The Mauve Dye.

Scientific American 18, 27.10.1860

The beautiful red and purple silks which are now so fashionable throughout the civilized world, are colored with a substance which is extracted from coal tar. On page 98 of our last volume, we published a translation from a French periodical, giving a full account of the mode of obtaining this coloring matter from the waste tar. In that article, the price in Paris of pure aniline violet, in powder, was stated to be from $245 to $326 per pound. The enormous value of this substance is owing to the fact that it not only produces a great variety of red and purple shades of exceeding delicacy and brilliancy, but these colors are also remarkably permenent. By the advertisement of Charles A. Seely, in another columb, it will be seen that the manufacture of this coloring matter is now carried on in this city; and as Mr. Seely is one of our most through theoretical and practical chemists, he is one of the few men int he community competent to conduct the delicate manipulations required in the manufacture of this beautiful dye.