M & D and ATD, thematic homage, parallels, etc.

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

       Tore:
       Again, this is not history, it's myth and hyperbole (who 
       would seriously believe that Pynchon considers the 
       colours of previous centuries somehow purer than our 
       poor, bleak 20th Century colours?)

>From the Gravity's Rainbow Wiki:

Pre-World War I
Strides in Organic Chemistry Facilitate Synthesis Dyestuffs 
from Coal Tar Derivaties

Justus von Liebig (b. 1803) - one of the first German pioneers in 
what became industrial chemistry (21)

Studied with Gay-Lussac in Paris - no chemistry in Germany

Returned to Germany in 1824 and taught other Germans to be chemists

Bulk of his work was in organic chemistry

One of Liebig's pupils, August Wilhelm von Hofmann, "cut the beginning 
trail which led, through the making of dyestuffs, to IG Farben." (22)

A great teacher - led his students into the field of coal tar. Research led 
and inspired by him built IG.

Taught in England first, then in 1864 went to teach in Germany.

One of his British students, William Henry Perkin, created the first 
synthetic dye, mauve.

Coal tar was left over in the process of using coal to reduce iron from 
its ores in the blast furnaces. Evil smelling and hard to get rid of. To get 
rid of it, chemists had to first boil it off. It boiled off at different 
temperatures. When the varieties of coal tar by-products were isolated, 
they yielded a huge variety of further substances. Perkin's discovery, 
based on teaching of Liebig and Hofmann, enabled coal tars to be turned 
to the supplying of dyes for textiles.
England could import dyes from its colonies. German had coal, but no 
empire.

In late 19th century, Germans invented many synthetic dyes, including 
Tyrian purple. (23)

http://www.hyperarts.com/pynchon/gravity/extra/farben.html