September 27, 1932] 



SCIENCE 



387 



square kilometers, there is a yearly produc- 

 tion of 32 billion tons of vegetable matter, 

 which, if burnt, would give the quantity of 

 heat that corresponds to the total combus- 

 tion of 18 billion tons of coal. It is not 

 much, but even this is 17 times as much as 

 the total present production of coal and of 

 lignite. 



I 



Now let us consider the first part of our 

 subject. Is it possible or, rather, is it con- 

 ceivable that this production of organic 

 matter may be increased in general and in- 

 tensified in special places, and that the 

 cultivation of plants may be so regulated 

 as to make them produce abundantly such 

 substances as can become sources of energy 

 or be otherwise useful to civilization? I 

 believe that this is possible. It is not pro- 

 posed to replace coal by organic substances 

 produced by plants; but it is conceivable 

 that this organic matter may be utilized 

 more satisfactorily than is now the ease. 



It has frequently been said even by per- 

 sons of authority that some day the trans- 

 formation of coal into bread may become 

 not only possible but economically desir- 

 able. According to these people the ideal 

 of the future should be to produce through 

 synthesis from coal all substances necessary 

 for the alimentation of man: such sub- 

 stances as starch, sugar and fat, also pro- 

 teins and perhaps cellulose ; in other words 

 to abolish agriculture altogether and to 

 transform the world into a garden of use- 

 less flowers. Never was a greater fallacy 

 thought or expressed: the real problem is 

 just the reverse of this. My friend Pro- 

 fessor Angeli wisely called to my attention 

 that, while the externals of life have been 

 changed greatly by the progress of indus- 

 try so as to use all our technical knowledge 

 to increase our comfort, the quality and 

 quantity of human alimentation have 

 hardly changed at all; nay, a new science 



has come into existence (bromatology) to 

 see that no artificial product of industry 

 enters harmfullj'- into our alimentation. At 

 the time of Napoleon III. an attempt was 

 made to substitute gelatine for meat; but 

 it was seen very soon — and now the reason 

 for it is known by all — that this substitute 

 could not be sufficient to maintain life. 

 With the relatively small reserves of coal 

 that the past geological epoch have stored 

 for us, it will never be desirable to produce 

 from coal what nature generously offers us 

 through solar energy. It is on the other 

 hand a work worthy of praise to attempt 

 to make plants produce the fundamental 

 siibstances in larger quantity. Modern 

 agriculture tries to do this by intensive 

 cultivation ; but it is also desirable to make 

 the plants store up solar energy and trans- 

 form it into mechanical energy. 



A well-known instance of this occurred 

 when the development of the daily press 

 in all civilized countries made it imperative 

 to provide wood pulp in a sufficient quan- 

 tity and at low prices. Trees better 

 adapted to the purpose were soon found 

 and they were those which, on account of 

 their rapid growth, could furnish the neces- 

 sary cellulose sooner. For the problem we 

 are now considering the quality of the 

 plants is of secondary importance; they 

 may be herbs or trees; they may grow in 

 swamps or dry places, on the sea coast or 

 even in the sea ; the essential point is that 

 they grow fast or that their growth may be 

 intensified. It would be like realizing the 

 desire of Faust: 



Und Bilume die sich tUglich neu begriinen ! 

 Mephistopheles did not consider a similar 

 ta.sk impossible: 



Ein solcher Auftrag schreckt mieh nicht, 

 Mit solchen Schiitzen kann ich dienen. 



Should we consider the task impossible, 

 naturally in a more limited sphere, after 

 so many centuries of culture ? I do not be- 



