Indigo and its Artificial Production

Abstract

MORE than eleven years ago the speaker had the pleasure of bringing before this audience a discovery in synthetic chemistry of great interest and importance, viz. that of the artificial production of alizarine, the colouring substance of madder. To-day it is his privilege to point out the attainment of another equally striking case of synthesis, viz. the artificial formation of indigo. In this last instance, as in the former case, the world is indebted to German science, although to different individuals, for these interesting results, the synthesis of indigo having been achieved by Prof. Adolf Baeyer, the worthy successor of the illustrious Liebig in the University of Munich. Here then we have another proof of the fact that the study of the most intricate problems of organic chemistry, and those which appear to many to be furthest removed from any practical application, are in reality capable of yielding results having an absolute value measured by hundreds of thousands of pounds.