Indigofera Tinctoria

The indigo plant, a native of Asia, but cultivated and naturalized in many countries. The use of indigo as a dye is of great antiquity. Both Dioscorides and Pliny mention it, and it is supposed to have been employed by the ancient Egyptians. The



indigo of commerce is prepared by throwing the fresh cut plants into water, where they are steeped for twelve hours, when the water is run off into a vessel and agitated in order to promote the formation of the blue coloring matter, which does not exist ready formed in the tissues of the plant, but is the result of the oxidation of other substances contained in them. The coloring matter then settles at the bottom; it is then boiled to a certain consistency and afterwards spread out on cloth frames, where it is further drained of water and pressed into cubes or cakes for market.

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