As we look upon these multitudinous colors, one other thought cannot
fail to cross our minds. Is there not surely an overproduction of
these fugitive coal tar colors? Is not the dyer bewildered with an
_embarras de richesses_, so that he knows not where to choose?
There is indeed much truth in this. With rare skill and ingenuity an
army of chemists is busy elaborating these wonderful dyes; but in such
quick succession are they introduced into the dye house that the busy
dyer has no time sufficiently to prove them, and it is not surprising
therefore that he is liable to commit errors in their application.
But if there is an over-production of fugitive colors, there is also
at work, as in the organic world around us, the counteracting
influence of the law of the survival of the fittest. Sooner or later,
the fugitive colors must give way to those which are more permanent,
and already the number of coal tar colors which have been discarded,
for one reason or another, is considerable.
Not unfrequently one is asked the question, Is there no method whereby
these fugitive colors can be made fast? Knowing the efficacy of
mordants with certain coloring matters, is there no mordant which we
can generally apply with this desirable object in view? The discovery
of such a universal mordant I believe to be somewhat chimerical, and
yet, curiously enough, a number of experiments have been recorded in
recent years, which almost seem to point in the direction of selecting
for such a purpose ordinary sulphate of copper.
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