December 2,1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
455 
luble in water, but soluble in alcohol, ether, and bisul- 
phuret of carbon. To all these solvents it communicates 
;a fine purple colour, which becomes blue on the addition 
of an alkali. It is not at the present day employed as a 
dyestuff, its chief uses being in pharmacy to colour me¬ 
dicines ; in perfumery, to colour oils and greases; and 
in domestic life to give a tint'to the lime-wash used for 
the walls of private dwellings. 
Safflower. —Although this dye-stuff has lost much of 
its value since the discovery of the aniline colours, it is 
still extensively used in Lancashire for the production 
of peculiar shades of pinks for the eastern markets. It 
is also used for dyeing red tape, and I know no more 
striking instance of red tapeism than the love which is 
shown for this particular dye by the users of this article. 
Much cheaper pinks can be produced from aniline, and, 
notwithstanding that many times the attempt has been 
made to introduce them, it has in every instance failed, 
because the exact shade has not been attained. 
Safflower is the bloom of a peculiar thistle called Car- 
thamns tinctorius , which is cultivated in France, Egypt, 
♦Spain, Italy and India. In France and Spain, the small 
flowers composing the heads of the thistle are picked off 
and dried in the shade, whilst in Egypt and India they 
■are squeezed, washed with cold water to remove useless 
materials, slightly pressed into lumps, and dried in the 
shade; the latter have about double the value of the 
former. The safflower so prepared only contains three 
to six parts per thousand of the colour-giving principle. 
This principle has received the name of carthamic acid, 
•and has the formula C 14 H 16 0 14 . A solution of this acid, 
when dried on a polished white surface, leaves a varnish, 
having a beautiful red colour, by transmitted light, 
whilst it assumes the iridescence of cantharides when 
seen by reflected light. It is insoluble in water and 
•ether, but soluble in alcohol. This solution becomes 
yellow on the addition of sulphuric, nitric, or hydro¬ 
chloric acid. It is also turned yellow or orange by weak 
alkalies, and the colouring matter in this latter solution 
^undergoes rapid alteration if exposed to the atmosphere. 
It is owing to the fugitive nature of the colour and 
its easy modification by acid and ammoniacal vapours, 
that the delicate pinks produced from safflower have 
been so successfully replaced by the pink aniline dyes. 
To prepare carthamic acid, safflower is introduced into 
bags and washed, till a yellow colouring matter, which 
it contains, is removed. It is then mixed with water, 
to which is added 15 per cent, of the weight of safflower 
taken of crystallized carbonate of soda. After two hours’ 
maceration, the liquor is run off, and cotton yarn dipped 
in; then lemon juice or citric acid is added to liberate 
the carthamic acid, which fixes itself on the yarn. Up 
to this point, the process is the same as that adopted 
in dyeing fabrics, but to obtain the acid it is necessary 
to treat the washed cotton a second time with carbo¬ 
nate of soda, which dissolves out the carthamic acid, 
leaving a second yellow colouring matter fixed on the 
•cloth. The carthamate of soda thus obtained is decom¬ 
posed by tartaric acid, and the carthamic acid falls as 
a brilliant red amorphous powder, which, when mixed 
with a little water, is sold as safflower extract, and when 
<lry and mixed with ground talc, is employed as rouge by 
ladies. 
There is a particular extract extensively used in dye¬ 
ing, the preparation of which is a secret. Its value de¬ 
pends on the fact that the carthamic acid is rendered 
soluble in water. 
Cochineal , Kermes , Lac-dye , and ILurexide. —I shall now 
•call your attention to four colours derived from the 
amimal kingdom, namely, cochineal, kermes, lac-dye, and 
murexide. 
The first three are distinct species of a peculiar tribe of 
insects called Coccina. The females, from which alone the 
colouring-matter is derived, form a mass nearly destitute 
•of limbs, and remain attached to one spot on the plants 
infested by them. The males, on the contrary, are very 
I 
' minute and really elegant creatures, furnished with a 
single pair of filmy wings. The real cochineal is called 
Coccus cacti; kermes, Coccus illicis; and lac-dye, Coccus 
lacca or ficus. They all contain the same colouring prin¬ 
ciple. Although the dyes derived from some species of 
these insects were well known to the ancients, and were 
much used in Persia and India, the true cochineal has 
only been known in Europe since the discovery of Ame¬ 
rica by the Spaniards ; and since the year 1830 only has 
it been propagated in the Canary Islands, the island of 
Teneriffe, Java, and Algiers. The best qualities are still 
obtained from the republic of Honduras. 
The Coccus cacti lives on a species of cactus called the 
Cactus nopal or Opunta coccinilifera. This plant is in¬ 
digenous to Mexico, where it grows in the wild state; 
and from it large quantities of cochineal are collected. 
It is also extensively cultivated by the native Indians, 
who often have plantations containing 60,000 plants. 
The cochineal obtained from the two sources is of dif¬ 
ferent quality; that from the cultivated plant is much 
superior, and is called inestique; that collected from the 
wild plant is called sylvestra. 
I will now explain, in a few words, how cochineal is 
propagated and prepared for market. In the month of 
May, in the flat lands, and in November in the moun¬ 
tainous districts, the Indians take the stems of the cactus, 
which they have preserved from a previous crop, and 
remove from them the young female insects, which are 
placed on the growing plants, where they grow and 
multiply with great rapidity. After a period of about 
three months, the insects are collected into small tin 
dishes, so formed as to enclose the bottom part of the 
plant, and by means of a small brush they are swept 
from each stem successively into it. They are then 
destroyed, either by being thrown into hot water and 
afterwards dried in the sun, or in stoves, which gives the 
black cochineal, called zacatilla , or they are placed in a 
bag and stoved at once, which leaves upon them that 
peculiar lustrous appearance which characterizes the 
silver white cochineal, called bianco. Although one pound 
of cochineal contains 70,000 insects, there are millions of 
pounds imported into Europe every year. 
If one of the di’ied insects bo placed in warm water, it 
swells and takes a hemispheric form, when its structure 
can be seen. If it is pressed between the fingers, thou¬ 
sands of little red grains are exuded, which, if placed 
under the microscope, are seen to be minute cochineal 
insects. 
The colouring principle was first isolated in an impure 
state by Pelletier, who considered it to be an azotized 
compound. MM. Arppe and Warren de la Rue, however, 
found that it contained^no nitrogen, and that it had the 
formula C 14 H 14 0 8 . As it had distinctly acid properties, 
they gave it the name of car minxc acid. M. Schiitzenberger 
proved that carmine is composed of carminic acid and an 
organic azotized base, called tyrosine. 
MM. Arppe and Warren de la Rue obtain crystallized 
carminic acid by the following process. The cochineal 
is treated with ether, to remove fatty matters, then boiled 
in water. An acid acetate of lead is added to the solu¬ 
tion thus obtained, which precipitates an insoluble carmi- 
nate. This, after being washed carefully, is decomposed 
with sulphuric acid, the carminic acid being liberated. 
The aqueous solution is evaporated to dryness, and the 
mass treated with alcohol, which, on) evaporation and 
cooling, yields it as a crystalline mass. 
As shown by the above process, carminic acid is in¬ 
soluble in ether, but soluble in water and alcohol. It is 
dissolved without decomposition by concentrated sul¬ 
phuric and hydrochloric acids. Carminic acid yields on 
fabrics, especially on wool, one of the fastest colours 
known, light and air having no action on it. Chlorine, 
however, easily destroys it. An aqueous solution of the 
acid gives the following characteristic reactions. AY ith 
caustic alkalies, it gives a beautiful crimson-red colour; 
with oxymuriate of tin, it gives a red precipitate; and 
