ARTIFICIAL PEEPABATIO.N OF ORGANIC BODIES. 729 



substances had been subjected to purely chemical hifluences, and thus 

 another animal substance produced, the vital force had nevertheless 

 played its part as an essential agent in the formative process. This 

 argument seemed plausible, and could hardly be objected to. Other 

 and more decisive experiments were necessaiy. 



In 1841 Fownes succeeded for the first time in preparing cyano- 

 gen directly from its elements. He passed nitrogen-gas over a mixt- 

 ure of charcoal and hydrate or carbonate of potassium at a red heat, 

 and obtained a salt of cyanogen and jDotassium cyanide of potas- 

 sium. From this salt it was a comparatively simple matter to pre- 

 j)are all the other cyanogen compounds, and, finally, urea. Thus, 

 then, there could be no doubt that a direct construction of some 

 organic bodies from their elements was possible. 



But urea, in comparison with most animal or vegetable products, 

 is of simple structure. It contains but one atom of carbon in each 

 molecule, whereas many others contain a very large number of carbon- 

 atoms. The transformation of cyanate of ammonia into urea, which 

 took place so readily, was a very simple one, if we consider merely 

 the relation of the two bodies to each other. They have exactly the 

 same composition. They contain the same percentages of carbon, 

 hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. A change of the arrangement of 

 the atoms was necessary, but this was all no addition of material, 

 no building up, no binding together of a large number of atoms into 

 one compound. There was still left something which could be as- 

 cribed to the influence of vital force, and this fact was seized upon 

 and made to do service. It was now stated that, although it might 

 be possible to prepare artificially some of the simpler organic bodies, 

 the vital force was necessary to bring about the complicated form 

 of union found in the greater number of the products of the life-pro- 

 cess. This statement held its own for a number of years. In the 

 mean time a series of brilliant experiments by Berthelot had estab- 

 lished the fact that a large number of organic bodies could with ease 

 be prepared artificially. In 1856 this chemist published the first re- 

 sults of his investigations. He had effected a direct union of car- 

 bonic oxide with hydrate of potassium, and thus obtained the potas- 

 sium salt of formic acid. Later he showed that a direct union of car- 

 bon with hydrogen was possible ; using carbon-poles, he passed a 

 current of electricity through them in an atmosphere of hydrogen ; 

 he thus obtained acetylene, a hydrocarbon made up of two atoms of 

 carbon and two of hydrogen. He also produced marsh-gas, ethylene, 

 and a number of other hydrocarbons from inorganic materials which, 

 in their turn, could be obtained from the elements. It was shown that 

 marsh-gas could be converted into methyl alcohol ; ethylene into 

 ethyl alcohol ; and from these alcohols it was an easy step to formic 

 and acetic acid ; to the aldehydes, amines, acetines, etc., etc. These 

 results, although startling when viewed from the oldest stand-point. 



