A Dictionary of Arts: Logwood.

A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines; containing A Clear Exposition of Their Principles and Practice

by Andrew Ure, M. D.;
F. R. S. M. G. S. Lond.: M. Acad. M. S. Philad.; S. PH. DOC. N. GERM. Ranow.; Mulh. Etc. Etc.

Illustrated with nearly fifteen hundred engravings on wood
Eleventh American, From The Last London Edition.
To which is appended, a Supplement of Recent Improvements to The Present Time.

New York: D Appleton & company, 200 Broadway. Philadelphia: George S. Appleton, 148 Chestnut St.
MDCCCXLVII

1847

LOGWOOD (Bois de Campèche Boil bleu, Fr.; Blauholz, Germ.); is the wood of the Hæmatoxylon Campechianum, a native tree of central America, grown in Jamaica since 1715. It was first introduced into England in the reign of Elizabeth, but as it afforded to the unskilful dyers of her time a fugitive colour, it was not only prohibited from being used, under severe penalties, but was ordered to be burned wherever found, by a law passed in the 23d year of her reign. The same prejudice existed, and the same law was enacted against indigo. At length after a century of absurd prohibition, these two most valuable tinctorial matters, by which all our hats, and the greater part of our woollen cloths, are dyed, were allowed to be used.

Old wood with black bark and with little of the white alburnum, is preferred. Logwood is denser than water, very hard, of a fine compact grain and almost indestructible by the atmospheric elements; it has a sweet and astringent taste, and a peculiar not inoffensive smell.

For its chemical composition, see HEMATIN.

When chipped logwood is for some time exposed to the air, it loses a portion of its dyeing power. Its decoction absorbs the oxygen of the atmosphere, and then acquires the property of precipitating with gelatine, which it had not before. The dry extract of logwood, made from an old decoction, affords only a fugitive colour.

For its applications in dyeing, see BLACK DYE; BROWN DYE; CALICO PRINTING; DYEING; HA DYEING, &c.

The imports of logwood for home use were in 1836, 12,880 tons, 13 cwts; in 1837, 14,677 tons, 13 cwts. And the amount of duty received was, in 1836 2,480 in 1837 2,552l.