Dyes from the New World.—The discovery of America, and the colonizing and opening to trade of South America and the West Indies, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, still further enlarged the field for dyers.
Cochineal.—One of the first dyes introduced from there was cochineal, a “grain color,” similar to kermes, already described, consisting of the dried bodies of an insect known ascoccus cacti, because it lives upon certain kind of cactus which are native to Mexico and Central America.
This dyestuff was largely used for dyeing wool and silk goods, and produced fairly fast shades of crimson or of scarlet, according to the mordant employed. But it has been replaced almost entirely now by the various acid dyes, to be described later, which are cheaper, are much easier to apply, and are of equal and, in many cases, of much greater, fastness to light.
One of the few cases where cochineal is still used on a large scale is in England, where the scarlet coats of the British regulars are dyed with this color, on a tin mordant. It is believed, however, that this is not due to any real or fancied superiority of the old dye over many of the modern colors, but simply to the terms of an old “perpetual” contract, which, a hundred and fifty years or more ago, gave the privilege of dyeing the English “redcoats” to one particular firm and their successors, on condition that they use this dye and none other. Although both dyers and government would profit by the use of modern dyes, the terms of the old contract are still rigidly adhered to for fear of losing the monopoly.
Lac Dye.—The similar dyestuff called lac dye, which had been known and used in India for hundreds of years, was introduced into Europe towards the end of the eighteenth century. It also is the body of a small insect, thecoccus laccae, which lives on the twigs of the banyan tree, and other varieties of fig trees. When these twigs are broken off and dried to kill the insect, there is found present on them, along with the coloring matter, a large amount of a peculiar resinous or gummy substance, which, when extracted and purified, is known and widely used, as “shellac.”
Lac dye was used in practically the same way as cochineal, and produced, upon wool, scarlet, orange, and crimson shades, which were faster and more solid, but not as brilliant, as the cochineal. It is now used but rarely, even in the East, having been largely superseded, there, by brilliant but, unfortunately, in many cases, cheap and worthless modern dyestuffs.
Fustic.—From America, also, came the excellent yellow dyestuff, “fustic,” yielded by the tree commonly called yellow wood, Cuba wood, etc. Its true botanical name, however, ischlorophora tinctoria, and it was largely used for dyeing, either directly in the form of chips, or as a solid or liquid extract made from the wood.
It was principally used with mordants of aluminium or tin salts, for dyeing wool bright, fast shades of yellow, or, with the aid of bichromate of potash as a mordant, for obtaining mixed shades, in conjunction with indigo, cutch, madder, and logwood. It has been almost entirely replaced now by fast modern dyestuffs.
Logwood.—The most important of all these dyestuffs, and the only one still used on a large scale, is logwood, a dye extracted from the wood of quite a large tree, thehaematoxylon Campechianum (the “blood-red wood from Campeachy”), which grows freely in the West Indies and Central American states.
It was discovered and used by the Spaniards early in the sixteenth century, and in Queen Elizabeth’s reign was introduced into England, much against the wishes of the older school of dyers who furiously denounced it as producing fugitive colors, and had its use prohibited by Act of Parliament. It was over a hundred years before the real value of the dyestuff was appreciated, and this law was repealed.