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Show rlODBRM T) AV MlRACLBS Tho Story of a London School Boy Who Stumbled Upon the Secret of Making Dye from Coal Tar (Told In Eight SkitchM) y JOHN RAYMOND No. II POETS OK SCIENCE William Henry Perkin was an od'. crt of a youngster. When he wa 1 f years old and a student In the City ol London School lie heard of u scries oi lectures on chemistry during the noon recess. Young William Henry d--'ided that the lectures would be nl more value to him than hi lunches, "i 'ic look in the lectures Apparently the lectures malic a d ided .impression upon the boy. T' vcars later he entered the lalior;it" of a chemist named Hofniau in t! IJoyal College of London and Jy I... time he was 17, had started upon 1m career as a researcher 1'crkin decide! that his- mission in life .was to UoI.t plicuciithronc from coal tar and pn pare artilicial (juiiiiite. In order ' pcetl the day when his task would lie done he set up a private laboratory .in I worked overtime. While at work 1 1 this laboratory in the spritiK of 18. he found in his test tube, while n dizing some aniline oil, a black, slid mass instead of clear crjstals. I Ijp tempted to wash it out with alcoh .1 when, to his surprise, lie produced i wonderful purple solution mauve, ti irst of the aniline dcs. Ten years later Perkin achieved I greatest triumph when he produce I alizarin, or Turkey red. fonn.ii made only from the root of the ni.vt der. Years later the Hr;tili euVcr i ment knighted the mall who first di-covercd di-covercd the vast possibilities contain d with coal tar but gave him little I'man cial support or encouragement. It was left to German researchers t build up the industry and finally to obtain a strangle hold upon the trail'' H Kaiser was con-H con-H vinced that, with a .jfuuHH ''IC ai(l ' n'9 r'',cin" i At fyfi's's' ne wa " a jv) . XrposItlon to conquer $&&J9(rL Creative chemists 8RJfAKil the successors of VWRr. Perkin lately have ipOMfrWI been called the 5otI "Poet o' Science" '-AAviWHBil DecaU5e their im- flMrvGSS I a8'iat'on hat found TV1 1 (V wmmmLM in coal tar the fra- kmiicc of the rose, fUPCnHTfl i the explosive that Al!SHmi!3 wounds and the "II3BH'I medicine that heals, Jf uvSUM the bittcnu'44 of TiftV R.""B hcmluck and the I WvS-H sweetness of honey. JhV TS"vB In a recent addres . Y(&fozfAfawk in Iidiiilnirgli the Lti VwmH president ! the II .cicjlcvSMl t hemic.M Section (gj fSrnim of the ilritish A- : "--fS locialiun for the a U J 1 daiicciiu nt o f -l- - -J Science, urmug the ' 'i ' r' I'l correlation of scha- 3 i U lastir knowledge with the cjKricitc.s nd conttuts ol dMi lite, said. ' The (inhering glint of massed bhu-I'ells bhu-I'ells in biokcn siinshinv, the joyous radiance of young beech le.n -. .igim t ilie study cfdar, the p-rfuti i of tli" liawthorne in the twilight, tin llorid majesty of rhododendron, tin fragrant simplicity of lilac, pinodicallj gladden ihr most careless heart and the least it i rent spun, but to the chemist they I reathc .in riddid uuss.ige, t!)i u,siir-:ic u,siir-:ic lli.it a It . tiLuoii of p'Ti-'uiiiu It is iIumtiI ui'.Mi Ihe . r'd, aid tli.it theise (lelieate synlhe'es:, intfi t't'e :nys-tr :nys-tr nf which it is his happy pr vileg o pitietra'.e, once again ie woiknig tlnir inimitable niir.-icKs in the h'uora-tory h'uora-tory of the Iiiiiiihii organism ' Portrv, ind-ed! Tint chemist, arc iirartir.il poets. Tluj proilucc the materials a nation must hjc if it hopes to he and compete with other nations Few nations realized this truth, however, until the World War offered convincing pi oof by opening 100 percent explosive and closing 55 percent chemical. That opened their eyes, hut unfortunately, Germany had a hfty year start and took the trouble1 to protect the advantage. On January 1, 1916, seven" leading dye companies of Germany formed a dye trust to last fifty years with the idea of controlling the chemical business busi-ness of the world. During this period J they will maintain uniform prices, I w-ages and hours of labor, and ex-1 change patents and trade secrets, I They will divide the foreign businesj I on an even basis and share the orofita.1 - (Kelid by Tht Institute of Amerleu Builoeu, New York) I |
