Practice question · True or false
Perkin's mauveine of 1856 was extracted from a shellfish, in the same way as the purple of the Roman imperial dye.
Hints
- Ask what Perkin was working with in the laboratory.
- It came out of an attempt to synthesise a medicine from coal-tar residues.
Show the answer
False
Why
False. Mauveine came from coal-tar residues, in an attempt to synthesise quinine that failed usefully. That is the whole significance of it: the first purple that did not have to be harvested, and the beginning of the chemical industry that made every colour cheap.
Practise The Symbolic, Psychological and Social Life of Colour
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