A year or two ago a German color chemist, famous for his discovery of the brilliant and extremely permanent reddish violet dyestuff, known as Thio Indigo red B., made a careful investigation to see whether, by any chance, this color of his might happen to be the same as the famous old Tyrian purple. He managed to secure some twelve thousand specimens of _murex Brandaris_, and, with an immense amount of labor, obtained from these twelve thousand specimens about twenty-one grains of pure dyestuff. This he carefully analyzed and experimented with, until finally he was able to prove that, while it was not identical with his own Thio Indigo red dyestuff—which, as the name shows, is a compound of indigo and sulphur—the Tyrian purple was a similar compound of the same indigo dyestuff, with the comparatively rare acid element, bromine. In fact it is what the chemists would call a brom-indigo; and this same famous chemist, Dr. Friedlaender, of Biebrich on the Rhine, after discovering its composition, amused himself by manufacturing some of it artificially; and, with the artificial reproduction of the ancient Tyrian purple, he dyed some skeins of silk, as an illustration to his article detailing his discovery. Now, if there were any truth in the theory of the superlative value and beauty of these ancient dyestuffs, it is evident that this rediscovery of the true and genuine Tyrian purple would have been a matter of great practical importance. On the assumption that one pound of dyestuff would color at least twenty pounds of wool, this would put the price of the dye itself, in Diocletian’s day, at a pretty high figure. It can now be manufactured, at a profit, for not over one one-thousandth of what it cost in those days, not allowing, either, for the difference in value of money between then and now. And yet this famous dye, which was so highly esteemed and of which so much has been written, is so inferior in color and tone to several of the modern dyestuffs that it probably would not pay to put it on the market. Dr. Friedlaender’s samples were, indeed, fast to both light and washing, but their color showed dull and, to modern eyes, distinctly uninteresting shades of violet. And there are already on the market several violet, red and blue dyes of the same general class—the indigo or vat dyes—which are quite as fast to light and washing, and far superior in beauty and brilliancy of shade. It is only proper, however, to state that Dr. Friedlaender’s investigation did not completely clear up the subject, though there is no question but that he really discovered the true Tyrian purple; and the color of the specimens dyed and exhibited by him corresponded very closely to some still surviving from antiquity.