296 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



obtained in liquid form after it has undergone a process of natural 

 distillation, which will free it from all impurities, including, of course, 

 disease germs. The foods prepared by artificial methods will also be 

 free from microbes, and there will consequently be less disease than 

 at present. Further, the necessity for killing animals for food will 

 no longer exist, and mankind will become gentler and more amenable 

 to higher influences. There is, no doubt, much that is fascinating in 

 this line of thought, but whether it is worth following, depends upon the 

 fundamental assumption. Is it at all probable that chemists will ever 

 be able to devise methods for the artificial preparation of foodstuffs? 

 I can only say that to me it does not appear probable in the light of 

 the results tlius far obtained. I do not mean to question the proba- 

 bility of the ultimate synthesis of some of those substances that are of 

 value as foods. This has already been accomplished on the small scale, 

 but for the most part the synthetical processes employed have involved 

 the use of substances which themselves are the products of natural 

 processes. Thus, the fats can be made, but the substances from which 

 they are made are generally obtained from nature and are not them- 

 selves synthetical products. Emil Fischer has, to be sure, made very 

 small quantities of sugars of different kinds, but the task of building 

 up a sugar from the raw material furnished by nature — that is to say, 

 from carbonic acid and water — presents such difficulties that it may be 

 said to be practically impossible. 



When it comes to starch, and the proteids wliieh are the other chief 

 constituents of foodstuffs, the difficulties are still greater. There is 

 not a suggestion of the possibility of making starch artificially, and the 

 same is true of the proteids. In this connection it is, however, inter- 

 esting to note that Emil Fischer, after his remarkable successes in the 

 sugar group and the uric acid group, is now advancing upon the pro- 

 teids. I have heard it said that at the beginning of his career he made 

 out a program for his life work. This included the solution of three 

 great problems. These are the determination of the constitution of 

 uric acid, of the sugars and of the proteids. Two of these problems 

 have been solved. May he be equally successful with the third ! Even 

 if he should be able to make a proteid, and show what it is, the problem 

 of the artificial preparation of foodstuff's will not be solved. Indeed, 

 it will hardly be affected. 



Although science is not likely, within periods that we may venture 

 to think of, to do away with the necessity of cultivating the soil, it is 

 likely to teach us how to get more out of the soil than we now do, and 

 thus put us in a position to provide for the generations that are to 

 follow us. And this carries with it the thought that, unless scientific 

 investigation is kept up, these coming generations will be unprovided 

 for. 



