108 GERMAN SCIENCE 
to manufacturing ends. But here, as is so often the case in 
science, aiming at the moon a man hits something terrestrial. 
Perkin discovered mauve, and thinking it might perhaps serve 
as a dye he submitted it to Pullar’s of Perth who replied, ‘If 
(with an emphasis on the ‘if’) your discovery does not make 
the goods too expensive, it is decidedly the most valuable that 
has come out for a long time.’ 
Upon receiving this reply, Perkin decided to take out 
a patent and begin the manufacture. His father, as he 
relates, nobly risked his capital in the enterprise, and after 
many difficulties and anxieties had been outlived, the works _ : 
were set up at Greenford Green and mauve supplied to the — 
silk dyers in December 1857. Bt 
The discovery of mauve by Perkin was followed by that of 
magenta on the part of a Frenchman, Verguin,and thencame — 
a rapid succession of new colours. The initial difficulties of 
devising methods of manufacture in a new industry, in con- | 
quering prejudices and accustoming the public to a new — 
thing, had been overcome by Perkin, and now the way was ~ 
easy to his successors, 
The prejudices of the time were strong, and they remain 
with us to this day ; everything that could be urged to the dis- — 
advantage of the new colours was of course loudly proclaimed, 
not only by those who had strong vested interests in the 
natural dye-stuffs, but by that great national reserve of opinion 
which is always ready to condemn a new thing because of its a 
newness— because it is ‘ new-fangled ’. ae 
The first coal-tar colours that were made were no doubt ~ 
rather of the showy and glaring kind ; some of them also were , | 
not very fast either to light or to washing; some of them 
were apt to be contaminated with arsenic. It was easy, 
therefore, to get up a cry against them. The cry was loud : | 
and it has been long. There are fugitive dyes among both 
the natural and the artificial products, but to-day it can be * | 
