DYES. 149 



with the purest talc, produces the beautiful paint by which 

 ladies give to their cheeks the bloom of youth and health, 

 and which the French distinguish from carmine by the name 

 of rouge vegetale" 



The dye from safflower is of two kinds, yellow and red ; 

 the first is separated by maceration in running water, the re- 

 maining is the exquisite red, the rouge vegetate. The plant 

 is cultivated in various parts of Europe, but it is principally 

 from Egypt and the Levant that the commercial supplies 

 are realized. The flowers of this plant are not the only use* 

 ful part of it ; while they assist the dyer and painter, the 

 seeds contain an oil used alike in medicine and painting. 

 Safflower is sometimes called Bastard Saffron. 



Archil is a dye obtained from the Lichen roccefla, found 

 chiefly in the Canary Islands. The Dutch litmus or turnsol, 

 a blue pigment, is made of the red coloring substance of this 

 lichen and an alkali ; on the application of an acid, the color- 

 ing matter is disengaged, and the red tint is restored. Lit- 

 mus is thus used as a dye, and employed by the chemist to 

 test the presence of a free acid. 



Brazil-wood is the heart of the Ccesalpinia echinata, a 

 tree of Brazil. It yields, with solutions of alumina and tin, 

 brilliant red tints, which, however, are deficient in durability. 

 Acids turn the infusion yellow before the application of alum, 

 which, added, brings it red again, affording a precipitate 

 which is employed as an inferior sort of carmine ; the addi- 

 tion of an alkali facilitates the precipitation. 



Cochineal has already been mentioned. Red morocco 

 owes its exquisite color to the dye obtained from cochineal, 

 though a similar color was formerly produced in Southern 

 Europe and Asia by the use of Kermes, a dye derived from 

 the insect Coccus ilicis, and also from lac, a gum which 

 exudes from the Ficus Indica and other trees. Goat-skins 

 form the basis of red morocco. 

 13* 



