144 UTILIZATION OP MINUTE LIFE. 



At the meeting of the Jerusalem Literary 

 Society, held November 14, 1857, Dr. Eoth, of 

 Munich, gave the results of his researches upon the 

 ancient Tyrian purple dye. He shows that in the 

 works of Pliny and Aristotle the names of Bucdnum, 

 Murex, and Conchylia are so vaguely used, that 

 nothing on this subject can be learned from them. 

 Hasselquist, according to Dr. Both, supposes the 

 true shells to be Helix fragilis, L., and Yandina 

 fragilis, the mollusca of which are purple, and stain 

 the fingers; but their dye is not lasting. When 

 Dr. Eoth first came to Palestine, he found at Jaffa 

 the Purpura patula, the snail of which is sought by 

 the native Christians as food during the fast-days. 

 On puncturing this animal there issued a greenish 

 liquid, which, when exposed to the sunshine, changed 

 to purple. This purple increased in brilliancy when 

 it was washed. Comparing this with the accounts 

 left by the ancients, Dr. Roth thinks the colour he 

 produced is evidently their blue-purple, for they had 

 a blue-purple, a deep-purple, and a red-purple. 



Between Soor and Saida, according to the same 

 author, the Murex truncatus, or trunculus, is found 

 in abundance, and its colour is more brilliant than 

 that of the Purpura. One of these Murex is suffi- 

 cient to dye a square inch of cloth, which would 

 require five individuals of Purpura patula. Wool 

 takes the dye better than any other substance ; silk 



