The imperishable reds of the Brussels and other Flemish tapestries were derived from the Kermes; and, in short, previous to the discovery of cochineal, this was the material universally used for dyeing the most brilliant red then known. At the present time the Kermes are only gathered in Europe by the peasantry of the provinces in which they are found, but they still continue to be employed as of old in a great part of India and Persia.[901]
Brookes says the women gather the harvest of Kermes insects before sunrise, tearing them off with their nails; and, for fear there should be any loss from the hatching of the insects, they sprinkle them with vinegar. They then lay them in the sun to dry, where they acquire a red color.[902]
The scarlet grain of Poland, Coccus polonicus, found on the German knot-grass or perennial knawel (Scleranthus perennis), was at one time collected in large quantities in the Ukraine and other provinces of Poland (here under the name of Czerwiec), and also in the great duchy of Lithuania. But though much esteemed and still employed by the Turks and Armenians for dyeing wool, silk, and hair, as well as for staining the nails of women’s fingers, it is now rarely used in Europe except by the Polish peasantry. A similar neglect has attended the Coccus found on the roots of the Burnet (Poterium sanguisorba, Linn.), which was used, particularly by the Moors, for dyeing wool and silk a rose color; and the Coccus uvæ-ursi, which with alum affords a crimson dye.[903]
Cochineal, the Coccus cacti, is doubtless the most valuable product for which the dyer is indebted to insects, and
with the exception perhaps of indigo, the most important of dyeing materials. It is found on a kind of fig, called in Mexico, where the insect is produced in any quantity, Nopal or Tuna, which generally has been supposed to be the Cactus cochinilifer, but according to Humboldt is unquestionably a distinct species, which bears fruit internally white.
Cochineal was discovered by the Spaniards, on their first arrival in Mexico, about the year 1518; but who first remarked this valuable production, and made it known in Europe, Mr. Beckman says, he has been unable to discover. Some assert that the native Mexicans, before the landing of Cortes, were acquainted with cochineal, which they employed in painting their houses and dyeing their clothes; but others maintain the contrary. Be that as it may, however, the Spanish ministry, as early as the year 1523, as Herrera informs us, ordered Cortes to take measures for multiplying this valuable commodity; and soon after it must have begun to be quite an object of commerce, for Guicciardini, who died in 1589, mentions it among the articles procured then by the merchants of Antwerp from Spain.
Professor Beckman, who has given the subject particular attention, thinks that with the first cochineal, a true account of the manner in which it was procured must have reached Europe, and become publicly known. Acosta in 1530, and Herrera in 1601, as well as Hernandez and others, gave so true and complete a description of it, that the Europeans could entertain no doubt respecting its origin. The information of these authors, however, continues this gentleman, was either overlooked or considered as false, and disputes arose whether cochineal was insects or worms, or the berries or seeds of certain plants. The Spanish name grana, confounded with granum, may have given rise to this contest.
Illustrative of this great difference of opinion, Mr. Beckman narrates the following anecdote: “A Dutchman, named Melchior de Ruusscher, affirmed in a society, from oral information he had received in Spain, that cochineal was small animals. Another person, whose name he has not made known, maintained the contrary with so much heat and violence, that the dispute at length ended in a bet. Ruusscher charged a Spaniard, one of his friends,
who was going to Mexico, to procure for him in that country authentic proofs of what he had asserted. These proofs, legally confirmed in October, 1725, by the court of justice in the city of Antiquera, in the valley of Oaxaca, arrived at Amsterdam in the autumn of the year 1726. I have been informed that Ruusscher upon this got possession of the sum betted, which amounted to the whole property of the loser; but that, after keeping it a certain time, he again returned it, deducting only the expenses he had been at in procuring the evidence, and in causing it to be published. It formed a small octavo volume, with the following title printed in red letters: The History of Cochineal proved by Authentic documents. These proofs sent from New-Spain are written in Dutch, French, and Spanish.”[904]
Among the important discoveries made by accident, the following in the history of Cochineal may be instanced: “The well-known Cornelius Drebbel, who was born at Alcmaar, and died at London in 1634, having placed in his window an extract of Cochineal, made with boiling water, for the purpose of filling a thermometer, some aqua-regia dropped into it from a phial, broken by accident, which stood above it, and converted the purple dye into a most beautiful dark red. After some conjectures and experiments, he discovered that the tin by which the window frame was divided into squares had been dissolved by the aqua-regia, and was the cause of this change. He communicated his observation to Kuffelar, an ingenious dyer at Leyden. The latter brought the discovery to perfection, and employed it some years alone in his dye-house, which gave rise to the name of Kuffelar’s color.”[905]