Scientific American Supplement, No. 810, July 11, 1891 by Various
page 64 of 160 (40%)
page 64 of 160 (40%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
synonymous with "fugitive color." But science is progressive, fields
of investigation other than aniline have been opened up, so that now, although a large number of fugitive dyes are still manufactured from coal tar, there are others, as we have seen, which are as fast and permanent as we have ever had from natural sources. Finally, and perhaps this is the most important cause of all, many of the fugitive coal tar colors are gifted, I will not say with fatal beauty, but with a facility of application, and such comparative cheapness in consequence of their intense coloring power, that the dyer, tempted by competition, applies them not unfrequently to materials for which, because of their ultimate uses, they are altogether unsuited; and so it comes about that we find the most fugitive colors applied indiscriminately and without due discretion. As we look upon these multitudinous colors, one other thought cannot fail to cross our minds. Is there not surely an overproduction of these fugitive coal tar colors? Is not the dyer bewildered with an _embarras de richesses_, so that he knows not where to choose? There is indeed much truth in this. With rare skill and ingenuity an army of chemists is busy elaborating these wonderful dyes; but in such quick succession are they introduced into the dye house that the busy dyer has no time sufficiently to prove them, and it is not surprising therefore that he is liable to commit errors in their application. But if there is an over-production of fugitive colors, there is also at work, as in the organic world around us, the counteracting influence of the law of the survival of the fittest. Sooner or later, the fugitive colors must give way to those which are more permanent, |
|