INDIGO 



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INDOOR BASEBALL 



more persons, presented upon oath by a grand 

 jury. The term is derived from the old French 

 word inditer, meaning to indicate, or point 

 out. The object is to indicate the offense with 

 which the accused is charged. The essentials 

 of a valid indictment are that it be presented 

 in the proper district, to some court having 

 jurisdiction over the offense charged; that it 

 be a "true bill," signed by the foreman of the 

 grand jury and by the prosecuting attorney; 

 that it contain a clear description of the crime 

 and the name of the accused, and that it be 

 written in the English language. The form 

 and language of an indictment are prescribed 

 by law. One cannot be convicted of a greater 

 offense, at the time of trial, than that charged 

 in the indictment which is the basis for trial. 

 Practically the same procedure is followed in 

 the United States, England and Canada. See 

 JURY AND TRIAL BY JURY. 



IN'DIGO, a deep blue dye used so commonly 

 in calico-printing, in coloring silks and woolens 

 and in imparting a slight tint to delicate white 

 fabrics that the expression "blue as indigo" 

 has passed into a proverb. Formerly it was 

 produced in large 

 quantities from 

 plants of the 

 pulse family; by 

 far the largest 

 part came from 

 the East and 

 West Indies, and 

 especially from 

 Bengal. Indeed, 

 the very name is 

 but a form of the 

 word India. Cen- 

 turies ago the European traders brought back 

 with them from India this blue dye, and to 

 this day the same simple methods of manu- 

 facture which prevailed then are in use in that 

 far-away country. 



The straggling plants, which reach a height 

 of about six feet, are cut just before their 

 blossoms appear and are steeped in water in 

 great airless vats for twelve or fifteen hours. 

 The liquid that results is almost colorless, and 

 is known as indigo white, but on being stirred 

 violently in an open tank it produces the 

 foamy indigo blue, which rises to the top as a 

 scum. Later this sinks to the bottom, and the 

 clear water is easily drawn off. The indigo 

 blue is then collected from the bottom of tin- 

 tank and dried, and is ready to be sent to 

 market. 



INDIGO 

 Branch, flower and beans. 



When indigo blue is used for dyeing it is 

 converted again into indigo white, and in this 

 form is applied to the fabrics. These are then 

 exposed to the air, and the oxygen has the 

 same effect which it had in the earlier process, 

 and turns the white to blue. In printing cali- 

 coes with indigo blue the cloth is first dyed 

 a plain blue, and the white pattern is pro- 

 duced by bleaching. About 1740 indigo began 

 to be produced in considerable quantities in 

 Georgia and North Carolina, but the industry 

 did not survive the War of Secession. Indigo 

 is sometimes used as bluing. 



Coal Tar Indigo. Since 1897 much indigo 

 blue has been produced from coal tar, and the 

 discovery of this process is regarded as one 

 of the greatest victories of industrial chemis- 

 try. Fifteen years after artificial indigo first 

 appeared on the market it had practically 

 driven out the natural dyestuff even in the 

 countries where the indigo plant is produced. 

 Natural indigos contain only twenty to ninety 

 per cent of the coloring matters, and this is 

 not all indigotin. Artificial indigo is practi- 

 cally pure indigotin and therefore more uni- 

 form in quality than the natural dye. J.F.S. 



INDIGO BIRD, or INDIGO BUNTING, a 

 North American bird of the finch family. It 

 ranges from Ontario, Quebec and New Bruns- 

 wick as far south as the Gulf states, and win- 

 ters from Southern Mexico and Cuba to 

 Panama. Three or four pale, bluish-white 

 eggs are laid in a nest of grasses, leaves and 

 bark. The male is a bright indigo blue, clear 

 on the head and greenish on the back; the 

 female is a warm brown with obscure streaks 

 on the back. The indigo bird trusts mankind 

 and is easily tamed. It is a tireless songster, 

 and continues its warblings long into the sum- 

 mer after most birds have ceased to sing. 



IN' DO-CHI 'NA, the name given to the 

 provinces in the southeastern peninsula of 

 Asia, extending northwest to southeast between 

 the Gulf of Tongking and the Gulf of Siam. 

 The region is sometimes called Farther India, 

 and embraces Annam, Burma, Siam, Cochin- 

 China, Tongking, Cambodia and Laos. For 

 detailed treatment of the various parts of this 

 region, the reader is referred to the following 

 articles in these volumes: 



Annam 

 Burma 

 Cambodia 

 Cochin-China 



French Indo-China 



Malacca 



Siam 



Tongldng 



INDOOR BASEBALL. Sec BASEBALL, sub- 

 head Indoor Baseball, at end of article. 



