The year 1863 witnessed the introduction of the first of a new series of colouring-matters which have had an enormous influence both on the art of the dyer as well as in the utilization of tar-products which were formerly of but little value. We can consider the history of some of these colours now, because the earliest of them was produced from aniline. The formation of a yellow compound when nitrous acid acts upon aniline was observed by several chemists prior to the date mentioned. In 1863 the firm of Simpson, Maule and Nicholson manufactured a yellow dye by passing nitrous gas into a solution of aniline in alcohol, and this had a limited application under the name of "aniline yellow." Soon afterwards, viz. in 1866, the firm of Roberts, Dale & Co. of Manchester introduced a brown dye under the name of "Manchester brown"--this compound, which was discovered by Dr. Martius in 1865, having been produced by the action of nitrous acid on one of the diamidobenzenes. Ten years later Caro and Witt discovered an orange colouring-matter belonging to the same class, and the latter introduced the compound into commerce as "chrysoïdine." These three compounds are basic, and the first of them is no longer used as a direct dye because it is fugitive. Chrysoïdine is still used to a large extent, and the brown--now known as "Bismarck brown"--is one of the staple products of the colour manufacturer at the present time. From this fragment of technological history let us now turn to chemical science.
The chemist whose name will always be associated with the compounds of this group is the late Dr. Peter Griess of Burton-on-Trent. He commenced his study of the action of nitrous acid on organic bases in 1858, and from that time till the period of his death in 1888, he was constantly contributing to our knowledge of the resulting compounds. In 1866, he and Dr. Martius established the composition of aniline yellow, and the following year Caro and Griess did the same thing for the Manchester brown. In 1877 Hofmann and Witt established the constitution of chrysoïdine, the final outcome of all this work being to show that the three colouring-matters belonged to the same group. The further development of these discoveries has been one of the most prolific sources of new colouring-matters. A brief summary of our present position with respect to this group must now be attempted.