SYNTHETIC CHEMISTRY. ^i 



To raise a weight from the gi-ound, to make water run up-hill, or 

 to generate heat by friction, are all processes which require the ex- 

 penditure of effort and material substance, if we would perform them 

 ourselves. So in Nature, this form of synthesis is never accomplished 

 without the expenditure of energy from some source. In the vegeta- 

 ble, the power comes directly from the sun, and the world in summer 

 is colder and less brilliant (by an infinitesimal amount, it is true), be- 

 cause of that growth of leaves and wood which in the winter w^e re- 

 convert into heat and light in our stoves ; the animal gets the force for 

 its synthesis by eating and consuming the products of vegetable life ; 

 and the chemist in his laboratory obtains his power mainly by con- 

 verting a large amount of some complex body into simpler ones, in 

 order to raise a smaller portion of some other mass to a more loosely 

 aggregated and heterogeneous condition. 



Starting with the elements and simple mineral bodies, the construc- 

 tion of such substances as salts, by the union of an acid and a base ; 

 of a suffocating gas, by the combustion of sulphur ; of the conversion 

 of iron into rust, by the action of water, air, etc., is very easy up to a 

 certain point — so easy, that probably the very earliest beginnings of 

 chemistry lay in observations of these facts. Certainly, the historic 

 origin of the science in alchemy leaves no doubt of it as regards the 

 middle ages, and, at the present day, most of the technical applications 

 of the science are examples of the building up of compounds. So long 

 as the experimenter's efforts were confined to mineral matter, he 

 met with but little trouble ; but, the moment he tried to reproduce 

 any organic body, any compound which was the direct product of 

 life, either animal or vegetable, he met a barrier which seemed to be 

 insurmountable, and which bade fair never to be crossed. It was 

 easy enough to analyze any of these vital products, and to deter- 

 mine the exact number and amount of their ingredients ; but, once 

 separated, the chemist vainly endeavored to make the elements re- 

 unite as they were before. 



This was the state of things up to forty or fifty years ago. The 

 power of the chemist had grown to be very great ; he could either 

 bind or loose, as pleased him, and he thought he had a tolerably com- 

 plete knowledge of the elements and forces he was dealing with. Is 

 it so much wonder, then, that he fell back on the assumption of the 

 existence of a mysterious force outside of his domain, and that his de- 

 feat, coupled with the known impossibility of restoring life to the dead 

 animal, should have led to the assumption that these organic bodies 

 were the result of chemical processes which had been aided and con- 

 trolled by a special entity, denominated vital force ? 



It is not the object of this paper to take sides on a question which 

 is still a matter of debate ; and, in regard to vital force, it has only to 

 chronicle here some of the steps by which bodies, hitherto solely 

 evolved by the action of living matter, may now, under the guidance 



