It would seem hardly worth while to dwell further upon this subject, were not the idea so fixed in the minds of craftsmen in general that to get permanent and artistic effects in dyeing we must go back to the colors of our ancestors, if not to those of the ancient world. To this day we hear of new industries being started in the lines of hand-made tapestries, hand-woven linens, homespun cloths, and the like, where, as a great inducement to prospective purchasers, the goods are loudly proclaimed as dyed with “pure vegetable colors”; and the first question commonly asked about a pretty piece of dyed work is, “Are you sure that it is fast? Did you use the vegetable dyes?” As a result of this ignoring and scorning of the wonderful results of modern science in its application to this most important industry, the work of textile craftsmen all over the world is far behind the times, and comparatively far behind other lines of craftwork. Nobody expects a modern sculptor to do his carving with the bronze tools used by the old Athenians; nor do we consider that the present day worker in metals should refrain from using the modern gas furnace, or limit his products to the few metals and alloys known in the Middle Ages, ignoring those which modern chemistry has developed. And yet, all over the world, craftsmen are still pottering with long since obsolete dyestuffs and obscure and antiquated formulæ, instead of spending their energies in getting, with the minimum expenditure of time and trouble, results of a quality never dreamed of by the most skilful dyers of half a century ago. As a matter of fact, so far from Mr. Ruskin’s estimate of the value of ancient dyes being correct, it is actually no more than fair to say that hardly a single dyeing process, known and used more than fifty years ago, is of the slightest practical importance now to any one. DYES OF THE ANCIENTS So far as we can tell, the art of dyeing is an extremely ancient one. It seems to have developed in every country and to have been practised by every race of mankind, as soon as that race ceased to rely exclusively upon the skins of fur-bearing animals for clothing and coverings. Wherever we find people using woven goods, whether vegetable, like cotton or linen, or animal, like wool or silk—or wherever, as in the case of the North American Indians, they have learned the art of dressing skins so as to make them soft, pliable, and with a comparatively smooth surface, we find at least the rudiments of the process of dyeing, in the staining of these materials to add to their beauty and interest.