An agreeable, acid, penetrating liquor, prepared from wine, beer, &c.  To make vinegar, the wine or beer is made to undergo a second fermentation, called the acid or acetous fermentation; the first which the vegetable juice had to undergo, in order to convert it into wine or beer, being called the vinous fermentation.  Vinegar is of great use in cookery and medicine; the word is derived from the French for wine, vin, and aigre, sour.  The ancients had several kinds of vinegar, which they used as drinks; but it is most likely that these vinegars were different from that so called among us, and were more probably a kind of wine.

     Acetous, sour.

     Vinous, wine-like.

What materials are used for the dyeing and coloring of our manufactures?

There are many mineral and vegetable earths which furnish mankind with different colors for beautifying their various manufactures, and assisting them in the arts, &c.  Some species of insects also come to their aid, as for instance, the cochineals; these insects are killed by the application of heat, and thus form the drug used for giving red colors, especially crimson and scarlet, and for making carmine.  The beautiful and permanent blue called Indigo, is the produce of a small shrub, two or three feet in height.

From what part is the Dye obtained?

From the leaves; the color is produced by soaking them some hours in water, in large vessels constructed for the purpose; the sediment of the blue liquor drawn from them is afterwards dried and sold in the form of small grains For the painter, they are mixed with oil, or diluted and made up into small cakes with gum water.

In what countries is Indigo cultivated?

It is native in both Indies, and in South America, where its cultivation affords employment to many of the inhabitants.  It also grows wild in parts of Palestine, and is much cultivated both in Syria and Egypt.  It once formed one of the staples of the Southern States, but has in a great measure given way to the cultivation of cotton.

Has Indigo been long known?

The culture and preparation of indigo were known to the Oriental nations long before it was introduced into Europe.  The inhabitants of ancient Britain painted their bodies with the blue dye which they obtained from woad, a plant which grows wild in France and along the shores of the Baltic, and which greatly resembles indigo in all its properties, except its brilliancy of color.

     Brilliancy, brightness.

What is Gamboge?

The concrete resinous juice of a species of gum-tree, growing in Cambodia, and other parts of the Indies.  It is brought over in large cakes or rolls of a yellowish brown color outside, and inside of a deep yellow or orange, which changes to a pale bright yellow on being moistened.

What are the uses of Gamboge?