COAL TAR INDUSTRY u 



purposes from woad, the cultivation of which still 

 languishes near Cambridge. The cultivation of 

 madder for the production of Turkey red, once a 

 staple industry in France and Turkey, has been 

 killed by competition with the cheaper but identical 

 coal tar product; the Tyrian purple, prepared 

 from time immemorial in Europe and America 

 from a species of snail, is now prepared as a coal 

 tar product. The unpleasant smell of the natural 

 indigo bath and the peaty odour of Harris tweed are 

 made in the German colour factories for the purpose 

 of securing a more hearty welcome from the dyer 

 for the artificial dyestuffs. It is interesting to 

 enquire why this country, which had in its hands 

 the natural dyestuffs, which commanded cheaper 

 raw materials than any other nation, and whose 

 chemists produced the first coal tar dyes both in 

 the laboratory and on a large scale, allowed these 

 enormous assets to pass into Continental hands. 

 The answer is simple; during the past fifty years 

 hardly any English public man of affairs possessing 

 any knowledge of scientific principles has arisen, and 

 no Government Department having the faintest 

 interest in scientific industry has existed. Develop- 

 ments of science, both theoretical and practical, 

 have been greeted with a murmur of surprise, but 

 no authoritative body has been deputed to watch 

 them and to consider how they could be best 

 utilised to the national advantage. Our Continen- 

 tal competitors, less wealthy and more necessitous, 



