THE COAL-TAR DYE INDUSTRY 1 



ITS WONDERFUL RISE AND ITS IMPORTANCE 



THE semi-centennial celebration, in 1906, of Perkin's 

 discovery of the first of the aniline or coal-tar dyes passed 

 almost unnoticed by the general public, and the term 

 "coal-tar dyes" conveys very little meaning to the majority 

 of people. Yet these dyes are applied to a great many 

 objects that everybody sees and uses daily fabrics and 

 fibers of every kind used in the manufacture of clothing, 

 ribbons, curtains, carpets, etc., matting, straw and felt 

 hats, leather goods, and many other articles. Of all the 

 great chemical establishments of Germany the largest are 

 those which are devoted to the preparation of these dyes. 

 One of these factories has a capital of $8,000,000 and a 

 force of more than 6,000 workers, including 200 chemists. 



The art of dyeing is 3,000 years old, but the ancient 

 dyers had only a few colors : madder, saffron, and possibly 

 orchil for red, indigo for blue, and saffron for yellow, in 

 addition to the celebrated Tyrian purple. The last named 

 was the secretion of a shell fish, the others were derived 

 from plants, and all were furnished directly by nature. 



The discovery of America brought new natural dyes- 

 cochineal, logwood. Brazilwood, quercitron, and others 

 and the opening of the sea route to India made indigo less 

 costly and also stimulated the cultivation of woad, a 

 European plant furnishing a dye very like indigo. The 

 dyes named above, with a few of mineral origin, consti- 

 tuted, down to the beginning of the nineteenth century, the 

 entire resources of the dyer, with which he colored yarns 

 by complicated processes and often with uncertain results. 



Published in Eosmos; translation published in Scientific American 

 Supplement, June 12, 1909 



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