262 COCCIDyE — SIIIELD-LICE. 



who was ^oino: to Mexico, to procure.for him in that coun- 

 try authentic proofs of wliat he had asserted. These proofs, 

 legally confirmed in October, 1725, by the court of justice 

 in^the city of Antiquera, in the valley of Oaxaca, arrived at 

 Amsterdam in the autumn of the year 1726. I have been 

 informed that Kuusscher upon this got possession of the 

 sum betted, which amounted to the whole property of the 

 loser; but that, after keeping it a certain time, he again re- 

 turned it, deducting only the expenses he had been at in 

 procuring the evidence, and in causing it to be published. 

 It formed a small octavo volume, with the following title 

 printed in red letters: The History of Cochineal jjvoved 

 by Authentic documents. These proofs sent from New- 

 Spain are written in Dutch, French, and Spanish."^ 



Among the important discoveries made by accident, the 

 following in the history of Cochineal may be instanced : 

 "The well-known Cornelius Drebbel, who was born at 

 Alcmaar, and died at London in 1634, having placed in his 

 window an extract of Cochineal, made with boiling water, 

 for the purpose of filling a thermometer, some aqua-regia 

 dropped into it from a phial, broken by accident, which 

 stood above it, and converted the purple dye into a most 

 beautiful dark red. After some conjectures and experi- 

 ments, he discovered that the tin by which the window 

 frame was divided into squares had been dissolved by the 

 aqua-regia, and was the cause of this change. He com- 

 municated his observation to Kuffelar, an ingenious dyer 

 at Leyden. The latter brought the discovery to perfection, 

 and employed it some years alone in his dye-house, which 

 gave rise to the name of Kuffelar's color. "^ 



That innocent cosmetic, so much used by the ladies, and 

 commonly known by the French term Rouge, is no other 

 than a preparation of Cochineal.^ 



Kermes-berries, Coccus ilicis, and Cochineal, C. cacti, 

 Geoffroy says, "are esteemed to be greatly cordial and 

 sudorific, being very full of volatile salt. They are given 

 also to prevent abortion from any strain or hurt."* 



Lac is the produce of an insect supposed by Amatus 



1 Hist, of Inventions, ii. 184. 



2 [bid., 192. 



3 Sbaw's ZooL, vi. 192. 



* Sub.'st. used in Physic, p. ."jTO. 



