A History of Inventions, Discoveries, and Origins (Vol. 1&2). Johann Beckmann

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It was for a long time believed that the Dutch prepared their lacmus from those linen rags which in the south of France are dipped in the juice of the Croton tinctorium89; and this idea appeared the more probable, as most of this tournesol en drapeaux was bought up by the Hollanders: but, as they are the greatest adulterators of wine in Europe, they may perhaps have used these rags to colour Pontack and other wines. It is however not improbable that they at first made lacmus of them, as their dye approaches very near to that of archil. At present it is almost certainly known that orseille en pâte is the principal ingredient in orseille en pierre, that is in lacmus90: and for this curious information we are indebted to Ferber91. But whence arises the smell of the lacmus, which appears to me like that of the Florentine iris? Some of the latter may, perhaps, be mixed with it; for I think I have observed in it small insoluble particles, which may have been pieces of the roots. The addition of this substance can be of no use to improve the dye; but it may increase the weight, and give the lac more body; and perhaps it may be employed to render imperceptible some unpleasant smell, for which purpose the roots of that plant are used on many other occasions.

Another kind of lichen, different from the roccella, which in commerce is known by the names orseille de terre, orseille d’Auvergne, is used also for the like purpose; but it contains fewer and weaker colouring particles. This species, in botany, is called Lichen Parellus (Lecanora Parella), and is distinguished from the roccella by its figure, as it grows only in a thin rind on the rocks. It is collected in Auvergne, on rocks of granite and volcanic productions, and in some parts of Languedoc; the greater part of it is brought from St. Flour. Its name, perelle, comes from an old Languedocian word pére (pierre, a rock); as roccella, afterwards transformed into orseille, is derived from rocca. The use of perelle is very trifling: the Dutch purchase it to make lacmus, perhaps on account of its low price. This lichen has been found also in Northumberland92 and other mountainous districts of Great Britain, but it is not collected there for any purpose.

      FOOTNOTES

66 In the Dictionary of the Academy della Crusca the word oricello is thus explained: Tintura colla quale si tingono i panni, che si fa con orina d’uomo, e con altri ingredienti.

67 Historia Muscorum, Ox. 1741, 4to, p. 120.

68 Hist. Plant. iv. c. 7.

69 Lib. iv. c. 95.

70 Lib. xxvi. c. 10; xxxii. c. 6.

71 Hardouin quotes Aristot. Hist. Animal. vi. c. 9. But that naturalist speaks of a sea-weed which was cast on shore by the Hellespont. A dye or paint was made of it, and the people in the neighbourhood imagined that the purple of this sea-weed, which served as food to certain shell-fish, communicated to them their beautiful dye. A proof that sea-weeds (fuci) can communicate a red colour may be found in the Transactions of the Swedish Academy, iv. p. 29.

72 Voyage du Levant. Amsterd. 1718, 4to, i. p. 89.

73 “Præterea Amorgina, optima quidem in Amorgo fiunt, sed et hæc e lino esse asserunt. Tunica autem Amorgina etiam amorgis nuncupatur.”—Onomasticon, vii. c. 16.

74 Histor. Nat. lib. xxvii. c. 11.

75 Pinax Plant. p. 365. Hist. Plant. iii. 2. p. 796.

76 Other accounts say that he was an Englishman; but the name Frederigo confirms his German extraction.

77 Giornale de’ Letterati d’ Italia, t. xxxiii. parte i. p. 231.

78 These documents from the Florentine records may be found in Dominici Mariæ Manni de Florentinis Inventis Commentarium. Ferrariæ, 1731, p. 37, from which I have extracted the following:—“One of this family resided formerly a long time in the Levant, where he carried on trade, according to the custom of the Florentine nation. Being one day in the fields, and happening to make water on a plant, of which there was great abundance, he observed that it immediately became extraordinarily red. Like a prudent man, therefore, he resolved to make use of this secret of nature, which till that time had lain hid; and having made several experiments on that herb, and finding it proper to dye cloth, he sent some of it to Florence, where, being mixed with human urine and other things, it has always been employed to dye cloth purple. This plant, which is called respo, is in Spain named orciglia, and by botanists commonly corallina. The mixture made with it is called oricello, and has been of great utility and advantage to the woollen manufacture, which is carried on to greater extent in Florence than in any other city. From this circumstance the individuals of that family, by being the inventors of oricello, have been called Oricellai, and have been beloved by the people for having procured to them this particular benefit. Thus has written John di Paolo Rucellai (Manni says that this learned and opulent man wrote in the year 1451); and the same account is still given by dyers in our city, who relate and affirm that their ancestors have for a century exercised the art of dyeing, and that they know the above from tradition.”

      This is confirmed by another passage:—“One of this family, on account of the trade carried on faithfully and honestly by the Florentines, travelled to the Levant, and brought thence to Florence the art, or rather secret, of dyeing in oricello.”

79 In the genealogical history of the noble families of Tuscany and Umbria, written by P. D. Eugenio Gamurrini, and published at Florence 1668–1673, 3 vols. in folio, is the following account, vol. i. p. 274, of the origin of this family:—“This family acquired their name from a secret brought by one of them from the Levant, which was that of dyeing in oricello, never before used in this country. On that account they were afterwards called Oricellari, as appears from several records among the archives of Florence, and then by corruption Rucellari and Rucellai. Of their origin many speak, and all agree that they came into Tuscany from Britain.”

80 The History of the Discovery and Conquest of the Canary Islands, by George Glass. London, 1764, 4to.

81 [Dr. Ure copies this information in his Dictionary, but gives it as the return of an official report for the year 1831!]

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