LOGWOOD. MADDER. 249 



ture. The chief of these is Logwood, the produce of a tree grow- 

 ing in the bays of Campeachy and Honduras, the native country 

 of the Mahogany. When Logwood was first introduced into 

 this country as a dye, the use of it was forbidden by Government, 

 on account of its " deceitful" character ; the colour it communi- 

 cated being fair to the eye, but speedily departing. The art of 

 fixing it by mordants, however, being afterwards discovered, 

 this substance came into general use ; and it is now imported 

 largely from Jamaica, as well as from its original country. The 

 part which yields this dye is the heart-wood ; this is hard and 

 heavy, in consequence of the amount of secreted matter con- 

 tained in it ; and it yields its colour readily to water, when this 

 is boiled upon its chips. The deep violet or purple hue of the 

 fluid, first changes to a yellowish tint, and finally becomes black ; 

 but this change may be prevented by the use of proper mordants. 

 The chief use of this substance, however, is in dyeing black, and 

 in producing all shades of grey. The quantity imported into 

 Britain in 1839 was 23,000 tons, the value of which was above 

 180,OOOZ. 



392. The principal Red dye obtained from the vegetable 

 kingdom, is Madder, the produce of the Rubia tinctoria, a plant 

 which grows naturally in the Levant, and which is cultivated 

 with success in the South of Europe ; its cultivation does not 

 answer in England. The colouring-matter is obtained from the 

 roots, and is not sufficiently formed until the third year ; the 

 roots are taken up in the autumn, after the leaves have fallen off. 

 They are then carefully cleaned, dried, and reduced to powder. 

 A great variety of colours, varying from lilac to black, and from 

 pink to deep red, may be produced by the application of different 

 mordants to the stuff, before it is placed in the madder. These 

 are partly due to the intermixture in this substance of two 

 distinct colouring principles, a fawn and a red. The latter, if 

 separated from the other, is much more brilliant ; and various 

 processes have been devised for the purpose. The best of these 

 requires that undried roots should be employed ; and they are 

 largely imported into this country with this object. The quan- 

 tity of madder employed in Britain in 1838, was upwards of five 



