3i8 



NATURE 



[Sei*tember I, 1923 



Dr. Marshall's choice of his authorities in this particular 

 field, but each must remember that this l)ook has been 

 written not for one interest but for all that are concerned 

 with the physiology of reproduction. 



As it stands, the book is the best treatise on the 

 subject that we have, and it is because it is so good and 

 so valuable that its beneficiaries are so concerned in its 

 further development. It must remain the best book 

 on the subject and a memorable contribution to British 

 scientific literature. F. A. E. C. 



Applied Organic Chemistry and Inter- 

 national Trade. 



(i) Synthetic Colouring Matters: Vat Colours. By 

 Prof. Jocelyn Field Thorpe and Dr. Christopher 

 Kelk Ingold. (Monographs on Industrial Chemistry.) 

 Pp. xvi+491. (London: Longmans, Green and 

 Co., 1923.) 16^. net. 



(2) Dyes and their Application to Textile Fabrics. By 

 A. J. Hall. (Pitman's Common Commodities and 

 Industries.) Pp. ix + ii8. (London: Sir Isaac 

 Pitman and Sons, Ltd., n.d.) 35. net. 



(3) Handbuch der biologischen Arbeitsmethoden. Heraus- 

 gegeben von Prof. Dr. Emil Abderhalden. Lieferung 

 84. Abt. I : Chemische Methoden. Teil 10, Heft 3 : 

 Spezielle chemische Methoden. Harze und Pflanzen- 

 farbstoffe. Pp. 585-832 + xxii. (Berlin und Wien: 

 Urban und Schwarzenberg, 1922.) 10.5 Schw. 

 francs. 



DURING the period which has elapsed since the 

 Armistice, events in the domain of international 

 trade confirm the belief engendered by the War that the 

 manufactures based on applications of organic chemistry 

 are among the most important of our key industries. 

 The pre-War dependence on German sources for the 

 supply of fine chemicals was a national menace, which 

 has since been largely obviated by the creation of a new 

 industry in organic chemicals entirely unprecedented 

 in the annals of the British Empire. A remarkable 

 achievement standing to the credit of the manufacturers 

 of synthetic dyes and intermediates may be appreciated 

 by the circumstance that whereas in 1914 eighty per 

 cent, of these colours used in Great Britain were of 

 German origin and only twenty per cent, of home pro- 

 duction, nowadays these proportions are reversed, 

 British makers accounting for eighty per cent, of the 

 total supply, the remainder coming from abroad, and 

 at present more from Switzerland than from Germany. 

 In regard to certain complicated colours, such as the 

 vat dyes, now being produced for the first time in Great 

 Britain, it is generally admitted by dye users that the 

 quality is well up to continental standards, but a 

 difficulty arises in the matter of cost of production. 



NO. 2809, VOL. I 12] 



Owing to the disparity between the exchanges this cost 

 is far lower in Germany than in Great Britain. A vat 

 dye put on the market by British makers at four or 

 five shillings per pound can be sold with profit for the 

 .same numl)er of pence by the German producers. It 

 should be obvious that without the partial protection 

 afforded by the DyestufTs Act the British manufacturers 

 must get the worst of this unfair competition. The 

 closing down of our newly established works in dyes and 

 intermediates would, however, mean " Never again " 

 in a sense very different from that in which this patriotic 

 exclamation was uttered in 1914. The value of a home 

 supply of dyes has already been clearly demonstrated 

 since the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr 

 rendered very uncertain the importatioi man 



colours even under licence. 



(i) The monograph on vat colours by Prof. Thorpe 

 and Dr. Ingold deals with an important group of dyes 

 which are among the most durable and brilliant of 

 colouring matters. This group includes not only the 

 long-known dyes, indigo and Tyrian purple, but also 

 several series of new colours discovered during the 

 present century. These dyes have highly complicated 

 chemical structures and are produced by difficult 

 operations taxing to the utmost the skill and ingenuity 

 of scientifically trained industrialists. It is note- 

 worthy that vat dyes are now being manufactured by 

 at least three British firms, and the chemists engaged 

 in this industry have not only copied ver>' successfully 

 the German types, but also have placed on the market 

 several entirely new and valuable vat colours. The 

 monograph now under review, which arrives at a crucial 

 time in the history of British chemical industry*, is the 

 first English treatise deahng with this intricate group of 

 synthetic dyes. 



(2) Mr. Hall's handbook, which is one of a series deal- 

 ing with common commodities and industries, is written 

 for the non-technical reader and is intended to give him 

 a comprehensive view of the dye and dyeing industries. 

 In an outline of the development of the dye industry 

 it is significant to note the opening sentence of the first 

 letter which ever passed between a dye user and a 

 synthetic dye maker. Messrs. Pullar, writing to the 

 discoverer of mauveine in 1856, stated, " If your dis- 

 covery does not make the goods too expensive it is 

 decidedly one of the most valuable that has come out 

 for a verj- long time." This matter of cost is still a 

 burning question between makers and users, and the 

 presence in allied and neutral countries of parcels of 

 dirt-cheap German dyes tends to make our dyers and 

 printers chafe against the restrictions imposed under the 

 Dyestuffs Act. But since the principal Rhenish dye 

 factories are within the allied spheres of occupation, it 

 should not be impossible to make fiscal arrangements 



