ARTICLE L.

PARIS.

MR. De Reaumur has difcovered a new. Tincture of Purple. He read a Difcourfe upon that Subject in the firft Affembly of the Royal Academy of Sciences held after the Vacation in 1711.

He obferved, That notwithstanding what has been written by the Moderns concerning the Purple Colour, fo much valued by the Ancients, the Nature of the Liquor from which it proceeded, is very little known; and that the Tracts relating to this Subject, are only a Kind of a Commentary upon fome Paffages of Aristotle and Pliny. Whoever defigns to make any Discovery in natural Things, ought to confult Nature itself, rather than the Naturalifts. We find feveral Particulars concerning the Purple Colour in the Two Authors just now mentioned but they are more proper to raise our Curiofity than to fatisfy it.

Tho' thofe Authors. (faid Mr. De Reaumur) have mentioned in feveral Places, that Shell-Fish, which afforded a Liquor for a Purple-die; tho' they treat of its Birth; tho' they tell us how long it lived, how it was got, how that precious Liquor was taken from it, and prepared; yet the Tincture of Purple, known to the Ancients, was reckoned among loft Secrets. Hence it is, that the Obfervations of a late English Writer upon the Purple-die, arifing from a Shellfish very com mon upon the Coafts of England, appeared a new thing.

That

That Shell-Fish is only one of thofe Kinds included under the Word Buccinum by the Ancients, because the Figure of thofe Shells is fomewhat like that of a Hunter's Horn. Pliny (Lib. VII. Cap." 36.) mentions Two Sorts of Shell-Fifh, that afford a Purple-die. The Firft are all the feveral Kinds of fmall Buccinum's; and the Second, the Shell-fifh called Purpura, as well as the Colour it affords.

Mr. De Reaumur obferved, That the latter Sort is not to be found upon our Shores; but they frequently afford a fmall Kind of Buccinum, the largeft whereof are about Twelve or Thirteen Lines long, and about Seven or Eight in Diameter, in the thickest Part of them. Those Shells are winded in a Spiral manner, like those of our GardenSnails, but fomewhat more ftretched out.

As I was confidering the Shell-Fith of that Kind upon the Shore, faid Mr. De Reaumur, I found a new Tincture of Purple, which I was not looking for. I obferved, that the Buccinum's were generally gathered together about foine Stones, or under fome fandy Arches formed by the Sea; and that they lay there in fuch plentiful Numbers, that one might take up Handfulls of them; whereas they were difperfed up and down every where else. I obferved at the fame Time, that thofe Stones, or that Sand, were full of fmall Grains, of a Figure fomewhat like that of an Elliptick Spheroid. Those Grains were above Three Lines long, and above one Line broad. They feemed to contain a White Liquor inclining to Yellow; a Colour not much. unlike that of the Liquor taken from the Buccinum's for a Purple-die. This Refemblance, and the Manner how the Buccinum's were always gathered together about thofe fmall Grains, made me think, that the fame Grains might perhaps afford a Purpledie, like that which is taken from that Shell-Fish. I refolved to take a narrower View of those Grains; and I perceived that fome of them looked Reddish. U 4 I

1

I immediately took fome from thofe Stones, to which they fuck very faft; and having squeezed their Juice upon my Ruffles, I faw no other Colour but fomething Yellowish, which I could hardly diftinguifh in fome Places. Some other Objects made me forget what I had been doing. Bur cafting my Eyes accidentally upon my Ruffles, half a Quarter of an Hour after, I was very agreeably furprised to see a fine Purple Colour in thofe Places, on which the Grains had been fqueezed. I could hardly believe the Truth of fuch a quick Alteration; and therefore I took up again fome of those Grains, but more carefully than I had done at first ; for I chose those that appeared to me Whiteft, or rather not fo Yellow as others. I fqueezed them again upon my Ruffles, in feveral Places, and I faw no manner of Colour that came near Red. But looking upon my Ruffles about Three or Four Minutes, I perceived they had all of a fudden a Purple Colour, as fine as the firft. Which was fuffici ent to convince me, that thofe Grains afforded a Purple-Colour, as beautiful as that of the Buc cinum's.

In the next Place, Mr. De Reaumur mentioned feveral Experiments, which he made in order tÒ know whether that Liquor would laft as long as that of the Buccinum's. He obferved, that a Cloth dipped into the Liquor of thofe Grains, does not receive a Purple-Colour till it be exposed to the open Air; that notwithstanding all his Experiments to know the Nature of thofe Grains, he could not dif, cover it; and that the Liquour of those Grains might be drawn a Thousand Times more conveniently than that of the Buccinum's by the Ancients. He faid many Curious Things upon this Head; and then he added, that the Benefit arifing from those Eggs would very much exceed that, which the Ancients reaped from the Buccinum's, because those Eggs are infinitely more plentiful than that Shell-fifti.

Laftly,

Laftly, He obferved that the Colour of that Li quor appears very fine upon Linnen; and that painted Callico being now very much in Vogue, one might, ufe that Liquor with very good Succefs to print all Sorts of Figures upon Cloth. That Liquor, (faid he,) and alfo that of the Buccinum's, would be the more proper for fuch a Ufe, becaufe it does not reach beyond the Place on which it is laid; and therefore the Figures would never be confounded.

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PARI S.

MR. Chevillard, Hiftoriographer of France, and the King's Genealogift, who has published within these Twenty Years fo many Hiftorical, and Chronological Maps, has newly put out a Map of the Emperors and Empreffes of the Weft, from Char lemagne to this prefent Time. It contains a Chronological Succeffion of the German or Western Emperors, the Time of their Election, Coronation, and Death, their Alliances, &c. The fame Author will fhortly publish fome other Works of the fame Nature, and no lefs curious.

An Anonymous Author has published a Compendious Hiftory of the Church, by way of Queftions and Answers, from the Beginning of the World to this present Time.

Hiftoire de l'Eglife en Abregé, par demandes &par réponses, depuis je commencement du Monde juf qu'à prefent... Paris @1711. 1711. Four Volumes in

12mo.

This Work is, the Subftance of the many Subjects, that make up the Hiftory of the Church. The Readers will find upon every Question all the Cir cumstances,

cumftances, that are neceffary for the clearing of it. This Abridgment is not a dry Performance; and may ferve as a good Introduction to the Study of Ecclefiaftical History.

An Anonymous Author has newly publifhed feve ral Dialogues of the Dead, written for the Education of a Prince. He defigns to go on with this Work, if his First Effay meets with a good Recep tion from the Publick.

Dialogues des Morts, compofez pour l'Education d'un Prince. Paris 1712. in 120. pagg. 314.

These Dialogues contain feveral Precepts to form the Mind of a young Prince, and to qualify him for the Government of his Subjects.

ROVE N.

A NEW Edition of Terence with the Notes of

Father Fouvency enlarged, has been lately Printed.

ART.