A REVIEW OF RECENT SYNTHETIC WORK IN 

 THE CLASS OF CARBOHYDRATES 1 



EVOLUTION is so universal, whether as exhibited in the unfold- 

 ing of human conceptions or in the making of worlds, that in 

 all reason it may be accepted as a cosmic principle. The fac- 

 tors of evolution are essentially constructive and destructive 

 ones, since growth and decay, progress and retardation, syn- 

 thesis and decomposition, accompany the rhythmic pulsations 

 of this general condition of change. Likewise, the chain of 

 chemical causality may be conceived of as closely correlated 

 with this presentation of evolution. The notion advanced in 

 this consideration precludes the thought of permanence. In 

 chemical activity the atoms are ever shifting their position in 

 space, and this unrest is indicative of the fundamental law of 

 advance. Howsoever stable and fixed may seem the individual 

 links of this chain, in reality the seeming stability is a condition 

 of variation and rearrangement of the atoms and molecules. 

 The molecule, that smallest portion of matter self -existing, 

 when considered as the resultant of chemical reaction, is but a 

 state of force equilibrium between the becoming and the van- 

 ishing. 



In this evening's review of recent synthetic work, in the 

 sugar group, these constructive and destructive processes are 

 well exemplified; also, the unfolding changes so apparent 

 in other manifestations of universal phenomena are likewise 

 observable in the realm of chemistry. This underlying unity 

 and dominant principle unites all aspects of the cosmos, and 

 connects the parts into a living universe of the whole. 



Evolution, when applied to chemistry, as elsewhere, com- 



1 A lecture delivered before the Franklin Institute, March 8, 1895. Printed 

 in the Journal of the Franklin Institute, September, 1896; also in pamphlet 

 form, Philadelphia, 1896. 



