Alphabe Thursday V is for Violet

I have already dined out on purple and the way it was discovered by William Henry Perkins in 1856. Then, the way in which every lady in London, Paris and New York who could afford it was wearing mauve.  

Without, his discovery industrial dyers would have continued blending indigo with madder or using lichens.  Nothing compared to the dye created by Perkins from coal tar, which is an organic substance that comes from ancient fossilised trees.  Perkins’ invention went on to inspire other chemists to find other petrochemical dyes and paints.   

There is no doubt that Perkins’ discoveries did have many beneficial medical effects and would lead to other scientists to the discovery  of cholera and tuberculosis bacilli , to chemotherapy, immunology and saccharine.

Some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies such as BASF, Ciba and Bayer began as small dye works, trying to extract more and more colours from coal or fossil fuels.