INDIGOFERA 

 SYNTHETIC INDIGO Trade 



Hliri(>ncy attained does not reach 50 percent, of the total indigotin obtainable, 

 u Inlst the average eHiririn-y of the ' mahai ' is 25 per cent., falling thence 

 to 12-6 per cent, (cake No. 2). The attention of the Government of 

 Indiu will be called to this wasteful method of manufacture, with ;i 



; o the long-needed improvements being introduced to India without 



Concluding the second paper, Bloxam and his collaborators ob- 



" Being now in the possession of some 150 grms. of crystallised 



indiciii, we are undertaking a scientific study of its quantitative conversion, 



rii ms methods, into indigotin with the view of improving the process 

 ut manufacture at present in use in India. The results of our experi- improremmt at 

 incuts all tend to show that considerable improvement remains to be M * nuactuffc 



in the efficiency of the indigo manufacture, and point to the 

 fact that the efficiency of the process is far lower than is currently 

 stated." Bloxam submitted his final Report of the Research Work on 

 Indigo to the Government of India in 1908. 



[('/. Buchanan-Hamilton, Stat. Ace. Dinaj., 1833, 307-14; Montgomery 

 Martin, Hist. E. India, 1838, ii., 986-96 ; Reid, Cult, and Manuf. of Indigo, 1887, 

 65-73, 74-86 ; Nicholls, Trop. Agri., 1892, 256-9 ; Bridges Lee, Man. of Indigo, 

 1892; Journ. Soc. Chem. Indust., April 30, 1894, xiii., 382; Oct. 31, 941; 

 Feb. 28, 1901, xx., 116-7; March 31, 466-7; Sept. 30, 886; May 15, 



1902, xxi., 607 ; Kept, on Coventry's Indigo, 1895, 1897, 1898 ; Cave, Sept. on 

 ' Silicate Process of Indigo Manuf., 1901 ; Rawson, Gardner and Laycock, 



Diet. Dyes, Mordants, etc., 1901, 174-80 ; Perkin, Condition of Indigo Indust., 

 Nature, Nov. 1, 1900, Ixiii., 7-9; Nov. 29, 111-2; Jan. 24, 1901; Breaudat, 

 ('untrib. a L'Etude de la Fabricat. de V Indigo, in Butt. Econ. L'Indo-Ckine, July 



1903, n.s., vi.] 



SYNTHETIC IN Did O. It would be impossible to deal here with Synthetic 

 the discovery and production of synthetic indigo. As a matter of Indl K' 

 historic interest it may be mentioned that Perkin was (in 1856) the 

 original discoverer of the coal-tar dyes, but, like Green's discoveries still 

 later, they were not fully appreciated until they had reached the Nether- 

 lands and German laboratories. Hence for a good many years past the 

 artificial dyes have proved formidable rivals to the natural colours, and 

 even in the case of indigo have begun to curtail the world's demand for the 

 Indian article. Already the exports from India have been reduced very 

 seriously. Germany, for example, has practically ceased to import vegetable 

 indigo, and her exports of the artificial products to all countries were last 

 year valued at 25,000,000 marks (1,250,020). This is remarkable, seeing Great Britain's 

 that the first commercial manufacture was only made in 1897. According 8upply - 

 to a report issued by the Badische Anilin and Soda-Fabrik Company, their 

 profits were in 1903, 583,787, and in 1904, 544,936. Thus it would 

 appear probable that large sums have been realised from the sale of artificial 

 indigo. The imports of synthetic indigo are mainly from the Netherlands. 

 These came to 14,691 cwt., valued at 143,613 in 1902 ; 17,752 cwt. in 

 1903 ; 19,458 cwt. in 1904 ; 32,246 cwt. in 1905 ; and 39,042 cwt., valued 

 at 147,325 in 1906. 



TRADE IN INDIQO.Iu. a dispatch dated 1792, the Board of 

 Directors congratulated the Indian Government that, as the British im- 

 ports of Bengal indigo increased, those from the Spanish and French 

 colonies declined, while at the same time a large export trade from Great 

 Britain to the Continent had been established. That re-export trade 

 amounted in 1790 to close on one million pounds of the dye. Such a 

 brilliant result, when contrasted with the depression that has been cast 

 over the industry, within the past few years, is highly significant. But 



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