Carmine, a powder, of a very beautiful red colour, partaking of the shades of scarlet and purple. It is used by painters in miniature ; but, on account of its high price, they are often induced to substitute lake. The manner of producing it is preserved a secret by colourmakers ; and, though many receipts have been published, none has ever been found to answer the purpose.

The following process, however, we shall communicate on the authority of the Gentleman's Magazine for 1753, in which it is asserted that this costly article maybe made, even in greater perfection than that produced by the French artists : Take four or five gallons of pure water, and dissolve in it a sufficient quantity of pot-ash to make a strong lye. After having filtered the solution, put it in a brass pot, and boil in it one pound of the clean shreds of scarlet cloth dyed ingrain, till they have totally lost their co-lour; then squeeze the shreds, and pass all the lye through a flannel bag. Dissolve two pounds of alum in a proper quantity of water, and add this solution to the lye; stir them well together, and the whole will become rather thick; it is then to be repassed through the flannel bag, and the liquor will run out clear ; but if it be at all tinged, it is again to be boiled, with the addition of a small quantity of dissolved alum, passed through the bag a third time, and all the carmine will be left behind. Fresh water is then to be poured repeatedly into the bag, till all the alum is washed away; when the colour must be dried, so as to prevent any dust from settling on it, and may then be kept for use, being previously reduced to an impalpable powder in a glass or marble. If, however, in the boiling, so much water evaporate, as to require an addition, care must be taken to add only boding water to supply the deficiency.