More than eleven years ago the mpeak~r had the pl~,asuve o[' |winging before this audience a discovery in ~vnthetic ,l,mfistry of g'reaI~ interese and inwortance , viz., that of the m'titicdal lwoduetion ,~f' alizarin, the coloring, substanceβ’ .f madder. To-d tv. it is his privile~t, to point out the attainment ~f' anoth(n: c~qnally stviking ease of synthesis, viz., the artificial fi:wmation of indigo. In this last instance, as in the tbrmer ea,~e, ttw world is indebted to (~erman se, i~mce, air, hough to different indivldutds, for these interesting v(~sults, the ,~vntlm.sis of in(li~'o hqving been achieved by I)rofi~ssov Adolf Baeyev, tim worthy successor 0f the illustriou.s l, iebig in the IVniversitv of" Mmli(.h. tIeve, then, ~ve have an()thev lWO()f of the fit('[ that the study ~f the most intricate ln'oblem.~ of organic chemistry, and t h,~s~ whi(dl appear to re'my t,) be filrthest removed from any praeti~'.d applieatiol b aw~ in reality capable of yielding results having an absolute value measnr,d by lmndreds of th~msands of pounds.
In proof of this assertion, it is only lmcessa.ry to mention that the value of the indigo imported into this c.untry in the year 1879 reached the enormous sum of close on tw, milli,mssterling, whilst the total lwodm;tion of the worhl is assessed at. twice that amount : so that if, as is certainly nolo impos.sible, artificial imli,zo can be prepared at a price which will compete with the native lm,luet, a wide field is indeed open to its m'umfheturers.
Indigo, as is well known, is a ,~floring matter which has attracted attention from w!vv early times. Cloth dyed with indigo has been tbtlnd in the ohl Egyptian tombs. The metlmd of preparing and u~ing this eoh)r is m~euratelv described by both l'linv'and I)ioseorides, and the early inhalfitants of these islands wΒ’~r(~ well :u'quaintcd with indig% which they obtained from the ]']ur4~lman indigo l~lant, l~'ati,s tineto-,'i~t, the woad i~hmt, or pastel. With this t h~v dyed their garments and painted tlmir sldns. After the diseov,rv of the lmssage to lmlia bv the Cape of G~od Hope, the l~ast(~l'n indig% derived from various species of" f~uli:/o.fe,'(t~ gradually (lisl~la(,~:~l woad, as (~(mtaining more .f (~t., lSSl.].