52 SCIENCE REMAKING THE WORLD 



who made the research laboratory a part of the factory 

 and by thus putting their industries under scientific 

 guidance had, before the war, obtained practically a 

 world monopoly of the manufacture of synthetic organic 

 chemicals. 



The 1914 edition of Schultz and Julius Dyestuff 

 Tables listed 925 coal-tar dyes as used in the trade, 

 but the chemist knows of thousands of others that he 

 might make if needed. We already have dyes for all 

 kinds of material and for any desired colour and shade. 

 Some are fast and some are fugitive. Some are glaring 

 and some are dull. Some are cheap and some are dear. 

 Some are poisonous and some are harmless. It is ab- 

 surd to condemn or commend the coal-tar colours as a 

 whole, because they differ in every possible respect. 



That is, the dyer of to-day has a thousand pigments 

 on his palette not counting shades and combinations. 

 Before the discovery of mauve in 1856 you will re- 

 member that date if I repeat it often enough there 

 were barely a score of dyestuffs in general use, mostly 

 barks and roots of uncertain composition. It is hard 

 for us to realize what a different-looking world we are 

 living in, thanks to coal-tar compounds, and still harder 

 to express in words the difference in aesthetic effect. 



Coal-tar has brought more colour into our dull lives, 

 not only through our clothing but also through our 

 food. Food and drink, appropriately tinted, become 

 more attractive, and being more attractive become more 

 appetizing, and being more appetizing become more di- 

 gestible, and being more digestible become more nutri- 

 tious, and being more nutritious become more strength- 



