CONCERNING THE

PHILOSOPHY

OF

PERMANENT COLOURS;

AND THE

BEST MEANS OF PRODUCING THEM,

BY

DYEING, CALICO PRINTING, &c.

BY EDWARD BANCROFT, M. D.

FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, AND OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY
OF ARTS AND SCIENCES, OF THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY.

"Cet art (de la teinture) est un des plus utiles et des plus merveilleux qu'on
connoisse; et si quelque un peut inspirer un noble orgueil à l'homme, c'est celui là:
non seulment il a procuré le moyen de suivre et d'imiter la nature dans la richesse
et l'eclat des couleurs; mais il paroit l'avoir surpassé en donnant plus d'éclat, plus
de fixité et plus de solidité aux couleurs fugaces et passageres dont elle a revetu
tous les corps qui composent ce globe."

CHAPTAL, Elémens de Chimie, tom. iii. p. 185.

VOL. 1.

PHILADELPHIA:

PUBLISHED BY THOMAS DOBSON, AT THE STONE HOUSE,

No. 41, SOUTH SECOND STREET.

William Fry, Printer.
1814.

1853. Dec. Posthumous Gift

245 John Fanian Li

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

INTRODUCTION, concerning the origin and progress of dyeing

and calico printing

PART I.

Page

xiii

1

CHAP. I. Of the permanent colours of natural bodies

CHAP. II. Of the composition and structure of the fibres of

wool, silk, cotton, and linen

62

CHAP. III. Of the different kinds and properties of colour-

ing matter employed in dyeing, calico-printing, &c.

CHAP. IV. Of substantive animal colours, and principally of

82

the Tyrian purple

89

CHAP. V. Of vegetable substantive colours, and principally of

indigo, and the plants affording it, or a similar colour

CHAP. VI. Of mineral substantive colours

122

233

PART II.

CHAP. I. Of adjective colours generally, and their bases;

with an illustration of their effects upon each other, as ex-

emplified by Oriental and European calico-printing

CHAP. II. Of adjective colours from European insects, and

principally from the kermes, or coccus illicis, Linn.

CHAP. III. Of the natural history of cochineal

CHAP. IV. Of the properties and uses of cochineal; with an

account of new observations and experiments, calculated to

improve the scarlet dye

253

292

305

331