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rtianufadtories at Constantinople, discovered a matrix at Tolfa, by means ofthe Ilex aquifolium , which he had also observed to grow in the adjacentmountains of Turkey, and his opinion was confirmed by the taste of the stones.The attempts made by the Genoese at Viterbium and at Volaterre succeededextremely well; the preparation of alum in Italy soon increased wonderfullyfast, &c. The first manufadtory in England was established in the reignof Elizabeth, at Gisborough, by one Thomas Chaloner.’ ”— Bancroft, “ OnPermanent Colours.”

When Italy was overrun by those barbarous nations who came from thenorth-east of Europe, the progress of all arts and sciences and of all humanindustry belonging to advanced civilisation was stopped, and remained soduring at least five centuries, except in a small portion of Spain. Here theso-called Saracens succeeded in establishing a settled state of society, and, asevidenced by the records they left, attained high proficiency in manufacturingarts, such as paper making, sugar refining, and the extradtion of dyes fromnative vegetable produce. They were, doubtless, acquainted with the processof dyeing the so-called Turkey red, as the means of producing that dye ontissues were known at the time at Adrianopolis, in Turkey.

In the Middle Ages, the Jews were perhaps the greatest dyers. During whatis often called the Revival Period of Literature and Science, to wit, the end ofthe 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries, the Republic of Florence becamenot only the seat of civilisation, but of a thorough revival of industry andmanufadture, especially as regards dyeing.

“According to M. Berthollet, whatever knowledge the Greeks and Romanshad derived from others or acquired from their own observations appears tohave been in a great degree lost about the 5th century, when scarce any tracesof science, industry, or humanity were left in what was then called the WesternEmpire ; a little, however, did remain, and it was afterwards preserved in Italy,where the Venetians contrived to import many oriental produdtions and manu-factures, which, by affording new means, as well as new objects of imitation,contributed greatly to revive the arts.

“ The first collection of processes used in dyeing was published at Venice in1429 under the name of “ Mariegola del’Arte de Tintori,” of which anotheredition, much improved, appeared in 1510; and from this an individual namedGiovanne Ventura Rosetti, who travelled into different parts of Italy and theneighbouring countries, to learn the methods and means employed in dyeing,composed, and in 1548 published, a work under the title of “ Plictho del’Artede i Tintori, &c.,” which has been supposed to have contributed more than anyother to the improvements afterwards made in that art. In this work, how-ever, there is no mention of either indigo or cochineal, which M. Berthollettherefore concludes were not at that time employed by the Italian dyers. Thisappears to have been the work which, at a meeting of the Royal Society on the30th of April, 1662, Mr. Haak was desired to translate into the English lan-guage (see Dr. Birch’s “ History ”). That learned body had, upon its first insti-tution, bestowed some attention to the subject of dyeing; and on the same daySir William Petty, one of its earliest and most active members, in consequenceof a previous request from the Society, brought in “An Appendix to the His-tory of the Common Pradlices of Dyeing,” which was afterwards printed inDi. Spratt’s “ History of the Royal Society,” and seems to have been the first

is.