But we must not
expect too much of a mollusk's mind. In their cheapness lies the offense
of the aniline dyes in the minds of some people. Our modern aristocrats
would delight to be entitled "porphyrogeniti" and to wear exclusive
gowns of "purple and scarlet from the isles of Elishah" as was done in
Ezekiel's time, but when any shopgirl or sailor can wear the royal color
it spoils its beauty in their eyes. Applied science accomplishes a real
democracy such as legislation has ever failed to establish.
Any kind of dye found in nature can be made in the laboratory whenever
its composition is understood and usually it can be made cheaper and
purer than it can be extracted from the plant. But to work out a
profitable process for making it synthetically is sometimes a task
requiring high skill, persistent labor and heavy expenditure. One of the
latest and most striking of these achievements of synthetic chemistry is
the manufacture of indigo.
Indigo is one of the oldest and fastest of the dyestuffs. To see that it
is both ancient and lasting look at the unfaded blue cloths that enwrap
an Egyptian mummy.
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