Back to Phoenician Industrial Art and Manufacturing

Mode of procuring the dye from them

The colouring matter contained in the /sac/ of the /Purpuræ/ is a liquid of a creamy consistency, and of a yellowish-white hue. On extraction, it is at first decidedly yellow; then after a little time it becomes green; and, finally, it settles into some shade of violet or purple. Chemical analysis has shown that in the case of the /Murex trunculus/ the liquid is composed of two elementary substances, one being cyanic acid, which is of a blue or azure colour, and the other being purpuric oxide, which is a bright red. In the case of the /Murex brandaris/ one element only has been found: it is an oxide, which has received the name of /oxyde tyrien/. No naturalist has as yet discovered what purpose the liquid serves in the economy, or in the preservation, of the animal; it is certainly not exuded, as sepia is by the cuttle-fish, to cloud the water in the neighbourhood, and enable the creature to conceal itself.

Information supplied by: "http://phoenicia.org