THE PLACE OF RESEARCH IN EDUCATION. 343 



sequences. They largely increased their scientific staff- 

 research became the business of the works, and the indus- 

 try expanded at an extraordinary rate, while the Eng- 

 lish manufacturers, remaining unteachable, and having no 

 proper scientific staff in their employ, were simply snuffed 

 out. 



And the story has yet another side — you have all heard 

 of the turkey-red or madder dyes, formerly obtained from 

 the madder plant which was very largely grown in France, 

 Holland and Turkey. In 1868 tw T o German chemists pre- 

 pared alizarin, which is the chief constituent of madder, 

 artificially from anthracene — a substance contained in coal- 

 tar. Now Perkin, when a student with Hofmann, had 

 worked with anthracene, and seeing the practical impor- 

 tance of the discovery again set to work and anticipated 

 Graebe and Liebermann in the discovery of a process of 

 manufacturing alizarin. He at once began to make it arti- 

 ficially — his works prospered and during several years the 

 production of artificial alizarin was an English industry. But 

 Perkin made the unfortunate "English" mistake of working 

 almost single-handed — - the Germans, meanwhile, were 

 silently but steadily working in their characteristic manner, 

 studying. every detail, and soon came to the fore and be- 

 came masters of the situation. 



Perkin's business is now continued as the British 

 Alizarin Company. The conditions under which this firm 

 is working are somewhat peculiar, and such as to procure 

 for it considerable advantages, but the success which has 

 attended its labours is sufficient to show that such an in- 

 dustry might be carried on with special advantage in this 

 country if organised in the proper spirit. Several years 

 ago I had the opportunity of visiting the works shortly 

 after I had inspected the most fully equipped factory of the 

 kind in Germany, and I was agreeably surprised to find 

 that the English works were distinctly in advance of their 

 continental competitors, being able to deal economically 

 with larger quantities. But whereas here the anthracene 

 colour industry is much as it was, abroad it has expanded 

 in various important directions which are proving highly 



