When he
went to wash this out with alcohol he was surprised to find that it gave
a beautiful purple solution. This was "mauve," the first of the aniline
dyes.
The funny thing about it was that when Perkin tried to repeat the
experiment with purer aniline he could not get his color. It was because
he was working with impure chemicals, with aniline containing a little
toluidine, that he discovered mauve. It was, as I said, a lucky
accident. But it was not accidental that the accident happened to the
young fellow who spent his noonings and vacations at the study of
chemistry. A man may not find what he is looking for, but he never
finds anything unless he is looking for something.
Mauve was a product of creative chemistry, for it was a substance that
had never existed before. Perkin's next great triumph, ten years later,
was in rivaling Nature in the manufacture of one of her own choice
products. This is alizarin, the coloring matter contained in the madder
root. It was an ancient and oriental dyestuff, known as "Turkey red" or
by its Arabic name of "alizari.
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