New-York tribune., 1906-08-07
SIR WILLIAM HENRY PERKIN.

One of the happiest incidents of the recent
celebration in England of the iftieth anniversary
of the discovery of aniline cOlOrs was the be-
stOwal of knighthOOd on DIR. William Henry
Perkin. At least four other English chemists
CrOOkeS, Huggins Ramsay and Dewar-have
been hOnOred in the same manner within the last
nine years. So diverse were their activities
that it Is hard to compare their services to civ
ilizatiOn with those of Perkin or 10 say which
of them had the best claim on royal favor.
Without question however. this latest recOgni-
tiOn Of the value of chemical research will pro-
yoke worldwide satisfaction.
With possibly one exception, the work Of these
other chemists has possessed a philOsophic
rather than material interest. This is strik
ingly true Of Ramsay's discoveries of half
dozen new elements and his verfcatiOn of Mr.
SOddyS belief that gaseous emanatiOn from
radium was transformed into helium. Dewar'S
invention Of a mode OF storing liquid air so that
ii would not eVapOrate rapidly as it once did
might have had an Industrial application if
liquid air had proved commercial success, but
there is little promise of such Il result Just nOw
Dewars own contributions 10 the art Of liquefy
ing gases have been brilliant in the extreme. but
are devoid of strictly utilitarian Importance.
The same can be said Of HugginS'S researches in
astronomical spectrOscopy. They have helped TO
|. indicate affiliations between widely separated
stars, and between the stars and the earth. but
| they have not enabled anybody to earn an hon
est living.
The Investigations of CrOOkes have had wider
| range than Dewars, Ramsay's Hugginss or
even Perkins. They have included such dSsim-
| liar subjects the phenomena Of the vacuum
tube and the requirements of calico printing.
| The latter. like his hint that cheap fertilizer
might be secured by the 'ixatiOn' of atmOs-
| pheric nitrogen. Of greater value to indus
| try than his discussion of the question whether
| the radiations from a cathode were matter or
| energy. At least part of his work. therefore.
| possesses quality which is lacking in that of
| Higgins Ramsay and Dewar, and which is the
sole recommendation of Perkins discoveries
The manufacture of a number of new and
useful commodities has been made possible by
the researches of the chemist who has Just been
receiving SO much homage in his own country.
| But this is not the whole story. Not only did
| Perkin supply the world with cheap and service
| able dyes, which were derived from coal tar.
but he gave fresh impetus TO a kind Of re-
search which half century ago was near being
abandoned. 1t is said that Hoffman, from whom
Perkin caught his first inspiration, had been
trying without success to make quinine by put
ting together it's known chemical constituents.
II was while seeking to accomplish that partc-
ular object that Perkin, then only eighteen years
of age produced the first of the aniline cOors,
mauve. He did not get what he wanted, but
the practical value Of the dye which he found
| inspired him and other men 70 renewed effort.
! He thus deserves credit for promoting most of
| the achievements Of synthetic chemistry which
have been recorded in the last fifty years.