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Bible Encyclopedias
Carmine
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
or a pigment of a bright red colour obtained ' from cochineal. It may be prepared by exhausting cochineal with boiling water and then treating the clear solution with alum, cream of tartar, stannous chloride, or acid oxalate of potassium; the colouring and animal matters present in the liquid are thus precipitated. Other methods are in use; sometimes white of egg, fish glue, or gelatine are added before the precipitation. The quality of carmine is affected by the temperature and the degree of illumination during its preparation - sunlight being requisite for the production of a brilliant hue. It differs also according to the amount of alumina present in it. It is sometimes adulterated with cinnabar, starch and other materials; from these the carmine can be separated by dissolving it in ammonia. Good carmine should crumble readily between the fingers when dry. Chemically, carmine is a compound of carminic acid with alumina, lime and some organic acid. Carmine is used in the manufacture of artificial flowers, water-colours, rouge, cosmetics and crimson ink, and in the painting of minia tures. "Carmine lake" is a pigment obtained by adding freshly precipitated alumina to decoction of cochineal.
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Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Carmine'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/c/carmine.html. 1910.
