226 Organic Synthesis and its Social Bearings. [April, 
From a third quarter come sceptical voices of a more 
intelligent and matter-of-faCt nature. Say they All this 
is very well to propose, and would doubtless prove exceed- 
ingly useful if carried out, but what is the prospedt of its 
ever becoming a practical reality ? Can sugar, or any other 
article of food, be produced artificially from its inorganic 
elements? So far, we must certainly admit that this 
triumph has not been achieved. But we must keep it clearly 
in mind that chemists are, it might almost be said day by 
day, learning how to prepare artificially substances which a 
little time ago were obtainable only through the intervention 
of animal or vegetable life. There is in Particular one in- 
stance so significant and instructive that, though the fadts 
of the case are perfectly well known to all students of che- 
mistry, we cannot refuse it a brief notice. From time 
almost immemorial a certain substance, now known under 
the name of alizarin, has been employed for producing ex- 
ceedingly fast and beautiful colours upon cotton and other 
vegetable materials. Till within a few years this dye was 
only obtainable from certain plants, and above all others 
from madder, which on this account was very extensively 
cultivated in the neighbourhood of Avignon, in Alsace, and 
Zealand. There is, we may remark in passing, reason to 
believe that it was formerly grown to a considerable extent 
in Norfolk. It is certain that a street in Norwich retains to 
this day the name of the “ Madder Market. Latterly, 
however, chemical research pointed out the way of preparing 
it artificially from some of the constituents of coal-tar. At 
first this artificial alizarin was a mere curiosity, but gra- 
dually the process for its preparation has been simplified 
and rendered cheaper, until at last cotton goods can be dyed 
a Turkey-red with this manufactured product at less expense 
than with the root of the madder-plant and the cultivation 
of the latter is therefore now substantially a mere matter ot 
history. Now we must especially beg the non-chemical 
reader to bear in mind that this artificial alizarin is not a 
substitute for, or an imitation of, the natural article, as is, 
for instance, “ butterine ” of butter. It is in every one of 
its properties, physical and chemical, identica with the 
produCt of the madder-plant. Place a sample of pure 
alizarin in the hands of the most able chemical analyst and 
he will be unable to tell whether it has been obtained from 
coal-tar or from the plant. Hand the same sample over to 
the practical dyer or calico-printer, and he also is at a loss. 
There is, however, an objection which may here be urge . 
This same alizarin is also composed of the three elements, 
