352 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



After a second milling what is separated is called 

 ini-robee, and finally, after a third milling, the 

 madder robee (signifying cleansed from the husk) is 

 obtained, and which is of the best quality. This 

 substance is employed as a red dye, and also as a 

 first tint for several other colours. The madder used 

 for dyeing cotton in the East Indies is in some re- 

 spects different from that of Europe. On the coast 

 of Coromandel it has the name of chat. It grows 

 wild on the coast of Malabar ; the cultivated kind is 

 obtained from Vaour and Tuccouu, but the most 

 esteemed is the Persian chat, called also dumas. 



The madder imported in considerable quantities 

 from Smyrna is more esteemed than the best Dutch 

 madder, which ranks the first of that grown in 

 Europe. The madder produced in the lower part of 

 the Rhine is considered by Berthollet as not inferior 

 to that of Zealand. 



This is an adjective dye, but affords a permanent 

 colour to cloth which a few clays previously has been 

 boiled for two or three hours in a solution of alum 

 and tartar. The colour which it imparts is not so 

 beautiful as that obtained from kermes or cochineal, 

 but being much less expensive, it is extensively em- 

 ployed for common stuffs. Linen takes this dye 

 with more difficulty than cotton. It is seldom used 

 for silk, but is one of the most valuable dyeing drugs 

 for a variety of purposes. It is an agent for dyeing 

 many colours, and is therefore peculiarly adapted to 

 the process of calico-printing, since by the use of 

 different mordants, a variety of hues may be pro- 

 duced by immersion in the madder bath. One mor- 

 dant in combining with it precipitates the colouring- 

 matter red, another purple, another black, and so of 

 every possible shade from lilac to black, and from 

 pink to deep red. If a portion of weld or querci- 

 tron be added to the madder, every shade from brown 



