10. The origin of the art of dyeing is involved in great obscurity, as the ancients have not furnished even a fable, which might guide us in our researches. It is evident, however, that the art must have made considerable progress, long before authentic history begins. Moses speaks of stuffs dyed blue, purple, and scarlet, and of sheep-skins dyed red. The knowledge of the preparation of these colors, implies an advanced state of the art, at that early period.
11. Purple was the favorite color of the ancients, and appears to have been the first which was brought to a state of tolerable perfection. The discovery of the mode of communicating it, is stated to have been accidental. A shepherd's dog, while on the sea-shore, incited by hunger, broke a shell, the contents of which stained his mouth with a beautiful purple; and the circumstance suggested the application of the shell-fish, as a coloring substance. This discovery is thought to have been made about fifteen hundred years before the advent of Christ.
12. The Jews esteemed this color so highly, that they consecrated it especially to the service of the Deity, using it in stuffs for decorating the tabernacle, and for the sacred vestments of the high-priests. The Babylonians and other idolatrous nations clothed their idols in habits of purple, and even supposed this color capable of appeasing the wrath of the gods.
13. Among the heathen nations of antiquity generally, purple was appropriated to the use of kings and princes, to the exclusion of their subjects. In Rome, at a later period, purple habits were worn by the chief officers of the republic, and, at length, by the opulent, until the emperors reserved to themselves the distinguished privilege.
14. There were several kinds of shell-fish, from which this coloring substance was obtained, each of which communicated a shade somewhat different from the others. The kind collected near Tyre was the best; and hence the Tyrian purple acquired especial celebrity. So highly was it esteemed by the Romans, in the time of Augustus, that wool imbued with this color was sold for one thousand denarii per pound, which, in our currency, amounts to one hundred and sixty-eight dollars.
15. After all, the boasted purple of antiquity is supposed to have been a very inferior dye, when compared with many which we now possess; and this is only one among many instances, wherein modern science has given us a decided superiority over the ancients.
16. The color, second in repute with the people of antiquity, was scarlet. This color was communicated by means of an insect, called coccus, and which is now denominated kermes. Besides the various hues of purple and scarlet, several others were in some degree of favor; such as green, orange, and blue. The use of vegetable dyes appears to have been but little known to the Romans; but the Gauls had the knowledge of imparting various colors, even the purple and scarlet, with the juice of certain herbs.
17. The irruption of the northern barbarians into the Roman empire, destroyed this, with the rest of the arts of civilization, in the western parts of Europe; but, having been preserved, more or less, in the East, it was again revived in the West, principally by means of the intercourse arising from the Crusades.
18. Although indigo seems to have been known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, yet it does not appear to have been used for dyeing. The first that was applied to this purpose in Europe, was brought from India by the Dutch; but its general use was not established without much opposition from interested individuals. It was strictly prohibited in England, in the reign of Elizabeth, and, about the same time, in Saxony. Many valuable acquisitions were made to the materials employed in this art, on the discovery of America, among which may be enumerated, cochineal, logwood, Brazil-wood, and Nicaragua, together with the soft maple and quercitron barks.
19. The first book on the art of dyeing was published in 1429. This, of course, appeared in manuscript, as the art of printing had not then been discovered. An edition was printed in 1510. The authors to whom the world is most indebted for correct information on this subject, are Dufuy, Hallet, Macquir, and Berthollet, of France; and Henry and Bancroft, of England; all of whom wrote in the eighteenth century.