[1899] Sir H. Davy supposes this colour to have approached our crimson. In painting, it was frequently glazed with purple, to give it an additional lustre.
[1900] Ecl. iv. l. 45. “Sponte suâ sandyx pascentes vestiet agnos.” Ajasson thinks that “Sandyx” may have been a name common to two colouring substances, a vegetable and a mineral, the former being our madder. Beckmann is of the same opinion, and that Virgil has committed no mistake in the line above quoted. Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 110. Bohn’s Edition. See also B. xxiv. c. 56.
[1901] The form “sand,” in these words, Ajasson considers to be derived either from “Sandes,” the name of Hercules in Asia Minor, or at least in Lydia: or else from Sandak, the name of an ancestor of Cinyras and Adonis.
[1902] In B. xxxiii. c. [40]. According to Aetius, syricum was made by the calcination of pure ceruse, (similar to the “usta” above mentioned). He states also that there was no difference between sandyx and syricum, the former being the term generally used by medical men.
[1903] “Black colouring substance.”
[1904] “Carbones infectos.” The reading is very doubtful. It may possibly mean “charred bones tainted with dirt.” This would make an inferior ivory-black. The earth before-mentioned is considered by Ajasson to be a deuto-sulphate of copper, a solution of which, in gallic acid, is still used for dyeing black. The water near copper-mines would very probably be also highly impregnated with it. Beckmann considers these to have been vitriolic products. Vol. II. p. 265.
[1905] Our Lamp-black. Vitruvius describes the construction of the manufactories above alluded to.
[1906] Probably, our Chinese, or Indian ink, a different substance from the indicum of Chapter [27].
[1907] From τρύξ, “grape-husks” or “wine-lees.”
[1908] Indian ink is a composition of fine lamp-black and size.