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READING PASSAGE 1
William Henry Perkin
The man who invented synthetic dyes
William Henry Perkin was born on March 12,1838, in London, England.
As a boy, Perkin’s curiosity prompted
early interests in the arts, sciences, photography, and engineering. But it
was a chance stumbling upon a run-down, yet functional, laboratory in his late grandfather’s home that
solidified the young man’s enthusiasm for chemistry.
As a student at the City of London School, Perkin became immersed in the study of chemistry. His talent and
devotion to the subject were perceived by his teacher, Thomas Hall, who encouraged him to attend
a series of
lectures given by the eminent scientist Michael Faraday at the Royal Institution. Those speeches fired the
young chemist’s enthusiasm further, and he later went on to attend the Royal College of Chemistry, which he
succeeded in entering in 1853, at the age of 15.
At the time of Perkin’s enrolment, the Royal College of Chemistry was headed by the noted German chemist
August Wilhelm Hofmann. Perkin’s scientific gifts soon caught Hofmann’s attention and,
within two years, he
became Hofmann’s youngest assistant. Not long after that, Perkin made the scientific breakthrough that would
bring him both fame and fortune.
At the time, quinine was the only viable medical treatment for malaria. The drug is derived from the bark of
the cinchona tree, native to South America, and by 1856 demand for the drug was surpassing the available
supply. Thus, when Hofmann made some passing comments about the desirability of a synthetic substitute for
quinine, it was unsurprising that his star pupil was moved to take up the challenge.
During his vacation in 1856, Perkin spent his time in the laboratory on the top floor of his family’s house. He
was attempting to manufacture quinine from aniline, an inexpensive and readily available
coal tar waste
product. Despite his best efforts, however, he did not end up with quinine. Instead, he produced a mysterious
dark sludge. Luckily, Perkin’s scientific training and nature prompted him to investigate the substance
further. Incorporating potassium dichromate and alcohol into the aniline at various stages of the experimental
process, he finally produced a deep purple solution. And, proving the truth of the famous scientist Louis
Pasteur’s words ‘chance favours only the prepared mind’, Perkin saw the potential of his unexpected find.
Historically, textile dyes were made from such natural sources as plants and animal excretions. Some of
these, such as the glandular mucus of snails, were difficult to obtain and outrageously expensive. Indeed, the
purple colour extracted from a snail was once so costly that in society at the time only the rich could afford it.
Further, natural dyes tended to be muddy in hue and fade quickly. It was against this backdrop that Perkin’s
discovery was made.
Perkin quickly grasped that his purple solution could be used to colour fabric, thus making it the world’s
first synthetic dye. Realising the importance of this
breakthrough, he lost no time in patenting it. But perhaps
the most fascinating of all Perkin’s reactions to his find was his nearly instant recognition that the new dye had
commercial possibilities.
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Perkin originally named his dye Tyrian Purple, but it later became commonly known as mauve (from the
French for the plant used to make the colour violet). He asked advice of Scottish dye works owner Robert
Pullar, who assured him that manufacturing the dye would be well worth it if the colour remained fast (i.e.
would not fade) and the cost was relatively low. So, over the fierce objections of his mentor Hofmann, he left
college to give birth to the modern chemical industry.
With the
help of his father and brother, Perkin set up a factory not far from London. Utilising the cheap and
plentiful coal tar that was an almost unlimited by product of London’s gas street lighting, the dye works began
producing the world’s first synthetically dyed material in 1857. The company received a commercial boost
from the Empress Eugenie of France, when she decided the new colour flattered her. Very soon, mauve was
the necessary shade for all the fashionable ladies in that country.
Not to be outdone, England’s Queen Victoria also appeared
in public wearing a mauve gown, thus making it
all the rage in England as well. The dye was bold and fast, and the public clamoured for more. Perkin went
back to the drawing board.
Although Perkin’s fame was achieved and fortune assured by his first discovery, the chemist continued his
research. Among other dyes he developed and introduced were aniline red (1859) and aniline black (1863)
and, in the late 1860s, Perkin’s green. It is important to note that Perkin’s synthetic dye discoveries had
outcomes far beyond the merely decorative. The dyes also became vital to medical research in many ways. For
instance, they were used to stain previously invisible microbes and bacteria, allowing researchers to
identify such bacilli as tuberculosis, cholera, and anthrax. Artificial dyes continue to play a crucial role today.
And, in what would have been particularly pleasing to Perkin, their current use is
in the search for a vaccine
against malaria.
