Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1880-11-13
colors and Dyes used In
Antiquity.
BIZ nAEICs HoYEAT.

is willingly admitted. But in indus
trial matters they are either depreci-
ated TO all exaggerated extent or exal-
ted beyond measure. We will endeav-
or to prove that both these opinions are
at fault, at least in 90 far as colors are
concerned, building simply upon facts. |
and strictly rejecting all hypothesis or
randoIIi conjecture.
We will examine in succession the
various eolors known TO the ancients.
and compare them with our modern
colors.
Chalksand white lead were the only
color- known Of old. But under the
name of chalk they conlounded true
chalk carbonate of lime with various
argillaceous earths. such Il, pipe clay.
AS for white lead of the anrients,it is
known only from the accounts of its
preparation given us by Tleophraetus
and Dio-corldes. According to Pliny,
the white lead manufactured at Rhodes
wa superior to all others.
Davy, who has analyzed great num-
Der Of ancient color~. did not find white
lead in any ofthe specimens submitted
to his examination.
To the whites known by the ancients
there have been added in modern
times
l. Pearl white, or subnitrate of bis
muth, the use of which is of very little
Importance (being rarely employed
saved for the reprehensible purpose OF
powdering the face, a custom which
is unfortunately no longer confined to
ONE of questionable ~character).
,. Zinc white, a color preferable to
white lead in a great number of cases,
in so far as it is less poisonous and is
not affected by sulphur fumes.
3. Permanent white or blame fire ar
titicial sulphate Of barytall. This color
is absolutely fast, not poisonous being
neither volatile nor soluble under any
probable circumstances, and very
much cheaper than white lead. 1t is
largely consumed in the production Of
paper hangings.
Dyeing white was unknown in AN
tiqufty. The natural whiteness T lin
en- after being bleached on the grass
that of the wool Of white sheep, after
the action Of burnt sulphur, which ap-
pears to have been known and prac-
ticed in very remote ages-and the
white silks of China, were all that
could be produced in the way of white
goods.
To many persons, even in our days.
the word dye as app led to whites,
seems nonsense. Pure white does not
exist.
Both vegetable tibree after being
bieached with chlorine. and animal fl
blts after slowing, retain a yellow or
grayish east, which has to be conbated
by the addition Of a color compiiment0-
ry to yellow. This is the meaning of
dyeing whites, an operation which must
be pronounced modern. Sometimes
we go further than merely destroying
the yellow tint. and give a slight color.
White, therefore, now ranks truly a
mong the very light shades, and takes
various names according to its tint.
Thus we have azure whites, inclining
to a blue; cream whites tending to a
yellow. etc.
For a long time indigo and annatto
have been exclusively used in white
dyeing; then came extract Of indigo
and ammoniacal cOchineal, which have
in their turn been laid aside in favor OF
BLACKS
The uncients knew the several varie-
ties of carbon still employed as black
colors. The painter Apelles, according
to Pliny, made use Ofthe black obtained
hv the calcination of ivory.
Davy detected lampblack mixed with
oclreS in the pictures of the baths of
Livia.
For writing ink the Romans employ
ed. first the juice of mulberrieS. then a
kind ofimperfect Indian ink. for which
DioScorides has given the receipt
three parts OF lamp black with one
part ofgum. 1t IS probable that an ink
of this kind was in use among the
Greeks. 1t is probably only ~emi-tiuid,
and required to be ground up.
The ancients used various colored
inks, which were probably pigments
suspended in watel
They dyed leather black with gall
nuts and copperas. but this preparation
was not employed as an ink till the
ninth century OF the Christian era. II
is, moreover. less solid than the inks
with a base of lampblack. 1.-THE manu-
scripts found at Herculaneum had been
written with our ordinary ink they
could never have been deciphered.
We have made no additions 10 the
list Of black colors based on carbon
but we have greatly improved the ar
OF black dyeing.
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