Abstract
FOR some time past letters on the subject of artificial versus natural indigo have been appearing in the Times. One by L. J. Harington, which appeared at the end of last month, is of considerable interest, since he writes as a planter of nineteen years' experience. He considers that the days of natural indigo are not numbered, and that the Government of India are not likely to take the advice of Dr. Brunck (NATURE, p. 111) and endeavour to grow food stuffs in place of cultivating indigo. He further remarks that “there is so little to choose between artificial and natural indigo that the whole thing is a matter of price, and the victory must go to the one who can afford to sell cheapest.” He then goes on to say: “Indigo had always paid, at times well, at other times fairly so, and planters were content to grow and manufacture indigo exactly as their predecessors had done. Then in 1897 the Badische discovery came like a bolt from the blue.” This is a rather remarkable admission. Here were men manufacturing indigo, and they had evidently not taken the trouble to ascertain what was being done in the scientific world and by other manufacturers. Were they not aware that so far back as 1880 indigo had been synthetically prepared, and that numerous patents had been taken out? Certainly the processes had not been commercially successful; but surely they should have taken warning, and endeavoured to improve their product and to manufacture it more cheaply.
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PERKIN, F. The Present Condition of the Indigo Industry . Nature 63, 302–303 (1901). https://doi.org/10.1038/063302a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/063302a0
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