English scientists have generally been interested in the practical results of their work and Perkins was always alive to the commercial applications of chemistry. His teacher advised him to stick to pure research but Perkins was no philosophic scientist and thought this new dye might be used to colour fabrics. He gave it the less scientific and more romantic name of Tyruan purple, to suggest that he had re discovered the secret of the royal robes of the Eastern emperors, and he took out a patent. John Pullar, a progressive dyer who had a business in Perth, pronounced that the colour was successful in actual use, and Perkins set up a factory for producing the various shades which, as he foresaw, might be developed from aniline oil. A new age in chemical manufacture had begun, the age of synthetic products.