172 Prof. Royle’s Lecture on the Great Exhibition of 1851. 
ability is as great that the latter learned the art from the former, 
rom whom also they probably obtained the alum which was cel- 
ebrated by the name of Egyptian alum. Alum is still manufac- 
tured in Cutch; the natives of India have long known the use of 
sulphate of iron and acetate of iron. he latter they prepare by 
macerating iron in sour palm-wine, or in water in which rice had 
been boiled. The alkalies and acids with which they are ac- 
quainted may have assisted them in changing the shades of col- 
ors. It would take too much time to enter into the details of these 
dyeing processes, many of which are, however, now well known, 
and seem to have been the original of many of those followed in 
Europe until very recent times. The Exhibition has shown that . 
they can dye every color, and of a great variety of shades, and 
that, in a complicated pattern, they know the value and power 
of each in contrasting the effect of others, so as to produce an 
harmonious whole. 
The art of Calico-printing is another of those which was 
common to the Egyptians and Indians, and is still largely prac- 
tised by the latter, and with a skill which produced much to be 
admired even in the midst of the productions of the world, and 
after so many attempts have been made to improve an art cer- 
tainly imported from the East. Pliny was acquainted with the 
wonderful art by which cloths, though immersed in a heated dye- 
ing liquor of one uniform color, came out tinged with different 
colors, and which afterwards could not be discharged by wash- 
ing. ‘The Indians were found practising the art when first visited 
by the Europeans. The mordants they apply both by pencils 
and by engraved blocks, though it has been said that the former 
method was the only one employed. Blocks were sent from 
Cossipore, and are used in Mysore and in Central India; some 
specimens of silk handkerchief were exhibited by Mr. Warring- 
ton, to show the different stages of dyeing as practised in India. 
In one, the parts where the round spots were to be, were tied up 
with thread so as not to be affected by the dye-liquor. 
The cloth-printers at Dacca are employed to stamp the figures 
on cloth which is to be embroidered. The stamps are formed of 
small blocks of khutul (artocarpus) wood, with the figures carved 
in relief. ‘The coloring matter is a red earth imported from Bom- 
bay, probably the so-called “ Indian earth” from the Persian Gulf. 
Though the art is now practised to such perfection in this 
country, the Indian patterns still retain their own particular beau- 
ties, and command a crowd of admirers. ‘This no doubt is due 0 
_ @ great measure to the knowledge which they have of the effects 
of colors, and the proportion which they preserve between the 
ground and the pattern, by which a good effect is procured both 
ata distance and on a near inspection. , 
