PEEI WINKLES WHELKS. 29 



a watchet-blue ; from that, in a little time more, it 

 will be of a purplish red; after which, lying an hour 

 or two (supposing the sun still shining), it will be of 

 a very deep purple red, beyond which the sun can 

 do no more. But then the last and more beautiful 

 colour, after washing in scalding water and soap, will 

 (the matter being again put into the sun or wind 

 to dry) be of a fair bright crimson, or near to the 

 prince's colour, which afterwards, notwithstanding 

 there is no use of any styptic to bind the colour, will 

 continue the same, if well ordered, as I have found 

 in handkerchiefs that have been washed more than 

 forty times, only it will be somewhat allayed from 

 what it was after the first washing. While the cloth 

 so writ lies in the sun, it will yield a strong and 

 fetid smell, as if garlic and assafcetida were mixed 

 together." 



Mr Gosse, after detailing some entertaining expe- 

 riments with the Purpura, makes the following 

 remarks : 



" I have seen it stated, that if the cloth be washed 

 in scalding water and soap, it comes out from the 

 lather changed from the reddish purple hue to a fair 

 bright crimson. With me, however, the soap and the 

 hot water had no appreciable influence in brighten- 

 ing the colour. My experiments were performed in 

 winter, and I will not affirm that the intensity of a 

 summer's sun would not in some degree have modi- 

 fied the result. There appears to me one objection 

 to this material ever having been used to dye large 



