258 PERSIAN BERRIES, FUSTIC, ETC. 



Persian Berries are the fruit of a tree called Rhamus infec- 

 torius. They are about the size of a pea, and a decoction of 

 them yields a bright yellow dye. 



Fustic is also a yellow dye. It is obtained from the wood of 

 the Morus tinctoria, a species of mulberry tree growing in the 

 West Indies. 



Quercitron is the inner bark of the Quercus tinctoria, or 

 Dyer's Oak, which grows abundantly in the forests of Eastern 

 Canada and the United States. The bark yields a yellow dye. 



Cochineal, or little berry, so called because for a long time 

 it was believed to be the grain or seed of a plant, is an insect, 

 having six minute legs, no wings, and a tiny head, in appear- 

 ance very much like our ladybird. 



These insects feed on the sap of a species of Mexican cactus 

 to which they remain attached until brushed off by the 

 collector. They are killed by being put into a bucket and 

 then shut up in a great hot stove. The colouring matter, 

 called carmine, is afterwards extracted from them by boiling 

 them in water. It takes about 70,000 to produce a pound of 

 dye. This carmine is often used for colouring sweetmeats, 

 as it is not poisonous. 



Cutch, Logwood, and Fustic are the only vegetable dyes 

 which still maintain their position in the dyeing industry ; the 

 others tend more and more to be superseded by artificial 

 preparations, though during the war indigo won back some 

 of its former renown. 



Coal-Tar Dyes. ' Without experiment I am nothing. Still 

 try, for who knows what is possible ? ' MICHAEL FARADAY 

 (b. 1794, d. 1867). 



During the Easter Vacation of 1856 Mr. W. H. Perkin, an 

 assistant at the Royal College of Chemistry in London, was 

 engaged in trying to make artificial quinine. He was eighteen 

 years old. In the course of his experiments he produced 

 ' a dirty black powder, which seemed to promise nothing ', 

 but ' he washed the deposit ; he liquefied it, and the lovely 

 colour Mauve was revealed to his almost bewildered gaze '. 



