SCIENCE AND THE WAR 107 



British pharmaceutical chemists, with one or 

 two exceptions, had been relying upon foreign 

 sources not only for synthetic drugs but actually 

 for the raw materials of many of their preparations 

 such, for example, as aconite, belladonna, 

 henbane, all of which can be freely grown which 

 even grow wild in these islands ; even, incredible 

 as it may seem, for foxglove leaves. These things 

 with many others were imported from Germany 

 and Austria. Here again leeway has had to be 

 made up ; but it ought never to have been 

 necessary, and now that the war is over steps 

 should be taken to see that it never need be 

 necessary again. The encouragement of British 

 herb-gardens and of scientific experiment therein 

 on the best method of culture for the raw material 

 of our organic medicines must certainly be 

 matters early taken in hand. 



The classical example of the mortal injury done 

 to British manufacture by the British manu- 

 facturer's former contempt for the scientific man 

 is that of the aniline dyes, which are so closely 

 associated with the synthetic drugs as to form one 

 subject of discussion. Quite early in the war 

 dye-stuffs ran short, and there was no means of 

 replenishing the stock in Britain, nor even in 

 America, these products having formed the staple 

 of a colossal manufacture, with an enormous 

 financial turnover, in Germany. 



Let us look at the history of these dyes. The 

 first aniline dye was discovered quite by accident, 

 in 1856, by the late Professor W. H. Perkin. He 

 called it " mauve," from the French word for the 



