Among the fine collections of textiles from the Egyptian tombs that are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, are some excellent examples of Tyrian purple. These are what the Greeks used to call “di-bapha,” or double dyed—i.e., dyed very deep, full shades of dark purple. While a wonderful example of the lighter, violet, shades of the same dye can be seen in a famous manuscript, known as “The Golden Gospels,” now in Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan’s collection in the same city, but which was given about 1520, by Pope Leo X to King Henry VIII. This was written, in golden characters, upon vellum dyed with Tyrian purple, and the shades of the latter correspond quite closely with the violet of the artificial brom-indigo compound. On the other hand there is evidence to show that the ancients were also able to obtain, with the same Tyrian purple dye, perhaps from the shellfish _purpura lapillus_, fast and brilliant shades of scarlet, as well as these rather dull tones of violet and purple. In the days of the Roman Empire, as above mentioned, the use of “purple” garments was denied to all but the imperial family; but later, after the rise of the Christian Church, the ecclesiastics gained sufficient power to obtain this privilege for themselves. And to this day the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church are called “porporati” on account of the “purple” or, as we would say, scarlet, color of their characteristic robes. So, whenever we see the red robes of a high dignitary of the church we are probably looking at one of the tints of the real old Tyrian purple, although the art of actually producing it has long since been lost; and, if rediscovered, would probably be of as little practical value as Dr. Friedlaender’s remarkable investigation. THE DYES OF OUR ANCESTORS Between the days of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and the discovery of the first aniline dye in 1856, many and important additions were made to the list of available dyestuffs, some of which have continued in use, for special purposes, up to the present day. =Indian Dyes.=—The opening of trade to the Far East, due to the discovery of the sea route round the Cape of Good Hope, brought to Europe the free use of some of the Indian dyestuffs. Indigo, for instance, was introduced for the first time in considerable quantities, and, after much opposition, completely took the place of the much inferior native dyestuff, woad. For yellow, the old saffron dye was superseded by the more powerful, but still rather fugitive, turmeric, or Indian saffron. This came from the root of the _curcuma tinctoria_, a plant freely grown to this day in both India and China. The safflower was also imported from India; this is a kind of thistle, _carthamus tinctorum_, the dried heads of flowers of which were largely used for dyeing pretty shades of pink upon cotton, _directly_—that is, without any mordanting process. This color, too, is comparatively fugitive to light, and has almost disappeared from sight.