SYNTHETIC CHEMISTRY 



discovery. Kolbe had done as much for the acid 

 of vinegar in 1845. But the time was not ripe. 



One of the first exploits of the young Berthelot 

 was to analyze glycerine, then study its combina- 

 tions. With a rapidity that is still a marvel, a 

 crowd of discoveries followed. Alcohol appeared 

 from its elements ; with the gas ethylene he made 

 formic acid, which comes from distilling ants. The 

 fatty substances yielded their secrets, the problem 

 of the sugars was attacked. In five .years he had 

 created a new science synthetic chemistry. 



A little later came the synthesis of acetylene, 

 now so common as an illuminating gas. It was 

 the point of departure for a prodigious work. 

 Condensed, simply by heating, acetylene became 

 benzine, the base of innumerable compounds ; add- 

 ing yet more hydrogen, the new compound became 

 ethylene, and ethylene with water gives the alcohol 

 of our whiskeys and wines. Merely to enumerate 

 the results of this incessant activity would form a 

 catalogue. 



M. Berthelot had dissipated the phantoms of a 

 vital force and revealed a chemistry, as he himself 

 has phrased it, "more powerful, more varied, more 

 ingenious than nature itself." He had reproduced 

 the natural substances; he had fabricated an im- 

 mense number of others, their cousins and nr;ir 

 ivcs. To-day a German dictionary of organic 

 175 



