34 CLASS MOLLUSCA. 



became coloured with the purple juice. The nymph 

 having observed the effect, immediately expressed a 

 strong desire to have a dress dyed of the same beautiful 

 colour; and her lover, no less anxious to gratify her 

 wishes, at last succeeded in discovering a method of 

 applying it to cloth. 



This colour was so highly valued by the ancients, that 

 it was either consecrated to the worship of the Deity, or 

 conceived to be fit only for the garments of royalty. 



Under the Mosaic dispensation, the stuffs for the 

 service of the altar and the habits of the high-priest 

 were enjoined to be of purple. The Babylonians devoted 

 this colour to the dress of their idols, and most of the 

 other nations of antiquity appear to have done the same 

 thing. Pliny informs us that it "vvas used by Romulus 

 and the succeeding kings of Rome, as well as by the 

 consuls and first magistrates under the republic. The 

 Roman emperors at last appropriated it entirely to their 

 own use, and denounced the punishment of death against 

 those who should dare to wear it, although covered with 

 another colour. This absurd and tyrannical restriction 

 confined the dyeing of the Tyrian purple to a few indi- 

 viduals, and, in a short time, the knowledge of the pro- 

 cess was entirely lost. 



In the twelfth century, neither the creature that fur- 

 nished the dye, nor the methods which the ancients 

 employed to communicate to cloths the rich and beautiful 

 purple which it afforded, were at all known; and on the 

 revival of learning, it was even suspected by many, that 

 the accounts which had come down to us respecting this 

 celebrated colour were entirely fabulous. 



According to Pliny, the Tyrians removed the finest 

 colouring- matter out of the largest shells, in order to 



