Current models of industry evolution suggest that development patterns should be the same across different levels of analysis. In comparing the evolution of the synthetic dye industry at the global level and in the five major producer countries before World War I (Britain, Germany, France, Switzerland and the United States), it is shown that patterns of industry evolution differed significantly across national contexts. Based on a quantitative and qualitative database of all firms and plants in the industry, the paper analyzes how German firms came to dominate the industry and identifies factors such as availabilities of crucial skills, economies of scale and scope, and positive feedback mechanisms between firms and national institutions that likely produced these national differences. The empirical analysis calls for formal models of evolution that incorporate differences in institutional environments.

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This article analyzes phases in the production of popular Dutch chemistry books in terms of their audiences and the character of the texts. While the first popular chemistry books (1809-1815), which were directed to women, youngsters, and common people, contained moralistic and physicotheological contemplations, these were absent in books that between 1830 and 1844 diffused 'useful knowledge' among the working classes. The next period (1845-1864) was a hey-day, which also marked the end of the old style of popularization of chemistry. After 1865 the number of popular chemistry books dropped considerably, as a result of (a) the professionalization of chemistry; (b) the introduction of chemistry as a school subject; and (c) the separation between science and religion. Until 1900 chemical technology became almost the exclusive focus of popular chemistry texts.