DYEING. 
tiieir power from furnishing shipping for the 
Crusades, acquired the arts of dyeing used 
in the east at the same time : from thence 
tliey spread over the rest of Italy ; in the 
year 1338, Florence contained two hundred 
thousand manufacfurers, who are said to 
have made fi om seventy to eighty thousand 
pieces of cloth. 
About the year 1300, archil is said to 
have been discovered accidentally by a 
Florentine merchant. Having observed 
that urine gave a very fine colour to a cer- 
tain species of moss, he made experiments, 
and learned to prepare archil. He kept 
this discoveiy long secret, and his posterity, 
(a branch of which still subsists, according 
to Dominique Manni,) have retained the 
name Ruccellai, from oreiglia, the Spanish 
term for that species of moss. 
The first collection of the processes em- 
ployed in dyeing, appeared in Venice, in 
the year 1429, under the title of “ Marie- 
gola del’ Arte de i Tentori a second edi- 
tion of it much improved camp out in 1510 ; 
and a certain person called Ventura Ro- 
setti, having formed the design of render- 
ing this description more useful and exten- 
sive, travelled through the diflferent parts 
of Italy, and tlie neighbouring countries, 
to make himself acquainted with the various 
processes employed, which he published 
under the title “ Plictho”, and which, ac- 
cording to M. Bischofti ought to be consi- 
dered as forming the leading step toward 
the perfection which the art of dyeing has 
since attained. It is remarkable that in 
“ Plictho,” not a word is said either of cochi- 
neal or of indigo, which makes it probable 
that tliese tw'o dyes were hot employed in 
Italy. 
Pliny speaks of a substance called in- 
dicum, but only as being used in painting. 
It is probable, however, that tlie Indians 
employed it in dyeing, The first of it used 
in Europe appears to have been brought by 
the Dutch from the East Indies. The cul- 
tivation of it in America, was first established 
in Mexico, and afterwards in other parts, 
where it acquired a superior quality to that 
which is procured from India. The use of 
indigo was not at first easily established; 
it was strictly prohibited in England in the 
reign of Elizabeth, as was also logwood, 
and the prohibition was not taken off tilt 
the reign of Charles II. Its use w^as also 
proscribed in Saxony, and in the edicts 
against it, it is spoken of as a corrosive 
colour, and called food for the devil, fres- 
senrie teiifels. 
The prohibitions against indigo, were 
caused by the representations of those who 
prepared woad, that its use would destroy 
the sale of this article, which was the pro- 
duce of the country. The prejudice against 
indigo was likewise communicated to 
France, and Colberts’ instruction forbad the 
use of more than a certain quantity in the 
pastel vats. 
Cochineal was introduced into Europe 
shortly after the conquest of Mexico. The 
Spaniards having observed that the Mexi- 
cans employed cochineal in painting their 
houses, and in dyeing tlieir cotton, gave 
their government an account of it ; and in 
the year 1523, Cortes was ordered to pro- 
mote the increase of the valuable insect 
from which it is obtained. 
The natural colour obtained from cochi- 
neal, is only a dull crimson ; but soon after 
it was known in Europe, ap eminent che- 
mist, of the name of Kepfler, found out the 
present process for dyeing scarlet with it, 
by means of a solution of tin, and carried 
the secret to London in the year 1543 : this 
process was first used at Bow, and hence 
the scarlet produced by it was called the 
Bow dye. 
A Flemish painter, called Gluck, got pos- 
session of the secret, and communicated it 
to Giles Gobelin, who established a manu- 
factory of it in the place in France, which 
still bears his name. This undertaking 
was deemed so rash, that it was termed 
Gobelin’s folly : but his astonishing success 
at length induced people to suppose that 
he had made a compact with the devil, 
from which the application of the term 
goblins to evil spirits is probably derived. 
The knowledge of this process afterwards 
spread throughout all Europe. 
The disooveiy of this mode of dyeing 
scarlet may be considered as the most re- 
markable aera in the art of dyeing. The 
ancients applied the name scarlet to a colour 
obtained from kermes, which was much in- 
ferior in beauty to the colour procured 
from cochineal. 
Dufay, Hellot, Macquer, and Berthob 
let, were successively charged by the 
French government with the care of im- 
proving the art of dyeing. Dufay was the 
first who entertained just, though imper- 
fdet, ideas of the nature of colouring sub- 
stances, and the power by which they ad- 
here ; he examined certain processes vyith 
great sagacity, and established the surest 
methods that could at that time be em- 
ployed, for determining the goodness of a 
