to be made on this colour, that the Cochineal which is so ex-* * 
pensive, may be generally dispensed with.* 
The Quercitron, a species of Oak-, and native of this coun¬ 
try only, has long been esteemed for producing a yellow 
dye. Dr. Bancroft, who first carried it to Europe, received 
a patent from the English government for its introduction 
there, and acquired a large fortune by the enterprise. The 
pulverised bark was the state in which the Quercitron was 
imported and used—But works are now erected at Fitch- 
burgh, in Massachusetts, for obtaining the extract of the 
Quercitron, by a new process; which contains the virtues 
of the bark in substance in a very condensed state. One 
pound of this extract affords as much colouring matter as fif¬ 
teen or twenty pounds of the pulverised bark.f 
As we abound in Cryptogamic plants, I must not pass 
them wholly unnoticed when speaking of dyes. Both moss¬ 
es and mushrooms have been made to produce, in union 
with other substances, beautiful colours of red and of violet 
hues. In Sweden they stain woollen cloth with their moss¬ 
es.f In France the mountains of Auvergne supply a moss 
containing a colour little inferior to the splendid purple ex¬ 
tracted from the Archil or Roella of the Canary Islands ;§ 
and in the Highlands^ of Scotland there are mosses found 
which yield the same beautiful tinctures. These examples 
ought to stimulate us to inquiries and investigations on these 
subjects, which probably would be rewarded with complete 
success. 
The art of dyeing is in its second infancy; but we may 
hope that, like the fabled eagle of the ancients, this renewed 
youth will be only the precursor of a more vigorous maturi¬ 
ty. The attention of a few scientific men to the subject 
would bid fair to realize the prospect. The ancients held 
* See Aurora, October 5th, 1813. 
f See Literary and Philos. Repos, for Nov. and Decem. 1812, p. 148. 
* Kalm. 
§ Encyclop. Britannica—Archil and Colour making, No. 49. 
H Ibid, with Archil. 
