon the property of Lord Macdonald. From these, and many other 

 analyses which were made by Dr. Ure, it appears that kelp is a substance of very 

 variable composition, and hence it was very apt to produce anomalous results, when 

 employed as the chief alkaline flux of crown glass, which it was for a very long period. 

 The Fucus vesiculosus and F. nodosus are reckoned to afford the best kelp by in- 

 cineration ; but all the species yield a better product when they are of two or three 

 years' growth than when cut younger. The varec made on the shores of Normandy 

 contains almost no carbonate of soda, but much sulphate of soda and potash, some 

 hyposulphite of potash, chloride of sodium, iodide of potassium, and chloride of potas- 

 sium ; the average composition of the soluble salts being, according to Gay-Lussac, 

 56 of chloride of sodium, 25 of chloride of potassium, and a little sulphate of potash. 

 The very low price at which soda-ash, the dry crude carbonate from the decomposition 

 of sea salt, is now sold, has superseded the use of kelp for this purpose. 



Mr. E. C. C. Stanford has introduced a process for preparing kelp by simply carbo- 

 nising the weeds. The sea-weeds are collected during the winter, and, when dried and 

 compressed, are distilled in retorts at a comparatively low temperature. See ALG.S: ; 

 IODINE ; POTASH. 



KENTISH RAG. See RAG and RAGSTONE. 



KERATIN. An animal principle obtained from hairs, nails, horn, feathers, and 

 other integumentary tissues. 



KERXVIES GRAINS, AliKERJVIES, are the dried bodies of the female insects 

 of- the species Coccus ilicis, which Lives upon the leaves of the Quercus Hex (prickly 

 oak). Kirby and Spence, and also Stephens, state that the Coccus ilicis is found on 

 the Quercus cocci/era. The word kermes is Arabic, and signifies ' little worm." In 

 the middle ages, this dye-stuff was therefore called vermiculus in Latin, and vermeil 

 and vermilion in French. It is curious to consider how the name vermilion has been 

 since transferred to red sulphuret of mercury. 



Kermes has been known in the East since the days of Moses ; it has been employed 

 from time immemorial in India to dye silk ; and was used also by the ancient Greek 

 and Roman dyers. Pliny speaks of it under the name of coccigranum, and says that 

 there grew upon the oak in Africa, Sicily, &c., a small excrescence like a bud, called 

 cusculium ; that the Spaniards paid with these grains half of their tribute to the 

 Komans ; that those produced in Sicily were the worst ; that they served to dye 

 purple; and that those from the neighbourhood of Emerita in Lusitania (Portugal) 

 were the best. 



In Germany, during the ninth, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, the rural 

 serfs were bound to deliver annually to the convents a certain quantity of kermes, 

 the Coccus Polonicus, among the other products of husbandry. It was collected from the 

 trees upon St. John's-day, between eleven o'clock and noon, with religious ceremonies, 

 and was therefore called Johannisblut (St. John's blood), as also German cochineal. 

 At the above period, a great deal of the German kermes was consumed in Venice, for 

 dyeing the scarlet to which that city gives its name. After the discovery of America, 

 cochineal having been introduced began to supersede kermes for all brilliant red dyes. 



The principal varieties of kermes are the Coccus quercus, the Coccus Polonicus, the 

 Coccus fragariee, and the Coccus uva ursi. 



The Coccus quercus insect lires in the south of Europe upon the kermes oak. The 

 female has no wings, is of the size of of a small pea, of a brownish-red colour, and is 

 covered with a whitish dust. From the middle of May to the middle of June the eggs 

 are collected, and exposed to the vapour of vinegar, to prevent their incubation. A 

 portion of eggs is left upon the tree for the maintenance of the brood. In the depart- 

 ment of the Bouches-du-Rhone, one half of the kermes crop is dried. 



The kermes of Poland, or Coccus Polonicus, is found upon the roots of the Scleranthus 

 perennis and the SSleranthus annuus, in sandy soils of that country and the Ukraine. 

 This species has the same properties as the preceding ; one pound of it, according to 

 "Wolfe, being capable of dyeing 10 pounds of wool; but Hermstaedt could not obtain 

 a fine colour, although he employed 5 times as much of it as of cochineal. The Turks, 

 Armenians, and Cossacks dye with kermes their morocco leather, cloth, silk, as well as 

 the manes and tails of their horses. 



