444 • The Atlantic 



can also be produced in a more stable state as a lightweight metal 

 and is then extensively used in the aircraft industry and in other places 

 where extreme lightness is desirable. 



The extraction of bromine dye from the shellfish murex and of 

 iodine from the seaweeds are early and crude examples of the use 

 of plants and animals in extracting chemicals from the sea. Already 

 tliere has been talk of the possibility of raising and gathering the 

 plankton of the sea so that they might serve as a source of food 

 energy. Hardy, hungry and heroic souls like those on the raft Kon- 

 Ti\i have reported the use of plankton soup but I suppose it would be 

 generally agreed that plankton were not a delicate and possibly dan- 

 gerous diet for man. Presumably, therefore, plankton, algae and 

 other lowly forms of life would be used as nourishment by some 

 other plant or animal which in turn would be eaten by man. 



Possibly this is neither so fantastic nor so far in the future as we 

 would at first suppose. The micro biologists have already discovered 

 a number of ways in which microscopic forms of life can be put to 

 work in the service of man. They are willing servants not yet covered 

 by Social Security and labor laws and on special processes more skill- 

 ful chemists than men themselves. They have been put to work mak- 

 ing chemical syntheses that have been proved to be difficult, expensive 

 or impossible of attainment by other means. 



At the present writing the latest census shows that the population 

 of the world continues to grow at a surprising and probably danger- 

 ous rate. The danger, of course, resides not so much in the absolute 

 number of people as in the relationship between the known and defi- 

 nite rate of population increase and the probable practical rate of 

 increase in the production of food, shelter, power and other facilities 

 needed to provide a minimum of health and comfort for human 

 beings. 



Related to this is another problem that is often concealed or 

 ignored by those who are prone to argue that science is infinitely 

 resourceful and can always be counted upon to find new foods or 

 increase the production of old foods. The problem that remains is 

 the problem of distribution. Even when a new product or process 

 comes into existence it takes time and a great range of social readjust- 

 ments to make it available where it is most needed. Time is the very 

 core of the problem, for while time passes the population has again 

 increased and often we are no better off than we were before. Further- 

 more, neither socialism nor communism provides an answer to this 

 problem. Even sympathetic accounts that reach us from behind the 



