38 REPORT — 1867. 



On the present Uses of Lichens as Bye-stuffs. 

 By W. Lauder Lindsay, lil.D., F.E.S. Edinb., F.L.S. 

 The paper treats of tlie subject vmder two principal heads, viz. : — 



I. The Commercial Dye-liclieus and Licheu-dj'es : and 



II. The Domestic Dye-lichens and Lichen-dyes. 



When the aniline colours were introduced some years ago, technologists pre- 

 dicted with confidence the rapid disuse of lichen-dyes, on the ground of the supe- 

 rior beauty and permanence, as well as abundance and cheapness, of the former. lu 

 like manner, many years ago, scientiiic authorities Tentiu-ed to assert that if there 

 lingered then in the more remote corners or less accessible districts of Scotland 

 any vestige of the domestic or home-use of lichens as dye-stuffs — a practice which 

 at one time largely prevailed — such a rude procedure or custom would speedily 

 disappear before the march of civilization, the penetration of the Highlands by 

 railways, the establishment of regular steam commimication between Edinburgh 

 or Glasgow and the western and northern islands, the cheapening and multipli- 

 cation of coal-tar and other dye-stuffs, and of the printed goods (woollen and 

 cotton) of Glasgow and Manchester, Havrick, and Leeds. Investigations made 

 in the course of collecting materials for a work on British Lichenology, in pre- 

 paration by the author (including the results of an examination of the Inter- 

 national Exhibitions of London and Paris, an inspection of the orchill manufactory 

 of Messrs. Burton and Garraway of Bethnal Green, London, and of a tour through 

 the Hebrides, Orkney, and Shetland in May and June 18G6) have led him to the 

 conclusion that all such predictions or assertions, whether regarding lichens as 

 commercial or domestic dye-stuffs in England and Scotland, are at least premature, 

 and that there is abundant evidence of a long future of usefulness for lichen dye- 

 stuffs in this and other countries. 



Under the head of 



I. Commercial Dye-lichens and Lichen-dyes, 

 the author's chief propositions are the following : — • 



1. French colorisis especially appear to have devised new processes for ensuiing 

 permanence of lichen-dyes, whereb}' they can now c^uite compete in this 



respect with the aniline colours, to wliicli they have never been inferior hi 

 point of beautJ^ 



2. New forms of lichen-dyes have been patented ; especially combinations of 

 orchill liijuor, or its equivalent, with alkalies or earths in the form of lakes, 

 whereof the most familiar and important is that known as "i^;-tv(c/t ;;!«7;/c," 

 the patent of Messrs. G uinon. Mamas, and Bonnet of Lyons, by whom it was 

 exhibited in London in 1SG2. 



3. While the older dye-lichens have gradually been given up, new and more 

 valuable tinctorial species have been introduced : or the use of some of those 

 which were at one time little familiar, has now become greatly extended. 

 Manufacturers now import almost exclusively the Itoccdlec ; and for the moat 

 part Roccdla fuciformis, or its allies or varieties, as these occur on trees in 

 tropical or sul:)tropical countries, near the coasts. 



4. The finest tinctorial forms of Eoccella are Equatorial, gromug within the limits 

 of 10° north and south of the Line. 

 The "orcliella weeds," at present of greatest value in the British market, are 



•o. 



1. Mozambique, 1 



2. Cevlon, | ^.- 



3. Angola, [^^ 



4. Lima and I , f S S 

 Bombay [ ^1"'^^' ? % 



Cape Verde, 



6. The principal importers of " orchella weeds" are the Portuguese, French, 

 and English. 



7. The same species of Roccella possesses very different tinctorial qualities, 

 according to its geographical source. 



