Rubber from Coal

The test field of a synthetic rubber works near Halle on a clear autumn afternoon, low golden sun and blue sky, on a raised railed steel platform a slender distillation column twelve metres tall, freshly painted grey-green, of flanged sections, two round railed platforms around it at the top and halfway, a ladder with a back cage, from the head a thin pipe curving over and running straight down, small vessels, valves and tube bundles below, a wisp of white steam at one valve, on the upper platform a worker in a white coat seen from directly behind, face turned fully away, holding a sample bottle, every surface plain and unmarked.