164 Miracles Ahead! 



human urine), with formaldehyde. Until the German chem- 

 ist Wohler prepared urea without the aid "of man, dog or kid- 

 ney," it was believed that organic compounds could be made 

 only with the aid of a mysterious force present in the living 

 plant or animal organism; thus the distinction between car- 

 bon (organic) and mineral (inorganic) chemistry. After 

 Wohler synthesized urea from inorganic sources, the term 

 "organic chemistry" came to mean simply the chemistry of 

 the carbon compounds. 



The acrylate resins are made from various derivatives of 

 acrylic acid, and are used not only in place of glass in air- 

 planes but as dental material (methyl methacrylate is said to 

 be used in 90 per cent of the dental plates made in this coun- 

 try). Since the acrylate resins, such as Lucite, have the odd 

 property of making light go around corners, they are used as 

 surgical and dental illuminating instruments. Their use for 

 a host of household articles is out till after the war. 



The alkyd resins, which are made by putting glycerin 

 together with organic acids, go mostly into paint, lacquer, and 

 varnish and into printing inks. The vinyl resins, from coke 

 and limestone, are weather-resisting materials of high quality. 

 Polyvinyl butral was formerly used as the plastic interlayer 

 in safety glass for automobiles, and now forms the coating 

 for Army raincoats, hospital sheeting, drinking-water bags, 

 and other war products. It is replacing tons of vital rubber. 



Plastics from the Ocean 



By combining chlorine, obtained from ocean-water brines, 

 with carbon and hydrogen atoms from petroleum, the Dow 

 Chemical Company has produced an excellent plastic mate- 

 rial known to chemists as vinylidene chloride and to you as 

 Saran. It makes a thermoplastic pipe of great toughness, dura- 

 bility, and resistance to abrasion and corrosion. Saran will 



