146 The Evolution of Chemistry. 



very long by the dawn. A complete solution of this prob- 

 lem will tell us in terms of chemistry the cause and cure of 

 disease and the conditions of life and health. 



So simple-looking a substance as the white of an egg is 

 yet a most stupendous mystery to our science. It and all 

 the albuminoids are awaiting this very light. The fever and 

 pain, discomfort and delirium of disease are now known to 

 be due, in many cases, to ptomaines manufactured by bac- 

 teria. They are believed to break down albuminous sub- 

 stances by aid of the ferments they secrete. We want to 

 know the nature of these ferments. Until such knowledge 

 is acquired we can not really say that we know how nitric or 

 acetic acids, and all the nitrates and acetates, are made as 

 common and cheap as they are. Micro-organisms produce 

 them. The bread problem of the future is believed to carry 

 its solution in this same question. 



From cellulose to starch is a very short step, but we can 

 not take it in the proper way. By a crude process long 

 known, sawdust can be converted into an exceedingly coarse 

 article of bread, the catalytic body being sulphuric acid. 

 "We await the discovery of the proper organic contact action 

 body to do perfectly what can now be roughly done. The 

 world may yet see deal boards transmuted into the whitest 

 kind of starch. "We can and do now change starch into that 

 kind of sugar called glucose. Let us nest find how to make 

 it into levulose, and then discover how to unite these two, 

 and we will have cane sugar. Hundreds of chemists have 

 worked at this problem. The man lucky enough to solve it 

 has an enormous fortune awaiting him. We have lately 

 found how to give cane sugar the flavor of maple sugar, so 

 that, should the maple forests give out, the supply of that 

 sweet morsel can still be maintained. 



Among the many problems that still await solution, but 

 that lie along the line we have been considering, is the syn- 

 thetic production of such valuable substances as India rub- 

 ber, cotton, silk, and wool. The possibilities of organic 

 chemistry are numberless, and many of them may never be 

 realized ; but we have already the sweet consciousness of hav- 

 ing mastered more than enough to pay for the disappoint- 

 ment of our alchemical predecessors who hoped to be able 

 to convert iron into gold. But their dream, wild as it really 

 was at that time, may yet become an established fact. Xo 

 chemist would to-day risk his professional reputation by 

 asserting it an impossible feat. Let some reliable man of 



