This curiosity is preserved in the British Museum. It is the very earliest specimen we possess of printing, by means of ink or any similar substance. It is made of metal, a sort of Roman brass; the ground of which is covered with a green kind of verdigris rust, with which antique medals are usually covered. The letters rise flush up to the elevation of the exterior rim which surrounds it. Its dimensions are, about two inches long, by one inch broad. At the back of it is a small ring for the finger, to promote the convenience of holding it. As no person of the name which is inscribed upon it is mentioned in Roman History, he is therefore supposed to have been a functionary of some Roman officer, or private steward, and who, perhaps, used this stamp to save himself the trouble of writing his name. A stamp somewhat similar, in the Greek character, is in the possession of the Antiquarian Society, of Newcastle-on-Tyne.
TYRIAN PURPLE.
The shell-fish portrayed on next page is that from which the Tyrian purple dye is obtained. The ancients were very devoid of chemical knowledge; their list of adjective dye-stuffs was therefore restricted, and all the most celebrated dyes of antiquity belonged to the substantive division, of which Tyrian purple was undoubtedly the chief. The purple dye of Tyre, which admits with great propriety of being included amongst the dyes of Greece and Rome, was discovered about fifteen centuries before the Christian era, and the art of using it did not become lost until the eleventh century after Christ. It was obtained from two genera of one species of shell-fish, the smaller of which was denominated buccinum, the larger purpura, and to both the common name murex was applied. The dye-stuff was procured by puncturing a vessel in the throat of the larger genus, and by pounding the smaller entire. Having been thus extracted, salt was added, also a certain amount of water. The whole was then kept hot about eight or ten days in a vessel of lead or tin, the impurities as they rose being assiduously skimmed off. The dye-stuff was now ready to receive the texture to be dyed (wool, universally), and the operation of dyeing was simple enough; nothing further being required than the immersion of the whole for a sufficient time, when, at the expiration of a certain period, the whole of the colouring matter was found to have been removed, and to have combined with the textile fabric.
The tints capable of being imparted by this material were various—representing numerous shades between purple and crimson. Amongst these a very dark violet shade was much esteemed, but the right imperial tint, we are informed, was that resembling coagulated blood. The discovery of Tyrian purple dye is referred to the fifteenth century before Christ. That it was known to the Egyptians, in the time of Moses, is sufficiently obvious from the testimony of more than one scriptural passage. Ultimately, in later ages, a restrictive policy of the eastern emperors caused the art to be practised by only a few individuals, and at last, about the commencement of the twelfth century, when Byzantium was already suffering from attacks without, and dissensions within, the secret of imparting the purple dye of Tyre became lost.
The re-discovery of Tyrian purple as it occurred in England was made by Mr. Cole of Bristol. About the latter end of the year 1683, this gentleman heard from two ladies residing at Minehead, that a person living somewhere on the coast of Ireland, supported himself by marking with a delicate crimson colour the fine linen of ladies and gentlemen sent him for that purpose, which colour was the product of some liquid substance taken out of a shell-fish. This recital at once brought to the recollection of Mr. Cole the tradition of Tyrian purple. He, without delay, went in quest of the shell-fish, and after trying various kinds without success, his efforts were at length successful. He found considerable quantities of the buccinum on the sea-coast of Somersetshire, and the opposite coast of South Wales. The fish being found, the next difficulty was to extract the dye, which in its natural state is not purple, but white, the purple tint being the result of exposure to the air. At length our acute investigator found the dye stuff in a white vein lying transversely in a little furrow or cleft next to the head of the fish.
THE INCARNATIONS OF VISHNU.
There is a part of the mythology of India which seems to be blended with the history of that country. It relates to the different avatars of Vishnu, or his incarnations and appearances on earth.