IND 



1ND 



for libels, &c. It is either a useless act* 

 since the justice of the country has been 

 safely conducted for centuries without it, 

 or it is an act of great importance to the 

 liberty of the subject. 



But an action cannot be brought by the 

 person acquitted against the prosecutor 

 of the indictment, without obtaining a 

 copy of the record of his indictment and 

 acquittal ; which, in prosecutions for fe- 

 lony, it is not usual to grant, if there be 

 the least probable cause to found such 

 prosecution upon ; for it would be a very 

 great discouragement to the public jus- 

 tice of the kingdom, if prosecutors, who 

 had a tolerable ground of suspicion, were 

 liable to be sued at law whenever their 

 indic'.ments miscarried. But an action on 

 the case, for a malicious prosecution, may 

 be founded on such an indictment where- 

 on no acquittal can be, as, if it be reject- 

 ed hy the grand jury, or be coram non 

 judice, or be insufficiently drawn; for it 

 is not 'he danger of the plaintiff, but the 

 scandal, vexation, and expense, upon 

 wh:ch this action is founded. However, 

 any provable cause for preferring it is 

 sufficient to justify the defendant, pro- 

 vided it do not appear that the prosecu- 

 tion -was malicious. And it is necessary 

 to show something more than the mere 

 not prosecutis, in order to raise the infer- 

 ence of malice. 



INDIGESTION. See MEDICINE. 



INDIGO, a dye prepared from the 

 leaves and small branches of the indigofe- 

 ra tinctoria. See the next article. 



Indigo is distinguished into two kinds, 

 the. true and the bastard. Though the first 

 is sold at a higher price on account of its 

 superiority, it is usually advantageous to 

 cultivate the other, because it is heavier. 

 The first will grow in many different 

 soils ; the second suceeds best in those 

 which are most exposed to the rain. 

 Both are liable to great accidents. Some- 

 times the plant becomes dry, and is de- 

 stroyed by an insect frequently found on 

 it; at other times, the leaves, which are 

 the valuable part of the plant, are devour- 

 ed in the space of twenty-four hours by 

 caterpillars. This last misfortune, which 

 is but too common, has given occasion to 

 the saying, " that the planters of indigo 

 go to bed rich, and nse in the morning 

 totally ruined.'* This production ought 

 to be gathered in with great precaution, 

 for fear of making the farina that lies on 

 the leaves, and is very valuable, fall off 

 by shaking it. When gathered, it is 

 thrown into the steep; ng-vat, which is a 

 ?arge tub filled with water. Here it un- 



dergoes a fermentation, which in twenty- 

 four hours at furthest is completed. A 

 cock is then turned to let the water run 

 into the second tub, called the mortar or 

 pounding tub. The steeping-vat is then 

 cleaned out, that fresh plants may b* 

 thrown in ; and thus the work is con- 

 tinued without interruption. The water 

 which has run into the pounding tub is 

 found impregnated with a very subtle 

 earth, which alone constitutes the dregs, 

 or blue substance, that is the object of' 

 this process, and which must be separa- 

 ted from the useless salt of the plant, be- 

 cause this makes the dregs swim on the 

 surface. To effect this, the water is for- 

 cibly agitated with wooden buckets that 

 are full of holes, and fixed to a long han- 

 dle. This part of the process requires 

 the greatest precautions. If the agita- 

 tion be discontinued too soon, the part 

 that is used in dyeing, not being suffi- 

 ciently separated from the salt, would be 

 lost. If, on the other hand, the dye 

 were to be agitated too long after the 

 complete separation; the parts would be 

 brought together again, and form a new 

 combination; and the salt reacting on 

 the dregs would excite a second fermen- 

 tation, that would alter the dye, spoil ita 

 colour, and make what is called burnt 

 indigo These accidents are prevented 

 by a close attention to the least altera- 

 tions that the dye undergoes, and by the 

 precaution which the workmen take to 

 draw out a little of it from time to time 

 in a clean vessel. When they perceive 

 that the coloured particles collect by se- 

 parating from the rest of the liquor, they 

 leave off shaking the buckets, in order to 

 allow time to the blue dregs to precipi- 

 tate to the bottom of the tub, where they 

 are left to settle till the water is quite 

 clear. Holes made in the tub, at differ- 

 ent heights, are then opened one after 

 another, and this useless water is let out. 

 The blue dregs remaining at the bottom 

 having acquired the consistence of a thick 

 muddy liquid, cocks are then opened, 

 which draw it off into the settler. After 

 it is still more cleared of much superflu- 

 ous water in this third and last tub, it is 

 drained into sacks; from whence, when 

 water no longer filters through the cloth, 

 this matter now becomes of a thicker con- 

 sistence, and is put into chests, where it 

 entirely loses its moisture. At the end 

 of three months the indigo is fit for sale. 



It is used, inswashing, to give a bluish 

 colour to linen : painters also employ it 

 in their water colours ; and dyers cannot 

 make fine blue without indigo. The an- 



