In 1856, eighteen-year-old chemist William Henry Perkin was attempting to synthesize quinine, a treatment for malaria, in his home laboratory. His experiments did not produce quinine; instead, they yielded a dark, sticky sludge. Perkin noticed that this sludge left a vibrant purple residue on the glass of his beaker. Purple has historically been associated with royalty due to the rarity of natural purple dyes. By diluting the residue with alcohol, Perkin isolated a substance he named mauveine, which became the world’s first synthetic organic dye.
The writer is considering deleting the underlined sentence. Should the sentence be kept or deleted?
- AKept, because it explains the historical significance of purple dye, which helps explain why Perkin wanted to isolate the color.
- BKept, because it establishes a contrast between the synthetic dye Perkin created and the expensive natural dyes historically favored by royalty.
- Deleted, because it interrupts the narrative of Perkin's experimental process with tangential information about the cultural history of the color purple.Answer
- DDeleted, because it contradicts the paragraph's earlier assertion that Perkin's primary goal was to synthesize a treatment for malaria.
Answer
The sentence should be deleted because it interrupts the narrative of Perkin's experimental process with tangential information about the cultural history of the color purple.
The option proposing that the sentence be deleted because it interrupts the narrative is correct because the paragraph focuses on the step-by-step laboratory process of Perkin's accidental discovery of mauveine. The historical detail about purple's association with royalty is a digression that interrupts this narrative flow.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Evaluating Relevance for Adding or Deleting Content
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