July 19, 1917] 



NATURE 



407 



of antiquity, who were forced to utilise mixtures of 

 blue and yellow. The choice of medieval dyers 

 was even narrower, for Tyrian purple became 

 obsolete with the lapse of time, owingf to the cost 

 of production. But with the great geographical 

 discoveries of the sixteenth century four new- 

 natural colouring matters were added to the list, 

 namely, cochineal, logwood, quercitron, and fustic, 

 and the use of indigo, which had fallen into 

 abeyance, was revived. 



The birth and development of modern chemistry 

 added in the period 1790 to 1853 six more dyes 

 and pigments : picric acid, chrome yellow, chrome 

 green, Prussian blue, artificial ultramarine, and 

 murexide. The period of intensive colour produc- 

 tion began with Perkin's synthesis of mauve, since 

 Avhen many thousand dyes have been produced, of 

 which about 3000 have at one time or another been 

 utilised by dyers. The capture of this industry 

 by German industrialists placed at the disposal of 

 their military chiefs a new form of offensive, 

 namely, war with poisons. The asphyxiating 

 gases, chlorine and phosgene, and the lachryma- 

 tory liquid, benzyl bromide, were prepared in large 

 quantities for the colour industry, and were ready 

 to hand for a more nefarious use. 



The tragic story of the red trousers adopted 

 for the French Army constitutes one of 

 the world-war's most cruel ironies. This 

 colour was originally selected in order to 

 encourage the cultivation of French madder, which 

 colour principle was, however, entirely superseded 

 by artificial alizarin in 1876. Nevertheless, the 

 French War Office disbursed annually vast sums 

 in the purchase of the latter dye from the 

 Badische Anilin- & Soda-Fabrik, an astute Ger- 

 man firm, which very obligingly established a 

 special shade of alizarin red to suit the require- 

 ments of their French clients. With the outbreak 

 of war the lives of thousands of France's incom- 

 parable soldiery were sacrificed to demonstrate 

 that this excellent red, worn to support a dead 

 industry, was an admirable target for the enemy. 



This sombre episode is typical of the methods 

 of peaceful penetration by means of which German 

 industrialists endeavoured, only too successfully, 

 for forty years before the war to acquire that 

 chemical predominance which was to pave the way 

 for military victory- over their short-sighted rivals. 

 The secret of this German success was to con- 

 centrate on essentials. Germany was alone at first 

 in recognising what should be the correct relation- 

 ship between theory and application, and between 

 science and industry. Its Government assigned 

 no limits to the endowment of universities and to 

 the enrolment and encouragement of professors. 

 The latter gained glory and profit from any of their 

 discoveries receiving technical applications. Ger- 

 man manufacturers prided themselves on possess- 

 ing research laboratories rivalling, and often 

 excelling, those of the universities. Sure of 

 ultimate success, they no longer imposed on their 

 research chemists the crippling task of obtaining 

 immediately profitable results. Conscious that the 

 field of inquiry is illimitable, they did not demand 

 of their pioneers and prospectors payable dis- 

 XO. 2490, VOL. 99] 



coveries to order. As the result of this far-sighted 

 policy, carried into practice by patient and system- 

 atically co-ordinated workers, German industrialists 

 ultimately were enabled to make discoveries which 

 rendered them masters not only of the colour 

 industry, but also of all ether industries depending 

 on chemical synthesis, such as the manufacture of 

 pharmaceutical and photographic products and the 

 production of artificial perfumes. In this way the 

 large German firms acquired a systematically 

 recorded mass of detailed practical experience 

 which is far more valuable to them than their 

 financial resources. It is true that the principles 

 underlying the production of dyes and other fine 

 chemicals may be gleaned from a perusal of patent 

 specifications and other scientific publications ; yet 

 these disclosures are more apparent than real, for 

 it is certain that very few, if any, of these pro- 

 cesses, if carried out as described, could meet the 

 competition which existed before the war. Large 

 staffs of experienced technical chemists are 

 required to put these syntheses into effective opera- 

 tion. 



In the meantime, non-German chemical manu- 

 facturers and chemical users had fallen to a 

 position of subordinance. The part played by 

 the former was the collection of • German inter- 

 mediate products and the conversion of these sub- 

 stances into dyes, a comparatively simple and 

 inexpert task compared with the highly skilled 

 processes by which these intermediates were manu- 

 factured. The German manufacturers were very 

 liberal towards their subordinates, and even 

 encouraged the development of foreign factories of 

 this type, realising that in these dep>endent enter- 

 prises they had very useful allies, which, by 

 obscuring the ultimate origin of the dyes and other 

 chemical products, neutralised national prejudice 

 and flattered local patriotism by a spurious show 

 of manufacturing activity. 



One of these subservient French factories was 

 at the outbreak of war devoted to the production 

 of synthetic indigo from intermediates sent from 

 Germany. This factory has since been requisi- 

 tioned by the French Government, and with the 

 aid of a committee formed to deal with chemical 

 and pharmaceutical products is now organised to 

 manufacture synthetic indigo for the new military 

 uniforms. 



It is satisfactory to note that a similar success 

 has attended British efforts to cope with this im- 

 portant colour. The Rhenish firm of Meister, 

 Lucius, & Briining had installed at EUesmere Port 

 a factory in which only the last stage of their 

 indigo synthesis was practised, in order that the 

 firm might comply with the requirements of the 

 English Patent Laws. Last year this factory was 

 acquired by the Manchester firm of Messrs. Levin- 

 stein, Ltd., which at present is carrying out the 

 indigo synthesis in all its stages on a larger scale 

 than was the case when the works were still in 

 German hands. 



The steps taken in France to cope with the dye 

 famine and other problems of chemical synthesis 

 arising from the war are singularly comparable 

 with those made in England. In both countries 



