ACACIA, EGYPTIAN THORN, OR BINDING BEAN-
TREE, in botany, a species of Mimosa, according to
Linnaeus; tho' other botanists make it a distinct genus.
See MIMOSA.
The flowers of a species of the acacia are used by
the Chinese in making that yellow, which we see
bears washing in their silks and stuffs, and appears
with so much elegance in their painting on paper. The
method is this:
They gather the flowers before they are fully open;
these they put into a clean earthen vessel over a gentle
heat, and stir them continually about, as they do the
tea-leaves, till they become dryish and of a yellow col-
our; then to half a pound of the flowers they add
three spoonfuls of fair water, and after that a little
more, till there is just enough to hold the flowers in-
corporated together: they boil this for some time, and
the juice of the flowers mixing with the water, it be-
comes thick and yellow; they then take it from the
fire, and strain it through a piece of coarse silk. To
the liquor they add half an ounce of common alum,
and an ounce of calcined oyster-shells reduced to a fine
powder. All is then well mixed together; and this is
the fine lasting yellow they have so long used.
The dyers of large pieces use the flowers and seeds
of the acacia for dying three different sorts of yellow.
They roast the flowers, as before observed; and then
mix the seeds with them, which must be gathered
for this purpose when full ripe: by different admixture
of these, they give the different shades of colour, only
for the deepest of all they give a small mixture of Bra-
zil wood.
Mr Geoffroy attributes the origin of bezoar to the
seeds of this plant; which being browsed by certain
animals, and vellicating the stomach by their great
sourness and astringency, cause a condensation of the
juices, till at length they become coated over with a
stony matter, which we call BEZOAR.